Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways devalues Club Europe Avios redemptions

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Clearly assuming that no-one would be around on a Wednesday in mid-July (and indeed I was in the middle of nowhere in the Lake District, and Rhys was in The Seychelles checking out Hilton properties), British Airways decided to sneak out a devaluation of Club Europe flight redemptions.

An identical devaluation has taken place on World Traveller Plus and Club World redemptions, although this is much smaller percentage increase.

British Airways devalues Club Europe Avios redemptions

What has changed with Club Europe Avios redemptions?

It’s very simple.

The cash element has been increased by £24 return (£12 one way).

This is the case irrespective of which ‘cash and Avios’ option you pick.

The lowest one-way cash option is no longer 50p, it is £12.50. The highest is no longer £62.50 but £74.50.

Here’s an example of the new pricing for a one-way to Berlin in Club Europe:

British Airways devalues Club Europe Avios redemptions

What is odd about this change is that Avios made a big song and dance about moving to a flat £1 taxes and charges figure because it was a move back to ‘free flights’.

OK, you had to pay a lot more Avios to access £1 of charges, and it was substantially poorer value than the other payment options, but if you wanted to feel that you’d got a ‘free’ flight then you could book one.

Now you can’t. The lowest Club Europe redemption now requires £25 of taxes and charges, which seems to defeat the point (sic) of having a ‘free’ headline rate.

Note that there are no changes to Economy (Euro Traveller or World Traveller) redemptions.

And on long haul ….

£25 return has been added to World Traveller Plus and Club World redemptions.

Club World flights to New York had, with Reward Flight Saver, £350 return of taxes and charges.

This has now gone up to £375 return:

British Airways devalues Club Europe Avios redemptions

These changes add £96 to a return trip in Club Europe for a family of four, and £100 to a return long-haul trip in World Traveller Plus or Club World.

The changes follow hot on the heels of the Avios devaluation of American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and LATAM flight redemptions last week.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (227)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • HH says:
    18 Jul18 July 09:41

    As Rob mentioned Rhys is checking out Hilton Seychelles properties…I hope you call out WA Platte Island for making those subpar rooms the standard redemption @130k points when it really ought to be a standard pool villa. They should be ashamed selling those compared to what the same cost gets you at FS, SS etc on nearby islands.

    • Rob says:
      18 Jul18 July 09:50

      Four Seasons has pool villas for £400 (the value of 130k Hilton points)?!

      • HH says:
        18 Jul18 July 10:08

        Close – ocean view pool villa at FS Desroches cost me €650/night in peak season.

        Note the cash price of those WA rooms is €2k a night, which is also outrageous.

        • S says:
          18 Jul18 July 10:37

          That’s a good rate. Did you visit relatively recently and what was your experience there like? Hoping to visit next summer.

        • will says:
          18 Jul18 July 10:52

          FS Desroches ocean pool villa is pricing at £1200 a night for October half term

        • Rob says:
          18 Jul18 July 10:52

          OUtrageous, unless they are selling them, in which case it is perfectly sensible.

        • HH says:
          18 Jul18 July 11:17

          @S Yes, I went in October. It’s probably the most distinctive castaway experience in SEZ/MLE – a rugged island full of tortoises and birds with secluded beaches dotted around. The night sky from the runway was better than most dark sky reserves. The villas are immaculate (of course), usual FS service, F&B consistently good but nothing special – lighthouse dinners were fun. The transfer flight on a Beechcraft 1900 also memorable. Overall 9/10

        • TGLoyalty says:
          18 Jul18 July 19:49

          What year was this?

          • James C says:
            21 Jul21 July 07:15

            Where are you seeing this pricing? Not on FS from my searching or the rogue sites Google throws up

  • cin4 says:
    18 Jul18 July 09:42

    Very scummy but exactly what you expect from BA.

  • TGLoyalty says:
    18 Jul18 July 09:45

    I agree with that.

    Cash is king but 0.5% CB isn’t going to touch the sides. Compare to a 1% one and you might have a better argument.

    Let’s be honest if you get most your Avios from sign up bonuses your actual
    Cost per Avios acquired is low.

  • HSR1234 says:
    18 Jul18 July 09:45

    Bother, I meant to book flights to Venice on Monday and didn’t get round to it. I have just hurriedly booked seeing the comments about still rolling out, but I was too late, they have already gone up!

    For me flying Club with Skis and Boots for a ski trip, which this is, remains a sweet spot.

