Forget the Avios changes for now – just get booking!

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• Tim says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:08

  I await the analysis but it cetainly appears that RFS has been effectively closed down for the vast majority of Britain. An overnight doubling in the RFS fee, after a very major hike recently already, and that from the previous zero fee under Airmiles, plus a hefty penalty in Avios for a ‘regional’ (sic) departure is two fingers up to most of Britaiin. BA should be stripped of their name. They should not be allowed the effective ‘British’ franchise without serving Britain. Better to give it to easyJet who do far more effectively with frequent, direct flights, lower fares than the new RFS regime and a more generous hand kuggage allowance.

  The only remaining value of Avios is with the lower tax One World partners on long haul in upper cabins. It is time to clear out the balance and move on.

  Thanks for the ride Raffles. It was fun while it lasted.

  Tim.

  • BallSack says:

    28 Jan28 January 15:17

    ”
    The only remaining value of Avios is with the lower tax One World partners on long haul in upper cabins. It is time to clear out the balance and move on.
    ”

    My conclusion too. I wonder if the BA-stards are expecting to be hit with having to dramatically reduce their outrageous fuel surcharges soon and as such are trying to compensate in advance.

    I doubt it though, if they reduce those surcharges by a large amount I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another hike in Avios redemption costs.

    • nick says:

      28 Jan28 January 18:07

      Those redemptions will, of course, all be based on the peak-time rate card.

      I really feel for people in the regions. Some of you will have spent a lot more money with BA than me here in London (lowly blue), but I actually benefit from these changes whereas you are effectively frozen out of the scheme. A bizarre way to run a “loyalty” programme, but that’s BA for you.

• BallSack says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:09

  I doubt this very, very much but perhaps its a pre-cursor to having to reduce the fuel surcharges by 50% soon ?

  Just a thought, but I think that’s giving the greedy BA-stards a bit too much credit.

  This is definitely a huge devaluation of benefits prior to a new owner taking over the Avios scheme.

• cpdc1030 says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:14

  Just seen the email – totally gutted. I have been very loyal to BA and have given them almost 100% of my business over the past few years.

  The reality is that most businesses now book travelers on discounted economy tickets, it’s not just leisure travelers.

  I will now be moving my business elsewhere. Flew AC 787 LHR-YYZ in J (not intentionally – BA rebooked me due to a delay). Completely blows Club World out of the water. 1-2-1 seating instead of 2-3-2 and the soft product is on par.

  Have one more Amex 2-4-1 to burn and then I need to consider how to best earning rewards – Amex cards will be cancelled shortly (except for the free MBNA Diamond Club card which is free).

• Chris says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:19

  I have no doubt Virgin won’t be following suit pretty soon.

  • James67 says:

    28 Jan28 January 20:06

    They will have to do something in response to BA economy off peak. Frankly, I expect they will devale UC, but somewhat less than BA.

  • Chris says:

    29 Jan29 January 00:05

    will be following I meant

• BallSack says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:20

  If I could use Avios for taxi fares I’d start burning them up travelling to & from the likes of Stanstead & Luton now for the lower cost airlines, which in the economy cabin short haul are pretty much the same as BA.
  Just take some nice noise cancelling headphones, some snack of your choice and a cushion for your back and its practically BA – except for when you get twenty drunken, screeching women off on a hed-do. Christ.

  • BallSack says:

    28 Jan28 January 15:41

    Someone call Uber and get them in on this…..

• Cheshire Pete says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:32

  Well obviously as a Manchester flyer it’s the final boot from BA. People forget the domestic was never ‘free’, it simply used up one if your Legs. That used to be 3 per sector then 2 when Avios came along and now obviously just 1.

  As others have said just going to burn my last 2 for 1 then it’s back to regional flights for me.

  Bye bye “London Airways”

  • BallSack says:

    28 Jan28 January 15:38

    Yep, anyone north of Watford would be best placed to find a new airline & loyalty scheme.

• Sebastian says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:33

  I’ve just got one word to say – Goodnight

  • BallSack says:

    28 Jan28 January 15:37

    Its only a good night if you’re in a first class flat bed and that just got much harder to do with Avios

    🙂

• Volker says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:50

  Some of the comments here are really doom and gloom – this is not the end of reasonably-priced premium travel. I feel a bit sorry for Raffles who will probably have a busy time ahead on his mission to make our hobby more accessible to others.

  Living in the regions, the biggest disadvantage to me is probably the changes to domestic feeders, but there are still some pretty cheap ways of getting to London. I’ve been burning hundreds of thousands of Avios on Club Europe flights (which I do enjoy) rather than premium long-haul, and as I usually travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (which are “off peak” all year) my hobby seems to have become even cheaper as those flights will require less Avios than today.

  • James67 says:

    28 Jan28 January 20:42

    The problem is we tend to factor in only the price of the redemption when the true cost is the price of collection plus the price of redemptions. For many here collection has not been cost-free, for example, games preorders. I have serious doubt as to whether there will be any remaining good value longhaul premium redemptions after the changes for most of us given reduced earning potential from flying (and what if tesco goes?) and the typical 50% and 25% increase in avios required for CW and F respectively. Whether you consider it reasonable ultimately depends what you compare it against and whether the avios you collected were really free (such as from work travel). For example, is £600-700 plus 180000 avios return J to say HKG or BKK reasonable when compared to a £1500 return J sale fare with AY that also earns you avios and TP, or a typical £1300 with China Airlines?89 Similar examples abound including the recent sub €1000 KLM offers. As I commented in the other post today care is needed to ensure we are not conned by BAEC and other such schemes. All that said, even after the changes, avios still looks good in comparison to some others but we should be wary of just accepting such a kick in the teeth and continuing to follow the program like sheep. There are also many unknowns if avios is sold off as seems very likely. May be a pesimist but I don’t foresee much in the way of positive changes then.

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