Jan 28, 2015, 1:49 pm
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 with partners
Reduced earnings in Economy and Premium Economy
AA, IBERIA, JAL, LAN, TAM, ALASKA, SRI LANKAN, QANTAS, CATHAY.
Changes to tier bonuses
Changes to minimum Avios amounts (accrued per flight)
Changes to Tier Point earning rates
Spending
Promise of greater reward inventory/availability
Changes to standard flight redemption rates
Changes to Upgrade with Avios
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)
Executive Club Changes
Jan 28, 2015, 1:44 pm
#601
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: scotland/EDI
Programs: BAEC , M&M , VIRGIN FC , FLYING BLUE
Posts: 1,438
BA has a big track record of capitulating to media and political pressure. If they are leaned on in the right way and the PR backlash is so bad, the "savings" will soon be outweighed by all the peeved travellers!
Scotsman article
Scotsman article
the part that stands out for me is the BA comment
"it is unsustainable for us to continue offering this benefit which is not available to executive members based in other European countries"
and here was me thinking they were BRITISH airways !!!!!!!!
Jan 28, 2015, 1:47 pm
#602
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 112
1/ Keep flying BA and crediting to BAEC as before
2/ Keep flying BA but credit somewhere else (AA?)
3/ Move business to *A/ST (TK matched my BAEC Gold to *G in 17 days! ^)
4/ Fly opportunistically based on schedule and price (horrors!
)
Go for Gold renewal or Silver is good enough?
Silver's still OWS, with all related perks - lounge, extra luggage, priority security, J checkin, etc. For many of my collegues OWR is the only realistic goal and OWS is for the real frequent flyers and OWE is in the realm of myths
2/ Keep flying BA but credit somewhere else (AA?)
3/ Move business to *A/ST (TK matched my BAEC Gold to *G in 17 days! ^)
4/ Fly opportunistically based on schedule and price (horrors!
)Go for Gold renewal or Silver is good enough?
Silver's still OWS, with all related perks - lounge, extra luggage, priority security, J checkin, etc. For many of my collegues OWR is the only realistic goal and OWS is for the real frequent flyers and OWE is in the realm of myths
Jan 28, 2015, 1:48 pm
#603
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
So - if we put a little table together for this (Band 1 from the top down) ...
The changes on WTP are extraordinary:
Code:
WTP-CW Old New Off Peak New Peak 2250 2010 2250 3750 3250 3750 5000 4250 5000 6250 11250 12500 10000 24000 20000 12500 30000 25000 15000 36000 30000 17500 42000 35000 25000 60000 50000
Let me take LHR-YYZ. I regularly fly this - as a gold - I'd get about 15,000 avios.
I'd have previously UUA-ed one leg (if I was lucky). That would have resulted in a net of 5000 to me. Now I'm looking at -9000 net on one leg and -33,000 if I manage to UUA both legs.
Ouch.
Jan 28, 2015, 1:48 pm
#604
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA BLUE BADGE
Posts: 1,323
very interesting article
the part that stands out for me is the BA comment
"it is unsustainable for us to continue offering this benefit which is not available to executive members based in other European countries"
and here was me thinking they were BRITISH airways !!!!!!!!
the part that stands out for me is the BA comment
"it is unsustainable for us to continue offering this benefit which is not available to executive members based in other European countries"
and here was me thinking they were BRITISH airways !!!!!!!!
Jan 28, 2015, 1:49 pm
#605
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,539
very interesting article
the part that stands out for me is the BA comment
"it is unsustainable for us to continue offering this benefit which is not available to executive members based in other European countries"
and here was me thinking they were BRITISH airways !!!!!!!!
the part that stands out for me is the BA comment
"it is unsustainable for us to continue offering this benefit which is not available to executive members based in other European countries"
and here was me thinking they were BRITISH airways !!!!!!!!
Certainly any Avios collector can benefit from the UK domestic add-on.
Jan 28, 2015, 1:54 pm
#606
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: BAEC, Silver
Posts: 5
What it means for average Joe
I had to register on this forum in order to add my tuppence on this topic.
