GUWonder

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Rather, I'd be more sure about the opposite.

Raffles

Amex must have known about this, because there are going to be issues now about the Lloyds TSB Air Miles cards (which will be issuing Avios) and the BA Amex cards, which be issuing, er, Avios. Someone's exclusivity deal just got shredded.

origin

I might be wrong Lloyds is Avios

Amex is BA Exec.

If you use Lloyds then you will get Avios into one account.
Amex will go into another account.

You dont need to close either accounts.

Or am I wrong I am keeping both going.

Paralytic

I can see lots of people on this board now looking for sign-up bonuses for the LTSB card - I never took it out when the last offer was on (1500+1500 airmiles?) - I wish I had now.

Smidget

Edit: oops probably posted this in the wrong place...

henkybaby

I see what you mean but I guess that replacing the word 'miles' by 'avios' really makes no difference. You just have AAvios (Airmiles), BAvios (BA) and Avios (IB).

Cap'n Benj

Yes they do, it does seem slightly cynical to encourage people to covert their miles, just before (in fact set a deadline the day before) changes are made to that program though. They've got two month to use something they may not want to use in those two months

We don't know how they buy the miles though do we? (well someone may!?)

They may well buy them upfront in bulk, if they have 100,000,000 million miles that they have bought to give away, if their 75% if their user base suddenly view these miles as being far less valuable, Amex would feel that they had over paid for them in the first place too.

GUWonder

Actually that too makes a difference to the marketing partners with whom BA has a contractual relationship. And this isn't a guess, unlike the admission in the post above.

BAHumbug

But you can book up to 11 months out @:-)


No we don't know this, but I think I can say with confidence Amex are big enough and ugly enough to look after themselves. I certainly won't be shedding any tears if it's revealed Amex have lost money over it.

BAH

BAHumbug

Not sure about that. The 2 schemes still exist as seperate entities, and of course you can now funnel miles between the two.

I accept that it's not in the spirit of any exclusivity agreement, and none of us are likely to find out what, if any, deals have been done.

BAH

timmillea

Nicci, I would like to ask a question regarding the new zoning.

The EC web pages says "On 97% of our routes there will be either no change or the route will require even fewer Avios points than the current BA Miles."

Does the 97% include routes involving a connecting flight for which no extra miles are currently payable ?

Cap'n Benj

Yes but People aren't shedding a tear about Amex losing money over it though are they, they're shedding tears over pretty much the exact opposite, them cynically reducing their losses, screwing over Jo Public in the process.

Of course, as discussed all of the above could be completely moot, once BA actually announce the details, at which point, all involved will probably love Amex again for their lovely free miles and feel a tad embarrassed about their crying on here

BAHumbug

No, they are shedding tears over an unconfirmed rumour that Amex have screwed them over. I have little sympathy for people who react thus to rumours...

The problem is (and several people, including myself, alluded to this a few days ago) that the rumour and conjecture has been repeated so often, and with such passion, that people are accepting it as some sort of unassailable truth.

Quite so !

BAH

Paulchili

They certainly covered their a**, as they always do - that is why they pay a lot of money to their lawyers. However, did they not promise 6 months notice and are giving just 2 1/2?
In any case, that is exactly why I had said earlier that it is not illegal, just morally wrong. Maybe your schedule is flexible enough that 2 1/2 months is enough notice for you; for others it may not be the case, for any number of reasons (previuosly booked/non cancellable trips, no more vacation time, etc, etc).
However, it is what it is and we all will have to move on. With the exception of S. America and stopovers, BA was never a real bargain when compared to AA redemptions anyway. Even the much touted routes from NA to Asia are a better deal on AA in F (67.5K on AA vs 75K on BA); ditto from Oz to US. The fuel surcharges made it even worse and now with the new redemptions table likely, it's really time to move on.

origin

I dont understand what is morally wrong. Have they actually made any changes yet.