How to Visit the Caribbean from 4,500 British Airways Avios Each Way!
One of my most popular posts last year was how to redeem British Airways Avios to the Caribbean. With British Airways being a member of oneworld, its miles can be used on any oneworld member including American Airlines. With the British Airways award chart being distance-based and the Caribbean not being very far from many US cities, there is great opportunity to get some incredible deals with British Airways miles. Now with US Airways joining oneworld, the opportunities are even better and I thought it was time to write an updated post.
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 and US Airways will both 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 and US Airways both charge 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 US Airways, both airlines with super extensive Caribbean networks.
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 or US Airways.
- 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.
- Charlotte to Grand Cayman is a 1093 mile flight. It will cost 7,500 miles.
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 and US Airways from the two airlines’ hub cities: Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Charlotte and DC. 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. As an example, if you live within a 1200 miles flight to Miami, you can still get to many islands for 12,000 miles British Airways Avios each way or under.
Miami (on American Airlines)
- 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 (on American Airlines)
- 7,500 Avios: Bermuda.
- 10,000 Avios: Cancun; Sint Maarten; San Juan, PR; Antigua; Haiti; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I; Antigua;
Washington DC (on US Airways)
- 7,500 Avios: Nassau, Bahamas; Bermuda
Philadelphia (on US Airways)
- 7,500 Avios: Freeport, Bahamas; Nassau, Bahamas; Bermuda.
- 10,000 Avios: Turks and Caicos; Grand Cayman; San Juan, PR; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., St. Maarten; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Aruba
Charlotte (on US Airways)
- 4,500 Avios: Freeport, Bahamas.
- 7,500 Avios: Nassau, Bahamas; Bermuda; Turks and Caicos; Grand Cayman.
- 10,000 Avios: San Juan, PR; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., St. Maarten; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Aruba; Punta Cana, DR; St.Kitts; St. Lucia; Antigua;
- 12,500 Avios: Barbados
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American Airlines flies to Cancun from Chicago, Dallas, New York and Miami
Dallas (on American Airlines)
- 7,500 Avios: Cancun or Cozumel, Mexico
- 10,000 Avios: Montego Bay, Jamaica
- 12,500 Avios: San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Chicago (on US Airways)
- 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 and US Airways 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 can read about how to: Search American Airlines Caribbean Award Space To Every Island At Once This is an excellent tool for searching for availability on American Airlines flights very quickly, but it will not show availability on US Airways flights. For that, you’ll have to search individual islands although you can do so on the American Airlines website.
For some other ways to use British Airways Executive Club Avios, check out:
Are you sure American flies to Barbados direct? You have it listed as “12,500 Avios: Barbados”, but the BGI wiki page only shows one AA flight and it’s from Miami.
Ah, you’re correct, that was on an outdated list. They discontinued the non-stop from New York just this January. Thanks for that!
They’ve discontinued a few direct flights. Some were either canceled completely and some were changed to seasonal. I booked a direct AA flight from JFK-SXM and it was cancelled and rebooked on an indirect via MIA.
The seasonal from CLT will hopefully be running this X-mas. I believe it runs from Dec to April. The Bajan goverment is “working” on alternatives. They frequently subsidize route and recently bet on the Brazilian market. There are more flights from the UK to BGI than from the US. You only have two alternatives, AA’s MIA->BGI or Jetblue’s NYC->BGI. Sure YYZ is also an alternative with AC but it leaves so early in the morning you have to O/N in Toronto.
You have helped us in the past to go business from Cozumel thru a 6 month stopover in ORD to Madrid. I guess those days are gone. Our new goal is ORD to Roatan (RTB) where AA has economy open after Feb but most flights are over 30hrs. Checked BA and they said since they and a partner fly there no flights available. Suggestions?
Welcome to BoardingArea! I think this is the first time I’ve seen you post on here but perhaps I haven’t been reading BA as much as I used to. Either way, welcome! Looking forward to reading more of your posts. I’m based in NYC as well and hope to meet you in one of the socials/meetups someday. Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas and analyses with us!
Thank you for the welcome! This is, indeed, my very first BoardingArea post and I am extremely excited to join :) And always nice to hear from fellow NYC travelers – hopefully, we will have a chance to chat at one of the local meetups!
What would be the best option flying to the Caribbean from the West Coast (LAX)?
West Coast is probably a bit far to get a good deal with British Airways miles (though LAX is great to use British Airways miles to Hawaii as it’s just 12,500 miles for non-stop flights on American Airlines). It ends up being 35,000 miles round-trip with most other programs so best to go with the program where you find the best availability. With US Airways, you can get a free stopover so that may be something to take advantage of, as I explain in my post: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2014/05/27/us-airways-dividend-miles-caribbean-award/
Adrenalina…..
This is re your post of 4/29 about Loading BB with Prepaid Vanilla Debit Cards at Walmart.
I s not accepted”. It IS a debit card! Rinse and repeat at the Money Center. I called the Vanilla cust. svc [1-877-770-6408]. They told me that my card is indeed unacceptable, and that the single only acceptable card for reloading BB is the VR which of course now cannot be bought with a credit card Anywhere.
Comments?
RH Dailey
oooops. My comment above was mutilated in the sending and so makes no sense. The second sentence is missing. It stated that “the Walmart register and money center rejected my loaded OneVanilla prepaid debit card”.
RH Dailey
As of a few days ago, Walmart has recently been having issues loading OneVanilla cards at the register. I haven’t been to a Walmart in the past two weeks, but here is a blog update from someone who has been trying it out: http://travelwithgrant.com/2014/05/30/state-of-the-union-bluebird-serve-and-go-bank-reloads-at-walmart-with-gift-cards-as-of-may-30-2014/
Hard finding anything from a non AA hub. Like IAH
Unfortunately, you’d have to connect through Miami or Charlotte, most likely. That would cost an extra 7,500 miles to get to the hub. It’s, of course, a much better deal for those who live in a hub or close to it :)
How are the taxes for Avios redemption from NYC to carribbean? I’m interested in coach flights but the taxes are outrageous to Europe, looking for a better way to use them. Flights to caribbean sound like a great deal, but is there a catch with the taxes?
What time of year is best to book a hotel room in the caribbean for summer travel?