British Airways increases change fees 40% to £35, and even Gold members must pay

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• squills says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:04

  I think I get it. Gold Cardholders get double the points when they fly. The can redeem Avios the same as us plebs (but get better availability). Changes here would still cost money as in the article.

  When there is no regular Avios seat availability, Goldees can use twice the Avios to buy a Gold Priority Reward seat. It’s just these that will still be fee-free to change.

  ‘Making it easier to spend your Avios

  Spending your Avios is one of the most rewarding parts of the Club, and we understand the importance of being able to spend them on the flight you want, when you want. As a Gold Member you’ll get access to additional reward seats in economy cabins at the standard price.

  If there is no availability in your chosen cabin or on the flight, with the Gold Priority Reward you have the option of using double the regular Avios to secure a seat of your choice on the flight, providing you book 30 days or more in advance. All you have to do is call us to make the arrangements’

  • Rob says:

    1 Apr1 April 10:02

    Only in truly desperate straits would I use a priority award though!

    • BlackberryAddict says:

      1 Apr1 April 13:02

      I’ve recently done my first one ever – revenue ticket to a European destination was over £500 (in economy), so it was worth paying 60k Avios (for two seats) to save around £1000. Avios rich and cash poor and all that…

• Chris Sutter says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:12

  I’d love to say exactly how I feel about this, but I fear I’d have a hard time doing so without the assistance of a great many choice four letter words.

  You are right Raffles, this means that even the greatest optimist (me) struggles to see the value of Gold now. Galleries First is nice, but not 900TP nice. And if they can kill this benefit overnight, who knows what’s next?

  Time to diversify I think.

• Mikeact says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:29

  Perhaps I might be able to get my hard to come by Aus flights now. Last time I went, a guy was bragging out loud how he had cancelled out bookings…now I see.

• Paul says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:33

  Firstly no one should be surprised that BA has enhanced the offer in this way. They are a Fee ridden airline and it is now almost impossible to do anything without incurring a fee.
  Secondly, their fees are and always have been disproportionate. Be that fuel surcharges, services fees or credit card rip off fees.
  Thirdly if you keep flying with them and paying these fees they will simply raise them…again and again and again. So to that extent as passengers we only have ourselves to blame.
  All that said, I am a silver card holder and so there is an element of schadenfreude. When the club was launched a while back the rationale for fees was that people were booking and cancelling at the last minute. The only passengers who could reasonable do this and have an impact on availability, are those with gold cards and miles a plenty. Yet they were excluded from the fees. This change will hopefully result in fewer smug Gold card holders, prevalent on FT and BT, providing unstinting vocal support to BA on any and all matters from today.
  For the rest we need to rely on forums such as this and support campaigns to increase competition, which is the only way any change in behaviour at BA will be brought about.

  • Mikeact says:

    1 Apr1 April 08:52

    It’s not just BA on high fees….you should see what I have to pay with KL/AF…hence we start in AMS , sometimes CDG.

• Phil says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:36

  I don’t think this is anything significant. If GOLD members are NOT making multiple bookings (as Raffles has suggested they don’t), then there is nothing really to worry about.
  In the rare event plans have to be changed, then costs still manageable.

  • Martin says:

    1 Apr1 April 09:14

    I agree, the costs are manageable. Raffles has suggested he thinks GOLDS don’t do this (unsure how true that maybe) but if it’s the case that they do then maybe the by product of the charge is more availability on redemptions. Avios are hard earned and becoming increasingly difficult to spend on the long haul flights you really want.

  • Rob says:

    1 Apr1 April 10:01

    You clearly don’t have a pile of kids – which, of course, disproportionately increases the chance that a member of the family falls ill and a trip has to cancelled.

    • mikeact says:

      1 Apr1 April 10:16

      Insurance ?

      • John says:

        2 Apr2 April 01:13

        which will tell you to ask for a refund…

• JB says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:41

  Surely the lack of upfront booking fees on reward flights remains one of the top benefits of gold (if you have the avios) – or am I missing something?

  • Chris Sutter says:

    1 Apr1 April 09:17

    What do you mean by upfront booking fees? As a Gold you pay exactly the same amount at exactly the same time as anyone else.

    • JB says:

      1 Apr1 April 10:11

      Really? I am a silver member so not sure on this but the Compare the Tiers section on BA has a line for Gold members only reading “No booking or service fees on reward flights, hotel stays and car rental” – grateful for any help to explain what this means or if it is now out of date?
      http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits/compare-the-tiers

      • Chris Sutter says:

        1 Apr1 April 10:27

        It’s now out of date. Apparently it’s too much work for BA to simultaneously screw its members over and change text on their website 😉

  • Rob says:

    1 Apr1 April 10:00

    The comment on the ba.com page refers to Golds who book ‘priority rewards’ ie book a seat on ANY fligt using double the usual number of Avios points. This, admittedly, remains a benefit. However, it cannot be combined with a 241 and is pretty poor. New York would be 160,000 Avios + £550 tax in Club World, for example, which is very poor compared to the cash price in a sale. It works well for emergencies though.

    No way, though, would I blow 640,000 Avios + £2000 to get the family to Dubai on a ‘priority’ award!

    • JB says:

      1 Apr1 April 10:23

      Thanks both. How disappointing, that is a much less valuable benefit than it first appears from the initial description.

      Gold no longer seems worth aiming for. I hope BA get this point loud and clear from feedback and the online backlash and revise this policy. It seems a shoddy way to treat its most loyal group of customers.

      • John says:

        2 Apr2 April 01:15

        Most loyal would be GGL and Concorde Room card holders…who get to give out free Gold cards to their friends anyway

        Too many Golds may be a reason

• CT says:

  1 Apr1 April 08:47

  For me the biggest kicker here is booking for the family during holidays. I am looking to book 4 F tickets to NYC so already paying a large fuel fine anyway. Because of specific dates I would book the outbound as soon as it opens and a nominal return in any cabin and then as soon as the return opens or one as close to it as possible change it. I would only do this to secure the outbound flight.

  Now the little exercise becomes another £140 more expensive.

• Polly says:

  1 Apr1 April 09:55

  I too have heard about multiple cancellations from people, and I only hope this change will open up more availability for those of us who can only make one 241 per year long haul. If business travellers continue to do it, it won’t make much difference to long term planning.

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