Flybe joining Avios – 13 key questions answered

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• Clive J says:

  11 Oct11 October 07:15

  Great piece of work Raffles, in such a short time. So this looks like window dressing from FlyBe. Getting into bed with Avios was a good opportunity for FlyBe to prove itself as a mainstream carrier in the UK, but their marketing boys seem to have misread the loyalty market.

  • JQ says:

    11 Oct11 October 08:55

    The loyalty market is wider than H4P readers.

    That’s why you get the occasional letter to the travel section of major newspapers complaining about how Avios are rubbish.

• Paul says:

  11 Oct11 October 07:45

  Firstly I do wish that the word tax was not used. This money does not go to the treasury it is pocketed by the carrier or by Avios.
  Secondly the cancellation administration charge of £25 per person per sector is utterly scandelous. It would cost a family of 4 £200 to cancel a domestic flight and this fee must be disproportionate to work required. I am no lawyer but wish there could be some sort of class action to challenge these fees overall as we do seem to be getting ripped off in the UK.
  These fees were once a fuel surcharge but despite record low oil prices the costs have not fallen. In any event many airlines and BA in particular no longer call them fuel surcharges but now carrier fees.
  Even when the operating carrier does not charge fee or indeed there are any taxes or fees, BA often charge hundreds of pounds for a booking and then retain that money. This surely cannot be right.

  • squills says:

    11 Oct11 October 09:20

    Paul, you lost me, APD most certainly IS a form of taxation https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty

• Volker says:

  11 Oct11 October 07:47

  “Flights under 650 miles per leg will cost 4,500 Avios points per leg and flights up to 1,150 miles will cost 7,500 points.”

  LHR-TXL-LHR in BA economy costs 9,000 Avios. GLA-LHR-TXL-LHR-GLA requires the same amount of Avios which is great for people living in the regions. Will Flybe offer anything similar? With regard to your statement above the answer is no. What a pity.

  • JQ says:

    11 Oct11 October 08:57

    Yeah but this (free domestic on BA redemption + additional 500+ avios for paid flights) is because the only place BA flies from Scotland is London.

    • squills says:

      11 Oct11 October 09:45

      EDI-IBZ direct was fun this summer 😉

      • JQ says:

        12 Oct12 October 07:13

        Yes yes but it’s not coming back

• Snoogles says:

  11 Oct11 October 07:48

  Avios changes and calcellatiions.

  If you wish to Change your booking
  D.3.1 Changes to bookings for Reward travel on flights operated by Airline Partners are permitted via our Customer Services Department only in respect of date, time, class and service. Such changes may only be made by the Member or an individual nominated in accordance with Section B.4.6. If more than one price option is available for a flight, it is not possible to change the price option chosen by a Member after a booking has been made. All permitted changes are subject to capacity limitations and may not be made after the time 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure of the first flight in the Reward travel itinerary. Unless otherwise stated a per person fee of £35 will be payable for each permitted change. For the avoidance of doubt, name changes are not permitted.
  D.3.2 The route applicable to a Reward travel booking may be changed provided that the new route selected would, as at the date the change is requested, require the redemption of the same amount of Points and/or cash as was redeemed in making the original booking. Route changes are only permitted for Reward travel bookings which (other than for the payment of taxes, fees and charges) are purchased using Points only.
  D.3.3 Unless otherwise stated if you have a standalone hotel, car hire or ancillary booking a per product fee of £35 for each change made will be charged in addition to any fees levied by the Partner. Changes are not permitted inside 72 hours of travelling. Some hoteliers,and ancillary providers may not allow amendments, in which case you will be required to cancel (subject to clause D.5.4 below) and re-book.
  D.3.4 If you wish to change your Eurostar booking a per product fee of £35 will be charged for each change made in addition to the Eurostar fees.
  D.3.5 If you wish to change a flight booking where you have used Points to obtain a discount on a cash fare, the published fare rules applicable to that booking will apply in addition to the £35 per person change fee.

  If you wish to cancel your booking

  D.5.1 Unless otherwise stated a per person fee of £35 will be charged if bookings for Reward travel on Airline Partners are cancelled by the Member prior to departure. Provided a cancellation is made more than 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure of the first flight in the Reward itinerary the Points charged for the Reward will be re-credited to the Member’s account.
  D.5.2 If flight bookings for Reward travel are cancelled by the Member within 24 hours of departure, Points in respect of the Reward will not be re-credited to the Member. In the event you are prevented from travelling by an Event Beyond Your Control we will refund your Points provided you have an unused Reward, have informed us promptly and provided evidence of the Event Beyond Your Control and paid the applicable £35 per person fee.
  D.5.3 Failure to utilise a Reward flight i.e. “no show”, will result in the airline’s cancellation of any onward or return reservations and Points cannot be re-credited.
  D.5.4 Unless specified otherwise if you cancel your hotel, car-hire or ancillary booking we will charge you a per product fee of £35 in addition to the fees set out below,
  Period Before your departure date Percentage of refund
  15 or more days 100% refund
  14 to 8 days 75% refund
  7 to 4 days 50% refund
  Up to 3 days 0% refund
  D.5.5 A per product fee of £35 will be charged in addition to any fees levied by a Partner for any cancellations. on any non Airline Partner booking.
  D.5.6 Some of our hotels may have different cancellations terms to those given above. We will tell you if this applies to you when you make your booking and at this time you will be advised of the cancellation policy.
  D.5.7 If you wish to cancel a flight booking where you have used Points to obtain a discount on a cash fare, the published fare rules applicable to that booking will apply in addition to the £35 per person change fee. If you are due a refund any Points paid will be refunded first followed by the cash paid.

• jonboy says:

  11 Oct11 October 07:58

  The earn rate might be crap and the redemptions non existent or bad value, but it’s not all bad I guess. I suspect like most people I never collected their points anyway, so at least now I get something when I fly with them. Better than the nothing I was getting before but not no more than that.

• sandgrounder says:

  11 Oct11 October 08:18

  Has much changed here? Not really. All this big announcement gives us is the chance to earn a small amount of Avios per booking.

  This is a worse scheme for regular Flybe flyers as they would need to fly 70 return flights similar to your example above to earn a zone one return, and they can’t earn a lounge pass. There is very little change for the rest of us as redemptions were already allowed. Availability will possibly change, but we will have to wait and see which way it goes.

• Erico1875 says:

  11 Oct11 October 08:43

  I am hoping maybe the taxes etc may change when they officially start.
  At the moment rtn taxes etc for hand luggage Monarch redemptions on Avios.com are £40. They do automatically add hold luggage but you can get it removed

• squills says:

  11 Oct11 October 09:33

  RFS ALERT!

  Just checked ‘our’ European destination and suddenly there is amazingly good RFS/ Avios availability for 2015, even wrapping around school holidays! I check regularly and it’s not been this good for yonks.

  Worth a quick check on ‘your’ destination if you need to make plans.

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