Is "avoir à" a possible alternative to "devoir"

Question

Is avoir à a possible alternative to devoir?
Can avoir à ever be used instead of devoir? For example j'ai à vous remercier instead of je dois vous remercier.

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi William,
As the lesson points out 'devoir' can be both 'to have to' or 'to need to' something .
'Avoir à' is mostly used to indicate an idea of need rather than must as in :
Tu n'as pas à t'excuser = You don't need to apologise (in other words - it was not your fault)
Tu n'as pas à faire ça = You don't need to do that ( or even: there's no need for you to do that) 
J'ai à faire = I have things to do (there are things I need to do) 
so it may be best to use 'devoir' or 'falloir' to convey the idea of 'must'.
Hope this helps!

Chris Wirt · Answer

I have heard "avaoir à" used in some specific context loke:
Tu n'as qu'à ranger ta chambre. -- You only have to clean up your room. 
 But I found a more comprehensive discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/French/comments/1urs43/avoir_à_vs_devoir/