No More British Airways Avios 4,500 Mile Awards in N. America

British Airways Avios

I knew it wouldn’t be good.

I woke up this morning and saw an e-mail from British Airways. The subject was Mr W., we’re making changes to the Executive Club.

These changes never seem to favor us, the flyer/ customer/ passenger, so I wasn’t looking forward to reading on but of course I had to.

Possibly the best bargain out there for flights are British Airways Avios awards which start at just 4,500 miles each way. We’ve used these quite a bit and just booked a flight from New York’s JFK to Toronto, which we’ll be flying in less than two weeks.

Well, now these 4,500 Avios redemptions are no more, at least for “rewards flights originating or terminating within the United States of America“.

The only good news (for now?) is that only these low-cost redemptions will be changing in price.

Here are the changes:

  • One way flight in economy will now cost 7,500 Avios, up from 4,500.
  • One way flight in business will now cost 15,000 Avios, up from 9,000.
  • One way flight in first will now cost 30,000 Avios, up from 18,000.

These are huge jumps in award pricing, we’re talking almost double the amounts now needed!

One thing to keep in mind is that we have until February 2, 2016 to book these short rewards at the current prices.

I’ll be looking to make a bunch of bookings with my Avios before the rate increase kicks in. Will you?

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