Avios facts and figures from the 2024 IAG results

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• Chris says:

  1 Mar1 March 05:44

  Interesting comments by Sean Doyle on the earnings call suggesting that they haven’t seen any change in booking behaviour from exec club members despite the gutting of the loyalty programme.

  • dundj says:

    1 Mar1 March 06:02

    It will be more interesting seeing the guidance in 18 months and the figures announced in 24 months which is the time frame that most Club members will have lost or stopped attempting to keep status with Avios issuing airlines.

    However, if people are just going to move from BA to IB/QR/AY (as has been suggested by some commentors on here) the numbers may not be lower at all, rather the earning spread will shift within the group.

    • NigelthePensioner says:

      1 Mar1 March 06:26

      👍🏻

    • jj says:

      1 Mar1 March 07:51

      Many will grumble, a few will change. Most BA customers won’t care and will carry on as before.

      • patrick C says:

        1 Mar1 March 08:54

        Actually many will not credit to BA anymore. My avios will go mostly to qatar. There is a difference between use of avios and exec club. They are only partially related. You may actually have more short haul business class redemptions to maintain lounge benefits etc.
        The truth is that BA will probably sell less flights, but as this article shows, that’s not where the money is. It is likely more profitable to sell fewer seats, more short hall J avios tickets paid for by 3rd party avios then giving out status easier.

        It does mean though that BA will loose loyalty as an airline which will, over time, reduce the premium it can charge above Ryanair.

        In my case i will likely put any work flights somewhere else. Buy might still book the occasional club europe ticket…

    • dundj says:

      1 Mar1 March 12:46

      I can add to this now I’ve landed, there may be a 12 to 18 month bounce at BA itself as people heavily utilise their status before it goes and look to match elsewhere towards the end of that period.

      Afterwards and hence the 18 to 24 month timeline when it comes to guidance and results is you then see if they have kept the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

  • david says:

    1 Mar1 March 06:34

    I saw it and first thing I thought was “would he say anything different?”. Even Titanic ticket sellers were selling tickets whilst it was at the bottom of ocean so I would not read into that too much.

    • JDB says:

      1 Mar1 March 06:47

      Except there are not only very strict rules about information provided to the market (which includes earnings calls) but they are strictly enforced; you can be supremely confident that Mr Doyle’s answer was truthful and not designed to mislead.

      • Chris says:

        1 Mar1 March 08:01

        Precisely

      • kevin86 says:

        1 Mar1 March 08:32

        Can’t believe people are suggesting stuff on an earnings call is made up.

        Madness

        • Callum says:

          1 Mar1 March 09:01

          Do you not live in modern society?

          Most people obviously have no idea what rules surround the information given out in earnings calls. We’re in 2025 so clearly the best way to resolve that knowledgeable gap is to blindly guess based on your personal bias – looking up information is so passé.

      • Neil says:

        1 Mar1 March 09:06

        Rubbish. Have a listen to some of the recent earnings calls from Aston Martin.

        Not suggesting IAG were misleading but to suggest companies never mislead on earnings calls is nonsense.

• NigelthePensioner says:

  1 Mar1 March 06:25

  It was probably BA who spent £11k at the Wine Flyer to stock their Club Class cellar!! 😂
  You’ve witnessed the durge they pour?

  • Jimbo says:

    1 Mar1 March 07:05

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

• ed_fly says:

  1 Mar1 March 07:10

  Do they publish a figure for the number of Avios which expired over past 12 months due to inactivity?

  • BBbetter says:

    1 Mar1 March 08:01

    They’ll never publish that.

    • JeanVa says:

      1 Mar1 March 13:56

      You can actually work it out from their filings.
      E.g. the IAG annual report mentions « a 5 percentage point in breakage would mean a £Xm impact…. »
      I think in IAG Loyalty’s company house filings they give more detail than that even.

• Andrew Halket says:

  1 Mar1 March 07:16

  Isn’t it going to be a problem that 25% more Avios were collected every hour than were spent. There’s 4million extra Avios unredeemed being added.

  Trying to work out what could be problematic with this…

  • Rui N. says:

    1 Mar1 March 07:26

    Nothing for consumers. Let other people accumulate and don’t use them. For Avios is a liability, but it’s also eventually written off.

• Andrew Halket says:

  1 Mar1 March 07:17

  Didn’t even realise BA flew to San Sebastián… pretty sure I looked when Springsteen announced a concert there…

  • Captain Haddock says:

    1 Mar1 March 07:56

    IAG results not BA….

  • Pbdj11 says:

    1 Mar1 March 08:21

    Only from City airport

    • Richie says:

      1 Mar1 March 09:35

      LCY-EAS is a seasonal route, I think it starts later this month.

• tomtom135 says:

  1 Mar1 March 07:25

  Pretty strong results from IAG, what they’ve been doing is obviously working – so why make such sweeping changes to BAEC? Despite overplayed by a lot of the people on here impacted negatively it’s still an economic risk and could backfire. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

  • JDB says:

    1 Mar1 March 07:32

    “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” is generally a good mantra but there is/was a problem of giving away top tier status too cheaply to the detriment of top customers and responsible management is also always planning for the future. It’s easier to make big changes and cut costs that in good times.

