Get double Avios on British Airways flights to the USA

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• No longer Entitled says:

  7 Jul7 July 05:17

  Bookings to the US must be starting to soften.

  BA would do better trying to fill their planes with Americans. Double Avios (on a base fare) does little to tempt me to go and spend £’s in the US.

  • Nick says:

    7 Jul7 July 09:13

    They are. Exec club offers don’t do much in the US as most customers are in the AA scheme instead, but they are aggressively targeting rich Americans because (in the words of the CCO) ‘they’re the only people with money to spend at the moment’.

• ukpolak says:

  7 Jul7 July 06:35

  Am seeing more offers to the US on HUKD now too (and basically every comment thereafter about the need for a second mortgage to pay for accommodation and expenses once you arrive). One of the comments I found particularly amusing was their prediction of (next to) complementary flight tickets, subsidised to get you there given how much you’ll be putting hand in pocket once you arrive.

  If it does soften further, I wonder if they’ll reduce number of flights, or whether the flights are just funded by Biz customers up front.

  • Gordon says:

    7 Jul7 July 07:13

    As soon as I saw the article, I thought the same as the above two comments! £££

  • ianM says:

    7 Jul7 July 07:42

    Of course this is in large part due to the crappy exchange rate which in turn is mainly down to Brexit.

    • Gordon says:

      7 Jul7 July 08:25

      “Of course this is in large part due to the crappy exchange rate”

      1.28 USD to GBP, 1.18 Euro to GBP!
      It’s not largely down to the exchange rate, I can travel to many parts of Europe, and not feel like I’m getting ripped off!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jul7 July 09:43

        You need to compare what it was 20 to 10 years ago to what it’s been in last 10 years.

        USD was between 1.5 and 2 for 2004-2014 with an average around 1.6. It’s been better 1.2-1.6 since then with an average of about 1.3 so a 20% drop.

        While EUR was 1.15-1.45 with an average around 1.3 and been average 1.18 in last 10 so a 10% drop.

        So yeah going to the US has been hit harder by exchange and its also undeniable UK economy was hit hard after 2008 but then Brexit compounded the lack of growth in investments in the GBP.

        • flyforfun says:

          7 Jul7 July 12:10

          Bizarrely, I am just do a deep dive and clean into old paper work and came across my printouts and other docs for a trip I did to Las Vega, Los Angeles and Palm Springs in 2007. It was about $2 to £1 then and every looked so cheap – and definitely when you consider the prices here. Bought a pair of Bose NC head phones that I still use today on long haul Y travel. Half the price there than here!

          But now everything is so much more expensive there, even with a worse exchange rate. The way the recommended tips have gone up to 30% to 35% in some places is a real turn off. And how basically everyone who makes eye contact with you wants a tip makes me look elsewhere for my holiday now. I remember how in the AA F Lounge, even though we had vouchers for free drinks, it was still customary to tip the bar man $1 for each free drink. I get it’s their culture and poor salaries wait staff get paid, but I’d rather they were paid properly and the price you saw on the menu was the price you paid.

    • Rich says:

      7 Jul7 July 09:08

      Ian – you clearly know little about economics and conflating stories like this with the fact that we are not in the EU anymore has grown tiresome.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jul7 July 09:44

        It’s an undeniable fact it’s had an effect. Whats really tiresome are the deniers.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jul7 July 09:45

        commissioned by City Hall (1), also shows that London’s economy has shrunk by more than £30billion.

        The average Briton was nearly £2,000 worse off in 2023, while the average Londoner was nearly £3,400 worse off last year as a result of Brexit, the report reveals.* It also calculates that there are nearly two million fewer jobs overall in the UK due to Brexit – with almost 300,000 fewer jobs in the capital alone.

        The Mayor will tell the prestigious London Government Dinner that the UK “urgently needs to build a closer relationship with the EU” to help arrest the decline.

        • Callum says:

          7 Jul7 July 14:04

          I think you’ll find we don’t want to listen to experts who spend time researching things, we only want to regurgitate what “I reckon” (because my barely thought out, non verified ideas are as good as fact) or what the Daily Mail is telling us to be angry at this week.

          (If you want to be pro-Brexit for non-economic reasons be my guest, if you still think it’s been an economic success, I have no words…)

        • Danny says:

          7 Jul7 July 16:18

          Thank Brexit for the insane JPY to GBP rate I guess?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jul7 July 17:32

          No thank the Bank of Japan … but let’s ignore the two largest economic areas and focus on the one not doing so well.

