Travelomania

Pfffff .... Thanks for your quick response - I use AS and AB frequently and was holding my breath

FormalHall

This was my first thought too, they have allowed this discrepancy to stay open for some time, presumably because BA already received a lot of criticism in the transition from airmiles to avios, whereas perhaps IB has always been uncompetitive?

BA has a more global FFP membership and a more competitive local rival in VS. IB's only domestic competitor other than LCCs is Air Europa.

While we may think it obvious to transfer avios between programmes, this must be very much a niche activity; think how well hidden the transfer link is on the IB website.

Finally, the US based bloggers usually forget that there a three avios programmes, including avios.com. If it devalued then I would begin to get worried.

guflyer

My hope is that everyone making a big deal about how it would not make sense to bring about the changes to BA does not cause IAG management to make this the case. As what was mentioned earlier, transferring between British Airways and Iberian Avios seems to be a "niche" thing. However, all of the publicity about this brings about the potential of this expanding to where British Airways Avios changes may be made as a response.

IMH

The 10% discount on BA flights originating in the USA isn't to be sniffed at, surely?

I don't actually want a 2-4-1 every year, and I can earn more miles/Avios by using an Amex MR Gold card to pay for flights, but the discount means we always keep a Chase BA Visa in our household.

iahphx

Yeah, we obviously don't know if anything will happen. That said, the disparity is certainly odd. And it's a good wake-up call not to run up too high an Avios balance: suggesting, perhaps, that actual use of the Chase BA card beyond the sign-up bonus is a risky proposition. Better to accumulate points in the Chase UR program (or with AMEX) and dole them to BA when needed.


Well, I sniff at it. I've actually NEVER bought a revenue ticket on BA (well, I once tried a few years ago to India, and they cancelled my reservation in that notorious incident). BA is rarely cheap, and the UK air tax structure encourages me to take creative routes when I travel to the UK (like I never depart from London to fly across the Pond).

Which, of course, makes me think that there will eventually be changes to Avios. A loyalty program that doesn't encourage me to be loyal to the sponsoring company is more than a bit odd.

wanderingtheearth

US-based flyers who make frequent trips to the UK can't get equivalent benefits from being in AAdvantage, simply because (unlike every other OW partner!) there's no automatic lounge access for any AAdvantage status. I always tell my friends who fly to Europe regularly to credit their miles to BA, as you'll do better as a OWS than the AAdvantage equivalent on your AA trips. So, please, don't be so enthusiastic to boot US-based flyers out of BAEC!

travisw

unless you're in a city directly served by BA, then yes. lots of people connect but can't use it because of BA's terrible IT which can't, unlike other airlines, discount the BA portion on an itinerary that includes a non-BA segment

trueblu

Actually, if the purpose is to benefit from lounge access when flying to UK (or any other non-North American destination), then AA does grant lounge access. It's only on domestic only flights when access is not granted.

If one flies business/first, status is MUCH more difficult to achieve on AA vs BA, and the converse is true if one flies in economy (as a very approximate generalization). This probably factors significantly when making decision about which FFP to credit to.

Sorry for the OT post.

tb

Travellair

I don’t know what the fuss is all about. These have been the same Avios amounts for Oneworld redemptions through IB Plus since 2011. (I have printouts).

Surely they are not competitive, but there have been no changes at all.
Back in November 2011, what IB Plus did was maintain their own distance bands for Oneworld redemptions and simply adjust x15 the original IB Plus Point amounts, therefore, causing such disparities. (Even though the amounts shown are for return trips, compulsory for Oneworld redemptions under IB Plus)

My guess is that whoever first stated that this had been a devaluation simply hadn’t studied or compared the chart before and assumed they were the same as BAEC and that now an increase had taken place.

LTN Phobia

I was wondering why there is no thread getting up in arms about it on the IB forum here. I thought it might be because it's such a quiet forum that no-one started talking about it yet.

Travelomania

Same here - I never even consider a BA flight a good deal on most occasions.
There are much more advantageous ways to get to/from the UK and across the pond

Time for reevaluation and cogency !

pokee

Ditto...the increases aren't even moderate - they're HUGE, to the point of being impossible to use for most people...

pokee

Well, a devaluation was definitely on the horizon. I flew a handful of times at the $350 flight for 9K; $500 flight for 15K and $700 flight for 25K - all just over or just under the 3% return). I always felt that this wasn't sustainable, just was happy to ride the wave while I had it...

I think my Cap One Aspire MC may now be getting the most action...

Now the only question is what to do with my 100K MRs...???

ctownflyer

Any other confirmations of this? Has nothing changed at all?
Any screenshots you can post?

I guess this just all means no FTer has used IB Avios for a OW partner ticket...

Travelomania

I considered booking with IB avios on Vueling and was ready to make the transfer a few months ago. The redemption was the same as with BA avios, however the taxes and fees imposed were much higher, so I skipped.