Key takeaways
- Avios' new free calendar tool displays an entire month of award availability simultaneously, eliminating the tedious one-day-at-a-time searches award hunters previously endured.
- The tool works best for nonstop flights through hub cities like London, Madrid and Dublin, but cannot display connecting flights or show upfront surcharges.
- Avios transfer easily from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy, accumulating quickly for award redemptions.
International Airlines Group has streamlined the process of finding Avios award availability with a new calendar-based search tool. The feature, available free to all Avios members, displays an entire month of award seat availability in a single view for flights operated by British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus through their respective loyalty programs: British Airways Club, Iberia Club and Aer Lingus AerClub.
The addition directly addresses a long-standing pain point in award travel. Hunters previously endured searching one day at a time to identify available seats, a process that consumed hours for those seeking specific routes or dates. The new calendar interface eliminates this tedium by letting travelers visualize availability patterns across 30 days without repetitive searches.
How to Use the Calendar Search Tool
Accessing the tool requires only a free Avios loyalty account and an internet connection. There are no additional fees, subscriptions or membership tiers to unlock this functionality.
Setting up your search
Begin by entering your departure city (Miami International, or MIA), destination (London Heathrow, LHR), number of passengers and target travel month. Consider a hypothetical May trip for two travelers from Miami to London on British Airways. The calendar then displays the entire month with color-coded availability.
Reading the results and filtering
A half circle indicates limited availability, while a full circle signals good availability. You can narrow results by cabin class—say, lie-flat business—and the display shows how many seats exist in each cabin and the Avios point cost. Hovering over a date or clicking for details reveals flight times, exact seat inventories and the point requirement for that specific flight.
Completing your booking
Once you identify your preferred date and cabin, clicking through routes you to the operating airline’s booking page. In the British Airways example, you’d complete the purchase through the British Airways Club program, transferring Avios from your Avios account to complete the redemption.
Which Airlines and Routes Deliver the Most Value
The calendar tool covers three carriers: British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus. However, award availability concentrates at each airline’s main hub, making some searches more productive than others. The tool performs best for nonstop point-to-point searches departing from London Heathrow (LHR), Madrid Barajas (MAD) or Dublin (DUB).
Iberia’s nonstop advantage
Iberia offers particularly compelling value on nonstop flights to Spain, combined with competitive award pricing and lower taxes and surcharges relative to transatlantic redemptions. If your routing could plausibly connect through Madrid, run a dedicated search from that hub separately. The calendar tool’s month-at-a-glance display makes comparing multiple hubs straightforward.
Excluded carriers and what they mean
Qatar Airways and Finnair both use Avios as their loyalty currency but are not included in the calendar search. This gap eliminates access to some of the most valuable sweet spots in the Avios ecosystem—particularly Qatar’s premium cabin awards to Asia and the Middle East, and Finnair’s nonstop routes within Europe.
Building Your Avios Balance Through Cards and Transfers
Avios hold particular appeal because they accumulate quickly through multiple channels. Travelers can earn Avios directly through cobranded credit cards issued by British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus. Equally valuable, major rewards currencies transfer to Avios at favorable rates through transfer partners.
Transfer partners and redemption flexibility
Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer 1:1 to British Airways Club, Iberia Club and Aer Lingus AerClub, making cards like the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve efficient Avios feeders. American Express Membership Rewards (from cards like the Platinum and Gold) also convert 1:1 to all three programs. Bilt Mastercard holders, Wells Fargo Rewards members and Marriott Bonvoy account holders can all direct points to these airline programs. British Airways additionally accepts Capital One miles, while Qatar Airways Privilege Club (which uses Avios) is a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards.
No-cost transfers between programs
A substantial advantage unavailable with many other loyalty currencies: Avios transfer freely and instantly between British Airways Club, Iberia Club and Aer Lingus AerClub at no cost. This flexibility allows a single transfer from, say, Chase Ultimate Rewards into one program, then repositioning those points to another program if that carrier has better availability on your desired route.
Current welcome bonus environment
Multiple cards presently offer meaningful welcome bonuses. American Express recently brought back a 30% transfer bonus to Avios, amplifying the value of sign-up rewards for those willing to time their applications around promotional periods.
Current Limitations and Missing Features
The calendar tool marks a clear advancement, but gaps remain. The interface does not display connecting itineraries—only nonstop flights appear. Travelers assembling multi-leg awards must run separate searches through each hub and manually piece together connections, eliminating much of the time-savings benefit for complex itineraries.
More critically, the tool provides zero visibility into taxes, fees and fuel surcharges. Many Avios awards, particularly transatlantic, carry substantial additional costs beyond the base point requirement. The calendar view displays the Avios cost but not the dollar amount until you click through to the booking page, potentially wasting research time if the true total exceeds your budget. IAG has acknowledged these gaps as areas for future development.
Practical Strategies for Maximum Benefit
Despite its limitations, the calendar search functions as a genuine time-saver for routes between the US and IAG hubs. Before this tool, locating a single available date demanded clicking through dozens of individual search results. Now, visual patterns emerge instantly across an entire month.
The free access and simple visual design—where circles intuitively communicate availability tiers—make this tool exceptionally accessible. Unlike many third-party award search platforms charging subscription fees, this requires nothing beyond an existing Avios account.
Use the calendar first to identify your flexibility window. If three dates in May show full-circle availability, those three dates become your focus for deeper research into flight times and seats. The tool transforms the initial discovery phase from hours of labor into minutes of pattern recognition, fundamentally changing how award hunters work through their options.
Frequently Asked Questions
What airlines can I search with the new Avios calendar tool?
The calendar tool covers flights operated by British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus booked through their respective loyalty programs: British Airways Club, Iberia Club and Aer Lingus AerClub. Qatar Airways and Finnair, which also use Avios, are not included in the calendar search.
How do I earn Avios if I don't have a cobranded credit card?
You can transfer points to Avios from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Points, Wells Fargo Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards. These transfer at favorable rates, and points transfer instantly between British Airways Club, Iberia Club and Aer Lingus AerClub at no cost.
What information does the calendar tool show about award availability?
The tool displays availability as half circles (limited) or full circles (good) for each date. When you click a date, you see the number of available seats, which cabins they're in, flight times and the Avios point requirement. However, the tool does not show taxes, surcharges or information about connecting flights.
