Jan 28, 2015, 1:49 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
The changes in summary
Applicable to bookings made from 28 April 2015
For more information, see BA's 28 January announcement and FAQ on ba.com
Earning
Changes to Avios accrual rates and tier bonuses
Earning with partners
Reduced earnings in Economy and Premium Economy
AA, IBERIA, JAL, LAN, TAM, ALASKA, SRI LANKAN, QANTAS, CATHAY.
Changes to tier bonuses
Changes to minimum Avios amounts (accrued per flight)
Changes to Tier Point earning rates
Spending
Promise of greater reward inventory/availability
Changes to standard flight redemption rates
Changes to Upgrade with Avios
Applicable to bookings made from 28 April 2015
For more information, see BA's 28 January announcement and FAQ on ba.com
Earning
Changes to Avios accrual rates and tier bonuses
- earning rates increase for flights booked in F, A, J, C, D, and W selling classes
- no change for flights booked in R, I, Y, B, and H selling classes
- earning rates reduce for flights booked in E, T, K, L, M, N, S, V, Q, O, and G selling classes
Earning with partners
Reduced earnings in Economy and Premium Economy
AA, IBERIA, JAL, LAN, TAM, ALASKA, SRI LANKAN, QANTAS, CATHAY.
Changes to tier bonuses
- no change to Gold tier bonuses (100%)
- Silver tier bonuses reduce from 100% to 50%
- no change to Bronze tier bonuses (25%)
Changes to minimum Avios amounts (accrued per flight)
- minimum thresholds increase for long haul premium fares (F, A, J, C, D, W)
- no change to restricted business class fares (R and I class) and flexible econony (Y, B, and H class)
- minimum thresholds decrease for WT+ (E and T class) - although there are no BA WTP flights that short
- minimum thresholds decrease from 500 to 250 Avios for mid priced economy (K, L, M, N, S, and V classes)
- minimum thresholds decrease from 500 to 125 Avios for cheapest economy (Q, O, and G classes)
Changes to Tier Point earning rates
- Club World London City flights reduce from 210 to 140 Tier Points
- Cheapest economy flights (in selling classes Q, O, and G) reduce from 50% to 25% Tier Points
- No change to minimum 2/4 segments for earning Bronze/Others
- No change to 25 segment / 50 segment Bronze/Silver earning option
- No other changes, thresholds still Bronze 300,Silver 600,Gold 1500,GGL 5000 (3000 to retain)
Spending
Promise of greater reward inventory/availability
- Guaranteed minimum 4 seats in economy on every flight
- Guaranteed minimum 2 seats in business on every flight
- Guaranteed seats will be available to book from 355 days before departure and may vanish 45 days before departure, if not already booked.
Changes to standard flight redemption rates
- Variable rates introduced divided into Off-peak and Peak
- For Peak time (school holidays and other busy times), and partner costs
- WT - stays the same cost
- WTP increases - from x1.5 to x2.0 multiplier (33% increase)
- Club World increases - from x2.0 to x3.0 multiplier (50% increase)
- First increases - from x3.0 to x4.0 multiplier (33% increase)
- For Off Peak time (including every Tuesday and Wednesday throughout the year)
- WT decreases by 35% from current values
- WT decreases by 13% from current values
- Club World increases by 25% from current values
- First increases by 13% from current values
- Free domestic add-ons abolished on short haul redemptions
- No word if CE redemptions will be charged 4500/Ł17.50 or 9000/Ł25 for the UK leg
- Variable rates introduced on Iberia
- Flight redemptions on BA's other airline partners will be charged at Peak rates all year round
Changes to Upgrade with Avios
- Eligible booking codes is set to increase in the near future, allowing mile upgrades from economy (WT and ET) for more travellers - K, L, M, N, S, and V classes added (exact fare codes subject to confirmation)
- Avios required for upgrade now based on the formula: Avios redemption price for the cabin you want to upgrade to, minus the Avios redemption price for the cabin you have paid for with cash. This means that certain off peak WTP to CW upgrades are more expensive than peak WTP to CW upgrades (assuming peak/off-peak variables will apply to UuA)
Executive Club Changes
Jan 28, 2015, 5:21 am
#241
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Berlin, Germany
Programs: LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 476
Already use QR going east quite frequently. Compared to CW: same, same. Much better wine. New Lounge in DOH is new & huge, I'd still value CCR and BA First Lounge in T5 better (except for the wine & champagne, which is a couple of notches better in DOH).
Jan 28, 2015, 5:22 am
#242
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, CX Gold (OW Sapphire), Hilton Gold, SPG Gold, Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,476
That provides you the answer to your question ...
Jan 28, 2015, 5:22 am
#243
Join Date: May 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 3,951
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
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
This is my thoughts also. Yes it was certainly a generous benefit with the free Dom connection, but to now have to pay full price doubling the total cost of a Z1 RFS, is unjust. There should have been a compromise.
Jan 28, 2015, 5:23 am
#244
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: not far from MUC
Posts: 6,620
I suppose we could view it that MAN, LBA, NCL and co just got moved from Zone 0 to Zone 1 ...
Jan 28, 2015, 5:25 am
#245
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
I am sure there must be cheering at EasyJet Towers today.
Jan 28, 2015, 5:25 am
#246
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BA, Marriott, Hertz, Dennis The Menace Fan Club
Posts: 2,015
Maybe BA's next acquisition will be the flying orange? They could re-brand it as something like, maybe, Go?
Jan 28, 2015, 5:27 am
#247
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA Gold....er now Silver...er now Bronze....er now Blue
Posts: 3,507
as a mainly Euro traveller for work and long haul for leisure, this is horrible.
Harder to earn TPs/Avios on short haul and a lot more expensive for award flights to US west coast, which I my usual destination. Oh and 50% bonus instead of 100% for silvers.
BA of course say there will be a lot more reward flights available. I'll believe that when I see it.
Given I'll now struggle to have enough miles for the reward tickets I want, then I'll have less motivation to choose BA for my work flights.
Harder to earn TPs/Avios on short haul and a lot more expensive for award flights to US west coast, which I my usual destination. Oh and 50% bonus instead of 100% for silvers.
BA of course say there will be a lot more reward flights available. I'll believe that when I see it.
Given I'll now struggle to have enough miles for the reward tickets I want, then I'll have less motivation to choose BA for my work flights.
Jan 28, 2015, 5:28 am
#248
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: London/Glasgow
Programs: BAEC Silver (lapsed HNL Gold), Avis Preferred, IHG Diamond Amb, Hilton Plat, Marriot Plat
Posts: 351
This is annoying for me and my business - we're a start up split between London and Glasgow, some of us travel up and down every 2-3 weeks and either scrape to Silver or top up with holiday travel to make it. If the 50 flights requirement remains that is fine.
Where it is frustrating and shortsighted is that it doesn't create long-term loyalty from our small, but growing, ultimately global business. If all works out as we hope we'll be a BA corporate client for years to come, likely booking flexible and short notice premium travel. But in the short term we're booking discount economy, maybe premium economy, or the odd business class sale fare.
The benefit for us of having staff accrue status is the IRROPs priority, and to have lounge facilities especially on long haul even if cost means they have to go economy. If our guys are going to just miss out on silver there's little point sticking with BA because the little extra is costs returns absolutely no benefit.
In our case, then, it's a move that should result in long term shift from being BA loyal as a business to shopping around which won't help them in the long term. I know we're a tiny part of the BA revenue base, but I can't imagine we're alone.
Where it is frustrating and shortsighted is that it doesn't create long-term loyalty from our small, but growing, ultimately global business. If all works out as we hope we'll be a BA corporate client for years to come, likely booking flexible and short notice premium travel. But in the short term we're booking discount economy, maybe premium economy, or the odd business class sale fare.
The benefit for us of having staff accrue status is the IRROPs priority, and to have lounge facilities especially on long haul even if cost means they have to go economy. If our guys are going to just miss out on silver there's little point sticking with BA because the little extra is costs returns absolutely no benefit.
In our case, then, it's a move that should result in long term shift from being BA loyal as a business to shopping around which won't help them in the long term. I know we're a tiny part of the BA revenue base, but I can't imagine we're alone.
Jan 28, 2015, 5:28 am
#249
Moderator, Emirates
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Where My Heart Is
Programs: BAEC Silver, FB Platinum, KQ Asante Gold, Shebamiles Blue, Emirates Blue
Posts: 3,386
Just received the e-mail from that nice man Mr Hillier.....................................
Jan 28, 2015, 5:28 am
#250
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,570
I think this bears out my decision (or possibly indecision) over the past 2 years to maintain some arbitrage between Virgin and BA. Yes, VS have their own issues, but at least the earning rate remains good, even if my strategy for being able to spend them remains more in the 'long term'...
Anyway, my avios balance is now sub 1000 (and that's household!) due to some recent RFS bookings. By the time I'm about to drop down to silver in September, I reckon it will be around 100k and I'll be blowing that on a few more RFSs for 2016.
After that, and provided BA don't muck around with status threshholds, I am simply going to maintain silver for the useful lounge access on my domestic and euro travels, and stop worrying about the rest of the bulls*** going on here.
And I reiterate my earlier comment that Tesco conversion rates will be next in the firing line...
Anyway, my avios balance is now sub 1000 (and that's household!) due to some recent RFS bookings. By the time I'm about to drop down to silver in September, I reckon it will be around 100k and I'll be blowing that on a few more RFSs for 2016.
