Forget the Avios changes for now – just get booking!

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• Andrew S says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:53

  Wow.. never thought i would say this but i will benefit from these changes.

  The bulk of my points come from non-flying activities (CC, Tesco) and i mainly do short haul flying in economy. So i will benefit (significantly) from the new off peak pricing model.

  I also used to take advantage of free domestic transfers, but no real loss for me and will save the hassle of a spreadhsheet i maintain with nested travel.

  • Andy says:

    28 Jan28 January 22:26

    Yeah but how do you know there won’t be changes to the way way you collect Avios from non-flying activities now there is a new owner of Avios.

• jimmyjimmy says:

  28 Jan28 January 15:54

  Real kick in the teeth for the regions.
  Easyjet will love this news

• Doug says:

  28 Jan28 January 16:15

  What about off peak long haul economy? It seems to have a drop in price, unless I didn’t check it right I will be able to fly LHR-GRU off peak with less avios than today!

  • jason says:

    28 Jan28 January 16:25

    what is Ba’s definition of peak and off peak?

    • Jason says:

      28 Jan28 January 16:54

      Thanks

  • Brendan says:

    28 Jan28 January 16:33

    Is there even any point with the taxes they charge though?

  • nick says:

    28 Jan28 January 18:01

    But long-haul redemptions in economy are not an attractive or sensible way to use avios.

    • JQ says:

      29 Jan29 January 13:21

      They can be. Let’s hope BA continues to drop its carrier surcharges.
      I quite often redeem on long-haul economy non-BA flights to the UK (APD on departure makes it rarely worthwhile) and get 1p or more per avios.

• Scottnothing says:

  28 Jan28 January 16:18

  Completely agree Raffles. My early dismay at the incoming changes was quickly overtaken by joy when the added reward availability was loaded to the system during the course of today.

  For example, yesterday there was zero reward availability for Mykonos in July and August but loads this afternoon – I just booked a return CE fare from LCY on points that would have cost £700!

  In the long-run I expect these changes will make it harder for leisure-only travellers like me to retain Silver BA status (which is probably the intention) and will likely push me to do a more detailed price/service comparison between the various carriers.

  I have thought of myself as a loyal BA customer in the past, but today am thinking that I’ve probably been lazy rather than loyal. I do find myself justifying trips to retain status and find myself justifying spending to amass points without doing the homework to ascertain whether I am getting the best deal.

  So today I booked a trip to New York in F and several European trips in CE – destinations I had planned to visit but would not have paid a premium to travel in a “premium” cabin. It was cathartic to “dump” Avios while the opportunity presented itself.

  Over the next 12 months it will be interesting to see if Avios availability improves and if people like me, end up directing their short-haul spend to other carriers after the Avios and TP devaluations kick in.

  • BallSack says:

    28 Jan28 January 17:04

    Who in their right mind would pay £700 to go to Mykanos 😉

    • Scottnothing says:

      28 Jan28 January 17:13

      Haha … my crazy friends.

      Loved this article from the Indy today: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-airways-announces-radical-changes-to-frequentflyer-avios-points-and-reveals-new-way-to-help-the-rich-get-richer-10008471.html?cmpid=facebook-post

      Particularly this quote: Tony Anderson, former marketing director of easyJet, described Avios as “the crack cocaine of frequent-flyer points”.

• Umberto says:

  28 Jan28 January 16:20

  It is a very upsetting news. Especially for those who have just started and are putting a lot of effort into this. People who travel on business and don’t spend a penny of their money on BA are being rewarded more than people who actually spend money and are therefore loyal to them. I have no incentive whatsoever in flying with BA between London and Italy as I would make more mile by answering reviews online. I’d rather save and take easyjet.

  • BallSack says:

    28 Jan28 January 16:58

    ”
    People who travel on business and don’t spend a penny of their money on BA are being rewarded more than people who actually spend money
    ”

    That is very true.

