As of March 31, US Airways officially changed partnerships, leaving the Star Alliance (which includes United, Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai, etc….see here for the full list) and they are now part of the Oneworld Alliance (which includes American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, etc…see here for the full list).

Blah, blah, blah, why does this matter?  Hang tight, I’m getting there, so stay with me…

The move of US Airways from Star Alliance to Oneworld has both positive and negative impacts.  For the everyday traveler, it won’t make too much of a difference, but for the savvy traveler (aka you!), there is one key aspect that will open up a ton of new options for you to fly very cheaply using miles and points.

Now that US Airways is part of Oneworld, you can use your British Airways points on US Airways. If you haven’t already read the post Why You Should Have a British Airways Frequent Flyer Account (or if you need a refresher), check that out as it breaks down the details of using British Airways points (called Avios) for flights.  In short, the number of British Airways points required for an award flight is based on the distance traveled, as opposed to the region you’re traveling to/from.

Generally speaking, most US-based airlines charge a flat rate depending on the region; any flights within the US require typically 25,000 miles, whether you’re flying from DC to New York or from Miami to Seattle.  In these cases, the distance traveled doesn’t matter; it’s all about the region. But with British Airway’s distance-based award chart, it can be much more affordable (in terms of points) to fly short distances.  In particular, flights that are less than 650 miles in distance only require 4,500 points each way, or 9,000 roundtrip.  That’s a 64% savings compared to the normal 25,000 mile requirement that United, American, Delta, etc. would charge.

Here is the full British Airways award chart, where you can see that flights under 650 miles only require 9,000 points roundtrip (4,500 each way), and flights between 651-1149 miles require 15,000 roundtrip (7,500 each way):

Up until this week, American Airlines was the only Oneworld member airline in the US.  So you could use your British Airways points for flights on American.  But now that US Airways has joined Oneworld (gearing up for their merger with American), you can use your British Airways points for flights on US Airways as well.  The key is that the distance traveled is only for nonstop flights.  If your flight requires a connection, you have to add up the points required for each separate flight segment.  So for the most part, the nonstop flights will be out of the airline’s hub cities. With the location of US Airways’ hubs (Charlotte, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Phoenix), this really opens up the possibility for capitalizing on British Airways points for short flights up and down the east coast.  It’s particularly exciting for the Mrs. Guru and I to now be able to use British Airways points on US Airways, since we’re only a little over an hour from Charlotte. So, in summary, you can now fly anywhere nonstop within 650 miles of a US Airways hub (Charlotte, Washington DC, Philadelphia, or Phoenix) for only 9,000 Avios (British Airways points) roundtrip…or anywhere nonstop within 1150 miles of a US Airways hub for only 15,000 Avios roundtrip.  To get an idea of where you can fly, take a look at the maps below. The lighter circle represents a range of 650 miles (requiring 4,500 Avios each way); the darker circle represents a range of 1150 miles (requiring 7,500 Avios each way):

Here’s a comparison of booking the same flights from Charlotte to Cincinnati using US Airways miles (25,000 miles per person) and British Airways Avios (9,000 Avios per person):

So all of this begs the question: where can you get your hands on British Airways points?  There are a couple 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.

Simply log into your British Airways account, and I’ll definitely be booking some trips for short, non-stop flights out of Charlotte using British Airways Avios points…2 of us can travel for less than the price of 1!