Originally Posted by
lost_in_translation
There's a point at which rewarding these flyers over and above those who pay much more for less convoluted fares becomes counterproductive though.
As an aside, I'm not sure there's as much choice as you think from the UK to HNL (and this point is of borderline relevance anyway, the implication is these flyers only go to HNL *because* of the attractiveness of the route as a BAEC earning opportunity rather than because they wanted to go and therefore chose BA/AA as the best option).
The bigger commercial problem for BA in moving to a revenue based model is the ancillary sales of avios via third parties, how do these vest value if the scheme is simpler and converts readily to a cash value? If that cash value is any less than could be obtained via cashback cards it highlights the real issue that avios are not worth much.