Southwest, British Airways, and Tax Day – April Woes





Current Southwest Livery

I’m not sure why, but it seems like April is a popular time for devaluations to go into effect this year; worse yet, this is the week! So, just a few reminders for you:

Southwest introduces “dynamic pricing” beginning 17 April 

Kenny over at Miles4More wrote up a good post about the murkyness that was Southwest’s announcement. I think either way you look at it, this change is going to be for the worse, so if you have Southwest Rapid Rewards points, and have even the tiniest inkling that you may be traveling somewhere through the end of their schedule, book now. Southwest doesn’t charge any cancellation fees, so you really have nothing to lose. I still stick to my belief that this could hurt Southwest more than its customers.

British Airways Executive Club devaluation kicks in 28 April

This one will hurt. Gary at View From the Wing has a good overview of the changes. This hurts those that want to use Avios points for premium awards most. British Airways is putting in a 4th “tier” aka Premium Economy. Essentially, Economy will be priced as x (lets say 50k points, which is the highest I think), Premium Economy will then double that (100k points), Business will triple the cost of economy (150k points), and First Class will be quadruple the cost of economy (200k points). So if you had an designs to fly Aer Lingus from Boston to Dublin, or other Avios sweet spots – book before 28 April.

Friendly reminder: Wednesday, 15 April is tax day

Yeah, I figured I’d throw all the bad stuff in one post, so, don’t forget to do your taxes, if you haven’t already done them.

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