Redeeming Avios on Flybe domestic

I've written before about redeeming Avios on FlyBE flights to Ireland

I thought I would look to see what they're like from London to Scotland.  Of course the comparison is the British Airways standing "Reward Flight Saver" charge of 17.50 gbp

An economy flight to Edinburgh - 4,000 or 4,500 avios plus

LHR - EDI  32.70 gbp
LCY - EDI  56.11 gbp

Or flying from Birmingham

BHX - EDI  26.59 gbp
BHX - GLA  26.59 gbp

Or flying from Southampton

SOU - EDI  25.02 gbp
SOU - GLA  25.02 gbp

Or flying from Manchester

MAN - GLA  26.34 gbp


assuming you value 1 Avios at around 1p - it means that cash flights would need to cost over 70 quid to be worth using Avios

and on the LHR to EDI route that rises to more like 80 quid
and on the LCY to EDI route that rises to around 100 quid

unless you have a stack of Avios sitting around gathering dust - it will usually be better to pay cash.

Avios redemptions on EI / BE

I wrote previously about the extortionate taxes/fees charged by Avios redemptions on Aer Lingus flights ... which included 41 gbp from Dublin to London Heathrow.

Since then, some prices have come down:

LHR - DUB  39 gbp  on EI

DUB - LHR  16 gbp  on EI

some have stayed more or less the same:

LGW - DUB  53 gbp  on EI

DUB - LGW  44 gbp  on EI

and some have gone up:

LGW - NOC  63 gbp  on EI

NOC - LGW  40 gbp  on EI  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

Avios redemptions on Flybe mostly seem more reasonable - and the same price is available on both the BA website and Avios.com

SOU - DUB  25 gbp  on BE
DUB - SOU 12 gbp  on BE

EXE - DUB  35 gbp  on BE
DUB - EXE  12 gbp  on BE

CWL - DUB  34 gbp  on BE
DUB - CWL  12 gbp  on BE

DSA - DUB  27 gbp  on BE
DUB - DSA  12 gbp  on BE



BHX - NOC  26 gbp  on BE
NOC - BHX  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

MAN - NOC  31 gbp  on BE
NOC - MAN  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

EDI - NOC  30 gbp  on BE
NOC - EDI  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

FlyBe check-in options - or lack of

The email from FlyBe confirming my NOC - BHX flight encouraged me to check-in online, saying that it opened 36 hours before departure ...

So of course I attempted to check-in ... but it wouldn't work.  Assuming that I was making a mistake, I kept trying and trying ... and failing, and failing.

Eventually I discovered a page on their website that listed check-in options by airport - including this nugget:

Airport	code	Airport Check-in	Self Service Check-in	Web Check-in	Automatic Check-in (email)	Automatic Check-in (mobile)
Knock	NOC	Yes	No	No	No	No

So why the hell did they send me an email telling me to check-in online !