Forget the Avios changes for now – just get booking!

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In what is clearly a co-ordinated plan by British Airways, they announced massive changes to British Airways Executive Club just minutes after I boarded an eight hour flight 🙂

They forgot, though, that just because BA does not have wi-fi it does not mean that no airlines have wi-fi. One up to Etihad.

Avios wing 8

I will do a full analysis of the changes for tomorrow. My wife is away on business so a very late night will not lead to any marital disharmony.

In the short term, ie today, FORGET ABOUT THEM.

Because BA has released tens of thousands of Club World and World Traveller seats overnight, you have NEVER had a better chance of getting the redemption you want.

Fuss about the BAEC changes tomorrow. Today, dust off that Amex 2-4-1 voucher and get something booked.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Russell says:

28 Jan28 January 17:03

Well, the award availability has helped me at least – I’ve just been able to switch a return award flight for my family from Phoenix (inconvenient) to SFO-LHR – and saved some of the rebooking fee since the taxes have gone down!
cpdc1030 says:

28 Jan28 January 17:05

Do you think AA would offer a status match for Exec Club members? I’m not very hopeful but going to give it a try.

Seems like AA is now the best option for earning/burning miles in the UK – especially with the Etihad redemption option and the free MBNA AAdvantage card. Any thoughts?
- Rob says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 18:10
  
  Matches within alliances are frowned upon in general.
- Polly says:
  
  29 Jan29 January 03:07
  
  It’s a complete no no, even when asking for a match from outside OW, they will only offer you a challenge, which really means book all your flights with them!
BallSack says:

28 Jan28 January 17:07

Hey Raffles, which partner redemptions with Avios will be the best to book up now before the changes to charging us the higher peak amounts in business & first kick in on April 28th ?

Some unusual exotic destinations perhaps ?
Steve says:

28 Jan28 January 17:08

Agree 100%– Christmas was LHR»BOS and YYZ»LHR in slightly suboptimal flights, now nailed down exactly as I would have wished… paid £70 to change but will get £20 of tax back and 20k avios back. Just done. Very pleased with that. Will worry about the other changes later… every change throws up a new arbitrage of some sort.

Now if we could just get some availability into Cape Town…
Brendan says:

28 Jan28 January 17:09

The ironic thing is that the people who get the massive credit card bonuses in the US, massively inflating the pool of Avios in circulation, are the ones who are least affected by the changes. They still get to use the sweet spot low tax redemptions on AA. BA sort of sticking the fingers up to people who actually fly on their planes.
- BallSack says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 17:33
  
  That’s really true. The domestic U.S. redemptions are incredible value and pennies in charges.
BallSack says:

28 Jan28 January 17:13

I feel the need to do a few Amex currency purchases on my BAPP to speed this along nicely;

”
To earn your Companion Voucher, spend £664 or more on purchases using your Card by 23 Apr 2015
“
- cpdc1030 says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 17:17
  
  Just burned my voucher – LHR-SYD had good availability in Club World but my partner didn’t have enough holiday to make it worthwhile. So we’ve “wasted” it on LHR-YYZ.
  
  Oh well, on to the next challenge. I do feel like a bit of a muppet for being so loyal to BA but to be fair we have got a lot out of them over the years.
- Danny says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 20:46
  
  Or just being 4ward some tesco spend by buying their own giftcards in store…
Michael Scorer says:

28 Jan28 January 17:16

My son picked up on this earlier today so have managed to get two Club World seats to and from Sydney – using the 2-4-1 voucher as well !!! So I’ll not complain about these changes for now.
- BallSack says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 17:31
  
  Bravo. Bloody well done.
Lee Thornton says:

28 Jan28 January 17:22

There’s a great summary of the changes here:
http://pointsandoffers.com/airlines/massive-devaluation-avios-announced/