When was the last time you booked a Reward Flight Saver from British Airways? It might have been a while…  It certainly has been at least a year for me and the rest of the InsideFlyer team. So we aren’t quite sure what’s going on…

…but it looks to me like a MAJOR DEVALUATION!!

Back in 2019, British Airways Executive Club started testing a new pricing structure for Reward Flight Saver – i.e. flights within Europe – where you could pay more miles and less cash. Nonetheless, you were still able to book award flights at the “regular price” of Avios + £17.50 / £25 each way.  I believe US-based accounts pay a fixed $23 / $33 each way…

Recently something has changed. You will now be charged substantially more Avios for that same £17.50 / £25 option. (one-way)

Zone 2 Peak Award

Zone 2 Off-Peak Award

Just to make sure I’m not imagining things, I priced up the same BA reward flights on Iberia Plus. Iberia doesn’t have an equivalent to Reward Flight Saver, but it does charge the appropriate number of Avios…

Zone 2 Peak Award (via Iberia Plus)

Zone 2 Off-Peak Award (via Iberia Plus)

What’s Going On?

Has British Airways sneaked through a big Avios devaluation that nobody seems to have noticed? That always seemed like a possible outcome when they moved towards the All Avios, no cash reward option.

Or is this a temporary glitch while BA plays around with award pricing to take advantage of Brits desperate for a post-lockdown getaway? IT seems unlikely.

I haven’t quite got the time today to run through all of the various permutations of Reward Flight Saver pricing, but it looks to apply to other zones as well…

Whether this will form part of a more widespread Avios devaluation remains to be seen. Things certainly aren’t looking too good and there’s every possibility long haul may get caught up in this too. 

(Featured picture credit ba.com and Nick Morrish)