I have 3,900 BA points expiring next month. In the past, I've spent down the points for QF tickets intra-Australia, since the Oz market is so incredibly expensive for cash business class tickets. I'm now down to my last few thousand, and I can't think of any reason to perform any activity to keep them from expiring.
Can anyone think of any reason(s) to keep these? And if I do end of wanting to keep them, what's the easiest and cheapest way to do so?
Willy, I let 15,000 Caribbean Airlines points expire earlier this year, and it still keeps me up at night... /s
For real, just transfer 1,000 points (from Amex, Bilt, or Chase) and extend the expiration for another 36 months. You'll come up with something. (And you'll sleep better!)
(Great use of points for J on QF. Have also transferred MR directly to QF for those; turns an otherwise absurdly expensive cash price for a 2–3 hour domestic 737 flight into a steal at 2–3 cpp!)
If you can't be bothered, there is always the option of donating them
The main reasons for keeping them are psychological and essentially irrational. It's $39 at 1cpp (or is that 1cpa?), is it worth the practical and emotional effort to try? I did it with a similarly sized stash of AA miles (and still haven't used them, although I have enough for a short Y [maybe J] flight on QF/AA/AS). As well as the small transfer that 1990__ suggests, a small transaction, one hotel night or car hire could save them, but likely not give you enough for a redemption.
If you want to rationalise it, I think I've seen somewhere that there are sweet spots where BA charges less than AA, AS or QF on domestic US (or AU) flights. It wouldn't be completely irrational to credit short flights to BA to earn enough Avios to afford that (assuming you have time for that). There are also other Avios ecosystem programmes that might be more enticing for you than BA, although that's not without practical and emotional effort.
To considering salvaging them is not wasted effort. It forces you to test your assumptions, and how you compare programmes, and regardless of what you do here, might make you think about them more clearly. That said, I'd probably do what I need to save them, I can be irrational like that, but over time I've also become more rational in deciding not to join (or worse credit things to) more programmes. Not always.
@mike-c Bah! I truly enjoy this psychoanalysis of our 'hobby'... Wait, are we... like... crazy? *looks in mirror* (Flashback: 'Caribbean... you lost it all... how could you...' *forever-insomnia*)
Yet, with the transferrable currencies, I see it as if merely 1,000 Chase or Amex points ($10ish) buys Willy (or any of us) the equivalent of 3-year 'call option' on his future potential high-value short-haul redemptions with Avios. I donno, that seems like easy ROI to me.
@1990_ Oh, I was psychoanalysing myself more than anyone else, and yes there are easy ways to extend their life (we're not talking SQ here, grrr). And yes, I would take one of those easy ways and kick the can down the road.
Given the number of programs that use Avios I would transfer the 1k points and extend. You never know when an extra couple of points may come in handy.
I believe you can transfer the Avios to Qatar/Iberia/Aer Lingus (and back, if you wish) to reset the clock on their expiry.
@mickyb Agreed, though this has gotten spottier--Iberia is probably your best bet to do the "Avios shuffle"; it worked for me about 18 months ago. Finnair explicity says it won't work, I wouldn't count on BA for any guarantees when it comes to rewards. Haven't tried the others, but worth a shot--if anything, you're just shuffling them around til you get the result you're looking for.
I guess it depends where you're based. I'm assuming not the UK nor Spain nor Ireland.
If in Europe, you need as little as 5k avios + 25€ for a short-haul economy redemption. Likewise on the BA fifth-freedom flights in the Caribbean (at least last I checked). I also do believe you can redeem for Qantas domestic flight (not sure).
Why don't you transfer the miles to another program and then back or just transfer the miles to another Avios program
Just an FYI—transferring Avios back and forth between partner programs (BA to QR, AY, or IB) doesn't actually reset the 36-month expiration clock! Those count as internal balance shifts rather than qualifying accrual or spending activity.
That's why transferring 1,000 points from Chase, Amex, or Bilt directly into BA is the easiest way to reset the timer for another 3 years.