British Airways devalues Avios redemptions on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines

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British Airways has, with no notice, devalued short-haul Avios redemptions on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines. Some flights have increased by 50%.

Don’t expect BA to tell you about this, because they won’t. Whilst they did confirm the devaluation when we asked, they refused to tell us exactly what has changed:

“Unfortunately we’re unable to provide that level of detail.”

Don’t worry – we have it anyway.

Avios originally had one reward chart covering both British Airways and partner airlines. It wasn’t exactly straightforward – BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus flights had peak and off-peak dates, partner flights were always peak – but at least you knew where to look.

(The exception was the little known ‘multi partner Avios redemption chart’ for trips involving 2+ airlines which are not BA. The real sweet spots in the programme are probably now here.)

The first change was back in January 2016, when Zone 1 (up to 650 miles) was abolished for flights within the United States. This was because it was, frankly, too attractive – a flight between New York and Boston was 12,500 American Airlines miles but only 4,500 Avios.

Skip forward to June 2019, and British Airways decided to launch an entirely separate reward chart for partner airlines – see here.

The only major change was to whack shorter redemptions. A Zone 1 flight went from 4,500 Avios to 6,000 Avios whilst a Zone 2 flight (651 to 1,150 miles) went from 7,500 Avios to 9,000 Avios. This is one-way economy pricing. Oddly, short domestic US flights did not change – these still price at the old Zone 2 pricing.

Here is how the partner chart looked up to last week:

BA reward flight avios redemption prices on partner airlines table

Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific have new pricing

Last week, British Airways rolled out higher Avios pricing for short flights on Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

There are a few weird things about this:

the changes are different across each airline
Malaysia Airlines and SriLankan Airlines pricing is untouched

This is what has changed:

Japan Airlines

Zone 1 Economy – up from 6,000 Avios to 7,500 Avios
Zone 1 Business – unchanged
Zone 2 Economy – up from 9,000 Avios to 10,000 Avios
Zone 2 Business – up from 16,500 Avios to 24,000 Avios (ouch)
Zone 3 Economy – unchanged
Zone 3 Business – up from 22,000 Avios to 24,000 Avios

Cathay Pacific

Zone 1 Economy – up from 6,000 Avios to 7,500 Avios
Zone 1 Business – up from 12,500 Avios to 16,000 Avios
Zone 2 Economy – up from 9,000 Avios to 10,000 Avios
Zone 2 Business – up from 16,500 Avios to 25,000 Avios (ouch)
Zone 3 Economy – unchanged
Zone 3 Business – up from 22,000 Avios to 25,000 Avios

Perhaps the weirdest thing in all of this is why Zone 2 and Zone 3 Business Class flights have a) merged together with the same pricing and b) why Cathay is 1,000 Avios more than JAL.

I mean …. whatever the practical logic for the 1,000 Avios difference, common sense would imply that you equalise the two airlines for the sake of simplicity. If you want to fly from Hong Kong to Tokyo in Business Class, it is now 25,000 Avios one way on Cathay Pacific but 24,000 Avios one-way on Japan Airlines.

Conclusion

In truth, for most UK-based HfP readers, these changes are not going to have much of an impact.

You could even argue that we benefit slightly, as these redemptions were clearly becoming expensive for IAG Loyalty. Plugging the hole to make Asian-based flyers pay more, many of whom probably earned their Avios flying with partner airlines and not BA, will hopefully avoid the need for changes elsewhere.

You can’t deny that the programme is now becoming disturbingly complex, and complex is not clever. You can’t expect people to engage with a loyalty programme if they can’t even find a redemption price easily.

We now have separate redemption charts for:

British Airways peak dates
British Airways off-peak dates
Iberia peak dates
Iberia off-peak dates
Aer Lingus (matches the BA chart but peak and off-peak dates differ)
Japan Airlines
Cathay Pacific
American Airlines / Alaska Airways
All other oneworld partners
Multi-partner redemption chart
Vueling when booked at vueling com

Oh, and don’t forget that most of these charts are not publicly available on ba.com any longer.

You also need to adjust further for differences in taxes:

Aer Lingus flights have different taxes depending on whether they are booked on ba.com or avios.com
Iberia flights have different taxes depending on whether they are booked on ba.com or avios.com

You might also have British Airways On Business points from the small business scheme. The On Business redemption chart isn’t published either – although we have it here – and for added complexity the multiple between Economy and Business is different to the multiple between Economy and Business when using Avios.

All of this confusion keeps the HfP team in a job, I suppose, but it really shouldn’t be necessary.

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: