British Airways is running an award sale, 50% off. This is coach. And you still pay taxes and fuel surcharges, those aren’t discounted.

Book by June 17 for travel between September 1 and May 31, 2019. This is available one way or roundtrip.

• New York or Boston – London is just 6500 points each way
  
• You can separately redeem at 50% off for flights beyond London
  
• Fuel surcharges vary by market, for instance Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and South America aren’t big fuel surcharge markets but Europe generally is.

A roundtrip Boston – London trip would run 13,000 Avios but ~ $500 in cash. I’m seeing $17 each way base fares in the Boston – London market, so the miles don’t actually save you very much. You’re better of booking paid flights, not worrying about availability, and earning miles and status. And you save your miles for a time you’ll do better than half a penny apiece.

As always you want to compare cash prices to what you’re spending in miles for a sense of whether or not a given itinerary is a bargain.

The interesting thing when it’s not, even at 50% off, is how this underscores just how poor the value redeeming these points for coach travel can be — all because of draconian taxes BA extracts from members in the form of surcharges.

(HT: Frequent Miler)