The latest tweak to the British Airways Club program will make reward flights more expensive starting on December 15, 2025. Avios pricing is going up on both BA and partner airlines, and cash surcharges are rising as well. But ironically, British Airways has given us reason to celebrate this bad news…
British Airways Raises Avios Flight Reward Prices Yet Again
British Airways has notified loyalty members that the cost of redeeming Avios will increase next week. The changes apply across all cabins and include BA-operated flights and partner redemptions. While the exact increases vary depending on distance and routing, you can expect to pay more Avios for the same seats you have been booking this year.
Fees are also going up. British Airways cites rising taxes and fuel costs as contributing factors, but the end result is familiar: “free” flights that trigger sticker shock once you reach the payment screen. British Airways says:
We wanted to let you know that from December 15, 2025, the price of Reward Flights will increase. This will affect both the Avios and cash elements of the fare.
We’ve kept our Reward Flight prices at the same level for some time, but we’re having to make these changes as a result of increasing Air Passenger Duty and third-party charges, as well as changing market conditions and ongoing inflation.
We want to reassure you that any Reward Flights booked prior to the price change will remain at the current price.
And has provided these examples:
If these represent what will happen across the system, we generally see a 10% devaluation, which (all things considered) could be much worse…
BA Did Two Things Right
I’m certainly not going to celebrate this devaluation of a program that was already uncompetitive.
But, BA is at least giving some notice. If you have been planning an Avios redemption on BA or partners like American Airlines or Alaska Airlines (generally a bad redemption anyway), now is the time to book. Anything ticketed before December 15 will still price under the current award chart.
Second, at least British Airways is not following in the vein of Lufthansa, which gaslighted its Miles & More loyalty members in a devaluation earlier this year by calling what was clearly bad an “enhancement” driven by “member feedback.” Um, no.
Award pricing does evolve over time, but BA seems to revisit this more often than some competitors. You can still find value with Avios, especially on short haul flights or Iberia redemptions, but those wins are harder to come by with each adjustment.
CONCLUSION
British Airways is raising both the Avios required for award tickets and the cash surcharges attached to them. Yes, it will take more miles to reach the same places and you will still pay more out of pocket when you get there. If you have a redemption in mind, make it now…you have until December 15th.
Ah, yes, the less-for-more era of corporate pseudo-currency scams. (Some would say, always has been.)
@Matthew – I’ll have you know that “Enhancement” is a widely recognized euphemism in the points and miles bailiwick for getting Bonvoyed, usually in an epic fashion. This is normal corporate shill terminology. Keep up with the times, dude.
That’s what I meant by using that term…
And they say satire is dead… The perils of having a dry sense of humor I suppose.
Matt (Gary, Ben, etc.) are still less shilly than those tools over at TPG who couldn’t handle comments on their site.
TPG has become a pathetic huckster site. You’re right that shutting off comments was the last shred of integrity removed. Now I won’t read a blog that won’t allow questions or comments since I view blogs as a form of communication rather than just editorials issued from on high.
I always wait to see how these types of changes turn out in practice, particularly when taking off-peak and upgrade availability into account. BA does seem to have good off-peak availability. Given the high charges to fly into the UK, buying PE (WTP) and then upgrading to CW for miles can also be a competitive price to get to LHR, and BA seems to have more upgrade space available than most other airlines these days. I also consider how getting BA mileage tickets through AA compares, and then there is Virgin Atlantic to consider (my personal favorite, though I admit the lie-flat is not as good), often very cheap for miles. For all the devaluations by all the airlines, it still usually seems there are some good options if you have lots of transferable CC miles.
Seems to have been a recent string of devaluation stories like this. Starting to feel like points and miles is becoming a sucker’s game. Genuine question – what do you think Matthew?
Obviously I’m not Matthew but I think I have a solid response: There’s a whole lot of YMMV but I’ve found that – like a relationship – the more you put in the more you tend to get. I spend wayyy too much time on miles and points but as a result I get to have much more frequent and nicer travels than I could realistically afford if I had to pay cash.
As an alternative to miles and points you could look into cash back cards. Many of them have some pretty spectacular deals for signup bonuses and initial periods of up to a year.
I’m with you in that I’d be quite interested in Matthew’s take as well though. Just because I think I have an informed opinion doesn’t mean that other people’s opinions mean less.
@All Due Respect – yes, another Turkish devaluation that I will cover later today.
I’ll address the overall trend in a future post.