British Airways Miles to the Caribbean: As Few As 4,500 Miles Each Way!
Winter is coming. And we all know what that means… it’s time to start thinking about where we’re all escaping for warm weather. That’s why I am going to write a tutorial series on using British Airways miles to the Caribbean and make sure everyone knows every step to plan the perfect island getaway!
Tickets to the Caribbean typically cost 17,500 miles each way with many miles program such as American Airlines, US Airways, Delta and United Airlines. But British Airways has a distance based award chart and we can fly to the Caribbean for much fewer miles, even on American Airlines flights. A flight from Miami to Grand Cayman, for example, is only 4,500 miles each way. A flight from New York to Cancun, St. Maarten or to Antigua is only 10,000 miles each way. For that reason, it pays to learn how to use British Airways miles to the Caribbean to make sure we’re getting the best deal!
American Airlines flies to just about any island you can think of. I previously wrote about using British Airways miles on American Airlines flights to save miles, but specifically using them to fly to the Caribbean deserves a post of its own.
The Cost of Caribbean Trips on British Airways
Although they can be very short for those of us on the east coast, flights to the Caribbean tend to be relatively expensive in terms of miles. American Airlines will charge 17,500 miles each way during peak season. The off-peak is a bit better at 12,500, but we can often do better from the right cities. American Airlines charges based on regions and the fact that some of us may be flying short one-segment flights to get there does not help at all.
With British Airways Executive Club Avios, it’s completely different. British Airways has a distance-based award chart where we pay for each segment separately. If your flight is under 650 miles, for example, you pay just 4,500 British Airways miles. The benefit is that we can actually redeem our British Airways miles on American Airlines and American Airlines has a super extensive Caribbean network.
How British Airways miles work:
- Your miles cost does not depend on your destination, but on how long your individual segments are. You get charged based on the length per segment according to the above chart.
- Miles can be used on British Airways partners, such as American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
- Flying within North America will not incur fuel surcharges (unlike trips to Europe, for example).
You probably won’t want to use British Airways miles if you’re flying from New York to Mumbai with several connections along the way, but for short hops, they’re great!
Let’s take a few examples:
- Miami to Grand Cayman is a 453 mile flight. It will cost 4,500 miles.
- Atlanta to Miami is a 595 mile flight. It will cost 4,500 miles. ATL-MIA-GCM will cost 9,000 miles each way.
- NYC to Miami is a 1100 mile flight. It will cost 7,500 miles. NYC-MIA-GCM will cost 12,000 miles each way.
- NYC to St. Maarten is a 1693 mile flight. It will cost 10,000 miles each way.
You can always check the distances between destinations either with the Great Circle Mapper or calculate the number of British Airways miles you need with the British Airways Award Calculator.
Where Can We Go?
Here are the costs for all the non-stop flights offered by American Airlines from its hub cities: Miami, New York, Chicago and Dallas. While these cities have the best deals with their direct flights, British Airways Executive Club Avios can still be a decent deal with a connection. If you live within a 1200 flight to Miami, you can still get to many islands for 12,000 miles British Airways Avios each way or under.
Miami:
- 4,500 Avios: Nassau, Freeport, Marsh Harbor or George Town, Bahamas; Montego Bay or Kingston, Jamaica; Cancun or Cozumel, Mexico; Grand Cayman Island, Turks and Caicois,
- 7,500 Avios: Port au Prince, Haiti; San Juan, PR; St. Thomas or St. Croix, U.S.V.I; Aruba; Bermuda; Santiago, Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, La Romana or Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
- 10,000 Avios: St. Maarten; St. Kitts; Antigua; St. Lucia; Barbados; Curacao; Trinidad; Martinique; Grenada.
New York:
- 7,500 Avios: Bermuda.
- 10,000 Avios: Cancun; Sint Maarten; San Juan, PR; Antigua; Haiti; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I; Antigua;
- 12,500 Avios: Barbados.
American Airlines flies to Cancun from Chicago, Dallas, New York and Miami
Dallas:
- 7,500 Avios: Cancun or Cozumel, Mexico
- 10,000 Avios: Montego Bay, Jamaica
- 12,500 Avios: San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Chicago:
- 12,500 Avios: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Cancun, Mexico.
To book flights on American Airlines with British Airways Executive Club Avios, you will want to read my tutorial:
How to Redeem British Airways Miles on American Airlines Flights
Now that we know how much trips to the Caribbean should cost with British Airways Avios, we are ready to start making plans. But while low miles costs are great in theory, none of this matters if you can’t find award availability. The good news is we won’t have to check space to every island to find our award flights to the Caribbean.
You read about how to: Search American Airlines Caribbean Award Space To Every Island At Once!
For some other ways to use British Airways Executive Club Avios, check out:
- West Coast to Hawaii for 12,500 British Airways Avios Each Way!
