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A quick refresher for those who are tuning in and unfamiliar with the BA program. British Airways utilizes two forms of loyalty: Avios for redemptions and Tier Points for status. When you fly you’ll earn both, but Avios are what you’ll redeem when you want to take a flight and pay for it with points. One great thing about using Avios is you can transfer in Chase or Amex into the program to shore up your balance, but they also have a great policy when it comes to cancellation fees.
Here’s BA’s chart:
Canceling an Avios booking will set you back $55 as will date/time changes
Comparing this to other airline cancellation fees, you’ll find that this is quite low. However…
If your taxes/fees are less than $55, you’ll only lose the amount already paid when you cancel your ticket.
I just made use of this little benefit when I changed a ticket from Madrid to Rome that I’m taking in the next couple of weeks. The fees assessed on the ticket were just $22.09, but when I looked at the cost to change the ticket they wanted $55. Instead I just cancelled the ticket, and booked the new one that I wanted.
These cancellation fees are even less when booking tickets on American. Just $5.60.
If I needed to cancel the following ticket, I’d only lose the $5.60 fee paid when booking. Even better, I don’t get charged American’s $75 close-in booking fee either.
Before you change/cancel your tickets do a quick check and confirm you’re paying the least possible in fees.
British Airways Avios are best used on partner airlines where taxes and fees are far less than assessed on BA’s own metal. Knowing the most you’ll pay to cancel a ticket is $55 is great, but utilizing the cancellation policy when you need to change your flight is even better, and has saved me hundreds of dollars over the years.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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