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.

edinburgh for the august bank holiday

the cheapest accommodation in edinburgh for this august's bank holiday weekend appears to be at edinburgh university with single ensuite rooms available from 57.5 gbp and single rooms with shared bathrooms at 43 gbp per night ... however over at laterooms they have single rooms with shared facilities available from 38 gbp per night ...

in order to get there trains from london to edinburgh would cost about 85 gbp return [37 outbound on saturday morning / 48 inbound monday evening] ... booking through eastcoast mainline would save 5 gbp outbound, and could get first class on the return for just 5 gbp extra ...

travelling from london to glasgow would be a bit cheaper at 46 gbp return [27 outbound / 19 inbound] ...

an outbound train on friday afternoon to glasgow would could 55 gbp single ...

london to edinburgh flights cost over 100 gbp return at sensible times ...

london to edinburgh - august bank holiday weekend ...

looking for train or plane travel departing london on saturday 25th in the morning, and returning late afternoon on monday 27th ...

the cheapest Saver Return on GNER [which looks remarkably like thetrainline.com] is 98 gbp ... but they have singles on the same trains which add up to 65 gbp - but the return arrives in after midnight, so a more sensible 22:19 arrival back into london puts the price up to 89 gbp ...

thetrainline.com has Saver Returns for 98.20 gbp and same singles for 67.50 gbp or 100 gbp ... showing that it's worth booking through the GNER website !

Skyscanner shows an 08:10 departure from Luton on Easyjet for 50 gbp ... with an Easyjet flight to Gatwick departing at 21:10, arriving into London at 22:40 for 44 gbp ... or perhaps a better option would be their 19:15 departure for Luton, arriving at 20:30 for 48 gbp ...

unfortunately Skyscanner has stopped listing BMI flights ... but they don't have any sensibly priced flights for the weekend - the cheapest being 162 gbp !

ScotAirways fly from London City, but they don't have any flights on the Saturday, and have just a single flight on the Monday evening ... the total price of a return, with a departure on the Friday evening is 189 gbp ...


Update 4th July 2007
bmi have the Saturday 06:50 [and ones from 15:00 onwards] departure, arriving at 08:10, available with frequent flyer points - the cost of taxes and charges is 28.90 gbp ... for the return to London, the 18:35 departure is available for 28.60 gbp, or 48.60 gbp and half the points ...

both thetrainline and First Scot Rail have an overnight Sleeper returning to London on the Monday night for 66 gbp ... it is not clear from either website what the cost of a return is ...