Avios accumulation rules change in British Airways executive club: move to revenue-based model
Last year it was Iberia's turn, and all of us executive club members understood that sooner or later the [...]
British Airways
Oneworld
Last year it was Iberia's turn. e all of us executive club members understood that sooner or later the novelty would come with British Airways tickets as well and now there is the date: on October 18, 2023, BA flights, after IB flights, will no longer accumulate avios based on the distance traveled, but on how much you spent on the ticket.
In this article:
British Airways speaks of a simplification and expansion of accumulation options for users, a correct point of view, but only from the perspective of the company not the frequent flyer. British is the latest carrier, in chronological order to adopt this model over the original one. Passengers will no longer be rewarded based on how much they fly, but how much they spend.
How the accumulation of avios points changes
As mentioned from next October 18 the way of accumulation changes, and as it is with other carriers everything will be based on status and ticket price. Only good thing is that BA has given long notice, as the change will impact not flights after Oct. 18, but tickets bought to fly on or after October 18. This means that all tickets that are bought until 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 17 will accumulate avios points under the current rules.
Members who book flights from October 18, 2023 will accumulate the following Avios according to their level:
- Blue members will receive 6 Avios for every £1 spent
- Bronze members will receive 7 Avios for every qualifying £1 spent
- Silver members will receive 8 Avios for every qualifying £1 spent
- Gold members will receive 9 Avios for every qualifying £1 spent
Ian Romanis, Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management at British Airways, said, "We continue to listen to feedback and ideas from our customers to evolve our Executive Club. It is a simpler, more transparent system that offers more opportunities to earn Avios than ever before and rewards loyalty based on customers' cash spend. It is a proven model already used by many global airlines, including our sister airline Iberia."
More recently, the airline revealed a series of Avios-Only flights, with the 100% of seats made available exclusively to Members as Award Seats. The first Avios-Only flight to Sharm El Sheikh sold out in 24 hours.
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I would really like to know these customers who convinced BA to change models, I personally believe there is no frequent flyer in his or her right mind who would prefer this model to the previous one. Certainly BA points out that they will now also allow ancillary fees such as seat selection, in-flight wi-fi, or paid upgrades to accumulate avios. In reality, however, it is a way to give fewer points to customers and thus raise the prices of award tickets.
To calculate exactly how many points you accumulate the status multiplier is applied to the ticket fare net of airport taxes. So it includes the base fare and carrier-imposed charges on commercial tickets on all flights marketed by British Airways and Iberia.
The same applies to upgrades (online or at the airport), prepaid seat costs, or excess baggage on any flight marketed and operated by British Airways or Iberia. Accumulation on oneWorld partner carriers will continue as at present and there will be no changes.
The current situation
Today, British Airways frequent flyer members accumulate a fixed number of tier points, i.e., the qualifying points to obtain/renew status, and an amount of Avios that varies according to class, distance, and status.
As can be seen in this example above a London Heathrow - New York JFK flight allows for a fixed number of points based on ticket class, including the status-related bonus.
Comparison of the two systems
If today a round-trip business class ticket from London to New York yields just under 18 thousand avios, to get the same amount of points a Blue member must spend, after airport taxes, no less than 3 thousand pounds.
There is no premium for the booth, as is the case, for example, with ITA Airways' Volare program, this model makes last-minute travelers happy, those who spend the most on tickets, compared to those who seek the cheapest possible fare or those who make as many economy flights as possible.
Possible countermeasures
If you are not a frequent traveler to BA, not much changes since it is not a devaluation of award tickets, but it is a change in the way points are accumulated. The companies are moving to this model are many, the only viable countermeasure is to try to buy tickets through other companies. For example, if you buy a codeshare ticket, sold by a different airline than BA or IB, however, flying BA will accumulate avios under the rules of that program and not the Executive Club program.
