Executive Club Changes
 

Hello

I wanted to let you know that today we will e-mail all of our Executive Club Members to announce some changes to the way you earn and spend Avios with us. We’re making these changes to provide more opportunities for you to spend Avios on reward flights as well as to ensure that the Executive Club continues to deliver a competitive and rewarding loyalty programme for the future.

I have provided a summary of the changes below - for more information and to view our Q&A’s you can visit our new Executive Club Changes pages on ba.com at http://www.britishairways.com/execut...b/club-changes.

The changes will only apply to bookings made after 28th April 2015, all bookings made before 28th April, regardless of travel date, will earn and collect at today’s rates.

I know that many of you will have questions about the changes and what they mean for you specifically – so we will do our best to respond to your queries as quickly as possible. To help with this, a number of people across the team will be monitoring this thread and the Executive Club private mailbox from today onwards.

Warm Regards

Jeni

9 million reward seats will be available this year.
From 28th April we guarantee that more than 9 million reward seats will be available on our flight this year, with a minimum of two Club World/Club Europe and four World Traveller/Euro Traveller reward seats on all British Airways operated flights that are offered for sale on ba.com. This change will create over half a million extra reward seats including many to our popular destinations, which are available to book from today.

Changes to how you earn your Avios.
We’ll make earning Avios on flights more aligned to the cabin you fly in and the different types of fares within that cabin. In practice this means that if you pay for a flexible ticket you will earn more Avios than the lowest priced ticket in the same cabin.
Our lowest priced tickets in Euro Traveller and World Traveller will award a minimum Avios of 25% per mile flown instead of 100%. In Club World/Club Europe and our First cabins the Avios you earn will either remain the same as it is now or increase up to 300% per mile flown depending on the cabin and type of ticket.

Changes to Silver Tier Bonus.
Silver Members’ Tier Bonus will change from 100% to 50%. Gold Members’ Tier Bonus will stay at 100%. Bronze Members’ bonus will stay at 25%.

Changes to the number of Tier Points.
The lowest priced World Traveller and Euro Traveller seats will now collect 25% of Tier Points rather than 50%.

Changes to the price of reward flights depending on the time of year.
From 28 April we will introduce different Avios pricing for reward seats depending on the time of the year, the cabin and zone. At busy times of the year we will have a standard Avios price and for less busy times less Avios will be needed.
So for two thirds of the year you will require less Avios than now to fly on reward seats in Euro Traveller and World Traveller.
In World Traveller Plus you will require less Avios than today to fly during off-peak periods, except for routes within zone 4 and more Avios to fly during peak periods.
In Club World and First the Avios price will increase, the amount will vary depending on the time of the year.
Reward flights with our airline partners will be one price all year round, with the exception of Iberia who will also offer seasonal pricing.

Changes to UK domestic connecting reward flights.
To bring the UK in line with the rest of the world, you will now be required to pay for any UK domestic connecting reward flights to and from your final European destination. This does not apply to connecting reward flights on long haul, which will remain included.

Changes to how we handle your Avios.
As part of an IAG group reorganisation involving British Airways Plc and Avios Group (AGL) Limited, British Airways has agreed that AGL will be responsible for issuing your Avios points. As a result, AGL will receive, store and process your data in connection with administering aspects of the Executive Club. This will be done with, but legally independently of, British Airways. Each will have their own responsibilities for separate aspects of the data processing involved in administering the Executive Club. We will continue to be in control of the operation and management of the Club and these particular changes will have no direct impact to you as a Member and your relationship with the Club as it is today.

More opportunities to upgrade
By the end of the year, you will be able to upgrade using Avios from more World Traveller and Euro Traveller commercial booking classes than today. That means there will be more opportunities to upgrade than ever before and we will of course be back in touch with you later in the year to let you know exactly when this will become available.

Oh no!!!
25% earning!!!
And silver bonus down to 50%!!!
And reduced tier points!!!
Variable Avios pricing!!!

It's all cloud here.

Executive Club Changes
 

Well those changes happened sooner than I thought. A few surprises, a few more predictable.

This particular change will be of interest to many members here:

And just like that, everything that made BAEC better than Miles&More for me, as a leisure-flying, RFS-loving Blue, disappears. (the last point seems good though, albeit potentially useless given that I'll surely no longer be able to earn enough Avios to be able to upgrade).

Off to fetch the popcorn..

Not as bad as it might have been, tbh.

At least they didn't monkey around with TP thresholds, not yet, anyway !!

Shame about the LCY TPs, but that was bound to come eventually. At least it takes effect after my trip in March :)

Very sad to see that go.

Executive Club Changes
 

TP benefits of the LCY JFK service are going. Shame.

Nothing hugely surprising if a little disappointing. The lower mileage and taps earning on Euro routes when combined with the poorer seating will make me much less BA loyal.

Otherwise not much bothered and a little surprised that partner earnings haven't changed either.

Not too thrilled with the 25% for non-flex economy tickets. Guess my days of earning any significant number of miles from flying are drawing to a close.

Goodness, what a package. Generally bad news I think, there's a lot of KLM-Air France in this. The free domestic add-ons was good while it lasted, but even I thought that was very generous.

One clarification please: there is effectively a 1,000 Avios minima on short flights for Golds and above (and Silvers too at the moment). Presumably that will be adjusted downwards? [Answer yes, it's on the website, it's now 250]

Poor UncleT's cat!

Doesn't look good for Silvers... :(

So its now easier to redeem on the flights it was already easy to redeem on, whilst pretty much everything else about the program has stayed the same or significantly diminished in value...

CWLCY is a shame but the rest I can understand.... wonder what the peak / off peak rates for popular routes will be?

Can anyone say that this change was not pretty much inevitable?