Originally Posted by
Sixth Freedom
I know that the accountants will probably assign a value to Avios as a liability, but I would make the case that in the revenue management environment there is zero liability because BA can:
(a) terminate the scheme at any time
(b) manage availability to limit redemption seats to those which would with 99.9% certainty otherwise go unsold
(c) manage availability to limit redemption seats to passengers who would with 99.9% certainty otherwise travel on another carrier.
But they cannot do anything about redemption availability on other carriers-i.e. BA know that they can sell most of the seats LHRHKG but CX releases a glut of U/Z availability that they cannot sell for money (which is even worse as BA must pay money to CX rather than absorb only the marginal cost of a PAX that they carry on a redemption.)
(granted this scenario is unlikely IME having flown both carriers on this route.)