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One of the best uses of British Airways Avios is for award travel on partner airlines. And one of those partner airlines that routinely offers solid value for your Avios is none other than the world's largest air carrier: American Airlines.
With more than 350 destinations across more than 60 countries, American Airlines can take you to just about anywhere you need to go. Even better, most of AA's routes are bookable with British Airways Avios. In some cases, it makes more sense to book routes throughout American Airlines' network with Avios than AAdvantage miles.
Unfortunately, there have been some devaluations over the past few years that have reduced the usefulness of booking American Airlines flights with Avios. But there are plenty of cases where it is still advantageous.
Here's all you need to know about booking American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios.
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Booking American Airlines Flights With British Airways Avios
With a huge fleet and extensive network, American Airlines is one of British Airways' most important airline partners. And given that both are founding members of the Oneworld alliance, it's pretty simple to redeem British Airways Avios for flights operated by American Airlines.
Finding American Airlines' award availability through British Airways is generally an effortless experience, depending on the route you want to fly. Within the Americas, you can almost always find space on American Airlines flights.
With some luck, you can also find award space on American flights between the U.S. and Europe, South America, Asia, and more. Compared to many carriers, American isn't especially stingy with what award space it makes available to partners.
British Airways award chart for American Airlines flights
British Airways doesn't publish an official award chart for flights operated by a single partner airline. The rates you'll see when booking partner awards may vary slightly depending on the airline. But for British Airways' partners that don't include Aer Lingus and Iberia, the award chart looks roughly like this:
| Distance/Zone | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 650 miles (Zone 1) | 8,250 | 9,000 | 16,500 | 24,000 |
| 651 to 1,151 miles (Zone 2) | 11,000 | 12,500 | 20,500 | 33,000 |
| 1,152 to 2,000 miles (Zone 3) | 13,000 | 16,500 | 29,000 | 44,000 |
| 2,001 to 3,000 miles (Zone 4) | 16,000 | 25,250 | 42,000 | 51,500 |
| 3,001 to 4,000 miles (Zone 5) | 20,750 | 41,250 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
| 4,001 to 5,500 miles (Zone 6) | 25,750 | 51,500 | 77,250 | 103,000 |
| 5,501 to 6,500 miles (Zone 7) | 31,000 | 62,000 | 92,750 | 123,750 |
| 6,501 to 7,000 miles (Zone 8) | 36,250 | 72,250 | 108,250 | 144,250 |
| 7,001+ miles (Zone 9) | 51,500 | 103,000 | 154,500 | 206,000 |
However, for booking American Airlines (and Alaska Airlines) flights specifically, the following chart applies to flights within North America:
| Distance/Zone | Economy | Premium Economy (on select flights to Hawaii/Alaska) | Business (Domestic First) | First (On 3-Cabin Flights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 650 miles (Zone 1) | 12,000 | N/A | 24,000 | N/A |
| Up to 1,151 miles (Zones 2) | 16,000 | N/A | 32,000 | N/A |
| 1,152 to 2,000 miles (Zone 3) | 18,000 | N/A | 40,000 | N/A |
| 2,001 to 3,000 miles (Zone 4) | 20,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 80,000 |
| 3,001 to 4,000 miles (Zone 5) | 20,750 | 41,250 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
Flights in what would be Zone 6 and above price according to the first-mentioned award chart. Confusing, right?
On top of that, British Airways will occasionally tinker with its unofficial partner award chart and not announce the changes. An alteration like this most recently happened in July 2024, when the airline hiked partner awards as much as 56% in select distance bands. Sadly, American Airlines was one of the partners most affected by the changes.
Which American Airlines Flights Are Worth Booking With Avios?
Let's take a look at some of the top ways to redeem British Airways Avios for American Airlines flights.
Short-haul flights
Zone 1 economy pricing — even though it recently went up — is still incredibly friendly given the places you can go for 12,000 British Airways Avios one-way. Here are some options for just 12,000 Avios:
- Charlotte (CLT) to Toronto (YYZ)
- Chicago (ORD) to Birmingham (BHM)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Santa Fe (SAF)
- Phoenix (PHX) to St. George (SGU)
Looking for sun and sand? Here are a handful of Caribbean destinations accessible for just 12,000 Avios from Miami:
- Miami (MIA) to North Eleuthera, Bahamas (ELH)
- Miami (MIA) to Grand Cayman (GCM)
- Miami (MIA) to Havana (HAV)
- Miami (MIA) to Cancun (CUN)
Expanding out to Zone 2, which costs 16,000 Avios in economy, here are some nonstop American Airlines flights you can book with British Airways Avios:
- Charlotte (CLT) to Bermuda (BDA)
- Phoenix (PHX) to Puerto Vallarta (PVR)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to San Jose del Cabo (SJD)
- Miami (MIA) to Curaçao (CUR)
The key to getting good value for your points is to use them for regional or international destinations where prices are consistently high.
Domestic first-class in lay-flat seats
One of the best ways to fly domestically in the United States is in one of American Airlines' lay-flat business and first-class seats. Even better, you can book these flights for as few as 24,000 British Airways Avios for Zone 1 hops.
