British Airways trialling revenue-based Avios flight redemptions on North American routes
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Very quietly, British Airways is trialling revenue based redemptions via the call centre for routes to North America.
We are a bit slow off the mark here. A reader told me last weekend that he had been told revenue-based redemptions were coming this Monday, but given the need to give 30 days notice for major Avios changes I was wary. Monday then came and went without any announcements or news.
Something was indeed stirring, however.
This is all very restrictive at the moment. According to experiments over at Flyertalk, it appears that:
You need to be a US or UK BAEC member
You can only book North America routes
You can only book Club World
You can only do it where I-class (the cheapest non-refundable) seats are available for cash – these seats are usually available until 3-4 weeks before departure
You cannot use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher
No-one seems too clear on how the pricing is being calculated. It appears to be based roughly on the I-class cash price – perhaps averaged out over a period to avoid charging different amounts for different flights on the same day – multiplied by something close to 0.5p per Avios.
However …. you retain the ability to cancel for £35. This is potentially the most interesting point of the exercise.
Typical pricing, for example, is 224,000 Avios return to Los Angeles and 194,000 Avios return to JFK, plus taxes.
This would make sense at around 0.5p per Avios:
The taxes and charges on a Club World seat to JFK are £669
0.5p x 194,000 Avios is £970
That implies a cost of £1,639
….. which is in line with standard I-class pricing if you stay a Saturday night – except that you can cancel the Avios ticket and there does not appear to be a Saturday night rule here.
Is this a good move?
Regular readers will know that anything which improves choice when redeeming is generally OK by me.
At present, a British Airways Executive Club Gold member can force open ANY seat – 30+ days before departure – for double Avios. I explain Gold Priority Rewards here. What BA is doing here is:
open to everyone, not just BA Gold members, and
better value than the ‘double Avios’ cost of a Gold Priority Reward
On the downside, you are tied to I-class availability which is not always there. We also need to find out how ‘fixed’ this pricing is, and whether it varies from flight to flight and day to day as cash prices move.
You also need to wonder what happens now to ‘part pay with Avios’? At the moment, you can use Avios to get a SMALL discount on a cash ticket. However, you cannot pay for the full ticket and the tickets remains non-refundable.
(Virgin Atlantic lets you pay for your ENTIRE flight using miles at 0.6p per mile – but, again, the original flight rules remain and the ticket is non-refundable.)
As long as it is IN ADDITION to standard Avios availability then I am fine with it. Etihad Guest has been doing something similar for years and it seems to work OK.
Of course, whether there are lots of people willing to redeem 194,000 Avios + £669 for a Club World return to New York, on a day when a cash ticket is around £1,600, is a different question.
Where we will end up ….
…. I think, is the full merger of cash and Avios booking. You will only have one booking route, not separate miles and cash booking pages, perhaps with Avios options disabled if you are not logged in. This would show:
cash (with the ability to redeem some Avios for a partial discount)
100% Avios via standard reward availability
100% Avios using 0.5p per point, but with cancellation available
This is only my guess, however. At present, this is only a trial and – given it is only available by telephone, for a premium price and does not allow the use of a 2-4-1 voucher – I doubt it will be much of a success.
PS. A different question, of course, is …. if BA is still selling the cheapest non-refundable seats for a flight, why isn’t it opening up standard Avios seats instead of going down this route?
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
30,000 points (TO 9TH DECEMBER) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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