4 Cool Routes in International Business Class for 15,000 Avios – Before Devaluation

The day is fast approaching – May 30, the day that British Airways was kind enough to let us know we would start paying more Avios for flights. The problem? They actually haven’t told us how much we will be paying.

4 Cool Routes for International Business Class for 15,000 Avios

Before the Devaluation!

If you want to spend some of your Avis in a fantastic fashion before that day hits, check out these 4 cool routes that you can book in international business class seats for just 15,000 Avios. These are Fifth Freedom routes (maybe another freedom or two?) that are flying between two cities that are not in the flag carrier’s home country. These flights are great for award seats as they are often short enough to not require that many points but long enough to really enjoy the lie-flat comfort (I can enjoy that with only 1 hour!).

First of all, until the devaluation day of May 30, all business class flights under 1,151 miles will cost 15,000 Avios. Depending on the aircraft, that is a couple hours or so of flight time. Here are some flights I selected around the world that can be booked at that cost on some cool aircraft.

Bangkok <-> Hong Kong | Cathay Pacific Business Class

There are actually two airlines that you can book on this route for 15,000 Avios each way (and about $60 in taxes and fees). One of them is Royal Jordanian and the other is Cathay Pacific. While there is more random availability with Royal Jordanian, I would search for the Cathay Pacific options! There are several aircraft that Cathay flies on this 2 hour and 50 minute/ 3 hour route. Those aircraft include Airbus A330, Airbus A350, and Boeing 777.

If you were to purchase the business class ticket, it would cost under $400 with Royal Jordanian but over $500 with Cathay Pacific.

Sao Paulo <-> Buenos Aires | Qatar Airways QSuite Business Class

If you want to get a really fantastic experience, you will need to fly in South America on a top Middle Eastern carrier – Qatar Airways. Yep, they fly from Doha to Sao Paulo, Brazil before continuing on with a 3 hour flight on their Boeing 777 to Buenos Aires. This gives you a great chance to redeem just 15,000 Avios for the best business class in the sky!

If you go in the reverse, Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo, it cuts the trip time down to 2 hours and 30 minutes so definitely try to go from Brazil to squeeze every precious minute out of the experience!

One more reason to go from Brazil to Argentina – it cuts the taxes and fees from $136 to just $34!

Hey, if you want more time in the QSuites cabin, check out this post on how to do it for 6 hours for 37,500 Avios!

Madrid <-> Frankfurt | LATAM Business Class

Now, to fly a South American carrier, let’s head for Europe! Why not, right? 🙂 Actually, this route almost didn’t make the list because it is just so cheap with cash! However, since it is available with Avios, if you are cash poor and Avios rich, definitely a great flight to try out.

This is a flight that flies from Brazil to Spain and then on to Frankfurt. If you have to go between Madrid and Frankfurt, this is the only flight around for this almost 3 hour journey that will let you do it in a lie-flat seat!

Just remember that you can book from Frankfurt to Madrid for a ridiculous $161 – in lie-flat business class!

Believe it or not, it can be quite difficult to find award space on this flight. This may be due in part to the cheap cost so they don’t make too many award seats available. Still, this can be an attractive way to use Avios if you don’t mind paying more in Avios than the flight could cost!

Grand Cayman <-> Nassau | British Airways Business Class

Now we get to the airline that Avios are actually aligned with – British Airways! This route is also no where near London as it takes place in the Caribbean and, if you take advantage of Off-Peak Avios pricing, this business class flight of an hour and a half can be had for only 7,750 Avios – that means that two people can fly it for 15,000 Avios! Given the location, you are probably traveling with someone special anyway so that could work!

This flight in business onboard the BA 777 aircraft is actually quite pricey – if you lay out the cash, it will cost you close to $600 at times! That means you can get a great return per Avios in value – much better than the LATAM business class flight above!

If you plan on island hopping, this is definitely a nice way to do it!

BONUS! Trinidad <-> St. Lucia | British Airways First Class

While you can also do this in business class for 7,750 Avios for the just over an hour flight, if you go for off-peak travel, you can experience British Airways First Class aboard a 777 for just 15,500 Avios one way! True, that is not a long flight but if you ever wanted to try international first class for cheap, this is definitely the way to do it.

To make it sweeter, you could even wing home to the US from St. Lucia with one of the frequent sales on JetBlue Mint for under $400! That is not a bad way to return to normal life from a Caribbean vacation!

Searching For These Awards

While you are actually going to book with British Airways Avios for these flights, using the BA site is not the way to go to find award availability! Instead, head over to AA.com and use their Calendar with the dropdown box on the results page set to “Non-Stop” to find the dates with business class availability. This will make life much easier for you!

Summary

Have fun trying to book some of these cool international business class routes with just 15,000 Avios – or even less! If you want to do it, you only have days to act before who-knows-what happens to these rates!