Well, British Airways sure found an interesting way to celebrate the July 4th holiday in the United States. The airline has just hugely jacked up redemption rates on both Alaska and American, and this is a painful devaluation. This is the second time we’ve seen such a devaluation on these redemptions in recent months, and…
Continue reading: Brutal: British Airways Massively Devalues Alaska & American Awards
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It’s crazy that the shortest distances now coat just about as much as the 2000-3000 range used to (12000 vs 13000)
Annoying indeed, although I typically found better Alaska redemptions via AA than BA anyway.,.
Are there even good BA redemptions anymore? Seems like with BA you’re getting relatively easy OW status, in exchange for basically useless Avios.
oh and you should mention that Heathrow airport will take all your cosmetics in your carry on for the privilege to fly through there ha ha
It’s the Delta SkyMiles model: keep the customers hooked with elite status benefits but fleece the customers by running down the value customers get out of the rebate currency.
The same for redemptions on Latam. In this case, I think the devaluation is worse.
Apparently the British are still bitter about the colonies rebelling and declaring independence.
Avios are really easy to earn in USA and Canada. I earn a lot of them and I value them for transferability to Qatar and for booking Aer Lingus. Maybe there are other decent uses but flying AA/BA/AS isn't among them, clearly. Still, I'll keep going, until they massively devalue QR/EI flights. Next month?
This is worse as BA prices on a per segment basis, so any trip that involves a connection (like so many on AA in particular), will cost way more...
I guess the move is to transfer them to another Avios partner and redeem from there.
Glad I'm divorcing BA and moving over to AF/KL-Flying Blue.
Never would fly them anyway with their pathetic sardine box seating and pathetic co-pay.
First, let's stop ragging on the British. I am an American living in New York City, but I concede the best city in the world is London. British Airways itself as an airline is 1000x superior to American Airlines. BA as an airline knows the meaning of the words decency, dignity, and class.
Second, massive points devaluations are coming from all airlines. The points game reached its peak 10-15 years ago and has been on a slow decline. Points are going to be worth about $0.01 each and points and cashback credit cards will equalize in terms of which one is more valuable even to a frequent travel consumer.
Devaluing is always disappointing but I almost never find any options for redemptions on domestic AA flights. I.E., doesn't really matter what they cost if they are never offered up for booking.
Similar experience with trying to book UA flights using Lifemiles. To use a tech term, it all seems to be vaporware.
Kudos to folks find value or are able to book but that has never been my experience. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This has to be a parody or something. BA is just AA dressed in a powdered wig with a British accent, BA aren't even the UK's best airline. VS flies circles around BA with their clubhouses and inflight service.
I switched to Qatar and Etihad for short distance awards on AA. Qatar seems easiest to deal with in terms of redeeming. BA was great with instant refunds (when it actually worked).
Folks I don't know how VS got into this discussion. I have never flown VS. I have flown BA and AA. BA meets my standards for a decent airline and is 1000x better than AA.
Gosh how things have changed. I still remember paying 4500 avios for NYC-YYZ/YUL flights that often cost $300+. Those were the good old days.
Huh? You referring to A380 and Gatwick 777s? Odds are you’ll get a nice business class seat these days unless you’re flying Gatwick leisure.
I went to law school in RDU (Duke). RDU-ORD, DCA, LGA were all 4500 Avios. Really good times. Of course now I'm equity partner and don't have to worry about points.
Be like me.
Brutal. I transferred Amex points to BA last year with the bonus (30% Irecall). I transferred 120,000 points for 156,000 Avios. I used those for 3 r/ts on AA for 15,000 each (cheaper than AA wanted and prior to previous change). Luckily used 98,000 for 2 J tickets on Iberia then just last month used essentially all the rest on 2 one way AA tickets JFK-CLT in Feb. Down to a few thousand Avios and writing those off (unless I find value on one to their airlines and transfer more miles). Got great value but also lucky w timing - won’t happen again
I hadn't used it for this - hopefully the BA intra Europe flights remain good values - Club Europe redemptions have worked well for me
But brutal and trust eroding change for the intra Americas awards
Andy, with manners like yours, you won't even be offered counsel or NEP. Ask your doctor if castration is right for you to reduce your testosterone.
I guess what everyone is forgetting is how the US redemptions on American at first and subsequently Alaska, were exponentially better value than all other redemptions and were already outliers in the opposite direction. No one moaned then that the programme wasn’t uniform and simple. But the moment something negative happens, bash bash bash!
