How to complain to British Airways about their dishonest AVIOS policy

Nikiya

Not for the first time, I had to redeem the smallest amount of AVIOS on a long haul flight because the more you redeem, the less they are worth.
For instance, I redeemed 30 pounds at 113 avios each. Although I do not remember the exact figures, any amount above that would have been more expensive. For instance 70 pounds would cost me180 avios per pound, 120 pounds 200 avios and so on.
It is easy to miss it because they are never on a regular scale (i.e. 10, 20, 30 etc), but it is ALWAYS the case, regardless of the type of flight or seat.
I am surprised clients are not kicking up a fuss about this disgusting and insulting attitude from the airline and would like to complain and make it stick.
The links on their site are only for flight delays or reservation issues and  and if I call them I will wait for ages to speak to an agent with no decision power.
I would be grateful for any suggestions on the matter.

400ixl

If you are made aware of the value you will be getting for the number of points before you commit how is it dishonest. They are within their rights to have a sliding scale if they so wish.

What contract with you are they breaking?

Really not clear as to what your complaint is, other than you don't like their sliding scale policy.

Wonka_2

Nikiya said:

Not for the first time, I had to redeem the smallest amount of AVIOS on a long haul flight because the more you redeem, the less they are worth.
For instance, I redeemed 30 pounds at 113 avios each. Although I do not remember the exact figures, any amount above would have been more expensive. For instance 70 pounds would cost me180 avios per pound, 120 pounds 200 avios and so on.
It is easy to miss it because they are never on a regular scale (i.e. 10, 20, 30 etc), but it is ALWAYS the case, regardless of the type of flight or seat.
I am surprised clients are not kicking up a fuss about this disgusting and insulting attitude from the airline and would like to complain and make it stick.
The links on their site are only for flight delays or reservation issues and  and if I call them I will wait for ages to speak to an agent with no decision power.
I would be grateful for any suggestions on the matter.

But you seem to be treating Avios as a currency, when it's a marketing tool for BA/OneWorld. Offers can be different for each passenger/route depending on their objectives.

The suggestion is to treat it as such and then you won't be disappointed/disgusted/insulted

For the record I stopped flying BA years ago and transferred to SkyTeam - I still earn on a BA Amex card and only use it with the partner voucher, or to redeem for points only European flights or hotels

Cheslea2010

I used to use every card I could to accumulate Avios but quickly realised that you have to pick and choose when to use the Avios effectively. For example, there is a better conversion rate when using your Avios to upgrade your cabin i.e. from Premium Economy to Business Class than there is trying to use them against a package. The points convert less well when trying to book an entire package using your Avios to get a discount on the overall cost.

Newbie_John

You are treating Avios as cash. It is not. It cannot be, due to various reasons i.e. tax, marketing.
It's a marketing tool - one day some points give you £10 off another day £20.

The value of Avios is estimated between 0.1p and 2p depending on how, when and where you use it.

If this is too complicated for you (and that's fine, it's complicated for 90% of people and done on purpose so people waste the points) swap them for Nectar points and spend either at Sainsbury's or eBay - you'll always get 2p for 3 Avios.

Cheslea2010

Take your credit card points as cashback rather than Avios. I usually find it converts better.

eskbanker

Nikiya said:

I am surprised clients are not kicking up a fuss about this disgusting and insulting attitude from the airline and would like to complain and make it stick.

Has it crossed your mind that others may not consider it 'disgusting' or 'insulting' (or 'dishonest') and choose to reserve such strong emotions for more substantive matters?

DullGreyGuy

Nikiya said:

Not for the first time, I had to redeem the smallest amount of AVIOS on a long haul flight because the more you redeem, the less they are worth.
For instance, I redeemed 30 pounds at 113 avios each. Although I do not remember the exact figures, any amount above that would have been more expensive. For instance 70 pounds would cost me180 avios per pound, 120 pounds 200 avios and so on.
It is easy to miss it because they are never on a regular scale (i.e. 10, 20, 30 etc), but it is ALWAYS the case, regardless of the type of flight or seat.
I am surprised clients are not kicking up a fuss about this disgusting and insulting attitude from the airline and would like to complain and make it stick.
The links on their site are only for flight delays or reservation issues and  and if I call them I will wait for ages to speak to an agent with no decision power.
I would be grateful for any suggestions on the matter.

Avios is a scheme and like any scheme there are things that are better and worse value. As illustrated the other day 100,000 avois will reduce a 1st class flight from HK to LHR from £7,000 to $5 and so values each avios at about 7p each which is a fantastic return. 

Generally you get better value on higher tier flights, especially if leaving from a low tax airport. Spending on small cash discounts is never going to give the best return so if you don't earn enough points to buy business class flights it may be better to look at an alternative reward scheme 

Ganga

I always covert my avios too nectars points as we have a Sainsbuys near us ,i nearly always earn a companion voucher with my Amex B A card but never use them as we never fly B A or do long distance. 

Doshwaster

Don't see any grounds of complaint. It's their scheme and they can run it how they want.

A good video on how to value avios and use them most effectively:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFCzHoiOKio

jimi_man

It’s worth researching how best to spend Avios such as that video above or Head for Points/OMAAT sites. Generally the use you’ve described isn’t going to produce great value and yes, the more you redeem the less value you get. 

I’ve just redeemed some for two Club returns to S Africa for example for a Safari in Sept. We had a voucher and it worked out at around 3p for each Avios. Even without the voucher it would have been 1.5p. 

Converting them to Nectar points is poor value - even more so if you earned them from there in the first place!