Avios Balance Booster: Buy Avios for Cheap

Last month, I went to London, where I used Uber, and those rides also earned me British Airways Avios. For every £ spent, I earned 1 Avios. That was an excellent addition to the already expensive Uber. Last night, I was checking to transfer points between Finnair & British Airways and used Avios Balance Booster. I purchased Avios for one of the cheapest prices. However, Avios Balance Booster is not your regular way to buy Avios. Here is how Avios Booster works.

What is Avios Balance Booster?

Avios Booster is an option to multiply your recently earned Avios at a fixed price. For example, let’s say you stayed at a hotel and earned Avios on this stay. You can multiply these Avios by 1x, 2x or 3x at a fixed price.

Eligible Transactions

Not all transactions that earn you Avios are eligible. Only Avios earned in the last 30 days are eligible for Avios Booster. And, you can’t boost any balance transfers from other airlines (Like Iberia to BA), Nectar exchanges, or Avios transferred or gifted by other members and bought Avios. Other than these transactions, you can multiply your Avios with a booster.

Usually, you can boost Avios earned from the following options:

• Earned from BA Shopping Portal
• Earned from IndusInd Avios Credit Card, including a sign-up bonus of 55K Avios
• Earned from flights
• Earned from hotels and travel
• Earned from Uber

Pro Tip: The BA Shopping Portal can only be accessed with a VPN from India. You will also need a VPN to boost your Avios, which is also done via the same BA shopping Portal.

Note: HDFC transfers are not eligible for balance boosters.

Limit on Multiplying Avios with Booster

You can boost your recently earned Avios by 1x, 2x, or 3x, and the price varies. In a calendar year, you can only boost 3 Lac Avios cheaply. You can also boost Avios after 3 Lac, but that would cost more and would not be ideal.

Avios Balance Booster Pricing

Avios Balance Booster’s currency is based on the country mentioned in your account. For Europe, the pricing would be EURO; for the UK, GBP; and for others, USD. The cheapest of these three currencies is USD.

Buying a 3x Avios Balance booster will cost just INR 1.01 or 1.2 cents per Avios. However, this pricing applies only to boosted Avios up to 3 Lac.

Price In	1x Avios	2x Avios	3x Avios
INR	1.05	1.02	1.01
USD (Cents)	1.25	1.22	1.2
EUR (Cents)	1.15	1.13	1.11
GBP (Pence)	0.96	0.94	0.92

If you boost more than 3 Lac in a year, these additional Avios would cost more and most likely won’t be an excellent option to buy Avios.

Price In	1x Avios	2x Avios	3x Avios
INR	1.93	1.93	1.93
USD (Cents)	2.3	2.3	2.3
EUR (Cents)	2.12	2.12	2.12
GBP (Pence)	1.77	1.77	1.77

As you can see, the cost is way too high and would make Avio’s balance booster option above 3 lac Avios a lousy way to boost Avios. You can buy Avios during the year with promotions.

Making use of Avios Balance Booster for Indians

There are ways in which you can boost Avios balance:

Make Use of IndusInd Avios Credit Card

The IndusInd Bank Avios Credit Card allows you to earn Avios and offers a sign-up bonus and milestone benefits. However, to use the Avios Balance Booster, you should earn Avios in your British Airways Account, so you must use the British Airways Variant. You should be able to boost Avios earned from this card.

Transfer Credit Card Points

British Airways is a transfer partner of HDFC, HSBC, and Amex.

I did two transfers, one from HDFC and the other from Amex. HDFC didn’t show up for boosting, whereas only the Amex transfer showed up for boosting. So, you can definitely boost Amex and also HSBC. However, not HDFC Transfers.

Hotel Points Transfer

Marriott is one of the favourite hotel programs. Its points are transferred to airlines in a 3:1 ratio, and there is a bonus of 5K miles. The usual transfer balance earned miles can be boosted if needed.

How to use Avios Balance Booster?

To boost your Avios, you first need to visit the British Airways Shopping Portal.

Next up, click on “Buy Avios“.

Once you clock on Buy Avios, you will see the Balance Boost option. Click on that.

Now you will see the last 30 days earned Avios, which are eligible for boosting.

Choose the transactions you want to boost and scroll down to the booster option. The best booster option is a 3x boost for up to 3 lac Avios.

Then, provide your card details, and a successful transaction message will appear. You will usually receive these Avios immediately; however, it can also take up to 3 days.

Qatar Airways Avios Boost

Unlike British Airways Avios Boost, Qatar Airways Boost is expensive and has more stringent conditions. For example, you can only boost 2.5 Lac Avios in a year, and the minimum Avios earned should be 500 Avios to be eligible for a boost. However, a benefit of Qatar Airways is that you can boost balances of the last 90 days against 30 days in BA. Qatar Airways even allows a boost of balance that is older than three months but up to six months after paying a fee. Also, Qatar Airways allows a boost of up to 6x and, at the same time, is way more expensive than British Airways. You may choose the option which works for you. However, for most of us BA Avios Balance Boost will work.

FAQ’s

Bottomline

Avios Balance Boost is an excellent and cheapest way to boost and buy Avios. Members are more familiar with Avios Subscription, but Avios Balance Boost will catch up soon.