Executive Club BA Raises Award Rates For Alaska And American

British Airways has devalued one of the sweet spots in the program if not the sweet spot. This comes as a shock as there was no mention they were going to do this.

These are the changes in award prices

• 0-650 Miles used to be 7,500 Avios (now 8,250)

• 651-1150 Miles used to be 9000 Avios (now 11,000)

• 1151- 2000 Miles used to be 11000 (now 14,500)

• 2001-3000 Miles used to be 13000 (now 16,000)

As we can tell this is not a dramatic increase but it is still notable as 1151-2000 miles see an uptick of 32 percent which sounds like quite a lot. Although this still represents good value in the program when I booked my flight from LA-Miami the cost on AA was 17K miles, even with the change in pricing it comes out to 16,000 BA miles. Not only that but BA avios can be transferred from Amex and Chase while Alaska and AA can not.

My Thoughts

Mileage users are facing an uphill battle and will continue to do so over the next however many years. Mileage rates are just getting constantly inflated while how many miles you can earn are getting deflated. This isn't just with the BA program but look at Delta and American now for that matter. I used to remember some amazing award spots on American now on most days it will cost 450K miles from US-Tokyo (I know saver space exists) but saver space is proving more difficult to come by. The mileage market is becoming overrun now.