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/£17.50 or 9000/£25 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 29, 2015, 1:56 am
#751
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, ZSL Silver
Posts: 2,551
I genuinely can't see how this is good for anyone.
From a personal point, I can kind of live with the earning side (though understand it will hit others harder) - Silver get fewer, higher fare buckets get more etc. I could get over that bit.
However, how do the new redemption levels benefit anyone?
* UuA to CW (esp from Zone 5) is now a massive hike, even if earning as GGL on W fare.
* If you're booking into J,C,D I would assume that you'd be looking at J/F redemptions. these are significantly higher, even with the extra Avios earned.
* Availability. Great if you can book 255 days out. But can frequent business travellers really take advantage of that? Will those booking full W/J find last minute UuA? It's looking unlikely.
* Only 2 seats released, so forget it if you want to use all those Avios for your family holiday.
* High YQ remains
So to me, even high earners will either have a pile of Avios they can't/will struggle to use (especially F), or if they do, will pay considerably more.
From a personal point, I can kind of live with the earning side (though understand it will hit others harder) - Silver get fewer, higher fare buckets get more etc. I could get over that bit.
However, how do the new redemption levels benefit anyone?
* UuA to CW (esp from Zone 5) is now a massive hike, even if earning as GGL on W fare.
* If you're booking into J,C,D I would assume that you'd be looking at J/F redemptions. these are significantly higher, even with the extra Avios earned.
* Availability. Great if you can book 255 days out. But can frequent business travellers really take advantage of that? Will those booking full W/J find last minute UuA? It's looking unlikely.
* Only 2 seats released, so forget it if you want to use all those Avios for your family holiday.
* High YQ remains
So to me, even high earners will either have a pile of Avios they can't/will struggle to use (especially F), or if they do, will pay considerably more.
Jan 29, 2015, 1:59 am
#752
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: SIN and Medway, UK (so... LCY/LGW/BRU)
Programs: A3 *G, BA OWS, IHG Diamond Amb, Bonvoy Plat
Posts: 744
Having read nearly all of the threads, my poor head is buzzing, and am still confused.
Can someone or maybe even a couple of people help out with my query.
Am Silver, and travel albeit only once a year to SYD in F, and easily keep hold of my silver card, but as the TP are dropping from 100% to a horrible 50%, what do I expect to get for my SYD trip.
I have been looking on the calculator for M:confusediles and TP, putting in all the cards, blue, bronze, silver and gold, and the TP for each card travelling in F comes to 360, now as is being said Bronze is staying the same, do I still assume that if I drop to Bronze I will still get 360 TP on my LHR-SYD leg, and of course the same TP on the return leg. Please help a rather confused simpleton.
Can someone or maybe even a couple of people help out with my query.
Am Silver, and travel albeit only once a year to SYD in F, and easily keep hold of my silver card, but as the TP are dropping from 100% to a horrible 50%, what do I expect to get for my SYD trip.
I have been looking on the calculator for M:confusediles and TP, putting in all the cards, blue, bronze, silver and gold, and the TP for each card travelling in F comes to 360, now as is being said Bronze is staying the same, do I still assume that if I drop to Bronze I will still get 360 TP on my LHR-SYD leg, and of course the same TP on the return leg. Please help a rather confused simpleton.
The main focus of this round of devaluations is with regards to Avios, which are largely used for redeeming free flights or upgrades.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:00 am
#753
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, ZSL Silver
Posts: 2,551
Incidentally, F availability at the end of December from ORD has totally dried up. A couple of days ago there were still a few.
The cynic in me can't believe that they've now all been taken. CW is now 2 per flight on most days, when before it may have had 5 on some and none on others.
The cynic in me can't believe that they've now all been taken. CW is now 2 per flight on most days, when before it may have had 5 on some and none on others.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:01 am
#754
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ZRH/VRN
Programs: BA Gold, AAdvantage, Miles&More, Miles&Smiles
Posts: 228
Having read nearly all of the threads, my poor head is buzzing, and am still confused.
Can someone or maybe even a couple of people help out with my query.
Am Silver, and travel albeit only once a year to SYD in F, and easily keep hold of my silver card, but as the TP are dropping from 100% to a horrible 50%, what do I expect to get for my SYD trip.
I have been looking on the calculator for M:confusediles and TP, putting in all the cards, blue, bronze, silver and gold, and the TP for each card travelling in F comes to 360, now as is being said Bronze is staying the same, do I still assume that if I drop to Bronze I will still get 360 TP on my LHR-SYD leg, and of course the same TP on the return leg. Please help a rather confused simpleton.
