British Airways to pay 2.2 billion Avios points to settle a US Class Action lawsuit settlement

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• Mikeact says:

  1 Jun1 June 18:57

  It all makes my high six fìgure stash look a bit feeble….

  • the real harry1 says:

    1 Jun1 June 19:53

    quick! buy some wine 🙂

• konstantinos alesandro papadopoulos says:

  1 Jun1 June 19:36

  To be honest, I think that BA will make changes soon and to make it much more difficult for people to enjoy their travels. Over the past few years I think it has been obvious that the paying customer has been hit hard. The only thing I can think is that the redemption customer has not taken a BIG whack since 2015, which, to BA must seem like a big lifetime ago. Interestingly it appears that earnings rate across the one world team is fairly consistent unlike some other alliances, so if they want to make big changes, they may not want other alliances to offer a better deal, otherwise no one would waste on their terrible deals – the economy redemption half offer, as a case in point. So I just wonder whether it will be a few very basic changes. A reduction in the number of zones for example, and a more continental approach. One rate in same continent, and one rate between continents. That way they can the spin of an efficiency. LHR-JFK return = 100k in economy. 200k in business. 300k in first.

• Mark says:

  1 Jun1 June 20:16

  Thanks for the heads up re potential devaluation. We’ll probably try to bring forward some of our spending as we normally use avios to book expensive flights.

  Looking at the amount of Avios they’ll be awarding, I would expect the payout will hit American domestic redemptions harder than BA flights. Now i wonder if that IT glitch really is a glitch lol.

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  1 Jun1 June 20:51

  Made me click.

  Won’t make me spend.

  The award is small compared to the amount being issued annually and in circulation. One thing is for certain though, the devaluation will occur. They always do. We each run credit risk to BA. Always worth considering how best to mitigate this.

  • Genghis says:

    1 Jun1 June 21:16

    Earn and burn

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      1 Jun1 June 21:51

      Best strategy there is.

      • the real harry1 says:

        2 Jun2 June 06:20

        Some people don’t really have the choice (or manufacture for themselves a situation where they think they have no choice). I am forced to stash points because until the kids leave home for university, we won’t be taking any long haul flights. Perfectly good holiday home in the European sun (sunk costs) vs 5x LH redemptions & hotels? No contest.

        So I stash the points, BAEC & Virgin together look very healthy as a total but obvs won’t once we start redeeming properly on LH. Yes I will be somewhat p’d off if devaluation robs me of some value but I’d rather be where I am, ie plenty of points all ready to go once the green light shows – as opposed to squandering them earlier than necessary.

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        2 Jun2 June 08:07

        One’s circumstance doesnt detract from the best stratergy.

        To be fair, I dont follow it myself. I tend to travel where I want and if airline or hotel points help I will use them, if not I’ll go all the same. Life is too short to allow points to dictate my travel. It’s also sometimes too convoluted with two school age kids and limited windows.

        That said, in not burning the points and holding a large balance I accept the risk I am running. As long as people consciously do the same all is well and good. The danger is sleep walking into devaluation.

      • Evan says:

        2 Jun2 June 18:12

        No body is forcing anyone to stash points or for that matter earn them in the first place. Plenty of cash back cc options out there or other ways to spend one’s time rather than buying/selling ink cartridges. I’m with Mr(s) Entitled – earn and burn is best strategy, although of course some folks might only accrue fairly slowly. I use points airline or hotel when it helps out with my own plans – but again I’m lucky enough to be in that position.

      • the real harry1 says:

        3 Jun3 June 11:55

        Laughable answer, @Evan. The only possible answer is: YMMV, horses for courses, what works for you best.

        Nobody mentioned some ill-defined person forcing me to stash points, not sure where you got that from.

        Earn & burn is definitely not the golden way, the correct answer, the right way to go —> for some people, including mygoodself 🙂

• A says:

  1 Jun1 June 21:20

  So not applicable to UK members who redeemed ex-US one ways or rtns?
  I did – a lot.
  I can’t honestly remember what address I put down when booking (probably a Ukraine address ) but my BA account has remained UK based to keep the BA amex, even though I reside in the US.

  • Peter K says:

    1 Jun1 June 21:39

    In which case you’ve no doubt saved far more than the 35k (max) avios the Americans will get.

• Tom1 says:

  1 Jun1 June 21:38

  BA might also get some more business out of it.
  I wonder how many of the beneficiaries will use the points for their own flights, and buy a cash ticket for another person.
  I can’t imagine BA is first choice for many US travellers, but given a stash of Avios to subsidise one ticket, it might be more tempting.

  • Callum says:

    1 Jun1 June 23:12

    I’d guess American users are more likely to use them on AA than BA.

    If they’re redeeming for AA short haul I’d assume BA would be paying AA quite a bit?

    • GUWonder says:

      2 Jun2 June 15:09

      If everyone entitled to this took BAEC Avios points and redeemed them all for AA flights, the amount of money AA would get from BA for this would be well less than $15 million, and probably several million below even that amount.

      BA/IAG should be hoping everyone opts into the Avios option rather than into the cash option. Why? Because it would mean a much lower cash outlay for BA/IAG than the alternative.

• Charlie T. says:

  1 Jun1 June 23:37

  According to the Avios Group Ltd accounts for 2016, 102 bn Avios were issued in 2016 and 84bn burned. I can’t see an increase in issuance of an incremental 2bn causing a material effect on the value of the currency especially when the stash of unused Avios most stand north of 50bn.

  Whether IAG use it as an excuse to trim their liability through a devaluation for the hell of it is another question.

  The number that really shocked me was their profit before tax of £171m. I know Rob has called AGL a cash cow more than once but I hadn’t realised the extent.

  • Rob says:

    2 Jun2 June 10:27

    It will be £200m for 2017 I was told.

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  2 Jun2 June 08:11

  I lived in the US during the entirety of this period. Unfortunately my BAEC account was registered in Portugual to take advatange of the lower teir point thresholds.

  You win some, you lose some.

  • Rob says:

    2 Jun2 June 10:25

    Mine was in Germany (although I was in the UK!)

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