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Has anyone actually verified that the IB chart wasn’t the same weeks ago? I tried to find a US Airways award that was not showing up on BA.com (erroneous US Airways space) and thought IB might be a “backdoor” to use avios. I found 1) the space was not available and 2) the redemption rate was ridiculously high compared to just using USAirways DMs.
Scott more importantly are there change fees?
Thanks for a helpful post. I’m sort of torn and not inclined to spend Avios recklessly. It looks to me like the new numbers are per itinerary, not per direction or per segment. I’m pretty sure there are no segments or one ways out there that go 50,000 miles, so there would be no reason for the high-end distances if the figures are not for a whole itinerary. That means some kinds of redemptions would be in the ballpark with other airlines or with the current chart. For example I live in the central part of the U.S. Under current Avios rules I could fly to Berlin (about 10,000 miles round trip), with a connection, for 59,000 Avios on the old system, for 60,000 on the new system. I’m sure I could find examples where the new system beats the old one.
What’s a disaster is the short haul nonstop flight like you and I love to use Avios for. That’s a major loss, and if it happens without appropriate notice it’s shameful behavior for BA.
My HOPE would be that if this new system is real, there will be liberal stopover rules. BA used to have those, and I wouldn’t mind getting back the opportunity to make several stops on an itinerary, though to stay within mileage totals we’d need to make more direct routings than we had to before. Not a prediction, just a hope.
Scott, I’m really annoyed that you tweeted British Airways asking if there would be any changes. Telling them you thought there might be changes could only increase the chance that they would actually implement any changes. They initially had no knowledge of what was allegedly going on. By asking that question, you brought these speculations to their attention and gave them an idea. I’m also annoyed at all the bloggers who posted about this subject and spread the rumors.
Next time, please be more sure about something before posting it on your blog, and especially before contacting an airline. Let’s learn from the demise of past deals and be more careful.
I agree I shouldn’t have posted incorrect information. I disagree that tweeting BA was a mistake.