British Airways is making a MASSIVE change to how you can redeem your Avios points. For those that look to redeem their points for short-haul flights to/from the United States, this affects you. For those that do not redeem this way, you are in the clear.
Currently, for flights less than 650 miles one-way, you can redeem just 4,500 Avios points for a free economy flight ticket. These points can be used on partner American Airlines. Some examples include: JFK/LGA to Toronto or Montreal, JFK to Boston, Miami to Bahamas, Miami to Cancun, Charlotte to New Orleans, Washington DC to Chicago. Of course there are many more examples!
Starting February 3, 2016, these flights will go up to 7,500 points for the same exact flight. Ultimately, they are just getting rid of the 4,500 point award chart and now all points less then 1,151 miles will cost 7,500 points. So a 600 mile flight and a 1,100 mile flight will cost exactly the same. A bummer for those that are used to flying the short-haul flights, but even at 7,500 points one-way, they can still be a decent deal.
Remember, you have until February 2, 2016 to book any of these short-haul flights! This has been quite an amazing deal in the points and miles world. While I am sad to see the award chart changing, I am happy that I’ve been able to take advantage of these flights a handful of times.
Where will you be booking over the next few months?
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Everything in the points and miles world is changing, and not for the good.