You may have got an email today from BA trying to tell you the changes to Avios earning rates are a good thing. For nearly all leisure travellers in business class it is not.
A while ago Iberia announced they were changing to revenue-based earning from November 2022, and BA said that they planned to follow at a future date. Sadly, that day is here. Personally, I think it is just the start of future Avios and Tier point earnings based on revenue plus the ever-present threat of dynamic Avios redemption. This has been threatened for a long time but since BA’s IT was so poor it couldn’t even display your booked flights, it didn’t seem much of a threat, However, the reason why they are spending a huge chunk of money on 400 new IT staff, could be related, so for me all bets are off the table. Officially they are redesigning the website, but I’m sure it doesn’t need 400 people for that.
As a summary, if you buy expensive tickets and have high status you will probably earn slightly more. If you are an average person who buys sale tickets and has no or low status, it’s bad news. The only upside is that eventually it will mean people generally have less Avios so availability should improve.
The irony is that for those who don’t actually fly on BA on cash fares and earn Avios from credit cards, particularly in the US where you can get a 100,000 Avios bonus, they will be earning more than those who loyally fly on the airline!
Ian Romanis, British Airways’ Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management, said: “We continue to listen to our customers’ feedback and ideas to evolve our Executive Club. This is a simpler and more transparent system offering more opportunities to collect Avios than ever before and rewarding loyalty based on customers’ cash spend. It’s a tried and tested model already used by a number of global airlines, including our sister airline Iberia.”
In this post:
What’s changing?
British Airways has announced that the way customers collect Avios will be updated from 18 October 2023, including the ability to collect Avios on ancillary purchases for the first time.
You will be able collect Avios when purchasing additional items such as:
- upgrades,
- pre-paid seat selection
- excess baggage,
either in advance or at the airport. This will also apply to reward flights.
The biggest change is that the amount of Avios collected per flight will be based on the amount paid rather than the distance travelled. Which BA says is “a more consistent and clearer approach.” The fact that it will mean they dish out less Avios overall, I’m sure is just an added perk….
The rates of earning are based on the base fare and any carrier-imposed charges. So taxes such as APD and other charges such as Heathrow’s passenger charge are not included in earnings even though you have to pay them. For most people, you also wouldn’t know what these are, so I’d argue it makes it less easy to work out how many Avios you are earning before you book.
Members booking flights from 18 October 2023 will collect the following Avios depending on their Tier status:
- Blue members will receive 6 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
- Bronze members will receive 7 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
- Silver members will receive 8 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
- Gold members will receive 9 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
This new model will also apply to flights marketed by Iberia.
- Blue members will receive 5 Avios per qualifying Euro (€) spent
- Bronze members will receive 6 Avios per qualifying Euro (€) spent
- Silver members will receive 7 Avios per qualifying Euro (€) spent
- Gold members will receive 8 Avios per qualifying Euro (€) spent
As you can see the tier bonus you used to get on Avios has been cut substantially. It used to be:
- Bronze 25%
- Silver 50%
- Gold 100%
The key point here is 18 October. So if you plan to book any “cheaper” flights, make sure you do it before 18 October to get the full Avios. You will still be able to collect Avios for any qualifying add-ons purchased from 18 October 2023 based on total eligible spend, regardless of when you made your flight booking. So if the flight is a way off, don’t rush to book anything extra like seats until 18 October so you get the Avios.
Which flights does this apply to (plus the loopholes)?
Any British Airways and Iberia marketed flights ie it has a BA or IB flight number. So all other airlines will continue to earn at the same rate. So in some cases, it could work out better flying with a different airline.
There is one big loophole – BA Holidays. The blurb says
“some tickets where the fare paid isn’t disclosed or isn’t available, including flights booked as part of a British Airways Holidays package, will continue collecting Avios based on a percentage of how many miles you fly and the cabin you fly in (no minimum Avios apply).”
If you are not trying to get the Double Tier Points bonus, then booking flights as a holiday with one or more night’s hotel or car hire is the way forward (you need 5 nights for the Double Tier Points). There’s no minimum number of nights for this so you can book just one night such as an airport hotel, and get the full Avios. However, it’s not all good news as you still will get the new reduced tier bonuses on your flights.
“Executive Club Bronze, Silver and Gold members will collect 15%, 30% or 50% extra Avios on top of the base flight award.”
How does it work for part-pay with Avios or vouchers?
If you use Avios or a voucher to part-pay the price of a cash ticket will continue to collect Avios based on the full, total eligible spend for the booking, before the discount is applied.
What about ex-EU flights that aren’t priced in pounds?