Can someone or maybe even a couple of people help out with my query.
Am Silver, and travel albeit only once a year to SYD in F, and easily keep hold of my silver card, but as the TP are dropping from 100% to a horrible 50%, what do I expect to get for my SYD trip.
I have been looking on the calculator for M:confusediles and TP, putting in all the cards, blue, bronze, silver and gold, and the TP for each card travelling in F comes to 360, now as is being said Bronze is staying the same, do I still assume that if I drop to Bronze I will still get 360 TP on my LHR-SYD leg, and of course the same TP on the return leg. Please help a rather confused simpleton.
The reduction of Tier Bonuses (Avios) for Silver Cards from 100 % to 50 % doesn't apply to Tier Points...
Jan 29, 2015, 2:02 am
#755
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,809
Having read nearly all of the threads, my poor head is buzzing, and am still confused.
Can someone or maybe even a couple of people help out with my query.
Am Silver, and travel albeit only once a year to SYD in F, and easily keep hold of my silver card, but as the TP are dropping from 100% to a horrible 50%, what do I expect to get for my SYD trip.
Can someone or maybe even a couple of people help out with my query.
Am Silver, and travel albeit only once a year to SYD in F, and easily keep hold of my silver card, but as the TP are dropping from 100% to a horrible 50%, what do I expect to get for my SYD trip.
TP earning isn't related to status, only Avios earning.
So, you'll be fine.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:04 am
#756
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Jan 29, 2015, 2:05 am
#757
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: East Anglia, England
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,056
Having read all the details and digested the changes over night here is my view.
On the one hand, there will be increased reward seats in certain cabins, which is good, but strategically it seems not in WTP (or F). On the other hand, the Avios needed for these additional rewards seats has gone up on the soon to be 'peak periods'. The sting in the tail comes from reduced Avios on most economy tickets. Thus, fly a lot in ET or WT and those Avios become even more precious. If that's not a slight of hand I don't know what is!
Interestingly, with reduced Avios from cheap economy tickets there were no changes on accumulating Avios from other sources. So, if one cannot get them through flying, then Tesco etc is a way to boost the balance (again).
But then there is the reduced TPs on cheap economy tickets. This one caught me by surprise. It will take people longer to achieve or maintain Silver+ status flying a couple of times a week. If the goal was to reduce the number of Silver+ members, I think there is another way to go about it.
Whilst not completely unexpected, the changes for TPs on the CWLCY service is a little disappointing but understandable. However, I think there is an argument for the TPs to remain higher than CW TPs simply because BA builds the service as special or unique, and thus it should attract more TPs--perhaps J+ instead of F.
The shine has definitely come off Silver with the reduced bonus Avios to 50%. Though I have to say I never quite understood why Silver should receive the same as Gold (and I have been Silver a lot longer than Gold).
Overall and personally, these changes will not have an impact on me nor my travels. However, they don't sit well with me and I can appreciate the strong reactions thus far. I would have thought that in this day in age of competition, particularly within Europe, that airlines would want to strengthen their FFP and maintain that loyalty rather than diluting it. When price is king there will be little incentive to remain loyal to BA if maintaining status is just a little bit more difficult. Time will tell.
H
On the one hand, there will be increased reward seats in certain cabins, which is good, but strategically it seems not in WTP (or F). On the other hand, the Avios needed for these additional rewards seats has gone up on the soon to be 'peak periods'. The sting in the tail comes from reduced Avios on most economy tickets. Thus, fly a lot in ET or WT and those Avios become even more precious. If that's not a slight of hand I don't know what is!
Interestingly, with reduced Avios from cheap economy tickets there were no changes on accumulating Avios from other sources. So, if one cannot get them through flying, then Tesco etc is a way to boost the balance (again).
But then there is the reduced TPs on cheap economy tickets. This one caught me by surprise. It will take people longer to achieve or maintain Silver+ status flying a couple of times a week. If the goal was to reduce the number of Silver+ members, I think there is another way to go about it.
Whilst not completely unexpected, the changes for TPs on the CWLCY service is a little disappointing but understandable. However, I think there is an argument for the TPs to remain higher than CW TPs simply because BA builds the service as special or unique, and thus it should attract more TPs--perhaps J+ instead of F.
The shine has definitely come off Silver with the reduced bonus Avios to 50%. Though I have to say I never quite understood why Silver should receive the same as Gold (and I have been Silver a lot longer than Gold).
