Avios CEO on expanding the currency to more airlines and even hotels …. and a devaluation

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• Jonathan says:

  14 Jun14 June 09:13

  Earning Avios on BA flights is done by fare ticket type purchased, and distance if credited to a QR account

  • G says:

    14 Jun14 June 10:25

    But no tier points

• Mikeact says:

  14 Jun14 June 09:46

  And what with the millions of Avios, world wide, left lying around unused.
  My neighbour is just one who is dissolutioned…she signed up, thinking it would be a good way to get to Australia, and back. Her weekly Sainsbury’s shop is not going to do it.

  • Erico1875 says:

    14 Jun14 June 09:51

    If she switched to Aldi or Lidl, she could maybe save enough for a cash ticket😉

  • Jonathan says:

    14 Jun14 June 19:23

    She’ll be lucky to be going Paris anytime soon if she opts for the lowest cash element and highest number of Avios !

• L Allen says:

  14 Jun14 June 10:16

  The source of most Avios earning is interesting to me. Makes me think that BA is very keen to encourage more non-flying revenue which could ultimately see a worsening product and a degradation of the executive club. If no-one is flying, there’s no point putting in new seats, offering better food, providing good customer services, etc…

  • the_real_a says:

    14 Jun14 June 16:13

    Its free money isnt it? With the increase in flight redemption fees that more than cover the marginal cost of the flight the provision of the redemption is likely to be profitable too.

  • NorthLondonLiberal says:

    14 Jun14 June 18:47

    Avios is not a loyalty program, it’s more like the vouchers you used to get on the back of your shopping receipts in the 90s which you would sometimes use but generally wouldn’t unless you didn’t have anything better to do.

    There was a golden age in 2010-2018 where one could direct spending and credit card churns to obtain incredible Avios redemption value – and like most loop holes, this window was gently closed as profiteering increase, but that reduction was not sudden enough to startle the loyal points addicts – instead they reduced/modified the redemption options while at the same time letting the redeemable product for points and fee payers fall behind the pack.

    Tier points are about loyalty.

    Avios is about trying to justify your BA and non-BA spend in the hope you will be able to save money one day in the future.

    And about monetising your spend data.

    • PH says:

      14 Jun14 June 20:14

      Intentionally or otherwise, the scheme is a semi-hidden discount programme / price discrimination mechanism too. Four times over the last 12 months I’ve been able to buy East Coast CW returns for the dates I needed for ~£2K (max I will pay) – when the cash equivalent has been £4-5K each time. I achieve this using cash/Avios mix and topping up Avios balance via Boost. Putting in this extra work to book gives me a discount that corporate travellers and less price sensitive and/or ‘aware’ personal travellers cannot/do not access… it’s all rather economically efficient. I also get flexibility on the tickets per Avios redempton rules – albeit no status gain, despite having spent over £10K cash with BA/Avios in a year.

      • NorthLondonLiberal says:

        15 Jun15 June 03:16

        You make a very good point (pun intended) about the flexibility/value offered by making points bookings!

• Catalan says:

  14 Jun14 June 10:31

  @NigelthePensioner “BAEC is broken as is the airline” but you’re still doing your best to retain Gold! Why?
  I’m sure there are many airlines and mileage scheme out there that would suit your needs better.

  • Mikeact says:

    14 Jun14 June 12:32

    Absolutely, you need to play them at their own game.

  • Throwawayname says:

    14 Jun14 June 18:05

    Avios can be pretty valuable for some Iberia routes, but they don’t seem very useful for much else. Whether it’s the huge BA surcharges, the weak European network, the limited redemption opportunities to Asia (you’re basically out of luck if QR don’t have availability to where you want to go), or the complete absence of oneworld hubs in the vast area West of DOH and South of DFW/CMN, the BAEC value proposition is pretty poor for anyone who wants to earn and burn miles travelling to a variety of places around the world.

    Admittedly, if you are based in the UK and only/mostly collecting credit card points, there aren’t many alternatives, but anyone who flies often enough to have meaningful status should be better off with *G (and possibly Skyteam as the backup choice).