    • Rob says:

      28 Jan28 January 18:12

      True. A good loyalty scheme should be trying to get additional spend from EVERY customer.

      Business travellers are not loyal in that sense anyway as they often have lock in BA deals at a company level. Why give more Avios to someone who MUST fly BA as policy?

    • Trevor says:

      29 Jan29 January 08:18

      Clearly this change is made by narrow-minded accountants – well known for not seeing the bigger picture and just crunching the numbers. They think “reward those who pay more” – seems simple enough, but what they miss is “reward and try to keep the business of those who have a choice.”

• Avios Devaluation Will Largely Affect Business & First Class - Travel Codex says:

  28 Jan28 January 16:39

  […] — what most people know better as Avios — that will take effect on April 28. (HT to Head for Points, the best authority on British […]

  • Fred says:

    28 Jan28 January 17:51

    This is what happens when you have a company that is no longer British owned , and has just used the Livery to fool the British public ,guess i am up the creek as a single (one Seat ) Traveler, when it comes to upgrading ,have already defected to Virgin for my Long Haul travel this Summer, bidding goodbye to my Bronze status with the phony BA, and i have been traveling with them going on Fifty Five Years transatlantic paying full fare. to Los Angeles, I knew the minute they brought ” TESCO ” on board that it was all over ., Brand Loyalty don’t make me laugh !

• BallSack says:

  28 Jan28 January 16:45

  Spotted on FTalk that Avios redemptions on partner carriers will now always be charged at the PEAK rate.

  So they’ve all just rocketed in avios cost.

  [QUOTE=chazman189;24249680]Hidden in the small print is that all partner expenditure is treated as “peak”
  [/QUOTE]

  That’s mean. That’s just really mean. So now even an off-peak club or first redemption on a partner carrier (with their lower fuel surcharges etc… of course as BA is a scam with those too !) will cost a lot more Avios ?

  Bloody hell. I hadn’t realised that. I thought at least the few hundred thousand I have piled up could still be efficiently used (unaffected) on partners.

  Oh now I’m truly p*ssed off.

  Can you send faeces via Roayl Mail ?

  • Umberto says:

    28 Jan28 January 17:07

    On top of that even off-peak redemptions are still more expensive. I went from London to Mumbai in Business and paid 100,000, now in off-peak I will have to pay 125,000 or 150,000 on a partner airline leaving from Europe.

• Melvin says:

  28 Jan28 January 16:45

  I have been saving points for three years in order to book CW seats for my family but it seems, as Raffles points out, that if you want more than two seats then, like me, you’re out of luck.

  I thought that they [BA] were saying there would be a minimum of two seats available however if you select three seats there is no availability in any month, full stop!

  • Andi Hawes says:

    28 Jan28 January 17:40

    i want 4 seats to Dubai… dont see any for 6 months

    • Rob says:

      28 Jan28 January 18:08

      This is the issue now. Does 2 seats mean not 4 seats? That is disastrous if so. Dubai frequently had 8 J. What about Abu Dhabi? Only 30 mins longer drive.

      • Jason says:

        28 Jan28 January 18:27

        Never seen 8J ,during school holidays, when you actually want to go to Dubai.

        • Andi says:

          28 Jan28 January 18:43

          Flexible. would like 5 to 7 days in Dubai with 2 very young [3 & 2] kids before its gets really hot

        • Rob says:

          28 Jan28 January 18:47

          Avoid Easter hols (which is 4 weeks for private schools) but just before or after would work. Stay at a beach hotel as public beach access is limited.

        • Rob says:

          28 Jan28 January 18:46

          Not in the school holidays, agreed!

        • Andi says:

          28 Jan28 January 21:04

          always with Beach 🙂 just getting there is the issue… getting there in style i mean

        • richie says:

          28 Jan28 January 21:03

          im not being funny buy you are asking for availability over easter 7 weeks out. you would be very lucky to get that many club seat on the same fight

        • Andi says:

          28 Jan28 January 21:04

          me? i’m not. i’m asking for anytime

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