  • Alex says:
    18 Jul18 July 09:49

    It’s mad that it’s now cheaper from MAN (or very nearly) to position to HEL and use Avios to SIN on AY, than going BA WITH A 2-4-1. Bonkers. I seem to be able to get a revenue return to HEL for around £240, then 125000 Avios + EUR55 return to SIN. Call it 125000 + £300. The equivalent peak BA with a 241 is 120000 + £625.

    • CJD says:
      18 Jul18 July 10:53

      This is effectively the effect of inflation through printing currency (Avios in this case.)

      There’s probably far more Avios in circulation amongst BA Exec Club members due to a number of factors than which exists amongst Finnair members.

  • Phil G says:
    18 Jul18 July 09:57

    Moral of the story is to use your avios as soon as you earn enough for a redemption.
    Rhys’s food bill will be eye watering if he is at the Mango House

    • Rob says:
      18 Jul18 July 10:55

      That’s absolutely not the moral of the story. In fact, you’d be foolish to do this because it would leave you stuck if something you really wanted came up.

      Let’s assume, for eg, that BA announced a new Cape Town service today. Every flight, every day would have 4 Club seats. That ‘Christmas in Cape Town’ holiday you’d promised yourself for years would be easily bookable. Except …. your window to book would be very short before all the best seats went and even an overnight Amex transfer might not be quick enough.

      Look at the Dubai half-term ‘all Avios’ flight. Premium seats went in 20 minutes.

      • HampshireHog says:
        18 Jul18 July 11:28

        It’s also the case that the ability to acquire future avios is a major consideration. Churning opportunities aren’t what they were.

      • Occasional Ranter says:
        18 Jul18 July 15:41

        Could you use an AAdvantage account to put them on hold for 4/5 days ? Then, when you have the Avios lined up and you cancel the AA hold, make sure you’re logged into your BA a/c with the right search criteria lined up and press “Enter” a second later.

        That has worked a few times for me…

  • Occasional Ranter says:
    18 Jul18 July 10:01

    The actual increase isn’t that horrific. The lack of notice though just reinforces the point that BA runs its “loyalty” scheme in a way that inspires zero loyalty.

    Treat BA like you would treat Ryanair. No sentiment, no exposure to exploitation by them.

    I’m still getting great value from SUBs that are then “boosted”, getting about 1.5-2p of value for about 0.9p acquisition cost, e.g. whole family going to Munich and back this summer in CE for about £100 pp each way, CW to Sydney next January on a 2-for-1, Qatar J back from Auckland next March. I’m lucky, I’m retired and can make plans around whatever long haul availability comes up.

    Anyway, point is – they’re all just cold calculated conversion of cash/amex points to Avios to flights, nothing to do with loyalty to BA.

    • Mikeact says:
      18 Jul18 July 10:10

      Why should they give notice…the Avios aren’t yours anyway.

      • memesweeper says:
        18 Jul18 July 10:35

        Amex just gave me notice of a change coming next week that makes MRs somewhat less useful. It’s a kind way to treat your customers, does not significantly impact the bottom line, and generates goodwill and thus loyalty and higher NPS.

        I’d recommend Amex to pretty much anyone.

        I don’t recommend my friends or family collect Avios (except making sure they do so when flying). The scheme is increasingly too complex and full of “traps” that reduce the benefit of an Avios to less than 1p each. If my friends understand that they need to spend time and effort in research to get maximum benefit, and understand the devaluation/no notice rule changes risk, then I’ll help them with their Avios habit. If I ran a loyalty scheme I’d be dismayed if I’d created a monster of such complexity my customers would not recommend to friends and family.

      • Occasional Ranter says:
        18 Jul18 July 10:46

        “Why should they give notice…the Avios aren’t yours anyway” ….is exactly the mindset.

      • Charlie T. says:
        18 Jul18 July 10:55

        I know that you are technically correct that the Avios don’t “belong” to the members, but for any reasonable working definition they constitute a form of property the beneficiary of which is the member so the difference isn’t particularly meaningful. As for BA having the right to change prices / devalue without notice – well clearly yes (but question the commercial sensibleness of doing this too much).

        • Danny says:
          18 Jul18 July 13:59

          BA gave notice of the big Avios changes that happened before Slasher Cruz came in….

          These drip drip devaluations just highlight the company isn’t to be trusted.

  • Mikeact says:
    18 Jul18 July 10:03

    @Rob. I agree with Rob….can’t beat one way bookings. And/or book 2/3 one way trips and gradually cancel out until you’re sure…same back home.
    If, you have the Avios of course.

    • Peter K says:
      18 Jul18 July 12:36

      And for this I’m grateful that the fee is higher. Those blocking redemptions for others get penalised more.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!