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Flybe to become full Avios ‘earn and burn’ partner, scrapping Rewards4All

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Flybe announced to the Stock Exchange this morning that it is abandoning its Rewards4All scheme with pretty much immediate effect, from Monday 27th October.  The company will become a full Avios partner at that point, allowing you to earn and spend Avios points across all Flybe services.

The announcement is below.  I will have a full analysis tomorrow but you can see the key points in this FAQ page.

The key question for me is whether Flybe becomes a Reward Flight Saver partner.  As I have written numerous times, taxes on Rewards4All redemptions are often HIGHER than the cost of buying a cash ticket on the same flight!  Unless this changes, it will be a bit farcical.

FLYBE ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH AVIOS
Flybe Becomes part of the Avios Travel Rewards Programme-

Europe’s largest regional airline, Flybe, has announced a significant new partnership with Avios, part of International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

The milestone agreement will take effect from Monday 27th October 2014 and marks another step by Flybe to offer more benefits to its customers, adding value to their flight purchase and providing a broader selection of redemption opportunities for points earned through frequent travel.

Avios operates the global Avios currency for the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Meridiana Club frequent flyer programmes as well as the Avios Travel Rewards programmes in the UK and South Africa.

The new partnership with Avios replaces Flybe’s existing Rewards4All frequent flyer programme. Rewards4All members will need to redeem their outstanding points within six months from today’s announcement. Redemptions can be made on flights up until 24th October 2015. To guide members through the redemption process, the flybe.com website will provide clear information on the process.

This agreement follows Flybe partnerships recently announced with booking.com, the world leader in online accommodation booking and STA Travel, which has established Flybe as ‘Preferred Partner for Student and Youth Travel’ with the world’s largest student and youth travel company with a 2.3 million database. It also follows a new codeshare agreement with Finnair and an interline agreement with Aer Lingus.

Saad Hammad, Chief Executive Officer, Flybe said:

“This agreement represents a significant service enhancement for Flybe customers – a big step change that opens up a new world of reward possibilities.”

“We join Avios following an extensive review of frequent flyer programmes, including our own in-house programme Rewards4All. We determined a better customer proposition existed, and the clear choice was Avios. There are 2 million customers with billions of Avios within 30 miles of a Flybe airport. “

“Our Avios partnership begins on the day we formally start our operations at London City Airport on October 27th, which is already proving an attractive option for the business traveller with daily flights from/to Edinburgh, Belfast, Aberdeen, Dublin, Inverness and Exeter. Flybe customers, and those we welcome onboard from our codeshare partners, are benefiting from our extensive UK regional flying network. Whether flying from Edinburgh to London City, Birmingham to Belfast or Manchester to Stornoway, it makes even more sense to Fly with Flybe!”

 Gavin Halliday, Managing Director, Avios, said: 

“This is an important partnership for Avios, building on our commitment to provide engaging collection and redemption opportunities for Avios Travel Rewards Programme members. Our members will benefit from access to even more reward flights and on new regional routes, as well as the new opportunity to collect when flying with Flybe.”  

Comments (35)

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  • jonboy says:

    if only they could find a way to give us tp’s… 😀

    As good a news as this looks on the surface, my guess is it ends up a bit of a crap deal, both earning and burning. shame as this would be great for me doing Newcastle – Exeter a few times a year.

  • sandgrounder says:

    Shame it’s not a proper scheme merger, I’m sitting on a massive 2 points I earned from a WIC-EDI-MAN avios redemption in August. Looks like they will go to the great points account in the sky now…. 🙂

  • Mikeact says:

    And about time too, but I wait with baited breath re Avios Burning.

  • nsfu says:

    R4A was pretty useless for redemptions but it did have the option of burning points on the lounge access card. No sign of a replacement for that in the FAQ, unfortunately.

  • guesswho2000 says:

    Wonder what this’ll mean for the Flybe credit card? Might actually have a sign up bonus worth going for!

    • sandgrounder says:

      One free flight for every £4k spent, same deal with taxes and charges as today.

  • neuromancer says:

    “plus airline taxes, fees and surcharges” does not sound as RFS at all

    • Trevor says:

      Agreed. The 4500 oneway shorthaul is standard whatever airline you do a redemption on with BA/Avios, but that “Plus…” sounds like bad news.

  • Wesley says:

    Can you transfer rewards for all points to avios or do you have to spend the points?

    • nsfu says:

      You have to spend them.

    • tony says:

      But it never used to be 70 points, did it? I’m thinking it was 35 for a single card and 50 for a dual one.

      Wonder if the problem is they’ve now realised there’s going to be a flood of people looking to burn points (and they’re all drawing the same conclusion that the current scheme is a bit crap…)

  • Toddy says:

    Anyone got any idea how to actually pair your avios number to your flybe account?

    The FAQs state within “my Account” but I can’t see anything……

    • JDuncan says:

      They are not ready to go yet – you cant add your avios number until the scheme actually goes live.
      Which sucks if you are flying next week.

      • Trevor says:

        But like other airlines/flights, you can probably claim your points retrospectively.

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