If there’s any airline we’ve got a love/hate relationship with around here, it’s British Airways. They release the most award seats in premium cabins between the US and Europe of any carrier, but the fees are outrageous.
Want to fly first class from the US to Europe? BA’s your airline. Of course you’ll have to pay $850 in taxes, fees, and surcharges, plus the Avios, but you’ll be in “first” class. 😉
In this post:
BA raised award prices?!
I noticed some changes to the way BA is pricing award itineraries with connections in Europe. I was rebooking an award for one of our clients over at PointsPros, and the pricing for the same itinerary a year out just wasn’t lining up.
A few phone agents commented that award prices changed this year. Nothing was publicly announced, but after a bit of digging it does indeed seem BA has raised award prices, at least for some short haul segments.
If you’re flying with BA via London to or from mainland Europe, the price for intra-Europe segment now lines up with the “Reward Flight Saver” option that requires the highest number of Avios.
What’s “Reward Flight Saver?”
British Airways introduced award prices where you’d pay a lower, fixed amount in taxes and fees plus a higher number of Avios several years ago. This was limited to flights within Europe, and only available to Executive Club members who earned at least one Avios in the previous 12 months.
Last year BA introduced even steeper discounts on the taxes and fees for these awards, with taxes on award travel starting at just €0.50. You would be paying much more in Avios for these discounts. The ~€30 in savings in taxes came at the cost of spending an additional 7,000 Avios or so. Ben covered those here, where he called them a terrible value.
This pricing has been expanded to long haul BA flights as well, but only for economy class awards.
Now the higher award prices have spilled over into long haul premium cabin awards, and even economy awards that aren’t “Reward Flight Saver” options.
For itineraries to or from continental Europe via London, you’ll now pay the higher price for the short haul segment plus the cost of the long haul segment, which hasn’t changed.
British Airways’ award chart & prices
Here’s British Airways’ award chart for travel on BA flights. This chart is no longer published on BA’s website. The prices for bands 1, 2, and 3 are what have increased.
Zone // Distance | Economy Off Peak // Peak | Premium Economy Off Peak // Peak | Business Off Peak // Peak | First Off Peak // Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Zone 1 1-650 miles* *Not available in North America | 4,000 // 4,500 | 5.750 // 6,750 | 7,750 // 9,000 | 15,500 // 18,000 |
Zone 2 651-1150 miles | 6,500 // 7,500 | 9,500 // 11,250 | 12,750 // 15,000 | 25,500 // 30,000 |
Zone 3 1151-2000 miles | 8,500 // 10,000 | 12,750 // 15,000 | 17,000 // 20,000 | 34,000 // 40,000 |
Zone 4 2001-3000 miles | 10,000 // 12,500 | 20,000 // 25,000 | 31,250 // 37,500 | 42,500 // 50,000 |
Zone 5 3001-4000 miles | 13,000 // 20,000 | 26,000 // 40,000 | 50,000 // 60,000 | 68,000 // 80,000 |
Zone 6 4001-5500 miles | 16,250 // 25,000 | 32,500 // 50,000 | 62,500 // 75,000 | 85,000 // 100,000 |
Zone 7 5501-6500 miles | 19,500 // 30,000 | 39,000 // 60,000 | 75,000 // 90,000 | 102,000 // 120,000 |
Zone 8 6501-7000 miles | 22,750 // 35,000 | 45,500 // 75,000 | 87,500 // 105,000 | 119,000 // 140,000 |
Zone 9 7001+ miles | 32,500 // 50,000 | 65,000 // 100,000 | 125,000 // 150,000 | 170,000 // 200,000 |
New short haul pricing
Prague falls into Zone 1, which is flights under 650 miles. Here are the pricing options for flights from Prague to London next September, with the “Reward Flight Saver” pricing:
- 14,250 Avios + € 0.50
- 11,000 Avios + € 20.50
- 9,250 Avios + € 25.50
- 7,750 Avios + € 30.00
- 5,750 Avios + € 60.50
- 4,500 Avios + € 85.50
My BA account is registered in an EU country, so everything prices in Euros. The prices are roughly the same if you’ve got an account registered in the US.
Note that the fourth option, 7,750 Avios and €30 in taxes and fees follows BA’s award chart. As I’ve credited Avios to my account in the past 12 months, I have the option of paying less in taxes and fees than someone without access to the Reward Saver pricing.
Here are the pricing options for an account that’s had no activity (meaning it hasn’t earn a single Avios in the past 12 months):
- 14,250 Avios + $25.16
- 11,000 Avios + $45.16
- 9,250 Avios + $55.16
- 7,750 Avios + $65.16
- 5,750 Avios + $95.16
- 4,500 Avios + $125.16
The Avios prices are the same, but the taxes and fees are higher for the person who doesn’t have access to “Reward Flight Saver” pricing.
The taxes on the one-way flight are just $25.20, so 14,250 Avios + $25.16 USD in the new base pricing for Prague to London. These variable pricing options seem to have crept their way into long haul award pricing.
