I’m so annoyed about this, I decided to share with you, to warn you off collecting AVIOS.
Back in April 2012, I checked how many AVIOS I would need to book a flight from EDI to LHR to ATL and back, using the travel dates of last Wednesday of August to first the Tuesday of September. I was quoted 24000 AVIOS and £335 in taxes. This saved me over £250. OK, I was happy with that. Well within my means.
I had 9000 AVIOS already with BA, so over the year I collected and collected. I converted my fuel drivers club and tesco club card points into AVIOS.
I now have 28106 in my BA AVIOS account.
So, off I go to BA.com to book my flights for Atlanta, using the same dates as previously checked out.
To my dismay, I was quoted 54000 AVIOS and £355. The saving is £236 off the full, non AVIOS fare of £591. (I understand the increase in ticket price and charges/taxes, that’s not the gripe here)
In the course of 8 months, BA has devalued AVIOS by over 50%.
I’m devastated. I can’t afford the full fare and my holiday plans with my friends are in tatters. This was the one event I was looking forward to going to. Thanks to BA, it’s now impossible.
So word of warning. Don’t collect AVIOS, if you get awarded any when flying with BA or AA, spend them immediately. They’re good for almost nothing.
By: cloud_9 - 13th January 2013 at 20:28
Sorry to hear of your issue Bmused…
Indeed, that does definately suck if the number of miles required increases because of the fare increase…some frequent flyer programs use the distance between the two points as a way of calculating the amount of miles needed, thus it does not de-value them. At least that’s what use to happen before Air Miles turned into AVIOS…
Having said that though, using UA’s Mileage Plus progam as an example, its done on a sliding scale…so you can get a flight for as little as 20,000 miles, however you have to pay a substaintial cash sum as well, whereas you could use 100,000 miles and pay just for the taxes…
By: Doors4 - 13th January 2013 at 13:50
I know nothing about Avios but the question that springs to my mind is:
Is the number of points needed based on distance flown or the cost of the ticket? If the latter then has the number of points needed gone up because the ticket costs now more than when you checked in April?
Either way, sorry about your disappointment.
By: Bmused55 - 11th January 2013 at 14:52
hmm, good idea. Will do that when I get home. Twitter is blocked here.
I’m not expecting anything meaningful though.
I’ve already had to disappoint my friends by telling them I’m not going.
By: ThreeSpool - 11th January 2013 at 14:04
Post the question on their Twitter, they seem to answer questions quickly there.
By: Bmused55 - 11th January 2013 at 13:47
Yeah.
Their answer focused on ticket price and how they have to increase with inflation, etc, etc. There was no mention of AVIOS value. I sent a reply back asking for clarification on the AVIOS issue, but after 5 days, no answer has found me.
By: ThreeSpool - 11th January 2013 at 13:20
Have you contacted BA? :confused:
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January 10, 2013 at 10:58 pm