Old Jan 28, 2015, 1:49 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
The changes in summary
Applicable to bookings made from 28 April 2015
For more information, see BA's 28 January announcement and FAQ on ba.com

Earning
Changes to Avios accrual rates and tier bonuses
  • earning rates increase for flights booked in F, A, J, C, D, and W selling classes
  • no change for flights booked in R, I, Y, B, and H selling classes
  • earning rates reduce for flights booked in E, T, K, L, M, N, S, V, Q, O, and G selling classes

Earning with partners
Reduced earnings in Economy and Premium Economy
AA, IBERIA, JAL, LAN, TAM, ALASKA, SRI LANKAN, QANTAS, CATHAY.

Changes to tier bonuses
  • no change to Gold tier bonuses (100%)
  • Silver tier bonuses reduce from 100% to 50%
  • no change to Bronze tier bonuses (25%)

Changes to minimum Avios amounts (accrued per flight)
  • minimum thresholds increase for long haul premium fares (F, A, J, C, D, W)
  • no change to restricted business class fares (R and I class) and flexible econony (Y, B, and H class)
  • minimum thresholds decrease for WT+ (E and T class) - although there are no BA WTP flights that short
  • minimum thresholds decrease from 500 to 250 Avios for mid priced economy (K, L, M, N, S, and V classes)
  • minimum thresholds decrease from 500 to 125 Avios for cheapest economy (Q, O, and G classes)

Changes to Tier Point earning rates
  • Club World London City flights reduce from 210 to 140 Tier Points
  • Cheapest economy flights (in selling classes Q, O, and G) reduce from 50% to 25% Tier Points
  • No change to minimum 2/4 segments for earning Bronze/Others
  • No change to 25 segment / 50 segment Bronze/Silver earning option
  • No other changes, thresholds still Bronze 300,Silver 600,Gold 1500,GGL 5000 (3000 to retain)

Spending
Promise of greater reward inventory/availability
  • Guaranteed minimum 4 seats in economy on every flight
  • Guaranteed minimum 2 seats in business on every flight
  • Guaranteed seats will be available to book from 355 days before departure and may vanish 45 days before departure, if not already booked.

Changes to standard flight redemption rates
  • Variable rates introduced divided into Off-peak and Peak
  • For Peak time (school holidays and other busy times), and partner costs
  • WT - stays the same cost
  • WTP increases - from x1.5 to x2.0 multiplier (33% increase)
  • Club World increases - from x2.0 to x3.0 multiplier (50% increase)
  • First increases - from x3.0 to x4.0 multiplier (33% increase)
  • For Off Peak time (including every Tuesday and Wednesday throughout the year)
  • WT decreases by 35% from current values
  • WT decreases by 13% from current values
  • Club World increases by 25% from current values
  • First increases by 13% from current values
  • Free domestic add-ons abolished on short haul redemptions
  • No word if CE redemptions will be charged 4500/Ł17.50 or 9000/Ł25 for the UK leg
  • Variable rates introduced on Iberia
  • Flight redemptions on BA's other airline partners will be charged at Peak rates all year round

Changes to Upgrade with Avios
  • Eligible booking codes is set to increase in the near future, allowing mile upgrades from economy (WT and ET) for more travellers - K, L, M, N, S, and V classes added (exact fare codes subject to confirmation)
  • Avios required for upgrade now based on the formula: Avios redemption price for the cabin you want to upgrade to, minus the Avios redemption price for the cabin you have paid for with cash. This means that certain off peak WTP to CW upgrades are more expensive than peak WTP to CW upgrades (assuming peak/off-peak variables will apply to UuA)
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Executive Club Changes

Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:41 am
  #61  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: BAEC Silver, LH FT, Accor Plat
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As a Silver who flies mostly in Europe in Euro Traveller due to company policies this is a bit disappointing. Getting to Silver is hard enough at 10TP a flight, now if it's going down to 5TP it's going to be much harder.

At least it's only fare classes Q, O and G that will be earning less TP's.
britishchris is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:42 am
  #62  
 
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Bad news for Silvers on the earning rate although the gap between them and Gold had narrowed quite a bit over the past year or so.

How long before the soft landing disappears?

Last edited by Blueboys999; Apr 25, 2015 at 8:31 pm
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:42 am
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
Errr..except that practically all redemption rates have gone up....
.....and this will mean people have less Avios with which to make a redemption flight thus increasing the number of available seats for redemption.

