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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)
Sunsets from what used to be a Sheraton are spectacular in Molokai, Hawaii
Hawaii is still within reach via British Airways Avios (Photo by Darren Murph / The Points Guy)

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.

Ben Smithson is a Senior Writer for TPG UK. Originally from Australia, he is the primary miles and points writer for the UK site. Ben joined TPG UK from One Mile At A Time where he freelanced previously.

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