American Airlines operates wide-body aircraft on select frequencies on a handful of domestic routes, such as:
- New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Miami (MIA)
- Dallas (DFW) to Charlotte (CLT)
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Charlotte (CLT)
- Chicago (ORD) to Dallas (DFW)
- Charlotte (CLT) to Miami (MIA)
You can view the plane type by clicking on the line that says “American Airlines — AA(Flight Number)”
Flights in the Zone 3 and Zone 4 bands cost 40,000 and 50,000 British Airways Avios one-way, respectively. This is a steep price, but it could be worth using your points for the experience. You could also take advantage of an Avios transfer bonus to cut the cost further.
However, it's worth noting that American modifies the routes that get these internationally configured jets every month. See the full list of American Airlines domestic lay-flat business class seats for this month.
Last-minute trips
One of the best uses of British Airways Avios on American Airlines is for last-minute trips. Cash prices are usually high when booking a ticket only a handful of days out, so an award ticket can be the way to go.
Consider this route from Phoenix (PHX) to San Luis Obispo (SBP) on the California central coast. At time of writing, you can fly this one-way for less than $140 on fsome dates when booked roughly a month out. If you use 12,000 Avios, you'll be getting shy of 1.1 cents per Avios.
However, a last-minute flight costs over $400 one-way. This is a great time to check and see if award seats are still available.
Amazingly, American Airlines still has multiple seats available that can be booked with British Airways Avios. It even has domestic first class seats available if you want to fly up front! Economy will cost you just 12,000 Avios, which nets you over 3.4 cents per Avios.
If you have to travel on American last minute, make sure you consider British Airways Avios as an option.
How To Book American Airlines Flights Using British Airways Avios
The process of booking American Airlines flights using British Airways Avios starts on British Airways' website. After logging in, you'll want to navigate over to your account dashboard, scroll down, and click on “Book Reward Flights with Avios.”
Like any other award booking, you'll enter in the details of your trip: origin, destination, dates, and so on. The next step is clicking on “Get flights.”
Itineraries operated by British Airways will show up first, followed by partner-operated itineraries. If award space on American Airlines is available, you'll be able to select the itinerary and class you want to book, then complete your purchase without hassle.
If you're working with a transferable point balance that you want to move to British Airways Club, the best time to do so is after you've confirmed there's available seats to book. Once you see the American Airlines flight options on British Airways' website, you're good to kick off the transfer. Generally, transfers happen instantly, making the experience seamless from start to finish.
There's no availability — what should you do?
Sometimes, you'll come up empty-handed when running an award search, and there won't be a flight available you can book on your intended day of travel. From here, you have a few options to find availability.
You can first scroll to the left and right of British Airways' booking calendar and search +/- three days from the original date you tried to search. This is often the easiest way to find flights close to when you originally wanted to travel. In award travel, flexibility is key, after all. Unfortunately, British Airways does not have a week or month view that shows which dates have seats available.
But if you're still unable to find any flights, there are two places you can look for the nearest partner availability on American Airlines. The first is on the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan page on Seats.aero. American Airlines flights are bookable with Mileage Plan miles, so you'll see live partner award space on American Airlines in these results.
Filtering by airline and airport is the easiest way to see the other days where there's bookable space on American Airlines.
Once you find a day with a flight that works for you, the next step is going back to the British Airways website and plugging in the new dates.
If the availability isn't reflected on the British Airways website, you may need to call British Airways to make the booking. Make sure to mention that your desired flight was not listed on the British Airways website. When you bring this up, the customer service representative should waive the phone booking fee.
Alternatively, you can use a tool such as ExpertFlyer. This tool will allow you to comprehensively search for partner award space on your intended day of travel and a few days on either side. For help navigating this unintuitive tool, we've assembled a complete guide to ExpertFlyer.
Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability
Earning British Airways Avios
There are many ways to earn Avios — even without traveling on British Airways or another Oneworld airline.
Co-branded credit cards
Swiping the British Airways Visa Signature® Card (Rates & Fees) is an easy way to earn Avios on everyday spending.
If you're a new applicant, you'll earn 75,000 bonus Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. In recent redemptions, AwardWallet users have redeemed Avios at an average of 2.56¢ apiece, which makes the bonus worth as much as $1,920.
The British Airways Visa Card carries a $95 annual fee and earns 3X Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL, 2X Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations, plus 1 Avios per $1 spent on all other purchases. As it's issued by Chase, the card is subject to the 5/24 rule.
- Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
- Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL.
- Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
- 10% off British Airways flights starting in the US when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
- Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you'll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
- Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.
- Simply tap to pay with your contactless British Airways Visa Signature Card. Just look for the contactless symbol at checkout. It's fast, easy and secure!
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 3X Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL
- 2X Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations
- 1X Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Related: Best Credit Cards to Earn Avios
British Airways transfer partners
British Airways is also accessible from a slew of transfer programs. Earning transferable points and moving them to British Airways Club when you find an eye-catching redemption is one of the best ways to manage your points and miles.
Related: Do British Airways Avios Expire?
Combine Avios between accounts
One nice feature of multiple airlines using the Avios currency is that it's possible to move Avios between your account with one airline to another Avios-program airline freely and instantly. You can transfer Avios between your Aer Lingus, Iberia, British Airways, Finnair, and Qatar Airways accounts online for free. With British Airways, you can pool Avios among up to seven individuals at an address by setting up a household account.
Bottom Line
One of the best ways to get the most out of your British Airways Avios is to redeem with a partner airline. And one of British Airways' partners that routinely offers outsized value on Avios redemptions is none other than American Airlines. With a little effort, you can find and book American Airlines flights to many destinations using your Avios for excellent value.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: British Airways Visa Signature® Card (Rates & Fees)
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