      • RonnieB says:

        8 Jul8 July 13:16

        Only tiresome to those that think Brexit was a good idea!

  • Danny says:

    8 Jul8 July 10:54

    GBP has got stronger against most currencies over the past year. As said, are we blaming Brexit on the JPY being weak? Japan’s economy has been stagnant for decades… How about the strengthening in GBP against Thai Bhat and Taiwan Dollars?

    If the US wishes to have a strong currency let that be their problem.

• Mike says:

  7 Jul7 July 07:03

  Rob, not sure why you think this doesn’t include codeshare flights? The Ts&Cs clearly state ‘any fight with a BA prefix’.

  • G says:

    7 Jul7 July 07:31

    Must be BA operated, which would preclude codeshares.

  • Rob says:

    7 Jul7 July 08:55

    Keep reading down the T&C.

• r* says:

  7 Jul7 July 08:16

  Does anyone even look at how many avios theyll get from a BA flight now?

  Revenue based points for base fare only made it pretty irrelevant.

  • Scott says:

    7 Jul7 July 08:58

    Sometimes for long haul itineraries.

    Short haul, I know it’s pitiful. I e. 100 Avios for MAN-LHR in ET. Get more from spending £5 at Sainsbury half the time, or a £60 Holiday Inn Express.

    Not sure if it is,the exchange rate, or just greed? Shopping prices haven’t been decent in the US since say the 90s. Long gone are £30 Levis 501s compared to £60 in the UK. Half the time, it’s cheaper to buy on Amazon etc.

    Hotel wise, even in less touristy areas / out of the way areas, prices can be not too dissimilar to say Manhattan. Even the Wall Street area, generally dead at weekends, so used to be cheaper, is often on a par price wise with Times Square.

    £400-£600 a night last time I was in NY and that was during a cold, reduced tourist time. Actually flew to Miami and gad a couple of nights there for less than 1 night in NYC back in Oct/Nov.

    Junk fees don’t help either. Too many “$33 a night” for a newspaper, free gym access, $20 credit against a $25 coffee etc.

    Even my preferred IC in San Francisco charges a junk fee now, most of which covers things you get anyway (at least with some status).

    • Gordon says:

      7 Jul7 July 09:36

      @Scott – I visit the premium outlets when I am in the US, (very rarely now) that’s the only places I feel I can get value for money, you got me thinking about Levi jeans, I don’t wear them, but I have just called Costco wholesale in Thurrock Essex, and asked them for the price of a pair of Levi 501’s, and it’s £41.98 inc vat. No flying involved!

      • Kev I says:

        7 Jul7 July 15:05

        The difference used to be that buying 501’s in the states you got the real US made 501’s that were much better quality than the “fashion” 501’s that were sold in shops here that were made in places like Costa Rica and Turkey and sold at much higher prices than in the US where they were considered workwear and priced accordingly.

        • Gordon says:

          7 Jul7 July 15:13

          I’m not 100% sure on clothing at Costco, but being an American company, a lot of their non perishable items are imported from the US!

    • Mark says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:06

      Erm why should jeans in the US cost half of the UK price? The US is significantly wealthier than the UK, with average incomes nearly double and in the professional fields way more than that. It absolutely should be the case that the UK is cheap for American tourists, not vice versa.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jul7 July 18:23

        Because brands cater for different buyers in different markets globally and can be manufactured in other places / targetted at different price points even though it’s the same name, so workwear vs fashion in this case. However, Bicester can offer real bargains on Levi’s and other American brands. It’s not worth the trip or the extra weight in the suitcase if you ask me.

  • L Allen says:

    7 Jul7 July 09:41

    As Scott says, you can earn more Avios on your weekly shop than by flying these days. Makes me think that BA aren’t interested in encouraging bums on seats but are becoming a glorified shopping portal.

    • Scott says:

      7 Jul7 July 10:10

      Well, they want to fill seats up front at a premium price, and from BA flights I’ve taken, I’ve not seen an empty seat in CW yet to or from the US even with a £3k+ price tag.

      Sure someone said that Virgin, at least at MAN, were offering upgrades to UC (may have been online in advance?) for £200-£250 the other day. Quite a few people took that offer up unsurprisingly (even without a clubhouse and coffin style seats perhaps?)