After that, and provided BA don't muck around with status threshholds, I am simply going to maintain silver for the useful lounge access on my domestic and euro travels, and stop worrying about the rest of the bulls*** going on here.
And I reiterate my earlier comment that Tesco conversion rates will be next in the firing line...
Jan 28, 2015, 5:30 am
#251
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,570
Of course, my corporate email filter could be interpreting it as spam...
Jan 28, 2015, 5:31 am
#252
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,593
I think some of it was inevitable, like earning 100% on very cheap ET fares. The increases to CW and F redemptions are disproportionate beyond belief when compared to AA redemptions.
The thing I can't get my head around is that in the middle of the EI takeover BA show their cards by shafting those who live in the regions when it comes to redemptions. The Irish were not easily sold the Lisbon Treaty and perhaps they won't be easy pushovers when it comes to taking over their national airline. To make RFS now double not even a bit more but double is crazy. (I guess for Scots who live in the central belt its an extra 4500 because they can fly into EDI and out of GLA but BA as a member of OneWorld doesn't honour separate bookings EDIT this is the free RFS that's now gone isn't it?). It's a real kick in the face to all those thousands of BA flyers who inconvenience themselves flying via London when U2/FR fly to many more places than BA. Given the improvements to regional lounges like No1 traveller and Aspire there is little incentive to pay BA fares to transfer via LHR and one can just bite the bullet and fly LCC or similar and save hours of time. Though many FTers would point out BA have been making it clear they don't want us by the shambles that is FCC. BA obviously feel that the growth in the LON travel market will easily lap up the inevitable free seats that connecting pax took for the regions combined with future predictions of the LON economy. Of course, they will come crawling back pretty quick if it all goes BANG as it inevitably will considering we are on the 80+ banking crisis in the past few hundred years.
In conclusion, I could have bitten my tongue for a few of the changes but shafting regional travellers on a highly political issue is disgraceful. We've put up with your crappy connections for years and supported your business while U2/FR crept up your market share. "British" Airways only in name since a long time.
The thing I can't get my head around is that in the middle of the EI takeover BA show their cards by shafting those who live in the regions when it comes to redemptions. The Irish were not easily sold the Lisbon Treaty and perhaps they won't be easy pushovers when it comes to taking over their national airline. To make RFS now double not even a bit more but double is crazy. (I guess for Scots who live in the central belt its an extra 4500 because they can fly into EDI and out of GLA but BA as a member of OneWorld doesn't honour separate bookings EDIT this is the free RFS that's now gone isn't it?). It's a real kick in the face to all those thousands of BA flyers who inconvenience themselves flying via London when U2/FR fly to many more places than BA. Given the improvements to regional lounges like No1 traveller and Aspire there is little incentive to pay BA fares to transfer via LHR and one can just bite the bullet and fly LCC or similar and save hours of time. Though many FTers would point out BA have been making it clear they don't want us by the shambles that is FCC. BA obviously feel that the growth in the LON travel market will easily lap up the inevitable free seats that connecting pax took for the regions combined with future predictions of the LON economy. Of course, they will come crawling back pretty quick if it all goes BANG as it inevitably will considering we are on the 80+ banking crisis in the past few hundred years.
In conclusion, I could have bitten my tongue for a few of the changes but shafting regional travellers on a highly political issue is disgraceful. We've put up with your crappy connections for years and supported your business while U2/FR crept up your market share. "British" Airways only in name since a long time.
Last edited by hugolover; Jan 28, 2015 at 5:44 am
Jan 28, 2015, 5:31 am
#253
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tyrone,EU
Programs: Avios Hunter
Posts: 2,812
Something seems to have slipped by:
"Are oneworld and other partner airlines also introducing peak and off-peak travel periods?
No. If you would like to redeem Avios to fly with British Airways airline partners you will need to use peak Avios pricing all year round. There will be no off-peak pricing available for reward flights with our airline partners."
Bit annoying for those us redeeming on non-BA metal.
"Are oneworld and other partner airlines also introducing peak and off-peak travel periods?
No. If you would like to redeem Avios to fly with British Airways airline partners you will need to use peak Avios pricing all year round. There will be no off-peak pricing available for reward flights with our airline partners."
Bit annoying for those us redeeming on non-BA metal.
Jan 28, 2015, 5:31 am
#254
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 254
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!
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!
All this has done is decentivised me from collecting Avios (which BA earns money from when through partners) and encouraged me to spend cash flying J on Emirates, Cathay, etc. The BA product isn't good enough without some sort of Avios sweetener.
Jan 28, 2015, 5:32 am
#255
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: LIS
Programs: BA Gold, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold , HH Diamond , IHG Diamond Elite, Accor Gold
Posts: 175