    • tomtom135 says:

      1 Mar1 March 07:49

      Just makes me laugh after years of cost cutting and irrefutably reducing the consumer experience and product quality – they’re now going in the opposite direction by restoring exclusivity. The problem is there are superior products out there if that’s what you value.

      • JDB says:

        1 Mar1 March 07:58

        They need to keep those high spending customers on busts. It’s quite a mix actually – BA is investing in new aircraft, new cabins and lounges and it has been recruiting but has been cutting cost elsewhere. I don’t think people realise how tough it is to be a European (legacy) network carrier. Costs are simply too high vs competitors and it would be highly irresponsible and a failure of management not to address.

        • Garethgerry says:

          1 Mar1 March 09:03

          You were told off because you couldn’t believe anyone had a different experience to you. So denigrate that experience as coming from rose tinted glasses and a need to go to Specsavers.

        • RC says:

          1 Mar1 March 09:21

          That’s not the case if you only choose to compete on UK to USA. US airlines have even higher costs.
          So it’s a choice by BA to take (unsustainably) high margin and roi rather than invest in customer experience. Some, like Delta, balance that far better

  • Alan says:

    1 Mar1 March 07:54

    Managements job is to continue to improve profits. Making a profit is the definition of a business, I’m sorry most consumers don’t like this but it is what it is. The question is whether long term their changes will improve their profits or cost the customers and hence lose them money. But doing nothing is rarely what any company does.

• Paul says:

  1 Mar1 March 07:48

  Having just flown club suites for first time and BA long haul for first time in 8 years I am gobsmacked that they are full and so successful. Primark uniforms, chaotic service, pub grub and generally a poor quality experience. The only highlight being an eventual decent Zinfandel (it was ice cold….) and the pillow.
  But given the results it’s clearly me!!

  • lcsneil says:

    1 Mar1 March 08:15

    It’s what our customers have been asking for…. 🙂

    Nothing like a bit of pub grub and the quality of Primark.

    I’m booking tickets now……

  • JDB says:

    1 Mar1 March 08:27

    @Paul – I’m not sure you are allowed to speak these truths; I was told off here the other day that it was just my opinion and not the reality. BA has spotted that so many people aren’t very fussy or discriminating, so why offer more. cf. The Ivy.

    PS if you think they are serving anything as good as “pub grub” you are visiting the wrong pubs…

    • Garethgerry says:

      1 Mar1 March 09:06

      You were told off because you couldn’t accept others had different experiences to you , and denigrate that experiences as coming through rose tinted glasses and a need to go to Specsavers

    • RC says:

      1 Mar1 March 09:25

      Unfortunately that’s not correct. You were ‘told off’ because you quoted ‘alternative facts’, were rude about others’ opinions, snobbish about lower tier goods and silvers, and in certain cases used factually incorrect data.

      • cranzle says:

        1 Mar1 March 19:56

        It’s strange that an opinion is being pointed out as ‘incorrect’.

        In any case, people need to be less sensitive when posting online. If one doesn’t wish to be challenged, it’s best not to post.

    • Londonsteve says:

      1 Mar1 March 11:05

      The Welsh lamb dish I recently had in Club Europe was superb so credit where it’s due. I’d have been glad to receive the same in any restaurant although of course the portion was small but that’s to be expected. I gather that long haul food in J isn’t of the same quality which is odd considering the tickets are exponentially more expensive.

      • Gordon says:

        1 Mar1 March 15:29

        I will let you know if it has improved of late, i have an 11 hour BA CS flight in 3 weeks time, my IB CS flight 7 weeks ago was fine, it was actually a pleasant surprise to see Johnnie Walker Blue Label as an option on the menu, you have to fly BA First to be offered that!

• masaccio says:

  1 Mar1 March 07:54

  I’m very curious to see what people spend their Avios on. My hunch is there is an awful lot of spend on what HfPers could consider poor value choices.

  • CJD says:

    1 Mar1 March 08:22

    I also wouldn’t be surprised if people are hoarding Avios rather than use them on decent redemptions because people are too obsessed with maximising the value of their Avios.

  • Andy says:

    1 Mar1 March 11:55

    I swapped a huge amount of mine into Nectar and spent them on eBay – essentially converted funny money into real objects

    Now I have more flexibility over travel I might use some of them with BA or I might just accumulate into another FF programme instead

  • BBbetter says:

    1 Mar1 March 11:58

    That’s often the case. Airlines don’t publish the details as media (MSE!) could pick it up and make people aware how poor those options are.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      1 Mar1 March 13:21

      But the info is there already but most people can’t be bothered to do a few calculations on how many pence per avios they are getting when using avios to reduce the cost of a flight or a holiday or a case of wine for example.

      And if the like I’d MSE were that bothered about it they can easily do the calculations themselves!

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