British Airways ties Avios earning to fare, not miles flown
From October 18, 2023, BA Executive Club stopped awarding Avios by distance flown and moved to revenue-based earning of 6 to 9 Avios per pound of base fare, depending on tier.
October 18, 2023 killed the old BA Executive Club math for good. Distance-based Avios earning — miles flown, adjusted by fare class and tier — is gone. In its place: 6 to 9 Avios per pound of base fare, depending on your status tier. Call it what it is: a major devaluation for anyone who flew far on cheap tickets.
The losers are obvious. Cheap long-haul fares — long a favourite hack for stuffing an Avios balance — now earn a fraction of what they used to. The winners are people buying expensive short-hop business fares, who now earn more than the distance ever justified.
BA wasn’t innovating here; it was conforming. Revenue-based earning is the airline-industry standard, and BA held out years longer than most rivals before switching.
Our take: earning by spend rewards the fare, not the flying. If your Avios strategy was built on cheap long-haul economy, that engine is dead — credit-card transfers just became the better way to feed the balance.