British Airways Executive Club: Massive Price Increase for Many Award Flights

In a press release this week, British Airways announced improvements to Avios redemptions. However, the airline has withheld one important detail in this context: good (to neutral) news are only available for members residing in Great Britain and the USA. So far, frequent flyers from other countries around the world have only felt one thing: a massive devaluation of their miles.

Lower Surcharges for Brits and Americans

British Airways has actually only revised and expanded the Rewards Flight Saver system. As part of this, members who have collected at least 1 Avios within the last few months benefit from cheaper award flights.

As part of this, customers can now redeem additional Avios in order to reduce taxes and fees in return. God Save the Poins reports about 60,000 additional Avios to save US$1,200 (~€1,131). This, however, is only available to residents of the USA and the UK.

Price Increase for Everyone Else

Since the introduction of the supposedly good news, however, complaints from other users have increased. In the Flyertalk, for example, the negative comments have now got the upper hand. And – even without a comparative value – we were shocked at what an award flight to New York is supposed to cost.

Several options are offered for a round trip from Amsterdam to New York (off-peak) in business class. But all are similarly unattractive:

• 190,000 Avios + €678
• 158,500 Avios + €1,088
• 123,500 Avios + €1,388
• 105,000 Avios + €1,937
• 77,000 Avios + €2,328
• 60,500 Avios + €2,788

In the past, such a flight would have cost around 120,000 Avios and less than €1,000 in surcharges. That was already expensive, but the current prices are simply exorbitant.

Our colleagues from Meilenoptimieren have examined three other examples:

• BA economy class one-way LHR → JFK:
  • March 2022: 13,000 Avios + €297
  • December 2022: 25,000 Avios + €319
• BA business class one-way LHR → DXB:
  • October 2022: 60,000 Avios + €523
  • December 2022: 90,000 Avios + €541
• BA business class one-way LHR → MIA:
  • Juni 2022: 137,500 Avios + €996
  • December 2022: 200,000 Avios + €985

So the trend is clear: despite a supposedly positive change, tickets have now become considerably more expensive.

Only British Airways Flights Affected

There is, however, one silver lining: the massive devaluation only affects flights operated by British Airways. Nothing has happened with other, already more attractive, redemptions. For example, a one-way flight from Madrid to New York in Iberia’s business class still only costs 34,000 Avios + €140.

You can read more about this sweet spot here:

Sweet Spot: Book Iberia Business Class With Little Miles & Surcharges

Conclusion

Even before the change, award flights on British Airways were a poor redemption. Now, the required mileage & surcharges are so high that we initially assumed it was an error. Even Miles&More looks many times more attractive in a direct comparison.

But what if it stays that way? The Executive Club would have gone from being one of the best to one of the least attractive Oneworld programs in a matter of months. It was only recently announced that miles will be awarded based on the ticket price from 2023. So in future, there will not only be fewer miles for each flight – they will also be worth less than before.