While we don’t actually know the details of what’s going on here yet, it’s bound to be terrible news.
British Airways is adjusting partner award costs
British Airways has just sent out an email to members explaining that partner award costs will be changing.
According to the email, for tickets booked as of May 30, 2019, British Airways Executive Club will be adjusting the Avios required for award flights on the following partner airlines:
Alaska Airlines, Air Italy, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, S7, Sri Lankan, and Royal Jordanian Airlines
Redemption rates on Royal Jordanian will be changing
Meanwhile redemption rates on British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and Vueling will remain unchanged. As you’d expect, previously booked tickets will continue to be honored at the old rates.
Redemption rates on Aer Lingus won’t be changing
Here’s the webpage that British Airways links to about these changes.
At first I figured I was missing something, and that there was an obvious link somewhere that I just wasn’t seeing regarding the changes. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
So British Airways is telling us that changes are coming in about a month, though they’re not telling us what those changes are.
Obviously I’ll send a spokesperson an email and try to get to the bottom of this, but I suspect that’s not an oversight, and it might just be that they plan to reveal the new redemption rates when they kick in. Given the trend in the industry, I also think it’s safe to assume that this will be a negative change.
What could British Airways be changing?
Currently British Airways has a distance based award chart. This can represent an exceptional value for short haul awards, while it can represent a not-great value for long haul awards.
For context, here’s British Airways’ award chart, though note that partner award tickets price at the “peak” level no matter what time of year you’re traveling:
| Zone // Flight Distance | Economy Off Peak // Peak | Premium Economy Off Peak // Peak | Business Off Peak // Peak | First Off Peak // Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 1-650 miles* *Not available in North America | 4,000 // 4,500 | 5,750 // 6,750 | 7,750 // 9,000 | 15,500 // 18,000 |
| Zone 2 651-1150 miles | 6,500 // 7,500 | 9,500 // 11,250 | 12,750 // 15,000 | 25,500 // 30,000 |
| Zone 3 1151-2000 miles | 8,500 // 10,000 | 12,750 // 15,000 | 17,000 // 20,000 | 34,000 // 40,000 |
| Zone 4 2001-3000 miles | 10,000 // 12,500 | 20,000 // 25,000 | 31,250 // 37,500 | 42,500 // 50,000 |
| Zone 5 3001-4000 miles | 13,000 // 20,000 | 26,000 // 40,000 | 50,000 // 60,000 | 68,000 // 80,000 |
| Zone 6 4001-5500 miles | 16,250 // 25,000 | 32,500 // 50,000 | 62,500 // 75,000 | 85,000 // 100,000 |
| Zone 7 5501-6500 miles | 19,500 // 30,000 | 39,000 // 60,000 | 75,000 // 90,000 | 102,000 // 120,000 |
| Zone 8 6501-7000 miles | 22,750 // 35,000 | 45,500 // 70,000 | 87,500 // 105,000 | 119,000 // 140,000 |
| Zone 9 7001+ miles | 32,50 // 50,000 | 65,000 // 100,000 | 125,000 // 150,000 | 170,000 // 200,000 |
Since British Airways isn’t revealing the changes here, my guess is that they’re following the industry trend. Maybe we’ll start to see dynamic award pricing, where the cost of an award varies by airline, route, etc., beyond just the distance.
What’s interesting is that if this is the case, British Airways is going about this in the opposite way of most airlines. Most airlines first introduce dynamic award pricing on their own flights, while it seems like award pricing for travel on British Airways is staying the same for now.
Airlines have to reimburse one another for award tickets booked on other airlines, so my guess is that the number of Avios charged may more closely align with the cost incurred by British Airways Executive Club.
Redeeming Avios on American has represented a great value
Bottom line
We know that British Airways is adjusting partner award costs as of May 30, 2019. As of now we don’t yet know what these changes are, though I think it’s pretty safe to assume they’ll be negative.
This is a huge bummer for Executive Club members, and potentially also really negative for those with Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards points, given that you can transfer those points to British Airways.
American Express® CardWhat kind of changes do you think British Airways will make to their partner awards?
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