Whether this means that "no extra seats are actually going to be released but it will look as if they are" or what, I've no idea.
xenole is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:42 am
  #64  
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
See above! and reproduced here:
Especially as AA only charge 160,000 in first class return.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:44 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by hourami
Especially as AA only charge 160,000 in first class return.
For now.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:44 am
  #66  
 
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Urgh. As a cheapy-economy flying, regional-airport-using BA member, this offers pretty much nothing good for me! European RFS redemptions (which is pretty much what we would do most of the time) are now going to be twice the price. Flying Blue of all things now looks competitive, when it comes to European return redemptions - 18,000 Avios + Ł70 vs 20-25,000 miles + just over Ł70 taxes for a random destination, for instance.

Purely domestic redemptions are still decent value (especially if they can be booked as off-peak), I guess.

For booking paid flights, if the price difference between BA and another carrier was pretty small, I'd always go for BA - the increased Avios earnings and great value of European RFS would make it worthwhile. Not convinced that'll be the case any more, if I'd only be earning 25% or 50% miles whichever airline I choose!

On the plus side, it looks like we should be able to upgrade from (fairly) cheapy economy to WTP with Avios. On the downside, cheap WTP tickets now only earn 100% Avios, not 125%.

Was just looking at plans for our summer holiday last night. Think we might be booking some flights pretty sharpish!
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:45 am
  #67  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: UK
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Originally Posted by nux
No it is currently 150%.
http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/...-avios/flights
Apologies I was thinking of the current minimums. For a Silver they are 1000 in ET and 1250 in CE.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:47 am
  #68  
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Originally Posted by xenole
.....and this will mean people have less Avios with which to make a redemption flight thus increasing the number of available seats for redemption.

Whether this means that "no extra seats are actually going to be released but it will look as if they are" or what, I've no idea.
Precisely!

Without even needing to increase the number of seats available, they can say that it will be easier to redeem a flight - because the total outstanding Avios balances issued will, in the new scheme, not be able to redeem as many seats as under the old rules.

When less seats can be redeemed, due to the higher redemption levels, it means that availability "increases" for all...
irishguy28 is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:47 am
  #69  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 740
Originally Posted by BillyBleach
My recent status match to Virgin looks well timed in light of this news.

Only 4 round trip business class flights to retain their Gold status. Plus they provide a 241 voucher each year you renew Gold and you now get complimentary First upgrades (where available) on Delta domestic flights.
I'll be investigating such things. In fact, I quite expect some of the competition to use this news to lure customers away.

Shame that for those of us living in the UK, there's no single airline or alliance with the same coverage as BA, especially as Little Red is gone.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:48 am
  #70  
 
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Hmmmm....might have been worse tbh! I feel sorry for the road warriors who were earning status down the back of the plane. Looks like BA doesn't want you in the lounges....

Any increase in redemption availability remains to be seen...
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:48 am
  #71  
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
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Well - I think that is mostly negative for me. Earnings rates down (eg on E and T class WTP, and on Mrs BBA's Silver card), and burning rates generally up. Only if you fly the most expensive ticket buckets do you benefit.

Luckily our Hawaii trip was booked before and will still benefit from the old rates.

As someone else said - a good look at next year's plan, and book something before the new rates kick in. At least they've given us 3 months notice of the changes this time.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:49 am
  #72  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
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I thought that Aer Lingus being bought by IAG would be a good thing for connectivity but with removing domestic add-ons it's a sickener for those of us in Northern Ireland.
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:49 am
  #73  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
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The only upside is that in time there will be far fewer Silvers and Gold so fast-track may actually mean faster and lounges will be more peaceful ( I would actually do a dance if they outlawed guesting of strangers)
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Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:50 am
  #74  
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Originally Posted by ppp909
Shame that for those of us living in the UK, there's no single airline or alliance with the same coverage as BA, especially as Little Red is gone.
Forgive me, but I had a little chortle at that. Little Red had 3 routes, and Virgin Atlantic basically only flies to North America (Mumbai, Cape Town, Hong Kong all end this year).
irishguy28 is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2015, 2:51 am
  #75  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 254
Originally Posted by FrancisA
Am I alone in thinking that this is good news?

It should increase the chance to get reward bookings by reducing avios in circulation without increasing redemption cost or reducing premium cabin earning rates
In the short to medium term there will still be plenty of people sitting on stacks of Avios. i can't see the changes to the redemption rates really improving availability.
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