Here Is the Official New British Airways Avios Partner Award Chart
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Earlier this month, we learned that British Airways was planning to change the redemption rates on partner award flights from 30 May. However, British Airways cheekily would only say that award rates were changing, but didn’t say by how much.
TPG managed to piece together the new chart simply by calling the British Airways Executive Club and asking what the various routes will cost when the new rates kick in one at a time.
30 May has now arrived, and the new chart is live. It has been pieced together by Flyertalk member KARFA and matches the same chart we published earlier this month.
Here is the complete new chart.
Economy and Premium Economy Award Chart
| Zone | Distance in Miles | Economy | Premium Economy | ||||
| Current Price | New Price | % Increase | Current Price | New Price | % Increase | ||
| Zone 1** | 1 – 650 | 4,500 | 6,000 | 33% | 6,750 | 9,000 | 33% |
| Zone 2 | 651 – 1,151 | 7,500 | 9,000 | 20% | 11,250 | 12,500 | 11% |
| Zone 3 | 1,152 – 2,000 | 10,000 | 11,000 | 10% | 15,000 | 16,500 | 10% |
| Zone 4 | 2,001 – 3,000 | 12,500 | 13,000 | 4% | 25,000 | 25,250 | 3% |
| Zone 5 | 3,001 – 4,000 | 20,000 | 20,750 | 4% | 40,000 | 41,250 | 3% |
| Zone 6 | 4,001 – 5,500 | 25,000 | 25,750 | 3% | 50,000 | 51,500 | 3% |
| Zone 7 | 5,501 – 6,500 | 30,000 | 31,000 | 3% | 60,000 | 62,000 | 3% |
| Zone 8 | 6,501 – 7,000 | 35,000 | 36,250 | 4% | 70,000 | 72,250 | 3% |
| Zone 9 | 7,000+ | 50,000 | 51,500 | 3% | 100,000 | 103,000 | 3% |
** These Zone 1 Avios awards are not available for flights to, from or within the US.
Business and First Award Chart
| Zone | Distance in Miles | Business | First | ||||
| Current Price | New Price | % Increase | Current Price | New Price | % Increase | ||
| Zone 1** | 1 – 650 | 9,000 | 12,500 | 39% | 18,000 | 24,000 | 33% |
| Zone 2 | 651 – 1,151 | 15,000 | 16,500 | 10% | 30,000 | 33,000 | 10% |
| Zone 3 | 1,152 – 2,000 | 20,000 | 22,000 | 10% | 40,000 | 44,000 | 10% |
| Zone 4 | 2,001 – 3,000 | 37,500 | 38,750 | 3% | 50,000 | 51,500 | 3% |
| Zone 5 | 3,001 – 4,000 | 60,000 | 62,000 | 3% | 80,000 | 82,500 | 3% |
| Zone 6 | 4,001 – 5,500 | 75,000 | 77,250 | 3% | 100,000 | 103,000 | 3% |
| Zone 7 | 5,501 – 6,500 | 90,000 | 92,750 | 3% | 120,000 | 123,750 | 3% |
| Zone 8 | 6,501 – 7,000 | 105,000 | 108,250 | 3% | 140,000 | 144,250 | 3% |
| Zone 9 | 7,000+ | 150,000 | 154,500 | 3% | 200,000 | 206,000 | 3% |
** These Zone 1 Avios awards are not available for flights to, from or within the US.
Some highlights of the official new award chart include:
- The largest increases are in short-haul flights ion all classes, especially Zone 1, with long-haul zones escaping with only modest increases.
- Routes of up to 650 flown miles from or to the US will not fall within the standard Zone 1 pricing, however they will remain at 7,500 Avios one-way in economy, and 15,000 Avios in business (domestic first), just as they did prior to May 30. (E.g. American Airlines Miami to Orlando) – note in our previously compiled award chart we believed this price would increase to 9,000 Avios but this is no longer the case.
- Routes of 651 – 1,151 flown miles are increasing from 7,500 Avios to 9,000 Avios one-way in economy. (E.g. Finnair London to Helsinki or American Airlines Dallas to Cancun)
- Routes of 1,152 – 2,000 flown miles are increasing from 10,000 Avios to 11,000 Avios one-way in economy. (E.g. Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Singapore or American Airlines Chicago to Miami)
- Routes of 2,001 – 3,000 flown miles are increasing from 12,500 Avios to 13,000 Avios one-way in economy. (E.g. Royal Jordanian London to Amman or American Airlines Los Angeles to Honolulu)
Some other noteworthy changes for UK residents include Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways awards. For example, booking an LHR-HKG or LHR-NRT award now is 3% more in economy, premium economy, business and first. Similarly, a nonstop from LHR-DOH with Qatar Airways has increased 4% in economy, while it’s gone up 3% in premium economy, business and first.
There are no changes to Reward Flight Savers (our favourite use of Avios), as these must be operated by British Airways, to which this chart does not apply.
Bottom Line
Award chart devaluations are never good news. However British Airways’ changes aren’t nearly as bad as we’d feared given the level of secrecy involved. It’s still unclear why British Airways did not officially publish the new amounts until the day they went live, despite warning in advance that amounts would be changing.
Some horror devaluations in other programs can increase rates up to 100%, so increases of, on average, less than 10% are reasonable in comparison.
Featured image by JT Genter for The Points Guy.
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