The Avios changes are live – post your ba.com comments and observations here

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The major changes to the Avios scheme went live at midnight last night.

I didn’t do an article today because I want to see how the actual changes compare to what we believed British Airways was planning, given that some of what they announced was vague or open to interpretation.

Avios wing 8

Please post any comments or observations below. I will put together an article tomorrow.

Here are a couple of quick ones that I saw on a brief trot through the site:

Peak and off-peak dates for BA redemptions are now available up to April 2016. Go here and click ‘Working Out The Cost’

This comment which appears all over the site makes no sense: “You will not be able to benefit from off-peak prices if you fly with two or more oneworld partners, or British Airways plus two or more oneworld partners”. The plan – which, looking at the pricing, has been carried through – is that peak pricing applies if you fly with ONE oneworld partner, as long as it isn’t BA.

More feedback welcome.

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.

Surbhi says:

28 Apr28 April 10:26

Booked BA and AA combi flight in WT last night through Opodo and got the BA booking reference last night too. But this morning in Manage my booking I’m getting new tier points 🙁 which is half as they are for WT except for AA where I got the full 10. Shall I call CC and ask them?
- Rob says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 10:34
  
  Wait until you’ve flown. It is far easier to correct after the event.
- Jon says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 11:17
  
  Same here – booked a WT flight LHR-JFK last night and got my eticket dated 27 April, but online showing only 40 tier points (interestingly, slightly more than the 25% stated in the new rules).
  - Surbhi says:
    
    28 Apr28 April 11:34
    
    I got my BA booking ref yesterday night itself but the e-ticket this morning dated 28 April. So does that mean its with the new rules?
Rusell says:

28 Apr28 April 10:27

I would also like to thank Rob for all his advice, managed to book a few flights before the changes were implemented. Headforpoints.com has been the first thing I read every morning and has forever changed my way of redeeming avios.

Used my 2-4-1 BA amex voucher and booked:

2x F LHR to PVG
2x F NRT to LHR

180,000 avios plus £1085.52

2x CX-F TPE to HKG

27,000 avios plus £21.20

2x CX-J HKG to KIX

40,000 avios plus £29.20

A shame that BA and the UK impose such high taxes. I see the flights in Asia to be fantastic value for money and am very much looking forward to the flights (will be the first time I’m not travelling in economy). I too will be prioritising on saving and using my avios for the F reservations in conjunction with the 2-4-1 vouchers.

The cost in avios for premium classes has increased significantly though. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to generate 240k avios/year to fund the annual long-haul trip with the Mrs!
Justin says:

28 Apr28 April 10:54

Just went to have a quick play with the BA calculator, does anyone know if it shows miles needed for off peak or peak? Really not clear to me. Thanks
- Rob says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 11:22
  
  It is clear when you try to book because there is a big ‘off-peak’ sign next to the BA flights.
  
  The calendar is usually a bit ropey in terms of accuracy anyway so I don’t recommend it.
  - Justin says:
    
    28 Apr28 April 11:40
    
    Thanks – All a bit of fun today seeing what my trips would have cost…
David says:

28 Apr28 April 11:13

Having read the original article on the new rules, I transferred enough MR to Etihad with 25% uplift, for 2 F class to Dubai, I have my Amex 2-4-1, and will await an Amex MR bonus, before I book.

Other than that I don’t fly BA anymore, having spent a fortune achieving or maintaining Silver or Gold. The changes are a real slap in the face. On many routes they gave the worse flight times of any carrier out of Heathrow… Malta a regular haunt of mine, Air Malta has better service and flight times, but I used to fly BA to maintain status, not anymore…
Keith says:

28 Apr28 April 12:18

Just tried to book Biz Class to Hong Kong in Avios on 241 next April….only economy. No thanks.
- Justin says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 12:39
  
  Looks terrible avails for Apr
Adam says:

28 Apr28 April 13:20

Does approx 50k more avios sound right for an F out and Cw back from Lon to BGI return off peak?
- Rob says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 15:34
  
  Yes – you’ve gone from 50 / 75 / 100 / 150 return to 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 with a discount for off-peak.
Steve says:

28 Apr28 April 13:23

For those of us north of Watford Gap BA was pretty bad for European flights before the changes. Now it is a complete non starter.

Just hope we soon get loads of Clubcard Promotions, can then use Monarch or Virgin Atlantic
- Eshaq Choudhury says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 13:28
  
  What options do we have from BHX if any?
- Rob says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 15:32
  
  You can book Monarch with Avios via avios.com, they just don’t show on ba.com.
- Trickster says:
  
  28 Apr28 April 20:45
  
  I don’t agree. While not ideal, as per my post above I can see if still works if availability on the right flights exists and the alternatives are more expensive.
Oliver says:

28 Apr28 April 13:50

Before the change:
14th Feb LHR – JFK CW
17th Feb JFK – LHR F
100,000 avios

after the change:
14th Feb LHR – JFK CW PEAK
17th Feb JFK – LHR F OFF PEAK
128,000 avios

Glad I booked it when I did although 28,000 more avios probably won’t stop me using 241s on BA
There seems to be a bit more availability opened up on these dates also, I don’t remember there being very many seats but now there are loads.