Overall and personally, these changes will not have an impact on me nor my travels. However, they don't sit well with me and I can appreciate the strong reactions thus far. I would have thought that in this day in age of competition, particularly within Europe, that airlines would want to strengthen their FFP and maintain that loyalty rather than diluting it. When price is king there will be little incentive to remain loyal to BA if maintaining status is just a little bit more difficult. Time will tell.
H
Jan 29, 2015, 2:10 am
#758
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Increased award seat availability on BA metal? I doubt it will be material enough to be a positive game changer for customers in the main.
A hope to be dashed. 
BA intends to sell more and more points to non-airline partners.
BA intends to sell more and more points to non-airline partners.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:14 am
#759
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ireland
Programs: No longer bothered chasing FF status.
Posts: 2,345
I also feel an incentive to retain silver/gold would be to only allow silver/gold to book in premium classes, ie CW or F. This would still allow Ba to sell their souls to Chase but those who have never spent a penny with BA would only be able to redeem in economy/WTP. Seems fair to me. ........
Jan 29, 2015, 2:14 am
#760
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: LGW
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, TK Elite, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 420
I'm looking at booking a one way LCY>JFK with avios. If i'm reading this right, it will cost 40,000 avios before the changes, and either 50,000 off-peak or 60,000 peak after the changes. Is that correct?
Also, it currently takes 10,000 for a one way from TSA>HND with Japan Airlines, will this be changing at all if booking through BA?
I'm confused
Also, it currently takes 10,000 for a one way from TSA>HND with Japan Airlines, will this be changing at all if booking through BA?
I'm confused
Jan 29, 2015, 2:15 am
#761
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kent, UK
Programs: BA Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,809
Jan 29, 2015, 2:17 am
#762
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hertz Presidents Circle.
Posts: 1,446
Robbed blind
These changes are not good news and BA can't have given it much thought, I wonder if they surveyed any EC members before coming out with this.
I have had Gold for the last couple of years, mainly paid for buy business travel, however corporate policy has always been bottom bucket fares so I'm going to get hit there.
The biggest issue I have by far with this is them introducing the cost on domestic links to destinations, i recently booked MAN - LHR - CPH return for the 5 of us in my family, 45,000 Avios and £175 in fees, with this change that becomes 90,0000 and £350. Now don't get me wrong if BA had an extensive network from MAN (as opposed to just LHR on their own tin) and I chose to go via LHR fair enough but I have absolutely no option.
All of a sudden OneWorld partners operating from MAN just became a whole lot more attractive. In fact I just fly Qatar MAN - DOH - HYD return, their BC fare was £500 less than BA's Economy and I still bagged 360 tier points and a bucket load of Avios.
I have had Gold for the last couple of years, mainly paid for buy business travel, however corporate policy has always been bottom bucket fares so I'm going to get hit there.
The biggest issue I have by far with this is them introducing the cost on domestic links to destinations, i recently booked MAN - LHR - CPH return for the 5 of us in my family, 45,000 Avios and £175 in fees, with this change that becomes 90,0000 and £350. Now don't get me wrong if BA had an extensive network from MAN (as opposed to just LHR on their own tin) and I chose to go via LHR fair enough but I have absolutely no option.
All of a sudden OneWorld partners operating from MAN just became a whole lot more attractive. In fact I just fly Qatar MAN - DOH - HYD return, their BC fare was £500 less than BA's Economy and I still bagged 360 tier points and a bucket load of Avios.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:27 am
#763
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,697
if you're doing it annually, then it doesn't really matter where your membership year ends. Only when there is a single, short burst of travel, interrupted by your membership year, would the lack of "sync" become an issue.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:32 am
#764
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lewes
Programs: HiltonH. Gold Starwood Gold BA BLUES! Mucci.
Posts: 4,833
Anybody else think BA will keep the Avios scheme long term, or will they try and sell it off?
Jan 29, 2015, 2:33 am
#765
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BA, Marriott, Hertz, Dennis The Menace Fan Club
Posts: 2,015
Flying is a necessary evil for me in my work. It just happened that lounge use and Avios collection was a nice bonus to the activity and encouraged my loyalty to BA. I'll fly just as much fron now on, I just won't be loyal. Schedule and price will be the only factors I'll look for.
I just booked a Norwegian flight to Stockholm as a case in point. Some £60 cheaper for a day return and the BAEC benefits don't outweigh that any more. Ho hum. Time will tell whether today's news will impact BA but they won't change course. Not in the short term. Therefore I will.
I just booked a Norwegian flight to Stockholm as a case in point. Some £60 cheaper for a day return and the BAEC benefits don't outweigh that any more. Ho hum. Time will tell whether today's news will impact BA but they won't change course. Not in the short term. Therefore I will.