Avios

feel the frustration of Avios. Have around 200,000 miles and still can't take the family away (further than Europe) due to 'no availability' even with 12 months planning ahead. Tesco to Virgin Atlantic exchange may be better for those who like long distances.

I've been saving Airmiles/avios for years. So far have bought flights for son for his honeymoon to Rome from Glasgow via Heathrow. Taxes only paid. Also included hotel stays when the arrived and night before departure. These tickets where high season July. Decided to do trip myself with husband during Easter and flights where great. Booking well in advance is best idea! BA only have so many seats allocated for Avios. Have also used for short haul flights no problem. Latest purchase is for son and wife to London for weekend. It's sons 30th Birthday and got London City Airport flights early morning Friday and last flight Sunday! So they get most from weekend.

For popular European destinations, use all your Avios for a smart hotel - but no BA flight. You can always get a cheap flight with the discount airlines for not much more than the tax you would pay if you booked a BA flight with Avios

The Reward Saver Flights (short haul) are excellent value at £30 plus Avios. But if you are flying from an airport outside of London and want to travel to Southern European destinations from May until end of September, the availability is almost non-existent. Before converting your Clubcard points check availability. Don't rely on the explorer map though, it often shows availability, but when you click through you find that the flight isn't available. I converted hundreds of pounds of Clubcard points to Avios, but have been unable to use the due to availability. Therefore I stopped collecting them, waiting for an available flight. As I have not collected in just over 12 months, the option to buy Reward Flight Savers has expired. Now I'm left with lots of Avios, still can't use them and IF a flight becomes available I won't be able to use the £30 Reward Flight Saver. All in all it's been a COSTLY mistake. Avios is there for British Airways to flog seats they can't sell on unpopular routes. If you tend to travel on unpopular routes then this is a good use of your Clubcard points, otherwise take care.

As the last user said - they are only really worth using on the european flights with small taxes or business or first in long haul for upgrades etc. I save mine until there is a promotion - wait until Tescos give 1000 avios for £2.50 then that is a big lift!