Which airlines can you book with Avios points?

Where can the currency of BA, Qatar, Iberia, Finnair (and more) take you?

Avios has come a long way. Seven airlines now have the scheme as their points currency, but your ability to spend points isn’t just limited to them. Through the oneworld alliance and individual airline partners, you can access many more routes.

Firstly, which airlines use Avios?

The airlines below use Avios as their points currency. All available reward seats can be booked using points. Qatar allows you to reserve seats not usually available for Avios bookings using their Flexi-Rewards scheme, which requires you to pay double the number of points.

Which other airlines can you spend your Avios points on?

Here’s a long list of the key airlines that use Avios and the partner airlines you can book through them with Avios points.

You can freely move Avios points between BA, Qatar, Finnair, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and Loganair via the Avios.com Transfer Avios function. Points transfer at a 1:1 rate. You can transfer up to 99,999 points in a single transaction, but there are no limits on the number of transfers you complete.

Booking via British Airways

The table below contains a list of all the airlines you can book directly via British Airways using Avios points. Other airlines can be booked via points if you transfer your Avios to another airline. These options are listed further below.

Airline		Notes
Alaska Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
American Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
Cathay Pacific	✅	Via oneworld
China Southern	✅	Partnership
Fiji Airways	✅	Via oneworld
Finnair	✅	Via oneworld
Iberia	✅	Via oneworld
Japan Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
Loganair	✅	Partnership
Malaysia	✅	Via oneworld
Oman Air	✅	Via oneworld
Qantas	✅	Via oneworld
Qatar	✅	Via oneworld
Royal Air Maroc	✅	Via oneworld
Royal Jordanian	✅	Via oneworld
SriLankan Airlines	✅	Via oneworld

Booking via Qatar

The airlines below are bookable via Qatar. You can move your Avios from BA to Qatar with ease.

Airline		Notes
Airlink	✅	Partnership
Alaska Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
American Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
Bangkok Airways	✅	Partnership
British Airways	✅	Via oneworld
Cathay Pacific	✅	Via oneworld
Fiji Airways	✅	Via oneworld
Finnair	✅	Via oneworld
Garuda Indonesia	✅	Partnership
Iberia	✅	Via oneworld
Japan Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
JetBlue	✅	Partnership
LATAM	✅	Partnership
Malaysia	✅	Via oneworld
MEA	✅	Partnership
Oman Air	✅	Via oneworld
Qantas	✅	Via oneworld
Royal Air Maroc	✅	Via oneworld
Royal Jordanian	✅	Via oneworld
RwandAir	✅	Partnership
S7	✅	Partnership
SriLankan Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
Virgin Australia	✅	Partnership
Xiamen	✅	Partnership

Booking via Iberia

The following airlines are bookable on the Iberia website. You can move Avios points easily between BA and Iberia. The Spanish airline has a number of unique partnerships across Europe and into Africa and South America that may be useful for specific destinations.

Airline		Notes
Aer Lingus	✅	Partnership
Air Baltic	✅	Partnership
Alaska Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
American Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
Avianca	✅	Partnership
Binter Canarias	✅	Partnership
British Airways	✅	Via oneworld
Boliviana de Aviación	✅	Partnership
Bulgaria Air	✅	Partnership
Cathay Pacific	✅	Via oneworld
COPA	✅	Partnership
El Al	✅	Partnership
Fiji Airways	✅	Via oneworld
Finnair	✅	Via oneworld
Japan Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
LATAM	✅	Partnership
LEVEL	✅	Partnership
Malaysia	✅	Via oneworld
Oman Air	✅	Via oneworld
Qantas	✅	Via oneworld
Qatar	✅	Via oneworld
Royal Air Maroc	✅	Via oneworld
Royal Jordanian	✅	Via oneworld
SriLankan Airlines	✅	Via oneworld
Taag Angola	✅	Partnership
Viva Aerobus	✅	Partnership
Volaris	✅	Partnership
Vueling	✅	Partnership

Booking via Aer Lingus

The following airlines are bookable on the Iberia website. You can move Avios points easily between BA and Iberia. The Spanish airline has a number of unique partnerships across Europe and into Africa and South America that may be useful for specific destinations.

Airline		Notes
Air Canada	✅	Partnership
Alaska Airlines	✅	Partnership
American Airlines	✅	Partnership
British Airways	✅	Partnership
Finnair	✅	Partnership
Iberia	✅	Partnership
jetBlue	✅	Partnership
Qatar	✅	Partnership
United	✅	Partnership

How to search for Avios availability?

If you want to understand what reward seats are available, then there is no single best way of searching. I wrote a longer article specific to BA Avios flight availability, but even then, there is no perfect approach. When you factor in other airlines, it means jumping between different airline websites.

When we’re looking for specific flights, we start with a list of our potential dates and the airlines that we could use. If we’re looking to use a companion voucher, then we’ll start our search with BA – that voucher can also unlock additional availability that is only visible when you search on the British Airways website or app.

Qatar will usually be the next option if we’re flying East, as they accept Avios and have a high volume of flights. Finnair is also a good option if you’re flying East. For the US and South America, Iberia is a good option, whilst Aer Lingus has a good number of connections to North America.

It can be a laborious process, but such is the nature of utilising points for flights. I wrote about how to search for Avios flights, and all the different methods. If you are getting serious about your points, then it could be worth investing in one of the platforms that can monitor availability and alert you when reward seats become available.

Is it cheaper or better to book on one airline versus another?

If you want to utilise a BA companion voucher, then it will nearly always be more efficient to book using an airline that accepts that. Traditionally, that meant BA, but now you can use the Amex 2-4-1 voucher on more sister airlines.

If you’re booking without a voucher, so just using Avios points, then you can find that booking the same flight, using the same points, from different airlines will lead to different taxes and surcharges being levied.

I analysed this last year and found that the differences are negligible and probably not worth the extra effort. However, there have been outliers reported, and it might be possible to save a reasonable amount on the cash element of a booking.

Should you buy Avios in order to book a partner airline?

This is where it gets interesting. Typically, it is not advisable to buy all the Avios you need to book a flight. Buying some to top up your points is fine, but the cost of the purchase will nearly always outweigh the cost of the flight in cash. Whilst there are ways to buy Avios cheaply, the maths usually doesn’t work out.

With partnerships, it’s sometimes cheaper to just buy the points for a redemption. That’s assuming that the flight is available to book via a partner. Here’s an example

Flying from Seattle to Phoenix on Alaska Airlines in September would cost me £209 one-way for one person on a refundable ticket. That same flight, using Avios (booked via British Airways) would cost me 18,000 Avios and £4.10 in fees. I could Boost my Avios points at a cost of 0.91p per point, meaning the 18,000 points I needed would cost me £163.80. Including the fees, that’s £167.90 in total. That’s saving me £41 on a single flight.

There is a risk that in the time that it takes to buy the points those reward seats go, in which case you’ll be left with a chunk of points and no flight.