- Redeeming British Airways Miles on Alaska Airlines Flights
Earning British Airways miles
- Transfer from Starwood Preferred Guest at 1:1 or get 25,000 British Airways miles for every 20,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points transferred. These can be earned with the Starwood American Express card.
- Transfer from American Express Membership rewards at 1:1.
- Transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards at 1:1.
- The Chase British Airways Visa Signature® Card.
Great post.
Thanks.. I love Avios for short trips!
Also, Avios Dallas-Cabo is really cheap.
Wow, I live in Miami and had no idea it cost so little points with BA Avios to fly to the Caribbean. I never bother flying there because I can’t justify paying $260-400 for a 30-45 minute fight. This post has really opened my eyes to some exciting trips. Thanks!
Miami is a haven for British Airways Avios users and I’m glad you got some good tips from the post. :) I have a post coming up on how to search availability for every single island in the Caribbean quickly (especially useful from Miami as there are so many!).
I just tried this for the first time and it was SOOO easy! Even better is that American Express is currently offering a 20% bonus on points transfers to British Airways. I just booked 2 R/T tickets from Mia to Grand Cayman in January for 7500 MR points each(9000 Avios with the bonus), plus $86 in taxes for each ticket. There are tons of award tickets available, so there was no problem finding a good date range.
That’s great it worked out so well! And Cayman Islands is one of my favorite beaches. I am going there again in February!
I wanted to stay at the Marriott on Grand Cayman, but didn’t want to pay $426 a night. I just tried their best rate guarantee and found the room much cheaper at Orbitz. Marriott will match any competitor’s price and take off an additional 25%. So now I’m getting the room for $267 a night for 3 nights. I’m going to use my Barclays card to pay for that. As of now I’m paying a total of $172 for 2 R/T flights and 3 nights at the Marriott.
We are already using your add on idea for a trip to Cancun as part of a fall 2014 trip to Europe. To make it work we still have to go one way to Cancun and then book Cun-Ord-Mad. One way paid tickets seem almost as much as round trips (does any airline charge 1/2 for one ways?). The use of our Avios to get to Cancun seemed great until you search BA. For example Ord to Cun in late Feb. has one or no award availability while AA has about 10 award flights. Can BA book a flight that is not on line or are we left with the few AA crumbs given to BA? Thanks.
You should see the exact same flights on BA that you see on AA for SAAver availability? Here are some reasons you may be having issues:
1. You have to search one segment at a time that you find on AA. That is, no round-trip searches and connections one at a time. To book flights with connections fully, you have to call BA customer service.
2. Only SAAver availability is given to BA.com. AAnytime awards are not really available award seats… it’s just an option to pay double miles to book any seats.
I checked for Feb 26 and it’s completely consistent with what I see on AA.com with 7 award seats available in Economy. Hopefully, one of the above will rectify the issue :)
Dear teacher, Maybe I need extra after school work but I ran the Feb 29 ORD to CUN 2 days in a row with same results. AA has 10 award flights available. BA allways comes up with only 2 (7:50 and 16:26) and only 1 has any economy awards open. If all 10 as saver economy are available at BA they do not show on their site (or I am inept). Either way if all 10 are there somewhere when you search BA when I call BA in Nov they can find all 10? Confused but thankful for your help.
I can take a look. Can you tell me the date, though? There is no Feb 29 next year! :)
OOps- Feb 26; Ord to CUN- checked again and BA still had only 2 economy award(and one the economy is gone). Thanks again
Professor, Did you double check the earlier date- I swear BA has much less than AA- ps- just got a new BA card for my wife thru your site- Thanks
Hi, apologies! Thought I replied. When I look at Feb 26, I see AA having one non-stop flight. I also see this same flight on BA. There are other flights that connect through NYC (example, LGA to JFK), but you’d have to pay separately for those segments on BA. I can also find them on BA if I search one segment at a time (e.g. ORD to LGA, JFK to CUN). Are there flights I am missing?
We are planning a trip to Cancun for the New Years week (12/27/14-1/3/14) and hope to use British Airways Avios points to travel from Miami to Cancun. I called BA and they have not yet released seats for this time period but acknowledged that it is their busiest time. What is the best way to ensure obtaining seats or is it unlikely due to the holiday? They suggested checking their website daily for availability to open up. Thank you!
Im searching for 2 RT from MIA to various locations in the Caribbean and the fees are ~200-$300. That’s pretty high for the two tickets. Does that sound about right when redeeming BA for flights on AA metal to the Caribbean? Thanks.
Depending on which island, departure taxes are usually $50 to $100 per ticket. Also, when looking at the price, make sure you are looking at miles only and taxes as the first option that comes up frequently lets you pay half with cash and half with miles so that’s why it will seem higher. You want to look at the last option, not the first for the miles and taxes.