How much will British Airways Executive Club Program Changes hurt?

asthejoeflies

Moderator
Staff member



It’s not like I was using Avios for BA First anyway


Every time there is a devaluation in the miles and points world, the general message out there is that the sky is falling. While British Airways’ most recent Executive Club changes certainly may fall into that category for some people, these changes aren’t too big deal a deal to me.

Summary of Avios Earning Changes

– You’ll earn less less for low cost economy fares and more for high cost premium ones

– The minimum Avios you can earn on a flight are going down for the lower fare classes

– Minor devaluation to earning tier points (major if you fly JFK-LHR regularly for business), which I’ve never bothered to understand in depth anyway

Summary of Avios Redemption Changes

Old chart:


Old Avios Redemption Chart


New chart:


New Avios redemption chart


– Peak and off-peak rates have been introduced

– Economy peak rates are the same cost as the old economy rates

– First class rates have gone up across the board, both peak and off-peak. Example: my CX F flight that cost 105,000 Avios would now cost 140,000

– Short haul business class rates in Zones 1-3 are slightly cheaper off-peak and the same cost as the old chart for peak flights

– Starting in Zone 4, business class rates will be more costly than before regardless of peak or off-peak

– All partner awards will be priced as peak awards

– Some annoying changes to how you can change award tickets (you’ll have to call in more)

– Elimination of free domestic add-on flights in the UK on short haul flights

– Executive Club guarantee of two business and four economy seats on every flight starting when the schedule opens (355 days)

My Thoughts on the Changes

Changes and devaluations suck, but are these really that big of a deal? I personally never redeem Avios for longhaul flights, though they were a nice option in a pinch. But the reality is they weren’t a good currency for premium long haul redemptions, and this isn’t changing that.

It’s also not like I was redeeming a ton of Avios for British Airways flights – the fuel surcharges were a killer.


Say goodbye to this for 50K RT in J (gcmap.com)


The biggest “devaluation” to my personal burning structure is the increase in cost of the BOS-DUB Aer Lingus flight from 25,000 to 37,500 Avios – that hurts. It’s still cheaper than any other business class flight to Europe but it still stings. If you want to book that, do it by April 28!

Still, even that is mitigated by the fact that British Airways just bought Aer Lingus and will probably start imposing fuel charges on that route after they are fully integrated anyway.

What hasn’t changed is the value of Avios for short haul domestic flights on American (and US). That’s what I have been and will continue to use my Avios for in the future.

Final Thoughts

I haven’t hit upon every detail of the changes, but like I said, at first glance they don’t seem too distressing to me. You might be in a different situation, if so, that sucks – devaluations always do. Still, take some time to process – the sky isn’t necessarily falling, just decreasing in altitude a little bit. Guess we now know why Membership Rewards was running that transfer bonus…

Continue reading...
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
Honestly for folks in North America who earn Avios via CC (I assume the vast majority of the folks here fall into that category) and use the miles on short/medium haul domestic flights these changes are mostly a non-issue. However if you wanted to use your Avios for long haul, particularly on partner airlines or in particular found value in upgrades on BA long haul flights these changes are pretty bad.

I'll admit I am in the minority around here and I actually found some use for Avios for international long haul so I am a bit bummed.
 

Mountain Trader

Level 2 Member
I can usually get domestic tickets for $129 OW on Southwest or elsewhere, with no change fees, and no need to deal with AA routing or availabilty limitations. It's just not worth my time to play around with BA and Avios to push that price down.

BA has given up on having a valuable program in support of its worldwide operations. This is surprising as many other carriers are said to make big money off their FF programs.

This latest moves removes any doubt in my mind that I will not be pursuing BAEC further, starting with the two Chase BA cards I was going to apply for in two months, which I will now skip.
 

sriki

Level 2 Member
/Avios Noob

You can still use the BA earned Avios on Iberia who does not charge ridiculous fuel charges/fees. (?)
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
/Avios Noob

You can still use the BA earned Avios on Iberia who does not charge ridiculous fuel charges/fees. (?)
Not looked into the award changes beyond this post, but I think so...

The hard part for that was always the TXF. You need an IB Avios account open for 90 days and it must have at least 1 IB Avios in it in order to be seasoned to receive BA Avios.
 

Josh F

Level 2 Member
Charity Forum Mod
It's hurt my Twitter feed. I used to see lots of posts about how I should transfer my MR to avios for the 40% transfer bonus since they're great for aa short haul. Now apparently it's the worst devaluation since hilton, United, etc. Of course they haven't devalued the one thing I was told to use them for. I'm so confused, I probably should just close all my accounts
 

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
The only thing it really hurts from our (credit card miles) perspective is domestic F awards when they're the only seats available, and the adult fare you have to book to take advantage of their lap infant fares in business and first class.
 

swazzie

Level 2 Member
It's hurt my Twitter feed. I used to see lots of posts about how I should transfer my MR to avios for the 40% transfer bonus since they're great for aa short haul.
Don't worry--the tweets will be back tomorrow. 'Today is the LAST DAY...'
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
/Avios Noob

You can still use the BA earned Avios on Iberia who does not charge ridiculous fuel charges/fees. (?)
I don't know about the fuel fees but Iberia did also get hit with a similar devaluation. And worse both Iberia and BA introduced peak and off-peak fares where peak fares can cost (at least on the BA side) up to 50% more Avios than previously. The problem with Iberia is that unlike BA they pretty much made the middle of June through the middle of September peak (BA was a lot more surgical with off-peak days available throughout the summer). Since I have a kid and would most likely travel on Iberia in the summer that pretty much kills it for me.
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
It's hurt my Twitter feed. I used to see lots of posts about how I should transfer my MR to avios for the 40% transfer bonus since they're great for aa short haul. Now apparently it's the worst devaluation since hilton, United, etc. Of course they haven't devalued the one thing I was told to use them for. I'm so confused, I probably should just close all my accounts
You probably need to remember that we are probably rather different than you average BAEC member. The changes are really worst for those who earn miles via butt in seats versus credit cards and for those in the UK outside of London (who now have to pay extra for the flight from outlying city to London to take BA anyplace). For North American based individuals who earn points on CC and spend on AA/USAir this has much less impact.
 
Top