NickB

Your examples seem to assume that distances are calculated by adding segment lengths as opposed to calculated the GC distance between origin and destination. Either is equally plausible.

timmillea

I would agree that both are plausible, but not equally. From the Airmiles page, "fares will be based on the distance you fly from your chosen airport". The distance you fly is not he same as the distance between origin & destination. Either this statement is strictly incorrect, or it is actually the distance flown, don't you think?

NickB

Sounds to me that we could have a case of over-reading. This is not a sensitive UN resolution, where each comma is carefully weighed and debated for hours on end. Both look to me like reasonable interpretations of the phrase you quoted.
To draw an analogy, even though FFP literature typically refers to miles being awarded based on the distances you fly, this is not always literally true for multi-stop flights under the same flight number: distance is calculated between O&D, even though you might have physically flown more due to a detour via the intermediate stop.

timmillea

NickB, you again make a very good point.

The aspect of the Avios publicity that leads me to where I am is the element of change....

"We're making things fairer for all by creating Zones that start from your regional airport – with fares based on the distance you fly."

"And fares will be based on the distance you fly from your chosen airport."

Also, that it makes sense to price for miles flown rather than how the 'crow flies'. Of course, if pricing were based on how crows actually fly things would be considerably worse judging by our local crows.

T.

Rhysie

The bit about the loss of tier points, is that for all classes specifically First? As First is now cheaper, will a return to Sydney in first still get me Silver?

meester69

Given that you can convert freely from Airmiles Aidsios to BA Aidsios and vice versa, the question is, in a year's time will there be any reason to prefer the Airmiles Aidsios over the BA one?

I suspect the answer is no, and the only thing to do is for me to redeem my 7k Airmiles now given that I think that they have typically gone for 10p/mile on ebay whereas BA miles are not generally as much as 1p/mile.....

But I could be wrong.

timmillea

I can see that the two schemes have different markets and that BA would want to keep them separate for that reason alone. The only differences I can see are: 1) the possibility of redeeming from the Avios scheme into a BA revenue fare bucket and earning some Avios in BAEC (while stopping short of confirming this, Nicci said there would be no change in the way fare buckets work); and 2) the Airmiles household account allows booking flights for people who are not household members while the equivalent BAEC does not.

Can anyone envisage any other differences?

Roger

Airmiles is/was a retail travel agent offering flights, hotels, car hire, Eurostar, package holidays etc using Airmiles, Airmiles + cash or cash only (earning Airmiles).

As somebody who has booked not only BA flights but also CO and LX flights redeeming Airmiles, I for one would like this aspect to continue.

britbronco22

Well that remains to be seen, if Avios points are freely transferrable between the two schemes I fear it will be the end of earning tier points on redemptions. My hope is that you can at least redeem in revenue fare buckets (but don't earn tier points), so that availability doesn't reduce.

The ability to earn tier points on some airmiles redemptions was an unpublished benefit previously, so I'm patiently waiting to see if it remains rather than trying to get any confirmation.

timmillea

I have never earned any BAEC miles or points with Airmiles redemptions though obviously I had read about those that have. Have you any idea as to what the formula is - routes, cabin etc. - or is it just down to availability of the different buckets at the time of booking?

fredandgingermad

I understood that as you can't earn Avios on Avios that it wouldn't continue, but i heard that from Airmiles, so i don't know about Tier Points.

Anyone here seen the Guardian today?

corporate-wage-slave

Cue the inevitable headline.

fredandgingermad

I always got told my my sociology teachers never to believe anything you read in the newspapers

Raffles

I get an odd feeling that Avios (ie Air Miles) will keep its wide range of UK theme park tickets etc. UK BAEC members will then be free to move over points from BAEC for redemptions.

HOWEVER .... note that in general a hotel or theme park redemption via Air Miles at the moment gets you about 5-6p per mile. That will be 0.5p-0.6p per BA Mile equivalent, which is certainly not great. Obviously if you get your miles for employer-paid flights then it is still worthwhile, but if you get miles from Tesco, Amex etc you should be looking for a higher redemption value.

timmillea

I thought that was a fair and accurate article (as with all Guardian articles ).

I understand that due to the sheer expense of acquiring Airmiles, the vast majority of Airmiles customers are in it for the short haul, as it were, and will be disgruntled, but not overly horrified at a £27 charge in return for increased flexibility. The real horror stories are those of us who have been collecting religiously for years, like one of mentioned those in the article paying more for things at Tescos, just to be able to partake of a long-haul holiday of a lifetime a year or two further down the line. Every quarterly delivery of Clubcard vouchers was something to relish for this reason. It was like holiday tickets arriving - only in small pieces.

I think the Mileage Company have misjudged the magnitude of the negative impact upon a sizeable minority of Airmiles members and that it really did ought to offer some concessions. The most thought through and reasonable suggestions would be the most likely to be accepted, or rather hardest to resist if Airmiles members got behind them. Suggestions welcome here!

Here are a few thoughts.

1) 1 Airmile is considerably more expensive to acquire than 10 BA Miles. E.g. two 1st class tickets to New York with Airmiles requires £75,000 of Tesco spending. Many BAEC members can acquire this with their regular business travel (that they probably didn't pay for themselves) and an annual 241 voucher from their favourite credit card.
2) 1 Airmile is considerably more valuable than 10 BA Miles. E.g. currently New York return WT 5,000 Airmiles vs. 50,000 BA Miles + £300 implies a drastically different conversion rate.
3) Most Airmiles collectors faced with having to pay BA's current nonsensical "taxes and fees" (a large proportion of the BA cash fare), on top of expensively and hard-earned Airmiles, will simply fly with another airline for less cash and use their Tesco vouchers etc. for genuine value elsewhere.
4) Possible concessions (for Airmiles/Avios members only):
a) abandon any change - not going to happen
b) change the conversion rate to better reflect the value relative to BA Miles
d) earn Avios points on redemptions, like revenue fares, back into your Avios a/c.

Over to you!