British Airways and Avios Change

As another one of my random posts, I can’t say that I’m entirely thrilled at the below statement from British Airways today and it doesn’t seem to have gone down entirely well on Flyertalk either. My flights with BA are generally cheap ones (obviously) which means that my Avios collection opportunities will be going down. I just have to hope that they don’t do a similar revenue based policy with tier points, as devaluing those would be entirely sub-optimal….. To be fair though, they probably want to reward their higher spending customers rather than my rather frugal flight purchasing arrangements.

PRESS RELEASE

• The way British Airways Executive Club Members collect Avios is transforming from 18 October 2023, offering Members a transparent, consistent and simplified way to collect Avios
• Under the new collection model, Members can earn up to nine Avios per £1 spent, depending on their Tier status
• From the same date, additional enhancements will allow Members to collect Avios on ancillary purchases, such as upgrades and pre-paid seat selection

 British Airways has announced that the way customers collect Avios will be updated from 18 October 2023, including the ability to collect Avios on ancillary purchases for the first time.

It means that customers will soon be able to collect Avios when purchasing additional items such as upgrades, pre-paid seat selection and excess baggage, either in advance or at the airport. The amount of Avios collected per flight will be based on the amount paid rather than distance travelled, in a more consistent and clearer approach.

Members booking flights from 18 October 2023 will collect the following Avios depending on their Tier status:

• Blue members will receive 6 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
• Bronze members will receive 7 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
• Silver members will receive 8 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
• Gold members will receive 9 Avios per qualifying £1 spent

This new model will also apply to flights marketed by Iberia.

Ian Romanis, British Airways’ Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management, said: “We continue to listen to our customers’ feedback and ideas to evolve our Executive Club. This is a simpler and more transparent system offering more opportunities to collect Avios than ever before and rewarding loyalty based on customers’ cash spend. It’s a tried and tested model already used by a number of global airlines, including our sister airline Iberia.”

The update to the new collection model is the latest change to the Executive Club this year to keep improving the loyalty programme for Members. Most recently, the airline revealed a series of Avios-Only flights, with 100% of seats made exclusively available to Members as Reward Seats. The first Avios-Only flight to Sharm El Sheikh sold out within 24 hours.”