I consider myself an average Joe with respect to my spend with BA. I'm very loyal and on the whole BA have been very good to me. However, I work hard for my money and when I fly BA (mostly for leisure) I always spend that little bit extra to fly WTP wherever possible both to accrue a cabin bonus, TP bonus, chance of upgrade and to desperately claw my way towards Silver from Bronze which I have always aspired to. I try to buy my tickets during the sales (mostly T class) and try to MFU to CW wherever possible.
Recently, I spent more money than I normally would have on a flight to Dubai next month flying CW out and WTP back in order to attain my life long dream of that silver badge.
So can you imagine my dismay at reading these changes? What I thought I was going to get with respect to my Silver benefits will now mean only a 50% Avios bonus on all future flights instead of 100%. My normal T fare cabin bonus in future will only be 100% instead of my normal 125% and the dream flight I was saving up for (a return business class ticket to Sydney) will cost me 250k-300k Avios instead of 200k). Lose, Lose, Lose.
I think I represent a lot of people who can't afford to pay for J or F or have travel paid for by the company. The news today has made it that little bit more difficult for poor old Joe I'm sad to say and wasn't exactly what I spent so much money recently buying into.......
I consider myself an average Joe with respect to my spend with BA. I'm very loyal and on the whole BA have been very good to me. However, I work hard for my money and when I fly BA (mostly for leisure) I always spend that little bit extra to fly WTP wherever possible both to accrue a cabin bonus, TP bonus, chance of upgrade and to desperately claw my way towards Silver from Bronze which I have always aspired to. I try to buy my tickets during the sales (mostly T class) and try to MFU to CW wherever possible.
Recently, I spent more money than I normally would have on a flight to Dubai next month flying CW out and WTP back in order to attain my life long dream of that silver badge.
So can you imagine my dismay at reading these changes? What I thought I was going to get with respect to my Silver benefits will now mean only a 50% Avios bonus on all future flights instead of 100%. My normal T fare cabin bonus in future will only be 100% instead of my normal 125% and the dream flight I was saving up for (a return business class ticket to Sydney) will cost me 250k-300k Avios instead of 200k). Lose, Lose, Lose.
I think I represent a lot of people who can't afford to pay for J or F or have travel paid for by the company. The news today has made it that little bit more difficult for poor old Joe I'm sad to say and wasn't exactly what I spent so much money recently buying into.......
Jan 28, 2015, 1:54 pm
#607
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: LIS
Programs: BA Gold, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold , HH Diamond , IHG Diamond Elite, Accor Gold
Posts: 173
Could not have put it better myself! As a Ł1000 for a 1000tps TP runner I have become obsessed with earning Avios in order to pay for my 5 trips West in J/F each year to see relatives in Florida and Michigan. As a low grade Gold I accept I have been creaming the system as much as most of those in the overcrowded T5 lounges. Having flown business with the ME3 and seeing how cheap Ex EU fares can be, I can still sit up front for not much more than an Ex UK PE ticket. These changes were bound to happen, the bigger issue for me is how far BA is falling behind its rivals in the air with their cabins, entertainment and service standards. The 787 E and CW cabins are a disgrace! Looks like I'll be spending the next few hours on the Reward Flight Search.....
Jan 28, 2015, 2:00 pm
#609
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: Eurostar Carte Blanche, SBB-CFF-FFS GA-AG, SNCF Grand Voyageur LeClub
Posts: 7,832
So January 28th 2015 is the BA equivalent of April Fool's Day for AFKL Flying Blue.
Jan 28, 2015, 2:00 pm
#610
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: scotland/EDI
Programs: BAEC , M&M , VIRGIN FC , FLYING BLUE
Posts: 1,438
But where would it be available except in Spain (where IB- a different airline took it away) BA don't operate domestically anywhere else (even Sun Air doesn't). It's a pity these journo's can't ask the crucial questions though I think that's just copied off the website.
Certainly any Avios collector can benefit from the UK domestic add-on.
Certainly any Avios collector can benefit from the UK domestic add-on.
obviously the paper is concentrating on how people feel BA is badly treating Scottish customers but im sure northern English based papers will be saying something similar about northern customers
british airways ????? I think not
Jan 28, 2015, 2:01 pm
#611
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYZ/YTZ/YUL
Programs: BA Gold, TK Elite
Posts: 1,558
The wiki currently states that there is no change to TP earning other than the CWLCY route, which contradicts my current understanding (25% TP earning on lowest WT classes at the least). Am I wrong?
