Important Note: As of February 2, 2016, British Airways increased the number of points required for their shortest awards from 4,500 to 7,500 points. Even at 7,500 points, this can still offer a great value, but unfortunately not as spectacular as 4,500 points.

About 2 weeks ago, I posted a guide on how to use British Airways points on US Airways, and why you should care.  The post was mostly in theory, but I just put those tips to use today, and figured I’d post a follow up with another concrete example that might help clarify.  Read on to see how you can take advantage of this awesome deal for flights to the Bahamas.

OneWorld Alliance Summary

• British Airways and American Airlines have long been partners in the OneWorld Alliance.
• Since they have been partners, you can use points with either airline to book flights on the other airline.
• In other words, you can use American Airlines points to book flights on British Airways and you can also use British Airways points to book flights on American Airlines.
• American Airlines and US Airways are in the process of merging, and the newly merged airline will retain its membership in OneWorld.
• You can now use British Airways points to book flights on US Airways.

Redeeming Points

For most frequent flyer programs in the US (i.e. Delta, United, American, etc.), the award chart usually looks like this:

But when using British Airways points (regardless of the airline your flights will be on), the number of points required is based solely on the distance you travel:

Some of the best deals are in the 0-649 and 650-1,149 mile range (as well as in the 2,000-2,999 mile range, such as Boston to Dublin).  In this case, we’ll focus on the 0-649 mile range.

US Airways Flights

US Airways has a hub in Charlotte, so there are tons of cities up and down the east coast that are less than 650 miles in distance.  In particular, Freeport on Grand Bahama Island is only 611 miles from Charlotte and US Airways has a nonstop flight from Charlotte to Freeport.  So even though the Bahamas are part of the Caribbean and would normally require 35,000 points for a roundtrip ticket (see the first chart above), by booking the Charlotte to Freeport flight using British Airways points, this award gives you flights to the Bahamas for a mere 9,000 points.

To demonstrate this, you can compare the identical US Airways flights when booking the flights with US Airways points, requiring 17,500 points in each direction:

Booking these same exact US Airways flights – June 6 through June 8 – but using British Airways points, the cost is about 75% lower, requiring only 9,000 points:

(And as an added bonus, the taxes & fees are even lower when booking through British Airways than when booking through US Airways – $91 compared to $126 – since US Airways tacks on a garbage $35 “redemption fee” that is just designed to put more money back in their pocket)

The final question is: how do you get your hands on British Airways points?  Here are 4 ways:

1. Apply for a British Airways Visa card from Chase, which will earn 50,000 points after spending $2,000 on the card.  50,000 points can get you 5 roundtrip flights of <650 miles!
2. When flying on American Airlines (or now US Airways), you can choose to credit those miles to your British Airways account.
3. Transferring American Express Membership Rewards Points into British Airways points.
4. Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards Points into British Airways Points (the points transfer at a 1:1 ratio)

So as easily as that, for only 9,000 points each the Mrs. Guru and I are booked for a weekend getaway to the Bahamas!