Another end-of-year surprise from BA
There has been a run of good news from the airline, including their decision to deploy Starlink across their planes and the lounge upgrades at Heathrow. It was inevitable that some negative news was going to come our way. Last Christmas, it was the changes to the Executive Club, and this year it’s changes to reward flights.
What has BA announced?
The price of reward flights is increasing.
The reference to price doesn’t just mean the cash element of an Avios booking, but also the points needed. This is a fairly big change, and the impact is felt the further you travel, and the higher up you go across the cabins.
These changes take effect as of the 15th December 2025. There is no gentle lead-in time for this. However, it is for bookings made after the 15th. If you can book quickly, you can lock in the current prices.
If you already have a flight booked for after the 15th, there will be no changes. Changing a booking after 15th December 2025 will also mean you have to pay the new prices.
The key points around price increases
- This impacts BA flights and those on partner airlines
- It includes bookings made using Avios and upgrades using Avios
With the change in the number of points you need, this is a devaluation. One has been mooted for a while, but you could say at any point in time that a devaluation is coming.
Why are BA making these changes?
Officially, it’s down to “increasing Air Passenger Duty and third-party charges”, plus “changing market conditions and ongoing inflation”. Unofficially, it’s profit margins.
Or in simpler terms, the airline wants to ensure that it makes more money by utilising higher surcharges (the part of the cash element of the reward booking that should be simply called profit).
What are the changes?
Here are some example flights showing what has changed. The London to Geneva flight is off-peak, one way, whilst the London to New York flight is off-peak return. You can see a calendar of peak and off peak dates.
| Flight | Cabin Class | Points and £ Before | Points and £ From 15th Dec | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London to Geneva | Economy | 9,250 and 50p | 10,000 and £1 | Avios: 8.1% more, 100% higher taxes |
| London to Geneva | Business | 15,000 and £12.50 | 16,500 and £15 | Avios: 10% more, 20% higher taxes |
| London to New York | Economy | 50,000 and £100 | 55,000 and £120 | Avios: 10% more, 20% higher taxes |
| London to New York | Premium Economy | 85,000 and £305 | 93,500 and £350 | Avios: 10% more, 14.8% higher taxes |
| London to New York | Business Class | 160,000 and £375 | 176,000 and £399 | Avios: 10% more, 6.4% higher taxes |
| London to New York | First | 136,000 | 150,000 | Avios: 10.3% more |
Across all the flights, except for the short-haul economy, the Avios points needed increase by 10%. The First cabin is 10.29%. The increase in the cash element of the flight ranges between 6.4% in Business to 20% in Economy and Premium. Ignore the 100% increase on the intra-Europe flight as it’s only increased by 50p.
For reasons unknown, BA do not give examples of the taxes due on the First flight.
What will the impact be?
Aside from needing more points and more cash for each reward flight, the impact will be similar to last year’s big changes to the Executive Club. That’s to say that most people will consider this a negative change and think less of BA.
You might say that a 20% increase in taxes and a 10% increase are manageable, but that really depends on your personal situation. Something that you are planning to buy is now going to cost you up to 20% more in cash and 10% extra points. That is a real, tangible increase, at a time when the cost-of-living increase is impacting everyone.
Changes like this will have been wargamed out. It will lead to fewer reward flights being taken up, and that means if you are points-rich, I would expect this to have a marginal impact on the availability of reward flights, which is a positive for some.
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