Avios not going so far

[garybb]

Are Avios now not going so far? It used to cost a couple of hundred thousand Avios to get to Australia Business Class, now it’s so much more? Also there is significantly less availability. Is it me or have there been major changes?

[AJA]

It now costs more Avios and less cash since BA introduced RFS on longhaul. But you can pay more cash and fewer Avios if you click through to the next page of the booking process. The only issue is if using the older style 2-4-1 ie issued before Sep 2021 which will have been extended to use by 30Sep2023 where you are forced to pay the highest Avios lowest cash option

[Anna]

Rob did a series of articles last December about the changes.
The Barclays upgrade voucher also only gives you the max avios option.

[JDB]

garybb wrote:

Are Avios now not going so far? It used to cost a couple of hundred thousand Avios to get to Australia Business Class, now it’s so much more? Also there is significantly less availability. Is it me or have there been major changes?

Someone else raised this alleged devaluation point a few weeks ago. There have been some changes as noted above and RFS for CW, some taxes/fees/charges have been rolled into the Avios required and a lower cash element, but when peak/off peak was introduced, many of the off peak fares were lower. I looked back at a 2012 redemption in First LHR-HKG//PVG-LHR which was 240k Avios + £517. Today the Avios cost is still 240k peak but only 204k off peak. The cash will be slightly higher now, but the overall cost is barely changed.