Jan 28, 2015, 2:03 pm
#612
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,492
Not sure this is correct. Firstly, we do a lot of work for big financial institutions and we insist on using our expense policy which is J for TATL. As such we often have a tussle with their financial depts. and therefore get to know how much discount they get on their corporate airline which is sometimes BA. These figures do not back up your assertion above.
Secondly, we always end up buying our own tickets mostly on BA and invariably this will be in F,A, or J. I do not think we have ever bought an I class fare or any economy tickets. The only kickback we get from BA is the OnBusiness scheme. So we are buying fully/semi flexible tickets at published prices.
Secondly, we always end up buying our own tickets mostly on BA and invariably this will be in F,A, or J. I do not think we have ever bought an I class fare or any economy tickets. The only kickback we get from BA is the OnBusiness scheme. So we are buying fully/semi flexible tickets at published prices.
Jan 28, 2015, 2:03 pm
#613
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 674
Perhaps if longhaul economy redemptions didn't come with ridiculous taxes and charges then people would actually use them.
Jan 28, 2015, 2:04 pm
#614
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,539
what BA are saying is an executive club member living in for instance paris--they don't get a free connection to LHR so why should someone flying from say EDI or GLA
obviously the paper is concentrating on how people feel BA is badly treating Scottish customers but im sure northern English based papers will be saying something similar about northern customers
british airways ????? I think not
obviously the paper is concentrating on how people feel BA is badly treating Scottish customers but im sure northern English based papers will be saying something similar about northern customers
british airways ????? I think not
I do agree with you of course.
Jan 28, 2015, 2:06 pm
#615
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Left
Programs: FT
Posts: 7,285
I had to register on this forum in order to add my tuppence on this topic.
I consider myself an average Joe with respect to my spend with BA. I'm very loyal and on the whole BA have been very good to me. However, I work hard for my money and when I fly BA (mostly for leisure) I always spend that little bit extra to fly WTP wherever possible both to accrue a cabin bonus, TP bonus, chance of upgrade and to desperately claw my way towards Silver from Bronze which I have always aspired to. I try to buy my tickets during the sales (mostly T class) and try to MFU to CW wherever possible.
Recently, I spent more money than I normally would have on a flight to Dubai next month flying CW out and WTP back in order to attain my life long dream of that silver badge.
So can you imagine my dismay at reading these changes? What I thought I was going to get with respect to my Silver benefits will now mean only a 50% Avios bonus on all future flights instead of 100%. My normal T fare cabin bonus in future will only be 100% instead of my normal 125% and the dream flight I was saving up for (a return business class ticket to Sydney) will cost me 250k-300k Avios instead of 200k). Lose, Lose, Lose.
I think I represent a lot of people who can't afford to pay for J or F or have travel paid for by the company. The news today has made it that little bit more difficult for poor old Joe I'm sad to say and wasn't exactly what I spent so much money recently buying into.......
I consider myself an average Joe with respect to my spend with BA. I'm very loyal and on the whole BA have been very good to me. However, I work hard for my money and when I fly BA (mostly for leisure) I always spend that little bit extra to fly WTP wherever possible both to accrue a cabin bonus, TP bonus, chance of upgrade and to desperately claw my way towards Silver from Bronze which I have always aspired to. I try to buy my tickets during the sales (mostly T class) and try to MFU to CW wherever possible.
Recently, I spent more money than I normally would have on a flight to Dubai next month flying CW out and WTP back in order to attain my life long dream of that silver badge.
So can you imagine my dismay at reading these changes? What I thought I was going to get with respect to my Silver benefits will now mean only a 50% Avios bonus on all future flights instead of 100%. My normal T fare cabin bonus in future will only be 100% instead of my normal 125% and the dream flight I was saving up for (a return business class ticket to Sydney) will cost me 250k-300k Avios instead of 200k). Lose, Lose, Lose.
I think I represent a lot of people who can't afford to pay for J or F or have travel paid for by the company. The news today has made it that little bit more difficult for poor old Joe I'm sad to say and wasn't exactly what I spent so much money recently buying into.......
my first thought, sucks for those that cannot take their kids out of school to travel in off-peak times. kind of burns all those in those places where they fine you are arrest you if you....gasp...take a child out of school for weeks long vacation....
