Avios is the currency that is earned by members of the BA Executive Club program, the Iberia and Royal Maroc programs as well. British Airways Executive Club is a transfer partner for Citibank in India. In India, the following Citibank Credit Cards offer the ability to convert to Avios:
- Citi Ultima
- Citi Prestige (1 point = 4 Avios)
- Citi PremierMiles (2 PremierMiles = 1 Avios)
Over the years, Citi and Avios have frequently run transfer offers where there is an increased points bonus offered on conversion. In 2015, they offered a 20% bonus, while back in the day in 2012, they offered a 30% bonus. In 2016, they ran a mega 50% bonus, which meant you could get 150% of the usual value of your Avios when transferring from Citibank.
Transfer Citi Points to Avios with 50% Bonus
Now, the transfer bonus of 50% returns one more time. Through October 31, 2017, you can get a 50% bonus when you convert your Citibank points to Avios. This bonus is valid for Indian Citi customers only. I’ve already shared above the ratios on a normal day, but if you use your points to convert during the current promotion, you should get the following bonuses:
- Citi Prestige: 1 point = 6 Avios
- Citi PremierMiles: 2 PremierMiles = 1.5 Avios
Avios are some pretty valuable currency if you’re based where I am. The whole gamut of oneworld partners can be booked using Avios. For instance, last year I used 37,500 Avios per head to book a business class ticket between Hong Kong to Mumbai.
Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong to Mumbai
In 2015, during my #redcarpettrip, I used Avios for a short haul redemption between Washington DC and New York at only 4500 Avios in Economy (since changed to 7500). Even with 7500 Avios, I redeemed them this year as well while being in the USA for trips between New York and Washington DC, and 4500 Avios between Dublin & London per head.
And of course, I redeemed a 100K Avios per head this year for a trip in British Airways’ 787-9 between London and Mumbai on First Class on the trip to London and Dublin this year. The APD did pinch, but it was still a deal as compared to paying full price.
First Class on British Airways Boeing 787-9
Should you transfer?
There are so many partner airlines that BA deals with, such as Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Alaska Air, American Airlines and so on, that it is a very valuable offer in my view. Plus, the 50% transfer is a very big one, and not something I’ve seen many times in the recent years. I would even be transferring some points speculatively, even though I already have a six-figure balance in my Avios kitty right now with all the flying I’ve been doing on British Airways recently.
Bottomline
While your mileage may vary, I do recommend transferring some points to Avios, since these kinds of big bonuses do not come very often.
Do you plan to benefit from the 50% bonus on the transfer of points from Citibank to your BA Executive Club Account?
Ajay, thanks for the great blog. Quick novice question – is it possible to sign up for a BA account, transfer some points and use them to redeem without ever having flown BA? I recently moved from PM to Prestige and am thinking of the best ways to use the ~35000 Prestige points I have.
@Venkat, yes you can definitely do that.
I called up the Citi Prestige concierge, and they are not aware of this offer. This is also not listed on the Citibank or BA websites.
@Geetesh, however, the systems are set up to get the bonus 🙂
Thanks, Ajay. This is confusing:) Why do they run a promo that they themselves are unaware about? Hopefully, they will wake up before October 31st.
@Geetesh all I can tell you is I’ve heard many people get the bonus automatically. So, don’t wait too long.
@Ajay I am looking for this offer on BA executive club. I can see many offers but not this one. You sure, its not targeted one?
its not targetted as long as you fit the conditions I’ve described in the post
Been waiting for this for the last couple of months. Have been accumulating points all year, time to transfer them now to my Avios account.
Thanks for sharing Ajay, haven’t heard anything from Cit yet.
AJ
What is the expiry period for AVIOS..?
@Krishna Kumar. As long as you have 1 Avios activity (even if 1 Mile earned/redeemed) every 36 months and they stay alive.
Ajay – it is good they are offering this but to be honest their normal conversion is one if the lowest in the market. Earning 1 avios for 2 Citi Premier miles is very poor conversion anyway in the first place. Years back it was 1:1. So in effect if you make a purchase 100,000 INR on your Citi Premiermiles credit card you will get only 2000 avios which is peanuts if you compare with miles earned on Jet Airways ICICI Saphhiro Platinum (5000 JP Miles) and HDFC World Jet Privilige card ( 4000 JP miles) for a INR 100,000 spend. And JP miles and Avios are almost the same currency for free upgrades and tickets. So really bonus offer is good but given their standard conversion is nothing great, the bonus offer just corrects their poor conversion rate for a limited time.
@Deepak I disagree. The PM value was 1:1 many years ago. Then they changed that valuation so the value of PMs has gone down, not the value of BA Avios. Also comparing PremierMiles which is a base tier card, to Saphhiro which is a top tier card is not an apple to apple comparison.
If you haven’t moved from PM to Prestige, this is a great opportunity to (almost) double your PM to Prestige, and from there get this bonus.
@Deepak 1 Avios is normally worth 1 INR whereas 1 JP mile is normally less than 0.4 INR.
For an example:
Mumbai to Hong Kong is 12,000 avios + taxes (Oneworld PArtner Cathay Pacific)
Mumbai to Hong Kong is 32,000 + taxes (JP Partner Zone 4 to Zone 2)
Also if you convert any cash flight to reward flight to you will get a similar ratio.