Should a BA Gold book ‘Gold Priority Rewards’ for double Avios to avoid new fees?
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The decision by British Airways to increase its change and cancellation fees by 40% last week (up from £25 to £35 per person) did not go down well.
It would have gone down worse, except that BA has not bothered to tell people about it. The email you received last week promoting the latest issue of ‘The Club’ magazine somehow failed to mention this.
More importantly, if you are BA Gold, is that the fees now apply to you for the first time. One of the bigger benefits of being Gold has just been pulled away.
British Airways has left open an odd little loophole, though. These fees do NOT apply to Gold ‘Priority Rewards’.
What is a ‘Gold Priority Reward’?
Very simply, a British Airways Gold member can book a seat on ANY flight using Avios. The catch is that you have to use DOUBLE the normal amount.
You cannot use an American Express 2-4-1 voucher.
Your flight must be booked more than 30 days before departure.
There is some further information on the BA Gold benefits page here.
Normally, these rewards are poor value. Let’s take one of our family runs to Dubai. 4 Club World tickets, including one on an Amex 2-4-1, cost 240,000 Avios. Using a Priority Reward, it would cost a crazy 640,000 Avios – plus the standard taxes. You won’t catch me doing that in a hurry.
Are they now a good deal for short haul though?
For short-haul European bookings, I am starting to think that these rewards might actually have some use. Let’s take our standard run to Hamburg to visit the parents in law.
A standard Avios reward ticket is 9,000 Avios + £35 taxes. As a BA Gold, I now have to pay £35 for any change to that booking, or to cancel it.
A ‘Priority Reward’ would cost me 18,000 Avios + £35 taxes. However, all of the changes (up to 30 days before travel) would be free. I could also cancel for free at any time.
Importantly, I can cancel the BA ‘Gold Priority Reward’ and switch to a normal reward at any point, as long as the seats are still there.
If I wanted to book a specific trip 3 months in advance, but was not totally sure if we would travel, I could do this:
Book a ‘Priority Reward’ for 18,000 Avios
Change it as necessary, subject to availability, up to 30 days before travel – for free
As soon as I am 100% certain I will travel, I start looking for standard reward availability. (As a Gold, I get better economy availability than other members on short-haul.)
If / when seats open up, even if it is the day before travel, I cancel my ‘Priority Reward’ and rebook at the standard reward level.
Does this make sense? It depends on how likely it is that I will be able to switch to a standard reward later on. If I was able to switch at short notice to a standard price Avios ticket 50% – 75% of the time, then it would work well.
It also depends on how likely I would have been to cancel the original ticket in the first place. We did cancel a Hamburg trip because of potty training earlier in the year (!) which would have cost me £140 under the new regime. In general, though, I would say that we fly the majority of the short-haul tickets that we book.
Fundamentally, you are looking at the following calculation, which you would need to average out over a number of flights:
Value in £ of change and cancellation fees saved vs Value of additional Avios spent when you cannot change a Priority Reward back to a standard one before departure
I’m not yet sure if it works for me or not.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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