• Novice says:

  14 Jun14 June 11:13

  I have found that it is very hard to redeem if one wants to go to a certain destination at a certain time of the year. Most of my flights are cash bought and I don’t really base my decisions on whether I will get avios. I’ve always been a blue member and the highest I ever got was bronze but I am not bothered. Maybe when I am older, my behaviour will change but at the moment, if using avios I try my best to go from Europe because I don’t feel like it’s a reward if I am having to pay 100s in taxes.

• Tom R says:

  14 Jun14 June 14:36

  I don’t think I’ve spent Avios on a BA flight in over 5 years now. Since I’m not (and never was) London based then going there for European RFS flights made no sense. Most my Avios were from long haul flying I can’t do from my local airport. The “taxes and fees” -aka mostly fees for BA – on long haul are just outrageous compared to other international carriers. I now use Avios only on partner airlines (if lucky enough to find space). I’ve managed some internal US flights on AA for $5 in tax and under 10k Avois that would have cost $300-600 each way cash. It would be rare to get that value in the UK. Another recent journey from JFK to HND was £200 in taxes far lower than I’m ever going to pay with BA (without forking out extra Avios to reduce said “fees”)

• NorthLondonLiberal says:

  14 Jun14 June 16:52

  IAG Loyalty are hiring aggressively right now – job ads are all over the usual channels for a range of people to work out of swanky offices near Buckingham Palace – a long way from the dark recesses of Crawley where the original Avios team was originally based. Bless them for their service.

  It makes sense for Avios to seek to pitch itself as a digital currency with broad application and appeal. Otherwise Avios is just like the coffee stamp card you forget to carry with you.

  One day a management consultant will estimate how much shareholder value is spent on maintaining separate loyalty programs across the 10 largest schemes globally and then will unite her/his buddies from business school to develop a secure scalable, customisable centralised platform for managing loyalty schemes that boards of directors of the biggest players will lap up so as to provide “exceptional service to their customers and more efficient return on investment for their shareholders” and loyalty teams will be reduced to one person overseeing the outsourcing.

  • Nick says:

    14 Jun14 June 18:33

    ‘Swanky office’? It’s a wework 😂

    You’re right though… but in effect that’s what IAG have already done. Nearly everything is managed by a specialist loyalty company (AGL), and each opco is reduced to a tiny (and cheap) team of implementers.

    AGL is trying to mould itself on the US version where they sell as many points externally as possible and then account for the money wherever they can within the group. They absolutely hate people flying on other airlines – oneworld rules mean they have to offer it, but they’re desperate to avoid it as it means an outflow of cash from the group. Hence also the devaluation of nectar transfer rates.

    • NorthLondonLiberal says:

      14 Jun14 June 18:38

      OMG I should have Googled this. My bad.

      The last time I turned up to an interview at a WeWork it was for a role at RobinHood in 2019 and they withdrew from the UK market 6 weeks later because their product at the time was not visible, which I flagged to them.

      I am sure IAG loyalty is going to the moon though.

      • NorthLondonLiberal says:

        14 Jun14 June 18:49

        ^viable due to EU/UK rules on best execution

        Typo

    • Rob says:

      14 Jun14 June 19:44

      Yes, they’ve got half of the new 5th floor extension to the Victoria WeWork. Google is on 1 and 3 and WeWork has 2, 4 and 5. points.com is also in the same WeWork, and I work from there once a month or so if there’s no-one in the Bank office.

  • LD27 says:

    14 Jun14 June 21:22

    So they’ve sent BAH to the dark recesses of Crawley instead!

• Callum says:

  14 Jun14 June 18:08

  Have I completely missed the “devaluation” claimed in the headline?

  If it refers to him mentioning that prices would rise if they would be commercially sustainable, I think anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of what capitalism means already knew that!

  • Bernard says:

    15 Jun15 June 17:14

    Unfortunately the same CEO has apparently compared his business to Green Shield Stamps to investors.
    Oh dear

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