Originally Posted by
chongcao
I had a look at BA eStore compare with Avios eStore. I think I will be pissed off.
1, In Avios.com eStore, I can click and book hotels with IHG, Hilton, Best Western and others to accumulate Avios based on spending as well as hotel points as it is booked direct. A nice double dip. In BA.com eStore the travel section is poor and this path will be closed if BA.com does not improve its offering.
2, Some interesting eStore on Avios.com is not available on BA.com. For example HolidayTaxis and Royal Caribbean.
I have to say unless BA.com eStore improve its offering by July this is definitely an enhancement (Downgrade).
BA cannot improve its estore offering because of its existing hotel partnership agreements.
Some other partners may go because they conflict with existing BA partnerships. The Alan Boswell Insurance deal may be one of them. If a partner is currently on avios.com but not on ba.com you should assume that is because of BA legal conflicts.
I've just spoken with the Avios Commercial Director. No great new insights except that:
* the Flybe programme won't be launched until late in 2018 (probably just in time for Flybe to go bust!)
* the Lloyds credit card agreement is 'long term' which implies that the existing cards will drag on for some time. Whether or not a new standalone Visa / Mastercard product is launched is a different question.