Long haul pricing hasn’t changed
Take a look at the prices for London to San Diego in business class on the same off-peak date next year:
- 62,500 Avios + € 486.23
That price hasn’t changed. There are more options that require less Avios and more in surcharges, but 62,500 Avios is the base price.
If you connect in London, you’ll now pay more Avios
However, when you look at the prices for Prague to London to San Diego, you’ll see the following options:
- 76,750 Avios + €258.11
- 67,250 Avios + €473.11
- 56,150 Avios + €698.11
- 45,250 Avios + €922.61
- 40,750 Avios + €1,043.11
- 35,750 Avios + €1,128.11
The taxes, fees, and surcharges are €258.70 when you pull up the fare on ITA Matrix, so that checks out. However 76,750 Avios is more than what I was expecting it to be.
After digging through the above, we determined that BA is charging the highest number of Avios for the short haul segment and adding it to the long haul price. There’s no benefit of saving anything on the taxes, fees, and surcharges.
The new Avios award chart for BA flights
While you can still choose the pricing that requires less Avios for short haul redemptions, if your itinerary includes a long haul segment you’ll have to pay the highest number of Avios now.
Here’s the new award prices:
Zone // Flight Distance (For BA Flights) | Economy Off Peak // Peak | Business Off Peak // Peak |
|---|---|---|
Zone 1 1-650 miles | Old Price: 4,000 // 4,500 New Price: 8,500 // 9,000 | Old Price: 7,750 // 9,000 New Price: 14,250 // 15,500 |
Zone 2 651-1150 miles | Old Price: 6,500 // 7,500 New Price: 11,000 // 12,000 | Old Price: 12,750 // 15,000 New Price: 19,250 // 21,500 |
Zone 3 1151-2000 miles | Old Price: 8,500 // 10,000 New Price: 13,000 // 14,500 | Old Price: 17,000 // 20,000 New Price: 23,500 // 26,500 |
Zone 4 2001-3000 miles | 10,000 // 12,500 These prices haven’t changed. | 31,250 // 37,500 These prices haven’t changed. |
Note that Zone 4 didn’t change. It’s now cheaper than Zone 3 for economy awards on both peak and off-peak dates, and cheaper than even Zone 2 for off-peak economy awards.
Washington, DC to Athens via London
Washington, DC to Cairo via London is now cheaper
It’s cheaper to fly from the US to Cairo via London than it is to fly to Barcelona on an off-peak date or Athens on any day of the year. That’s only for economy class, though. You’ll pay more in business.
Bottom line
BA managed to raise prices during a pandemic for awards on their shortest flights. The “Reward Flight Saver” prices requiring the highest number of Avios are the new prices for long haul award travel with BA.
If you’re traveling long haul with BA and connect to mainland Europe, it’ll require more Avios. If you’re redeeming for short haul awards within Europe, you’ll still have the option to pay less in Avios and a bit more in taxes and fees.
Kudos to BA for managing to do this without anyone noticing!
British Airways seems to be aligned with British in general. Sneaky ;)
So you mean to say that they quietly raised the prices, not secretly. If the latter, how would you have found out about them?
I think the main part being pointed out by the article is that BA is automatically charging the higher Avios option on a short-haul flight when booked as part of a connecting itinerary with a long-haul flight without any cash/tax/charges discount.
This is not new. BA has been offering this range of avios and cash pricing for quite some while now.
It's so secret that it's blatently offered! So perhaps not so secret
I was offered a range of options when I booked a BRU-LHR flight in early March this year for example.
People have been asking BA for this sort of thing for a long time. They have done something passengers / BAEC members have asled for but that is somehow a bad thing??
I noticed this during the award sale last week. Was able to get nonstop SFO-LHR for 8,125 avios and $64 (which seems like more than a 50% discount?), but flights from. LHR to Europe were all more expensive than that!
I just cashed in a voucher from a cancelled Seattle to Porto and back. The outbound was in Club and the return in First. This time the whole itinerary is in Club, but the taxes was $400 more than before. Both the cancelled flight and the new booking include a stopover in London, ouch!
Hi!
Thanks for posting! As far as the same price in euros and dollars, are you saying that’s true for the trans con as well? Or only intra- Europe? Because of the TATL Carrier imposed fees by BA is dramatically higher for US residents leaving the US.
I literally just booked ARN-LHR one way in club Europe and it was circa 16k avios - I was expecting that so doesn’t seem different to me? But I also haven’t flown since miss rona happened
It's certainly not true that nobody has been noticing. HFP (*the* resource on all things avios) discussed it in 2019.
Other than for that small inaccuracy, I enjoyed the article. I guess one could add that it's possible to avoid the increase by booking two separate tickets (with the risk that comes with it).
So that explains why the price I paid last week during 50% off first, 25% off short-haul business class was higher than expected. Interestingly enough, when I pulled up LHR-PRG on Great Circle Mapper, it showed distance of 651 miles, so it juuuuuust squeezes into the 1-650 miles band.
Alex!! Is this the last present you give us before you leave? can we expect more?
So glad BA changed planes on my CPT-LHR-LAX flight for December. Got my money back — as well as peace of mind. I’ll consider Lufthansa or (soon) JetBlue to connect through London.