For tickets purchased in another currency, the total eligible spend will be converted to GBP using the IATA 5-day exchange rate applicable on the date the ticket was issued or the add-on was purchased. Your Avios will be calculated using this converted amount.
For more information visit www.ba.com/executiveclub
31 comments
Interesting how BA are selling it as an improvement when in reality for most loyal customers it actually isn’t.
I have a BA holiday booked for November and am considering upgrading from PE to Club, I presume if I do it after 18th October I will be eligible for the extra Avios ?
I’m not sure if I have worked this out right, I have just done a dummy booking LHR-JFK return and it’s says as a gold member I’ll earn 17920 avios, if we divide that by 9 as a gold member it means that bering in mind the total spend that qualifies is more than £1991.11 on my ticket I’ll will earn more and if it’s less well you get the picture. I looked at the break down and I think the cost that are not included amount to £299.91. Therefore for gold members they have to spend more that £2291.02 to get the same amount of avios. I may be completely wrong and happy to be corrected. 😊
That sounds correct to me roughly. Basically most people would need to spend more per flight to get the same number of ZAvios if you are someone that does advanxce purchase and sale fares mainly on long haul.
Equally I have just done a basic economy ticket to Belfast, cash price £77.02 avios 1250, now the qualifying spend to get the same avios would have be £138.88.
Always fly Virgin business or first as guaranteed same standard of quality every time
I’m sure there will be many sweet spots as well as many loses too though.
Using LHR-JFK as an example given it’s one of their biggest / most lucrative markets, it seems in general you’d win out on the new system… Especially if you are low status and buy cheap tickets, contrary to the article?
Currently £450 for basic economy in Sept at the moment, x 6 as blue = 2,700
Current basic economy return is 25% of ~7,000 miles flown = 1,750
Business same dates £4,000 x 6 = 24,000
Current system 150% of ~7,000 = 10,500
Looking mid tier (silver) return to JFK using the avois calculator for current values…
£450 for basic economy x 8 as silver = 3,600
Current system = 5,188
Business non flexible £4,000 X 8 = 32,000
Current system = 13,832
Seems you’d significantly gain (almost 20k miles) under the new system unless I’m totally missing something here
I was talking about business class flights in general rather than economy since that is what we write about at TLFL. For those people that buy cheaper long haul business class tickets they will earn less generally. Those that buy expensive ones as you have shown above (I’d class anything above £1800pp in business class to JFK as expensive), will benefit. At the very low end in basic economy as you have shown, there may be some benefit.
What did you mean by ‘However, it’s not all good news as you still will get the new reduced tier point bonuses on your flights.’
Not aware that tier points are changing?
I meant the tier bonuses, so getting the extra Avios based on tier.
I think Michelle was referencing the Executive Tier Bonus rather than tier point
I find this a bizarre statement – Ian Romanis, British Airways’ Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management, said: “We continue to listen to our customers’ feedback and ideas to evolve our Executive Club.”
What member of the EC would ever say, you know what, I’d like spend more and have less reward.
Whoever came up with Blue Members will receive 6pts per £1 and Gold Members 9pts per pound really has no grasp of how much we need to spend to gain and retain that Gold status for reward flights etc. Loyalty? It’s one sided only.
Yes I agree. I really dislike when they make statements treating people as if they are not clever enough to work out that nobody asked them to make it worse. I suspect some people may have said it is a bit complicated but part of that is the tools they offer and the constant changes. He also argued against it being negative in the Telegraph.
We face that in every service industry.
Disruption in Telco or Internet services? “We are doing periodic maintenance to improve your experience”.
Sudden change in travel routings? “This change is made to fit your schedule”.
Sounds like every customer is stupid and cannot decide which is better for themselves.
Another reason not to bother to stay loyal. What’s the point?
I believe British Airways are digging a grave for themselves and all their loyal customers.having persevered with them throughout their complete decline with service in all classes , to now suggest that this is beneficial and reduce Avios on most flights is ludicrous.I for one will now start to look elsewhere and fly with Frankly better airlines
If I understand this correctly, if I book a flight(s) BEFORE 18 October 2023 for travel during 2024 then I will still get the current Avios allocation(s), or will the new allocation system apply as the travel will be AFTER that date?
No it is the booking date that counts, not the travel date. The only exception would be if you changed a booking which meant they had to reissue the ticket as new tickets from 18 October will get the new rates of Avios.
BA never listen.
I’ve said this before, my best friend has had many dinners with the ceo (he’s friends with him) and has passed on many of my comments.
In short my friend said to me a few years back “I get the distinct impression they are only interested in how to suck more money from you”.
I’m no longer loyal to BA . Not when Qatar are so flipping good.
I agree.
