British Airways devalues Club Europe Avios redemptions

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• Rizz says:

  18 Jul18 July 18:52

  Just waiting for the usual mantra that this is driven by high earning rates on US credit cards.

• simonjones says:

  18 Jul18 July 19:56

  There will be more announcements to follow, this isn’t the only change…..

  • Danny says:

    18 Jul18 July 23:07

    Where’s the announcement? They didn’t even give us that courtesy.

• Paul T says:

  18 Jul18 July 20:07

  And yet, when the next ‘largest ever seen’ BAPP offer comes along the comments will be full of people asking Q’s about eligibility…

  • BJ says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:53

    … and many of them, like lambs to the slaughter!

• BobM says:

  19 Jul19 July 11:57

  Well this is an annoying development.

  As a family of 4 who regularly treat ourselves to Club Europe redemptions from GLA – LHR – Europe, that’s bumped the price up by £96 a trip.

  Factor in the BAPP annual fee hike and increased target spend, then it’s looking like a much less appealing credit card option.

  • Catalan says:

    19 Jul19 July 13:16

    Still sounds like a bargain to me

    • Danny says:

      19 Jul19 July 14:22

      How do you know what a bargain it is if you don’t know what the price is, Catalan?

      Or maybe you are Señor Cruz in another guise…

      Sort of convinced now that BA has sent a load of stooges on to here to justify future “enhancements”.

      • Catalan says:

        19 Jul19 July 14:52

        This ‘stooge’ has been a reader/contributor for a long time too! Danny!

      • NorthernLass says:

        19 Jul19 July 16:52

        It’s pretty easy to calculate the price of a CE redemption!
        But short haul redemptions ceased to be good value most of the time when BA started charging for the domestic connection.
        However, if you can be bothered dragging the family via LHR, I bet there’s still a saving to be made compared to what the likes of Ryanair and easyJet are currently charging in the school holidays, even with the £96 increase.

        • BJ says:

          19 Jul19 July 20:36

          Interesting @Anna, I was a bit baffled by your MAN-LON-AGP pricing on page 1. It seemed cheap to me, IIRC starting in EDI it’s 12k plus £s not 10k as you quoted. Shouldn’t it be the same? IIRC EDI-LON and LON-AGP as two ticlets costs less than putting it all on one ticket. Apologies if I got all that wrong, European rewards via LON is not something I ever do so just going on dodgy memory here.

        • NorthernLass says:

          19 Jul19 July 23:19

          @BJ, economy pricing, off-peak, it might have been a bit approximate! But much cheaper than LCC with a checked bag and we have free seat selection (in exit row) and lounge due to status.

      • Peter K says:

        19 Jul19 July 17:46

        @Danny. Throwing insults as your arguments aren’t stacking up? 😅

        But I guess someone being paid by easyJet to post anti-BA comments on here would have to keep banging the drum, come what may 🤷🏻‍♂️

        • Peter K says:

          19 Jul19 July 17:49

          Of course, I don’t believe that, but that’s the equivalent level to the commenting being made here…

        • BJ says:

          19 Jul19 July 20:27

          Are you sure you didn’t pause for a moment of reflection between those two comments Peter 😉

        • Danny says:

          19 Jul19 July 21:32

          Peter K – The BA stooge who only flies economy and has a silver card?

        • Peter K says:

          19 Jul19 July 21:50

          @Danny 😂😂😂😂

          You provide much amusement! 😂😂

        • Danny says:

          19 Jul19 July 21:56

          Hit the nail on the head.

          Don’t blame me when BA brings in dynamic pricing and attaches a fixed price of say…0.5p per Avios.

          Or gives a paltry £10 food voucher for silver passengers in economy due to lounge overcrowding.

          Or stops lounge surfing.

          After all, you welcomed negative changes.

    • BobM says:

      20 Jul20 July 15:02

      My eyes must’ve been full of tears and caused an error, it’s actually an extra £192 in fees for 4 x two leg Club Europe returns.
      Seriously considering downgrading to the free BA card and keeping the Platinum Amex instead for lounge access.

• Catalan says:

  19 Jul19 July 22:04

  @Danny. Why on earth would Peter K blame you for any negative BA activity?

  This really is great entertainment!

  • Danny says:

    20 Jul20 July 11:19

    You tell me, Señor Cruz

• Bernard says:

  20 Jul20 July 09:25

  If I was at BA reading this, knowing despite some incorrect views that I have an entire main cabin to fill based on value, then I’d be thinking that

  There’s quite a few avios punters who think club is cheap on avios and who don’t understand avios vs. Cash value.

  There’s a lot who are irrationally loyal despite what a rational estimate of cost vs value might suggest.

  BA is underselling avios at super peak times to beach destinations.

  There’s plenty of room to charge some (not all) customers at lot more for less.

  Rather implies BA need a super peak club Europe band for beach resorts and ski to capture the value the Red trouser set think they have

  • Rob says:

    20 Jul20 July 09:44

    Arguably its you who has an irrational view of CE value though. If you have no BA status, the overall package of fast track check-in / fast track security / lounge / priority boarding / seat at the front / extra legroom / empty middle seat / free booze / free meal is exceptionally good value for the premium over a seat down the back.

    At some point, you need to look at 12 full rows of CE on your next flight and decide who is getting confused here, because BA appears to be doing very well with it.

