Great folk have choices. But in all honesty the weak point in the system was never RFS to Europe. It’s long haul where a solely Y pax (by far the largest demographic (obv not on flyertalk) is getting totally shafted by the Executive Club.
It’s barely believable but the following example is likely to be the route a typical price conscious traveller would experience with Avios and the Executive Club
- A sale gets there attention and they book a great value return fare to NYC for £295
- During the journey they learn about the Exec Club (via airport notifications, onboard announcements or the inflight mag)
- They join the Exec Club and feel loyal to BA
- They ensure they always fly BA
- They eventually have made 24 return flights to NYC on BA and have probably spent more than they otherwise would as they no longer choose the cheapest fare. It’s OK to spend a little more on BA as I’m earning miles.
- Customer now has enough miles to book a return economy trip to NYC - not before time!
But wait, although the current sale has every date open during month X there are only 2 days you can use your miles.
So then the booking is made, at a less than optimum time and BA charge the customer £80 more in taxes than a revenue flight would have cost and they take away 40,000 of the 41,520 that poor customer earned on those previous 24 return flights to NYC.
Bargain!