Welcome to inflation in the USA! I still see pretty amazing value for close in bookings. ATL-DFW 7-9. $322 cash 16000 Avios is $0.02 per Avios. 13,500 AAdvantage miles with a much greater degree of difficulty to obtain.
I woke up this morning to a notice that they’d cancelled my JFK-LHR segment in August. I thought that was my BA Independence Day present. But maybe they’re just upset that labor is taking over the government.
Points really need to be regulated. It's essentially currency. Can you imagine if an entity was in control of bitcoin and raise/lower it's value by 10-20% or more overnight. Imagine what your vacation would be like if someone overnight decided that a euro was equal to $2 usd. Your hotel bill would suddenly double. Unfortunately, if it does get regulated then it will be taxed and reported as income as well so we're jacked either way. But less jacked if it's regulated.
I'm not fussed about US redemptions given the massive credit card earning rates and megabonuses. This is a much bigger issue for customers elsewhere wanting to redeem on the likes of Qantas!
That affects my attitude about collecting Capital One miles for domestic use. Unless I'm mistaken, British was the only Cap 1 partner that could be used to book a domestic flight (Alaska and American). Since most of my travel is domestic, I'll have to get another Alaska card and put more spending on it. Dang!
Well, glad I used up all BA point for JAL A350 F award last month, looking forward for the trip next year lol, I think im done with BA , it was a good run 🙂
I dumped the Bull S$** airways program a few years ago and sadly still stuck with 150 k
Once banked millions of ba points
No more!
Ever try and reach their crap call center?
Idiots
That’s why ignore all their misleading offers
Consider that BA's loyalty is to their airline and those that are part of their rewards currency.
This deval is likely my fault. I have been redeeming Avios on AA for the last 3 years, hitting BA HARD. Revenue flights from RDM-PHX that priced for $400 were 6,000 Avios. This is about 6.6 cents / avios. I Did about 24 of these redemptions since 2021. Shewt. Sorry!
No great loss > There are better airlines to fly with than AA and BA. I would not go near AA with a 10 foot pole and BA is only a hair better. CON is that you need to fly through LHR and that is a whole different story.
So this is actually affecting all oneworld airlines but reported with a title which references AA (I suppose that's fair enough) and Alaska who don't even have any long-haul routes? Great stuff!
At the same time, BA has also jacked up the points needed for Qantas. The sweet spots for domestic are pretty much gone.
You’re mistaken. BA isn’t even the only Oneworld transfer partner Capital One has (Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Qantas). Transferring to Flying Blue to fly Delta or Aeroplan or Turkish to fly United is also a thing.
Good point about redeeming AS miles for BA awards. HOWEVER while the mileage burn is very reasonable (45K AS miles for YYZ BRU) the cash cost on top of it is eye watering: USD 745.
A lot of heathrow aircraft still flying old school yin yang club including most 787’s
Thank you for not saying how this is unfortunate for engaged loyalists but you understand why BA is screwing members over. Welcome back.
Shockingly a blog with a lot of US readership written by an American will actually mention airlines based in America! Horrors!
Matching others' redemption rates would be more understandable if they didn't charge per segment and tack on insane YQ/YR. Transborder flights for 4500 avios was bound to change, but my goodness, the value has been squeezed out of everything.
If they are regulated they will be taxed. At least right now they aren't for the most part
As you can transfer Avios elsewhere there are values to be had, at least as long as the pricing holds elsewhere...
Meanwhile KLM reduced deltas shortest routes to 5k from 7.5k!!! Of course no last min availability stil..
Regulated by a government trillions in debut and our SSN is broke...great thinking! Leave the market place alone and if you don't like something cash out and move on.
Have you booked your BA Status match flight? I booked MIA-CPH for $2600 RT in J. BA Chase card would save you 10%
With this drastic change it British Avios no longer provides any value. What are the alternatives to redeem for American Airlines ?
What options exist to redeem American Airline bookings ? Not many cards have AA as travel partner. This is a huge loss for British as no one will collect Avios anymore.
I thought this was a blog about global travel, not one focusing on domestic flights [whether in the USA, China, or anywhere else].
What are the best options for AA domestic now? Qantas but with the higher cancel fees? Clearly alaska but with limited transfer partners to get miles?
OMG! Nearly missed my flight home over a NARS concealer. I told them to take it and they still wouldn’t let me go. All cosmetics in checked baggage coming home from LHR.