    If you dig out Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, ‘cost vs value’ stops being an issue a couple of rows off the bottom. It’s certainly not an issue for the majority of premium cabin BA passengers out of Heathrow.

    • dk says:

      20 Jul20 July 10:47

      I think the issue here Rob is that even without status, economy experience can be as good or even better than club. Not once but twice I had to move from club to economy because it was quieter and emptier. The lounge offer is also better with an Amex card than visiting the designated BA lounge. And don’t even get me started on priority lane and checkin which is often busier!! BA club is one of the biggest scams in the airline industry.

      • Danny says:

        20 Jul20 July 11:22

        From Heathrow that may be the case, but from Gatwick the red trouser brigade often fill the Euroflyer aircraft down to the last seat

        • NorthernLass says:

          20 Jul20 July 12:01

          Who are these red trouser types? It’s making me think of the Bay City Rollers 😂

        • Peter K says:

          20 Jul20 July 12:04

          You’ll knows who they are as they’ll also be singing Shang-A-Lang !

        • Danny says:

          20 Jul20 July 19:43

          You find a lot of rouge-faced claret-trousered types on the Alicante flights.

    • Bernard says:

      20 Jul20 July 15:39

      To correct you:
      Out of Heathrow on non beach routes club can be as low as 5 rows. Your 12 is on peak routes/services and can even be 14 on a 321neo. BUT

      30-40pct of club is connecting

      About 20pct or more has silver status or higher. So many ground benefits exist anyway in main cabin.

      So in fact your comment addresses the minority of the cabin which itself is a minority of the passengers load.

      How much is it worth? Thats an individual view and differs to each person.

      However, what you miss totally is that BA is very clearly underpricing club avios flights to summer beach destinations given some on here talk of £500 trips.

      In other words, rather than a blanket £12.50 each way to every destination, BA could be far far more targeted and much more aggressive on routes populated by clueless buyers who it’s seems will pay anything.

      Indeed, your comment effectively makes the case for a super peak avios and add-on £££ band, or dynamic pricing.

      • Peter K says:

        20 Jul20 July 17:36

        So much vitriol about a £12 each way increase in prices! It seems you and “Danny” are more invested in BA than most for this to provoke such intensity of feeling.

        Besides, I’m not sure why you are ranting as, by your own reasoning, BA is actually not taking the proverbial but being quite lenient compared to what they could have done 😂

        PS it’s not £12.50 extra for CE (that’s WTP and CW), only £12 each way. While only a small difference, it’s important to show you have a full grasp of the situation when you are arguing your position if you want to be taken seriously. If on the other hand you just want to argue with random strangers that have no control over the situation….

        • Danny says:

          20 Jul20 July 19:40

          I think it’s Peter K who is drooling over his keyboard.

          What you missed is…BA hasn’t announced why they are doing this, nor have they announced it as an official change.

          I’d have no problem if they had the decency to announce it and justify it.

          They aren’t obliged to, but it speaks volumes that they now introduce negative changes on the sly, hoping nobody will notice, especially when they have developed a valuable side business in selling Avios.

          It erodes trust in BA and hardly endears flyers to them, except Peter K, who seems gleeful at the prospect of zero notice devaluations.

          Besides Peter K…there have been Avios devaluations on Cathay…JAL…American…Alaska…or did you selectively forget these as well?

          I’d have no problem if they attempted to justify these…saying for example that partner costs are significantly higher…but they fail to do this.

        • NorthernLass says:

          20 Jul20 July 20:09

          This is just the latest devaluation, you have to adapt and move on and not get bitter or the fun will go out of the game.

        • Bernard says:

          20 Jul20 July 22:22

          No emotions – unlike your comment.
          Review the facts and revise and rethink.

• Occasional Ranter says:

  20 Jul20 July 22:54

  Bernard and Danny have given a masterclass here, in how to win friends and influence people.

  • Erico1875 says:

    21 Jul21 July 06:51

    I might add, since I started collecting Avios, back around 2008, inflation has more than doubled, so I can collect more than twice as many Avios for the same amount of regular items.
    The cost of redemptions haven’t

    • Danny says:

      21 Jul21 July 12:03

      Untrue @Erico1875 if you flew EDI to LHR to CDG for example. Costs twice as much in avios now than in 2008.

  • Bernard says:

    21 Jul21 July 15:00

    The value of anything is an individual matter.
    That said, saying it as it is may not be driven by a desire for ‘popularity’. Online, who cares?
    The comments here do show for sure both how irrational (beyond sense) some BA Avios chasers are. That’s their choice though.
    It also shows how sensitive these folks are where you dare suggest the most market oriented solution: more levels of peak banding and much higher £ add ons for highly sought after beach routes.
    We’re invested in IAG at our fund so will be raising this with mr Cadbury in just over a couple of weeks time as was a way to improve their profitability. The irrational avios comments here has been a great demonstration of why they need to charge far more to peak beach routes.
    PS – hedge funds don’t care about being popular.
    PPS – the extra cost for our family of 5 is £125. Anyone who claims it doesn’t matter to the average punter (rather than some self selected 1%ers) is in denial. Far better to keep the basic low and pluck the golden goose on peak routes and peak times/weekends right. So if Mykonos is £900 club return, it should really be 90-180,000 avios return.

• BobM says:

  21 Jul21 July 12:05

  If using a 241 voucher on a Club Europe booking there’s now noticeably less difference between the costs of the Avios + cash fee options (assuming 1p an Avios).

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