  • Qrfan says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:56

    On a £5k fully flex ticket it is my only consideration. It earns more than pretty much any credit card sign up at 18 per £. Lots of comments here from a tourist perspective but business travel is seasonally soft at this time of year and 18 per £ of someone else’s money might bring a few trips forward…

• Paul says:

  7 Jul7 July 10:35

  Its the 22% minimum ‘suggested’ tip that gets me – basically they didn’t increase base earnings for waiters after covid, but just reprogrammed their tip terminals ! And they expect it for a simple coffee pour too ! Grrrrr

  • Gordon says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:04

    This is part of the problem, my last visit was Orlando in November, excluding the parks general costs, Example – daily parking at $35 and $55. Because that’s to be expected, But it was everywhere.

    • r* says:

      7 Jul7 July 11:50

      Because the US is now about charging the absolute most they can get out of ppl for everything and they dont even try to hide it now. The uk will be like it soon.

      Is it even possible to go to a uk restaurant without the 15pc automatically being added to the bill?

      Or buying tickets online that have a service fee or even better, a mobile delivery fee lol

      • Rob says:

        7 Jul7 July 12:14

        Very, very rare to find a 15% service charge in London. Not impossible, but rare. I’d say 85% are 12.5%.

        I hate to break it to you but businesses are not charities and they are out to maximise what they can make. The system even guarantees this – if a quoted company was not trying to maximise profits, it would quickly be taken over by another company which saw easy money in quickly increasing prices. Waitrose and John Lewis, for example, would have been taken over 50 years ago if they were quoted companies given the low profit margins they make, but they are protected by their partnership status.

        If HfP was a quoted company it would have been taken over a long time ago by someone who thought they could triple revenue by putting 5x the ads on each page, inside articles, a few video pop-ups etc.

        • r* says:

          7 Jul7 July 13:01

          Things like automatic service charges and charges for a mobile ticket are just dishonest charges tho, rather than companies trying to make profits. Add the service charge to the menu prices and I dont have an issue, hide it behind automatically being added to the bill as a service charge, and I do. Surely the cost of a meal should include the service, its not like an addon.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jul7 July 12:25

        Yes pretty much everywhere 10% is normal 13-15% in some restaurants in London but that’s not the UK

        Importantly no expectation of tips at cafes, coffee shops, pubs, bars etc try finding that in the USA

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jul7 July 13:21

          Meant to say whole UK obviously

        • Danny says:

          7 Jul7 July 16:20

          Service charges are rare at restaurants in Yorkshire unless it’s a large group

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jul7 July 23:11

          The case in most the U.K. once it’s no longer a hotel then it’s up to you and most just decline the tip if it’s via card. It’s quite interesting seeing staff actively hit cancel on card machine that ask for a tip at the bars ghat also serve food for example

          I’ll happily tip 5/10%/round up for table service in the UK if they deserve it and have never had any staff look disappointed or angry like they are in the USA

• Pookie says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:25

  There really isn’t anything BA can do to convince me to ever fly with them again. I’ve had one too many awful experiences with them and now give me business to other airlines, and I’m a business / first class flyer who pays for his own travel.

• G says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:37

  Absolutely no desire to go to the USA.

  Awful food, loud obnoxious people and money doesn’t go anywhere near as it used to do since 2008.

  I already have that in the UK.

  BA devaluing avios for all those except on last minute or on full flex fares doesn’t incentivise me either.

  • G says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:38

    And tipping culture and politely bugger off!

  • Andrew. says:

    7 Jul7 July 17:29

    Can say the same for lots of places in the UK.

    Had the most disappointing haggis supper in a Scottish City in recent weeks and whilst we were working our way through it on the station platform my mate ended up calling 999 to break up two NED factions going at it.

    When BTP arrived the NED they arrested was just as loud as any American. In fact I think the Stenhousemuir triangle accents are about the closest you can get in the UK to Milwaukee. It’s like a combination of Sturgeon, comedy Liverpudlian and claws down a blackboard.

    Couldn’t understand a word of it

• Peter says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:50

  Does rebooking an existing flight after registering for the promotion make it qualifying?

  • Rob says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:57

    If you fully cancel, yes. Amending a booking which keeps the same booking reference won’t.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.