TRISTAR1979

Well I think this is all great news.... For Easyjet! As a member based in the regions, it will now be more cost effective for me to fly direct with EasyJet than to book a RFS with BA. Are they trying hard to drive us into the hands of the competition?

I always took an extra couple of flights to get Silver, and went out of my way to make sure that every flight I took was on BA so that I could keep Silver, but from now on it simply won’t be worth my while, I will probably fly direct with the Orange mob and drop back down to Blue.

BA Are a profitable company, but clearly that’s not good enough for them, well I fear that this could be a test too far for some of the loyal customers in the regions, EZY will just pick up the fall out and get stronger as a consequence, I don’t think they have thought this one through.

I am now felling very let down by the airline I always thought valued my custom.

SteveF

No one's mentioned a DFS comparison yet though. How about increasing your prices by 50% then offering a discount which still makes them 25% more expensive than before?

our_kid

Well LGA-LGB certainly got a lot more attractive

xcalx

Could you please show a link to this.

Thanks

CrazyJ82

The odd thing about all this slicing and dicing of earning for economy sub fares is that many pax they're trying to reward (and incentivize) don't have a choice.

In my corporate booking portal, I can select carrier depending on schedule, but can't change the booking class on a carrier. BA and Lufthansa are both on our preferred list but I'd generally stick with BA. Now, if I work out they silver isn't obtainable given my flying pattern, I'll start spending a bit more time clicking through to see which fare class it is in each, on the theory that I could diversify to get some status in each program/alliance.

In this kind of case, the choice BA is trying to influence isn't "book BA at a cheap fare class or book BA at a more expensive fare class." It's "book BA at a cheap fare class or book someone else." The previous system was already more effective than other programs at disproportionately rewarding premium cabin flying. I don't understand what they aim to accomplish by tinkering at the lower end.

Stewie Mac

Has anyone noticed if the reduced TP earning for Q/O/G also applies to partner airlines?

Have chosen BA direct in the past over QR indirect as I got 8x the avios (silver travelling in cheapo economy) - with this change, the avios earning will be broadly similar, and not only would I get extra TPs for the add leg, but also possibly 'full' discount economy TPs, so 90 vs 35!

Morgo

Well, all I can say is "Thank You BA"! For years I had typically needed to rely on use of my BA miles/avios for biz/first travel on a leisure basis. Thus I spent an inordinate amount of time maximising my BA mileage collection and expending energy on credit card applications etc. For the last couple of years I've been lucky enough that for leisure travel I could choose to pay cash for J/F tickets but have always found that due to a large Avios balance and plentiful AMEX BOGOFs I've not needed to spend it (although tempting at times due to the painful reward availability). It's meant that almost all of my long haul travel has been on BA.

I'm now free of these shackles! Given the devaluation I don't feel that I need to worry so much about accruing Avios. I can now just get on and spend cash on the airline that will give me the best premium experience (I've heard great things about those ME and Asian airlines) and focus less on the reward scheme. I've only seen the BA club and 1st cabin experience deteriorate over the last 15 years and I'm looking forward to trying these other airlines. I guess I'll still collect miles into the most optimal schemes (be foolish not to) but I'm certainly not going to be stubbornly loyal to any particular carrier anymore!

Cheriton

This is a good way of pushing the ones who just hit silver each year to look at EasyJet and pay for a priority pass for the year.

techie

While I am not a heavy flier any more, these changes seem to suggest that it is time to burn the flag rather than fly it.

SaraJH

Apologies if this has been asked and answered elsewhere in this thread but....

If you were to book a redemption at current rates before end April and then wish to make a change after end April will BA make you pay additional Avios to bring the changed booking in line with the then current redemption rates?

jacobitetraveller

ok here goes

getting the domestic sector of an award flight from the regions to Europe was generous I agree but for us to have to pay double avios and double fees is a bit unfair considering we have no choice but to take two flights

I would suggest a compromise would be the fairer way ----- say maybe standard avios from London but maybe 2000 or 2500 avios for the domestic sector and say Ł10 return for the fees

andystock22

For a blue who collects from Amex, Tesco, Hilton, IHG, Topcashback.com, reward for Thoughts etc this has minor negative impact on myself as all my BA. Flights are redemption flights. The reduction in off peak ET and CE reductions is good. Disappointed to see the loss of the free regional connections

However BA are now much less attractive now on long hauls were there is another one world partner, HK - Cathay Pacific, Doha - Qatar, KL - Malaysian Airlines, Quantas - Dubai as all offer a much better product than BA now on the same avios earning rate.

Calchas

FFP (Frequent flier programme) acts a bit like an exchange bank holding a currency which they call "Avios".

The FFP sells Avios to the airlines (BA and its oneworld partners), to credit cards (Amex, Lloyds...), survey companies, and a few others. The FFP prints Avios to meet the demand, i.e., converts cash to Avios.

Then when it is time to redeem, the FFP buys flights from the airlines / rooms from the hotels (for a nominal cash rate) and destroys your Avios at the same time, i.e., converts Avios to cash.

There is a strong short term pressure to devalue the Avios exchange rate but this makes the currency less attractive to the purchasers (credit card companies, airlines), which undermines the real cash flow.

There will also be contracts in place between the parties to uphold a certain level of exchange.

The programme makes money by skimming off the top of the exchanges and from the inevitable loss of unredeemed Avios.

Do you also find it surprising that London is referred to as a "British" city even though it isn't in all of Britain?

And that is the point.

Rumours have been circulating for years. I'll believe it when I see it.

The programme is obviously profitable enough to sell off.

liamrugby

Oh well, it's been good fun but that's it for me and the Exec club...

nobbyclark

Yep, 180+ flights a year at the back of the bus and it looks like I am to become a victim of some sort of social apartheid that wants to exclude the Dom/ET passenger from the lounge. I'm still gold until May 2016 and then silver until the following May at least. Not sure what will give out first, my constitution or BA's free food and drink. Will certainly be maximizing my and the family's use of the facilities.