The 50% bonus on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards that I detailed in March expires May 31.

If there’s a specific award you’re considering, and you’re wondering how many points it will cost you, Wandering Aramean has a useful tool to estimate the cost. (It’s sad that such a tool is needed to help decipher the new Avios scheme.)

In general the Avios program is great for short-haul non-stop redemptions, and extortionate for long-haul connecting awards. Though of course a 50% bonus on transfers helps dull the pain.

British Airways Avios fuel surcharges can be painful, they charge the same costs that would be billed on a paid ticket, and that can often be close to the price of an economy ticket. Though there are some routes (like US domestic, US-South America) that don’t add fuel surcharges, those that do make an economy redemption virtually illogical — you spend miles and still spend almost as much out of pocket as though you were buying paid travel.

At the same time, for premium cabin awards, the fuel surcharges can be worth it, sure you may be out of pocket $1000 on a roundtrip ticket to London. But you fly in a premium cabin, so there’s value out of those miles. Some think of a first class redemption as being like a capacity-controlled, non-mileage earning coach ticket with a confirmed 3-cabin upgrade.