The Avios changes are live – post your ba.com comments and observations here

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• Polly says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:33

  Tried to use UuA late last night and this morning, was directed to the call centre. Good luck with that! But I did notice no change in no of avios needed for the upgrade from Premium Y to J. Just can’t make the upgrade on line yet. The CX avios ended for HKG to Bali were the same too, we will see how this develops. Def worth going for a 241 every year, and look out for J sales otherwise. That’s our plan

• Calum says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:34

  UuA W->J that was 30k is now 72k.
  As a leisure traveller I will be remaining loyal to BA but this probably just means I will make fewer discretionary trips with them – better for my bank balance!

• Simon says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:44

  After a lot of stick of late, feel like I should stick up for BA Club World flights we had last week… London to JFK return, sleeper service on way back…. Both flights landed 40 minutes earlier than scheduled… Food outbound was very good, and service was charming (bar one grumpy guy). Pre flight food on home leg was very good in the JFK lounge, and service on the flight again very slick and friendly….. So, overall, two thumbs up on this occasion….

  • polly says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:47

    I agree..we had the v same experience on that route in January. …as we said before certain routes must maintain higher standards and NYC is one of those .

    • James67 says:

      28 Apr28 April 14:33

      Me too, although dated and worn I really quite like the feeling of privacy in BA CW when travelling alone which is most of the time. I also think BA cabin crew are generally great, they usually get the balance of space and service, formality and informality just about perfect to my tastes. I think we oftentimes colour BA by our LHR experience when we should remember it’s the airport at fault, not the airline. However, I cannot forgive them the devaluation of UuA and RFS from the regions.

  • Macca says:

    28 Apr28 April 15:50

    It might have been good compared to BA economy, but have you ever flown business with one of the Middle Eastern carriers? It makes BA Club World feel like economy!

  • Martin says:

    28 Apr28 April 21:56

    I’m doing the CWLCY route Thursday and returning to LHR on the Mon sleeper service so I’m glad to hear pre flight eating was decent.

• uk_jm says:

  28 Apr28 April 09:16

  The new Tier points/Avios calc on BA seems to think there is no Business class between any London airport and Dublin. Not had time yet to check any other anomaly

  • Kathy H says:

    28 Apr28 April 10:18

    I noticed that too – thought it was just me being dense 🙂

    • James67 says:

      28 Apr28 April 17:42

      Yes, both EK some time ago and very recently QR. What you have to remember was that EK were still flying cradle and slopey seats long after BA introduced full flat CW. True that their current seats are larger and more comfortable, have bigger and more comprehensive IFE, and cabins have a nicer more spacious ambiance. But, if you fit a 20 inch seat does an extrabinch really make much difference, if you sleep most of the way does it matter if there is 6 or 8 seats across, does twice as many movies make any difference if you have seen all the ones worth watching already, in theses days of mobile gadgets is IFE even necessary? When it comes to food between the said airlines I don’t consider there to be a marked difference, when it comes to service I prefer BA, when it comes to privacy I still prefer BA too. All other carriers have been playing catch up and surpassing BA for a decade. In a couple of years BA will have their new a350s and hopefully new CW based around recent patents which will leave other J seats lagging again. The only question is whether BA will see that through and set the bar once more or if they will continue their current penny pinching and become the archtects of their own destruction.

• Callum says:

  28 Apr28 April 09:17

  Unless I’m reading it wrong that last bit makes perfect sense to me. Book a flight on BA connecting to AA and the BA segment will be priced as off peak if applicable. Book AA, US and BA and even if the BA segment is off peak you won’t be charged the cheaper price.

  Though that was pretty much the case before anyway with the weird multi-partner table.

  • Jason says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:31

    But if you book a flight with 1, one world partner, it infers you should benefit from off peak pricing, although it stated back in January all partner awards are priced at peak prices!
    Unfortunately if I try to look at Qatar pricing it says there is a problem and contact customer services.
    I have to call them later this week to book an inbound flight so I’ll ask then what the price would be.

    • Callum says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:44

      Those two facts aren’t mutually exclusive. While I’m not certain how it actually works, you can theoretically both benefit from off peak pricing and fly on a partner flight that doesn’t qualify. E.g. LHR-JFK on BA at off peak pricing connecting to JFK-MIA on AA at standard pricing.

• trickster says:

  28 Apr28 April 09:22

  Sad to see the demise of the RFS free domestic add-on. We’ve done a few of these in the past, and as a non-status passenger find them a nice way to do a city break.

  Only decided to book one trip MAN-LHR-MUC for next spring at the old rates a couple of nights ago. Was toying with other bookings, but decided not to.

  At least the domestic add-on remains free for long haul, even if the rates have gone up.

  • Andy says:

    28 Apr28 April 10:39

    I get the feeling a lot more people from the North West will be taking trips to Billund this year! I’m looking at that flight then staying in Aarhus for a long weekend, looks like a nice city.

    • trickster says:

      28 Apr28 April 12:22

      Just calculated the difference and it’s not as bad as I thought.

      If travelling in peak times, for the 3 of us a CE city break to MUC for exmaple would cost 70,500 Avios and £255 – up from 54,000 and £150.

      Compared to the cost of direct flights at peak times (assuming not booked well in advance at decent prices); coupled with lounge access all the way through, and food/drink on the plane, It’s still palatable and not out of the question.

      If these changes mean more availability and more likelihood to get the flights that work, we may still do breaks like these.

• guesswho2000 says:

  28 Apr28 April 09:38

  Are tier points in discount Y on partners affected? The TP calc would suggest not? A quick check LHR-SYD on BA=30TPs, on QF=60TPs?

• Andy says:

  28 Apr28 April 09:40

  Quick question – booked LHR-LAS last night outbound (return not available) applying Amex 241. Turn flight now available and on phone waiting to book this – will the return be priced at new Avios rate (outbound booked last night at old rate) or will old rate apply??!

  • Jason says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:44

    Should be at old rates. Did you not mention that when booking your outbound?

    • Andy says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:47

      Booked online rather than with an agent.

      • VP says:

        28 Apr28 April 09:51

        I asked this yesterday. I was told that it should be at old rate. Have you told the agent you will be booking inbound when available ? as they would then have left a note on your booking about it.

        • VP says:

          28 Apr28 April 09:53

          Sorry saw now that you mentioned you booked online. In that case, I am now aware as I was told it had to be booked through an agent and one had to specify that you are booking in bound later but all agents have varying degree of knowledge so I do hope you are able to book at old rates.

        • Andy says:

          28 Apr28 April 10:17

          Many thanks – agent has just confirmed that it will definitely be at old rate. Hope this info helps anyone in a similar situation.

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