Avios - have BA hiked the amount needed?

Patrington

Hi

We have been using our avois points to travel now for over a decade and have always been able to find flights for a reasonable amount of points.

An off-peak return journey, for two of us to mainland Europe, use to cost around 18,000 avios.

However, when I have been looking this week it is quoting 46,000 avios for a return trip, in February, for two people to places such as Lisbon or Madrid.

Is this right? 
Have they increased the amount of points needed by that much?

Any knowledge or advice would be welcomed.

Thanks

bagand96

The following Head For Points Article has a table with the current redemption rates. 

https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/04/06/how-do-you-book-flights-using-avios-points/

Lisbon and Madrid would be zone 2, so 7250pp each way off-peak and 8250pp peak. (assuming the HfP info is correct) 

eskbanker

bagand96 said:

The following Head For Points Article has a table with the current redemption rates. 

https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/04/06/how-do-you-book-flights-using-avios-points/

Lisbon and Madrid would be zone 2, so 7250pp each way off-peak and 8250pp peak. (assuming the HfP info is correct) 

That article is from April 2020 and there's a more up to date one from June 2022 at:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/06/03/how-many-avios-do-i-need-to-fly-to/

although it's a moot point when the number of miles to those destinations appears to be unchanged!

Caz3121

click on "more pricing options" I suspect you are seeing the number of miles if you chose to pay £1
you can pay more £ and less avios....you will likely get it to the numbers you were used to

Patrington

Thanks all for the info.

We have used the different pricing options but my comparison was made on the £18 one, as we previously (before you had the price option) the saves fee was £17.50.

The £18 pricing option to Lisbon is definitely coming up as 46,000 avios for 2 people, which is just making us start to consider whether avios is still the way to go. 

Caz3121

a one way Europe flight was previously 4,500 avios + £17.50....so 9,000 avios + £35 for a return flight
now when spending the same £35 for a return
off peak = 14,500 avios 
peak = 16,500 avios
so you compare 18,000 avios + £70 for 2 people back then with 29,000 + £70 now. Yes the number of Avios have increased, but not quite as much as your calculations