British Airways Avios devaluation coming Dec 15th

British Airways is managing to turn off so many loyal customers. What with the changes to the Executive Club making it more difficult to achieve status and now the Avios devaluation there now is no reason to remain loyal to the airline or the Oneworld Alliance.

Thank you for this timely post. It is absolutely amazing to think that their fees could go any higher!!

I am flying to Rome and back from Seattle on frequent flier points in April/May. My flight to Rome used Avios on British Airways and cost me 41,000 Avios and over $300 in fees/taxes including “$180 in carrier imposed fees.” Compare this to my flight back to Seattle on the newly opened Alaska nonstop service. Only 30,000 points and $65. Before you ask, the Alaska nonstop didn’t start in time for the flight to Rome. As an added bonus, Alaska allows one to earn points on flights purchased with points where British Airways does not. Both are part of the One World Alliance.

British Airways is simply pricing its fees to the point that their redemptions became less appealing long ago. I’ve cleaned out my Avios now and certainly won’t put any effort into earning any more.

Believe JC said it all. I couldn’t have said it better.

I am using up my Avios so I can be done with them.

As someone online stated, "They were once the "Queen of the Skies" but now are more like a badly run discount airline.

What a shame. More bad news out of the U.K. British Airways were my favourite air carrier once (over a decade ago) and meant feeling as if you were already in London before the plane departed ARN, as staff were real genuine English-speaking Brits, which was exciting in itself. EC Membership followed. This seems to be the time to transfer that loyalty to KLM and their world wide alliance.

Good news for me.*

I read pieces all over the Internet about how frequent flyer programs cost the non-frequent flyers more to pay for the programs.

(* if I can get over current health problems)

Robert H, I hope you get over current health problems as well! Interestingly enough there are also many articles about how credit card revenue, a major source of frequent flier points/miles for consumers, is a huge money maker for airlines. Needless to say, they are looking at creating revenue any way that they can.

Thanks Carol, my hope as well. I believe this is going to get worse but that's not for this forum.

BA may be sticking it to their most loyal customers, but they came in hundreds and hundreds of dollars less than all other carriers traveling (one-way) from Amsterdam to Washington DC (IAD) next April. This fare didn’t show up on Google flights, though. What’s the explanation on that?

@ JC and any other POMS.

Do you think this timing has anything to do with the Soccer World Cup in North America this coming summer?

Regards Ron

World Cup starts mid June so it shouldn’t impact airfare in April.

I live in a host city (greater Seattle)and World Cup games are clearly for the elite or extremely dedicated fans. Tickets for the USA -Australia game are starting at $1100 for the nosebleed seats and just skyrocketing up from there. Hotels that might usually charge $300 during the height of the cruise season are now charging $ 1000 a night and competition between cruisers and fans are only going to make that worse. Airfare is likely to be the least of anyone’s worries.

[RobertH, get well soon!]

If I weren't already boycotting a dozen other airlines, I'd start boycotting BA too!

What the heck!

They are on the list too!

Happy travels.

Churned an Iberia card for the 100,000 Avios and finding they’re not what they used to be.

Once could get great domestic AA redemptions, those low redemptions are gone. Fees for redemptions transatlantic on Aer Lingus are very high, redemptions on Aer Lingus Ireland to UK don’t include even a carry on, and the only way to add a seat selection, checked bag, or carry on bag is call and give credit card number over the phone (!).

As a comparison a basic SkyMiles redemption at delta.com on a domestic Mexico AeroMexico flight includes seat selection, meal, booze, 1 checked bag and 1 carry on bag for a 1 hour flight. That’s the lowest points redemption level.

This is the second big devaluation in recent years. I made a point to use up all my Avios. I still occasionally use them as a conduit to Iberia if the actual deal makes sense but I only keep a small amount of miles in the account.

@ JC and any other POMS.
Do you think this timing has anything to do with the Soccer World Cup in North America this coming summer?

I don't think so. I think BA are trying to reduce the number of people who have elite status in the Executive Club and to try and make the club more exclusive by making it more expensive to achieve higher status. I see the changes in the Avios scheme as a way to support this change.

Besides, I don't think anyone can afford to go and watch the World Cup games considering the price of the tickets.