[Anonymous]

[KarlMarx]

No doubt BT will be publishing the details soon, but a lot of people are not going to like the changes to the BAEC announced today.

Hubris or a smart calculation by a clever management team?

[jazzcharley]

Details are up now in the BAEC webpage – https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/club-changes

[dutchyankee]

@ KarlMarx

+1

The changes will negatively impact me and force my hand even further to the likes of LX/OS/ and LH. What amazes me is the increase to `buy` First with avios when the cabin has been so regularly complained about, especially when compared to so many other premium cabins. Perhaps if BA had a real premium cabin to offer I could understand this, but not for their wannabe First which is really Business with a better name.

[Tom Otley]

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/ba-restructures-executive-club

[MartinJ]

Is it just me or have BAEC not made any explicit comment on redemption rates with partner airlines. All I could find on the website was “our (…) airline partners will continue to offer a single year-round Avios price for reward flights.” Does this mean the redemption rates for, say AA or CX will remain as they are?

[MartinJ]

Just found the answer myself. “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.” Wow. This is enough for me to say goodbye to BAEC but as I have already fled Flying Blue and Miles&More I don’t know where to go now.

[passionateflyer]

To be honest I don’t see how these changes will impact business travellers significantly. I was concerned when I read the headline but on actually reading the detail premium travel and its recognition is unaffected. I fly J for leisure and will continue to be recognised the same way I am now. When I’m silver I will get a smaller tier bonus, but that’s it. The same tier points for all my flights, the same accural of Avios for premium cabins. I don’t rely on the odd Y ticket to contribute to my tier point collection so the reduction in discount Y ticket recognition is not an issue, and, I understand why they are doing it.

@MartinJ, the peak avios rates are no more than what you pay now. I don’t see why you would say goodbye for this reason? All they’ve done is introduced off peak rates for some BA flights which are lower than the current ones.

[Travellator]

Next obvious ENHANCEMENT will be increasing the number of Tier Points to gain status !

[dutchyankee]

@PassionateFlyer

The peak rates for premium travel Avios Redemption have most definitely gone up, even for off peak. Even on BA`s own explanation page they state ` In Club World and First the Avios price will increase and the amount will vary depending on the time of the year.`

[Bath_VIP]

Having looked at the details, I can broadly summarise the changes as follows.

Redemptions
– More avios needed to redeem long haul premium
– Same or fewer avios to redeem short haul
– Fewer avios needed to redeem off peak economy

Earnings
– Fewer avios earned for inflexible fares in Econ & WT+
– More avios earned for premium flexible fares
– BA silver earning bonus cut

All in all, I can see that the changes address a number of inconsistencies that used to exist. Put it this way, if you started with a blank piece of paper, you would probably end up with something like this.

Taken together then, if you are earning avios on flexible fares and are happy to redeem in short haul and/or economy, then you are better off. If you are earning on inflexible fares and looking to redeem on long haul premium (i.e. like me!) then you are clearly worse off. Obviously not good news for me but the financial logic does make sense to me having worked on the mathematics of travel loyalty in the past. I can only assume that BA has figured out that the former outweighs the latter in their customer base.

The one point I can’t work if it has changed is the avios needed for upgrades from premium to business. This has always been the best value element of the whole program and is the main way I redeem avios. if this hasn’t changed then the effect on me may be less than first thought.

[TominScotland]

The UK domestic change will also increase the costs for those using BA Avios for European flights. In anticipation of this (as yet unspecified) change, I have just made two redemption bookings for long weekends away later in the year.

[JordanD]

For business travellers who have corporate bookers that always book into the lowest available bucket (especially on intra-European Y), there will be hits felt.

[coudntthinkofaname]

@Bath_VIP – 28/01/2015 12:53 GMT

“…the changes address a number of inconsistencies…”

including the fact that from April, the LCY-JFK flight will no longer earn 210 TPs each way but the standard J tier points…

C

[cityprofessional]

Swings and roundabouts, so I think it’s hard to say either way whether this is good or bad yet

Yes, redemptions are more costly, but, as a Londoner, it always narked me that Glaswegians paid the same for a redemption to Paris (and that Silvers got the same Avios bonus as Golds), and it’s well nigh impossible to get a redemption to Cape Town or Sydney in premium class, so supply & demand says these should cost more

In any case, Avios earning is either flat or rising significantly in premium cabins, so that should cover any increase in mileage requirements

Best of all, it devalues the Avios that people are getting so liberally from shopping at Tesco and using an Amex card. So BA will truly rewarding people who fly BA in premium classes

Isn’t that the point of a loyalty scheme?

[Author]

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