I avoid BA now.
They seem determined squeeze as much out of their customers without offering anything special in return.
I was shocked when I recently travelled to Cancun in their business class. The seats were awful. They have no intention of upgrading them as it’s then only direct service between LON and CUN.
This sums up BA nowadays.
I’ve worked at Executive level in the travel industry before retiring and now I use my Amex and the BAEC to travel up front. It’s expensive to gain and retain Gold status. BA have always made commercial decisions which have left customers and travel agents (leisure and business) shaking their heads in disbelief. Currently, airlines and tour operators are enjoying a huge upturn after devastating operations. But for global airlines, this is exacerbated by a shortage of long haul aircraft which reduces capacity (and routes) and forces up fares- shockingly IMHO. Once the 777x and others come on stream, route networks will expand again and perfect completion will open up. There’s also reason why BA don’t want a third runway at LHR- they don’t want more competition. BA is a business operating in a usually highly competitive space and must generate increasing profits but I’m starting to seriously wonder if I’ve backed the right horse here as I guess many of us are. Destroying loyalty is something they’re really good at.
I have been loyal to BA for over 50 years but this year I have had the worst experience on 2 long haul flights to HKG. Customer service is disgraceful. Not one agent could give me the same answer to the same issue regarding tier points . Hours have been spent on the phone. I will NEVER fly with BA again
“We continue to listen to our customers’ feedback and ideas to evolve our Executive Club.” Really.
Distance-Based Earning Revenue-Based Earning Percentage Change in Avios Earned
Cheapest Economy Cheapest Economy
Blue 1,730 1,206 -30.2%
Bronze 3,460 1,407 -59.3%
Silver 5,190 1,608 -69%
Gold 8,646 1,809 -79.1%
Distance-Based Earning Revenue-Based Earning Percentage Change in Avios Earned
Cheapest Business Flexible Business Cheapest Business Flexible Business Cheapest Business Flexible Business
Blue 10,374 17,290 10,092 68,358 -2.7% +295.4%
Bronze 12,104 19,020 11,774 79,751 -2.7% +319.3%
Silver 13,832 20,748 13,456 91,144 -2.7% +339.3%
Gold 17,290 24,206 15,138 102,537 -12.4% +323.6%
Upgraded points article.
Interesting comparison
It dilutes the benefits of Gold even further as you don’t buy seats or luggage as that’s already a benefit, some combined with the reduced earning rates in gold relative to blue. It seems designed to alienate your most loyal customers. I’d really love to know what the customer feedback they were basing this on!
It’s more complicated, lower benefit for most.
Good point about golds.
All well and good reading the negative comments, and most seem to be swaying towards not flying with BA and seeking alternatives, but i see 90% full CW cabins on every flight I have been on for the past year (post pandemic) Were therefore is the incentive for BA to improve. Maybe this is a tactic albeit naive perhaps to stream line T5 Business lounges, a reach I know , but from social media this is a big issue to the silver / gold members. But what ever this is dressed up like, I am exhausted with BA personally, but still enjoy flying with them and in CW…
Tier points earning will not be based on revenue for many reasons mainly that is it much more logical to reward people who fly more often rather than some monetary target status shouldn’t just be for those who spend so much but those who stay loyal to the airlines . The vast majority will still fly BA as they have one of the largest route networks especially out of Heathrow . All airlines have or will likely move to a revenue based model why should those who pay thousands more get the same avios as those who pay much less it is business sense unfortunately. This was a Cruz decision that sadly would have been implemented before had COVID not got in the way . I know lots earn avios via credit cards instead of flying and therefore for a significant percentage this will not change much . BA is a great airline that I am always happy to fly with . All and any changes will always benefit some more than others but BA was not going to keep the old system forever unfortunately
Jack’s point about big route network is a factor. We have now done most of our (non-work related) long haul travel and are concentrating on Europe where there is little choice from London if one hates Ryanair etc.
I was able to give them similar feedback to the hate stuff above when responding yesterday to their email for feedback on our Monday flight to Porto. Delayed departure from Heathrow as food had not all been loaded, exacerbated by an aborted landing and a 15 minute ‘go around’. Landing aborted when we were about 50ft above the ground. Wind shift blamed but we do not recall the wheels being down. Could that have been the reason?!
From a former ATC I think the chances of an aircraft being 50ft above the ground without wheels down is exteremly unlikely since there is a warning on airbus passing 750ft if they are not down plus they would notice from their speed something was wrong.
Fair enough, you know better. But we did almost see the pilot’s eyes in a plane waiting to take off and we never heard the wheels going back whilst we toured the coast!
And we were VERY close to the ground.
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