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Toki wrote: »

Airmiles is changing to Avios in November. More details here. Now have to pay taxes. Will have a read and see the downsides.

http://www.airmiles.co.uk/avios?from=homehero&banner=hmWelcomeAviosAcq&pers=false

Just reading about this myself. Sounds awful for long-haul flights. Although you need to collect fewer Avios to fly to New York (now 40,000 Avios instead of the equivalent of 50,000 Avios (ie 5000 Airmiles), you will now need to pay approx £300 in taxes and surcharges which is ridiculous because a flight to New York doesn't cost much more than this!

Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick I can't really see the benefit of the new system...

weanie

I have changed my Tesco points into airmiles purely to spend on two long haul trips this coming year. I think it would be better to look into firming up dates now and booking. I don't think the prospect of paying the taxes in cash is at all apealing.
I used to have KLM airmiles and to begin with, I managed to get some quite good flights and paid nothing extra but then they introduced the concept of paying cash for the tax and the payments I made were higher than all in prices from discount travel centres - definitely not a good piece of news today and not much time to adjust either!

Toki

Read through some of the details now, sure NonGeographicalMan will help us understand too!

Airmiles are being multiplied by 10 to get new Avios total.

Zone 1 - Currently 750 Airmiles = 7,500 new Avios. From November 16th will require 9,000 Avios + £27!!! That's equivalent of 900 Airmiles and taxes.

Zone 2 - Currently 1,500 Airmiles = 15,000 new Avios. From November 16th will require 15,000 Avios + £27. That's equivalent of 15,000 Airmiles and taxes.

Zone 3 - Currently 2,500 Airmiles = 25,000 new Avios. From November 16th will require 20,000 Avios + £27. That's equivalent of 20,000 Airmiles and taxes.

And so on, in summary, looks like short haul routes, you will be out of pocket significantly. Longer haul, will require less miles / Avios than before but taxes have to be paid on all flights from 16th of November. It also says "airline taxes, fees and surcharges" will have to be paid on zone 4 and higher which will add significant costs, due to fuel surcharges and such like to every single flight and significantly reduces the value of every single Airmiles everyone holds.

Who do we complain to?

NonGeographicalMan

Does this mean that BA is actually selling off Air Miles to someone else or is it merely a re-brand to justify altering the value of the miles? I suppose the argument goes that the term Air Miles is constantly confused with every other airlines miles collection scheme. But on the other hand its a brand carefully established over 20 years that they are now chucking in the dustbin.

How bad the new scheme is depends to a large extent on whether flight availability is better or worse because availability is a total disgrace on most short haul European routes during the summer. I would also like to see what the terms and conditions are for being considered a "regular collector" so as to only have to pay £27 for taxes and fees. Its clearly bad news for anyone flying regularly between Heathrow and Aberdeen at the full miles rate.

One significant improvement some of you seem to have missed in their email is "You’ll be able to get more flexible rewards – like one-way flights and flights in and out of different airports"

Even under the current scheme part miles and part cash actually alwasy gave you the best value redemption so I think this requires some rather more scientific evaluation but I suspect that a price rise in terms of the number of miles is bound to be included due to all the rises in the real of especially long haul airline fares due to the rise in aircraft fuel prices.

If the requirements to be considered a regular collector look too onerous I think I may be making a couple of trips to use up the whole lot under the current rules and then stop collecting any more. However obviously availability under the existing Air Miles scheme is going to become a problem very quickly indeed as there is going to be a massive rush of bookings. And they didn't even give us the half price redemption offer that they recently ran for holders of BA Miles.:eek::mad::mad::mad:

I wonder if the rather loud sound of raspberries about the current scheme they have also been getting over on their Facebook page may not have been partly responsible for this change.

unhappy_shopper

It has already featured on the 'Latest MSE News' - see panel on the right for more details.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2011/09/airmiles-revamp-sees-cost-soar-for-holidaymakers?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=box

unhappy_shopper

Regular Collectors - members who have collected at least 1 Avios in the preceding 12 months.

Doesn't sound regular to me :mad:

NonGeographicalMan

From the MSE article:-

Airmiles is effectively being merged with the British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus, which are the frequent flyer programmes for both airlines, which joined forces earlier this year. Airmiles will be called Avios when it relaunches on 16 November, with points called Avios miles.

So if we acquire the right to upgrade cheap Economy BA and Iberia tickets purchased for cash to Club with Air Miles (as BA Miles holders can already do) things may not be all bad.

Any

From what I read from the email from them it is going to be much better for me.

(Based on multiplying Airmiles to Avios by 10)

For Zone 1 I would have paid 1250 Airmiles or 1000 Airmiles and £45, which is now going to be 9000 Avios and £27 as well... So that is cheaper

For Zone 2 I would have paid 2000 Airmiles or 1500 airmiles and £45 - so that is now 15000 Avios and £27 - again works out better. Only you have to pay some cash.

Flights to Prague and Barcelona require 9000 Avios and £27.
Well, now from Manchester I need 2000 Airmiles, or 1500 Airmiles and £45!!!!!!
So the new rules is nearly half price. This is due to the re-classifying those flights.

Didn't look at the further flights (zone 4 upwards) as no idea what the charges would be and I would be saving miles for ever to get one of those so not even worth checking it out... I mainly fly short haul.

So basically, unless I missed something, if you are flying from regional airports you are going to be better off with Avios. And lets face it - plenty of people fly from regional Airports. I always thought that was disgusting that London has much better value then us.

stayathomedad_2

Just applied for duo credit cards to collect miles for retirement (20 years time) when I plan to retire to Australia. Just looking at flights for sept to Australia and they are made up of £600 for flight and £450 surcharges. So it's still better than half price but a lot worse than when I was planning it last week. I am assuming the balance may well get much worse of the next 20 years if things carry on the way they are going.

Was this the last scheme where you didn't have to pay surcharges? Or are there others out there? I assume there won't be in 20 years time.

Any

unhappy_shopper wrote: »

Regular Collectors - members who have collected at least 1 Avios in the preceding 12 months.

Doesn't sound regular to me :mad:

Airmiles always had some "12 mths rule" before.. You had to pay fee if you didn't collect 1 Airmile in the past 12 months..