Late in April we brought you the details of changes coming to the British Airways Executive Club program. The changes are to Avios redemption rates on Executive Club partner airlines award tickets and they are officially live as of today.
The airlines affected by these changes are:
Alaska Airlines, Air Italy, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair,
Japan Airlines, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, S7,
Sri Lankan and Royal Jordanian Airlines.
As you can see British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia are not in the mix. Those airlines will retain their original redemption rates for the time being.
Here is the new chart of Avios redemption rates on British Airways Executive Club partner airlines ( North America short haul 1-650 miles remains at 7,500 economy, 15,000 business and 30,000 first class):
Chart courtesy of Karfa on Flyertalk
As mentioned above North American short haul flights are not affected in today’s changes. Still prices out at 7,500 Avios one way in economy:
For a lot of us Canadians this now means that popular redemption options for flying from Canada to Europe, Asia, etc. on American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and JAL have now become more expensive.
For example, one popular redemption of our readers for their Avios is on JAL from Vancouver to Tokyo:
You can see the cost is now 25,750 Avios for a one way economy class redemption, 750 Avios more than what was previously required.
Overall the changes aren’t huge for most of those redemptions, in the neighbourhood of only a few percent however if you were one who took advantage of the great short haul 4,500 Avios option for travel within Europe, the Caribbean, Asia etc. those have now jumped 30%! Yes the percentage is big but in the long run 6,000 Avios for those flights is still a great deal when you compare it to other frequent flyer programs.
Earning British Airways Executive Club Avios in Canada is relatively easy thanks to a generous list of credit cards that earn Avios or points that can be converted to Avios! These include but are not limited to the RBC
Visa Infinite Avion Card , the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card, the American Express Gold Rewards Card, the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card and the mbna Best Western Mastercard®
Related: 30% Bonus Avios when you convert RBC Rewards Points (Avion cardholders only) to British Airways Executive Club Avios. Full details
Image courtesy of British Airways