Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Not sure I understand "flight" versus "accurate" miles, there is a table of mileage BA uses, you can find it in High Life magazine, and it works off that. Sometimes drops 1 mile in one direction verus the other (OSL, DLM).
However there have been comments elsewhere in FT about how the Avios reduction was actually not as bad as first portrayed, particularly if Gold or above, since the Tier Bonus remains 100% of the mileage. So I and other FTers were thinking that the Euro shorthaul minima, which was 1,000 TPs, would be decimated by the change, but in reality I'm still getting 625 or 750 Avios. Furthermore, with the bonus promotional scheme, where you sign up for an extra 500 Avios or so, means I'm actually earning similar or more Avios now.
Also on LGW services the higher fare buckets are still quite cheap, so it is sometimes worth paying a few pounds more to get out of QOG.
Rather less fun if you are Silver though. They would have gone from the 1,000 minima down to 375.
I must admit that I was one of those that thought the new earnings would be absolutely abysmal because I incorrectly assumed that the Tier Bonus would be based an the actual Avios awarded for the fare class, i.e. on a domestic flight, 125 base Avios for the class plus 50% of the 125 Avios (being 63) - to make the total only 188 Avios.
Luckily, as pointed out by others at the time, I was incorrect!
So earnings for Silvers and Golds are not quite as bad, but the problem is that you now need a massive amount of Avios for some upgrades.
What is quite good is that the new off-peak rates are quite attractive on certain flights.