Avios Award Booking - London to Cancun, Mexico

I was recently asked to help someone book a British Airways Avios award from London to Cancun in August, dates flexible with holiday to last more than 7 days. I thought this would make an excellent example for anyone not sure on how best to maximize their Avios.

 

Step 1

I need to find which airlines fly to Cancun, Mexico from Europe. I will use this information to examine the various routes this journey can take. Remember British Airways Avios can be used on all OneWorld carriers not just British Airways. The best method of finding this information is Wikipedia.

The following OneWorld carriers have services to Cancun, Mexico:

• British Airways – London, Gatwick


• Air Berlin – via Dusseldorf


• American Airlines  - via Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, and New York-JFK

 

Step 2

Avios is a distance-based system, you can find out more here. My next step is to work out the distance for the possible journeys I can take. I will calculate with economy class in mind but if you want a business class seat you just need to double the number of Avios required.

I will use the Avios redemption chart.

 

 

• London to Cancun, Mexico is 4,954 miles, which is zone 6 on the Avios redemption chart. Zone 6 is 25,000 Avios one-way in economy


• Dusseldorf to Cancun is 5,247 miles (25,000) and London to Dusseldorf is a zone 1 reward saver (4,500 plus £15), making a total of 29,500 Avios
  


• London to Chicago is 3,961 miles (20,000) and Chicago to Cancun is 1,426 miles (10,000), making a total of 30,000 Avios
  


• London to Dallas is 4,759 miles (25,000) and Dallas to Cancun is 1,008 miles (7,500), making a total of 32,500 Avios
  


• London to Miami is 4,436 miles (25,000) and Miami to Cancun is 527 miles (4,500), making a total of 29,500 Avios
  


• London to New York is 3,471 miles (20,000) and New York is Cancun is 1,543 miles (10,000), making a total of 30,000 Avios
  

 

From this analysis, we can move forward with the Direct London to Cancun flight as it is unsurprisingly the lowest number of Avios, and also, the flights via Dusseldorf and Miami. The flights via Chicago, Dallas and New York cost more Avios than alternatives so should only be pursued if you wish to arrange a stopover in those destinations.

You could work out the number of Avios on the British Airways calculator for official confirmation.

 

Step 3

Now, we need to calculate the additional taxes and charges for each route to make a fair comparison.

You can search ITA Matrix for a quick idea of the fees.

London to Cancun direct on British Airways comes with taxes of £366.81.

ITA also gives us the lowest fare for a 7 day holiday in August, which is £700 in economy and £2370 in business (correct at time of writing), which we shall use to determine the value of our Avios.

An Avios economy return is 50,000 Avios + £366.81, which means saving of £333.19 (1 Avios = 0.7 pence)

An Avios business return is 100,000 Avios + £627.75, which means savings of £1,742.25 (1 Avios = 1.74 pence)

To book award seats use the British Airways Executive Club but remember to check the British Airways timetable to know what days there are flights. British Airways between London and Cancun fly on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. So, I know to check those days for availability. Since, the introduction of the British Airways availability calendar this has become less important but it is also good to know as flights on those days may not be appropriate for your schedule. It will also become very important when we check OneWorld partners.

Now, we know the cost of using British Airways we can check the other OneWorld flights to see if they are cheaper. The main reason they may be cheaper is because flights leaving London and British Airways long haul flights have substantial surcharges that you still have to pay when you book an Avios award. Departures from other cities and awards booked through OneWorld partners have much lower surcharges.

I will start with the Miami route. As part of this journey is not flown by British Airways it is best to search on the American Airlines website as searching on British Airways for OneWorld partners requires a very tedious day-by-day search. The American Airlines website has a much more user-friendly month-long calendar display.

London to Miami return is 50,000 Avios + £ 358.35 taxes and Miami to Cancun is 9,000 Avios + £47.00, a total of 59,000 Avios + £405.35.

This is more expensive than the direct route in both cash and Avios term so I would only pursue if you want to arrange a stopover in Miami.

 

Next is the Dusseldorf route. Again, I will use American Airlines to find availability but first I must check the flight schedule to know when AirBerlin fly between Dusseldorf and Cancun.

Dusseldorf to Cancun is 50,000 Avios + £88.40 taxes and London to Dusseldorf is 9,000 Avios + £30 taxes, a total of 59,000 Avios + £118.40, meaning a saving of £581.60 when compared to a direct paid ticket (1 Avios = 0.99 pence) .

So, for an extra 9,000 Avios and a stop in Dusseldorf you could save £248.41 in reduced taxes.

The savings are even more dramatic on a business class seat. Dusseldorf to Cancun is 100,000 Avios + £88.40 taxes and London to Dusseldoft is 18,000 Avios + £40 taxes, a total of 118,000 Avios + £128.40, meaning a savings of  £2,241.60 when compared to a direct paid ticket (1 Avios = 1.90 pence).

 

 

 

Avios Award Booking - London to Cancun, Mexico