BA airmiles now offer a worse deal for economy class passengers

British Airways is to make radical changes to its airmiles scheme used by millions of travellers - called Avios - which will slash by 75% the airmiles the cheapest economy class tickets will earn, while giving business and expense-account flyers more rewards.

A basic economy-class ticket from London to New York will from 28 April earn just 865 airmiles, down from 3,458. Previously the number of points earned on a return flight across the Atlantic would have been enough to obtain a flight from London to Milan (plus a £35 fee), but after the changes it will fall far short of any destination served by British Airways. Avios is one of the biggest airmiles programmes in the world, used by 6.4 million travellers, and the changes immediately sparked accusations that the airline has “gutted” the scheme.

Among the worst hit will be UK travellers who live outside London and use connecting flights from regional airports to fly to other destinations in Europe. Currently someone flying from Glasgow to Madrid return, connecting via Heathrow, will pay 9,000 Avios points plus £35. But from 28 April the number of points required will double.

Business and first-class passengers are the big winners from the changes. Travellers who turn left when they board a plane and enjoy the flat bed experience will see their Avios points rise by as much as two-thirds, with the Heathrow to JFK traveller picking up 8,645 airmiles, up from 5,187, on a one-way flight.

British Airways is also introducing peak and off peak pricing for reward flights, for periods such as Christmas or during the school summer holidays. For example, a single flight to Rome will cost 7,500 points in July but 6,500 points in January. BA said the new structure means that “for two thirds of the year you will require fewer Avios than now to fly on reward seats.”

However, when business travellers come to redeem their points, the number of Avios they have to spend will rise. For example, a business class flight from London to Sydney currently costs 100,000 Avios points, but this will rise to 125,000 at off-peak times and 150,000 at peak times. Travellers also have to pay taxes, fees and charges.

To sweeten the changes, BA is promising to make half a million extra seats available for travellers trying to use their accumulated points. “We guarantee that more than 9m reward seats will be available on our flights, with a minimum of two Club World/Club Europe and four World Traveller/Euro Traveller reward seats on all British Airways operated flights that are offered for sale on ba.com,” it said.

On Twitter, flyers accused the airline of devaluing the scheme.

BA said the new Avios scheme would be fairer, with more expensive tickets earning higher rewards. “We’ll make earning Avios on flights more aligned to the cabin you fly in and the different types of fares within that cabin. In practice this means that if you pay for a flexible ticket you will earn more Avios than the lowest priced ticket in the same cabin.”