There’s a debate about whether I’m a points blogger or if I’m a travel blogger. Up to today, I didn’t pay much attention to the distinction as I considered myself to be a little bit of both. With the ‘breaking news’ of British Avios devaluation, I’m going with travel blogger.
Why does it matter? It matters a great deal because many points bloggers do not travel. They report news that the sky is falling down when a program undergoes a change not realizing that it has essentially no effect on those that actually utilize the program.
Cue in the British Airways announcement. I woke up to frantic Tweets about British implementing off-peak vs. peak awards, fewer miles earned for miles flown, and an increase in the price of business and first class awards. Since I’ve used my Avios for many memorable trips up to this point, I rationalized that a Delta-esque devaluation was a long time coming.
Frantically scrolling through posts searching for how much distance-based awards would cost on partner airlines, I found no information on any relevant changes. Turning to the voice of reason, MileValue, my suspicions were confirmed: distance-based awards will remain the same.
If you’ve never redeemed Avios and just collect them for your points showcase then on paper your collection is worth a lot less. If you actually utilize Avios efficiently by booking distance-based award flights not on British metal from Yangon to Hong Kong for pennies on the dollar instead of $900 each, flights to the Final Four in Atlanta for next to nothing, or flights from Buenos Aires to Mendoza that are always $500 round-trip if you aren’t a resident of Argentina, then you can rest easy knowing that all of that is still possible.
Otherwise keep calm and remain at home as you weren’t ever going to use your points in the first place, devaluation or not.
You are a liar. Round trip to Yangon costs 20,000 Avios + $80 charge. Not 5,000 +$80. To only use 5,000 you have to pay almost $300 in additional fee.
Not really pennies.
http://thepointsoflife.boardingarea.com/burma-thanks-avios/#comment-16016
Total 5000 Avios + $ 94.75
a liar? ha! maybe you’re just not good at the game.
I think there are winners and losers, but for me, it’s pretty much a net positive. I generally only fly on short-haul partner flights in the US, and even though that amount won’t change, I view it as a positive, since it could have been much worse (like doubling the 4500 Avios needed for a Zone 1 ticket)