Posted by Seth on January 27, 2012 under Flying, Trip Reports | 
Take a random, tiny airline with a handful of prop planes flying the islands of Hawaii and give them a little bit of encouragement and what happens? Something ridiculous like this. Mokulele is a regional operator in Hawaii, flying a few Cessna aircraft on hops within the islands. And now they’re aiming big, really big.
The company has received approval to operate scheduled charter service from Honolulu to Rockford, Illinois and continuing service to London‘s Stansted airport. Of course, they won’t be doing this with their Cessnas. They are chartering a 767-200 aircraft to run the operations. I cannot imagine that it will be a particularly comfortable in-flight experience, nor a particularly cheap one. We are talking about roughly 18-20 hours wedged into a tight, charter seating configuration with minimal amenities.
Still, the lines and the operator have me pining for a chance. Oh, and I’m going to be in Hawaii anyways at the beginning of June thanks to the inaugural Hawaiian Airlines JFK-HNL service, so I’ve got the opportunity.
Now to see just how ridiculous it prices.
Hat tip to the folks at NYC Aviation for sharing the details on this one.
And, as always, thanks to GCMap.com for the cool maps.
Posted by Seth on January 26, 2012 under News |
There have been a few stories today about the unveiling of the American Airlines 777-300ER cabin interior configuration. Most of them (including Ben’s) have been rather effusive, raving about the new Business and First class cabins. And, no doubt, the press photos of those look pretty nice.
But there is a third photo included in the press release, the shot of the economy cabin:
The good news is that the photo shows a pretty nice individual IFE screen, universal power plugs and a handset to control the IFE, meaning reduced likelihood of someone tapping on the back of your seat the whole flight. And those are all good things, but there’s one really big bad thing, too. The seating configuration appears to be incredibly tight. Based on this point of view it appears that the cabin will have a 3-4-3 configuration, bringing American in line with Emirates and Air France for offering one of the most cramped coach cabin configurations in modern aviation. The aisle actually looks ridiculously narrow, too, making me wonder if this is even a real shot of the cabin, but if it is that looks like a VERY uncomfortable coach experience.
Some back of the napkin math based on the size of the power ports and the representation of things in the image suggests that the seats are about 17" wide, maybe a tiny bit less. That’s quite a bit tighter than their current economy products, especially compared to their current long-haul configurations. And they’re articulating – or "slidey" – seats, which means the legroom gets worse when reclined. Ouch.
There was some suggestion that there is going to be a "Premium Economy" product rolled out as well, but no details on that in these photos or in the release. That leaves me a smidge skeptical. Adding that to match their oneworld alliance partners would make sense in many ways. It is also the fastest growing segment of seating in the industry. Then again, when starting from zero relatively recently, it is easy to make "fastest growing" show up. It would be a first for a US-based carrier, so it is worth keeping an eye on.
The premium cabins look quite nice. Matching Cathay Pacific for the business class seat is particularly nice. But most passengers are going to be stuck in those economy seats and it looks painful. I hope it is better than that makes it appear.
It also seems that American has decided in the past 8 weeks to shift the planes from the originally announced service to London, putting them on the Dallas-Sao Paulo route instead. That’s a pretty inefficient utilization plan for the newest, nicest, planes, so they must think they’re going to drive some serious premiums on the route. Good luck.
Posted by Seth on January 18, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The frequent flyer partnership between United Airlines‘ Continental subsidiary and Virgin Atlantic is being terminated as of February 13, 2012. This date is the last for mileage earning or redemption ticket issuance on the partner, with award redemptions valid for one year from that date, assuming they are issued. This isn’t a particularly surprising move, though it is a bit of a downgrade in terms of the MileagePlus program.
The Continental/Virgin relationship made a lot of sense when it was originally launched. Continental had a minimal amount of traffic into London at all and none into Heathrow due to the Bermuda II restrictions. It allowed Continental to market flights into Heathrow under their own code and to sell onward connections using Heathrow as a transit point. Since the establishment of the Open Skies agreement between the US and the EU, however, Continental has had access to Heathrow and has steadily increased flights there. Add in the merger with United and there are only a few cities now where Virgin had nonstop service ex-LHR that the combined United doesn’t and those are less significant today.
The end of the partnership is rather unfortunate on the redemption side of the frequent flyer program in particular as Virgin has often had decent award availability, especially in their Upper Class business class product and especially close to the travel date. I’ve taken advantage of that a couple times and, though I’m not a huge fan of the product, it is still an option being lost which is unfortunate.
Also unfortunate is the timing of the announcement. The company provided barely 4 weeks’ notice of the change, one that they have likely known about for some time. It is a shame that the changes to partners and earning rates are trickling out so slowly as part of the merger process.
Posted by Seth on January 18, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
By the time we got to London we had been on the go roughly 34 hours. Sure, a decent amount of that time was spent in the glorious confines of Emirates‘ A380 First Class Suites but we were still pretty beat. The last flight of our vacation was all that remained – British Airways from Heathrow to JFK – in first class on the 747-400. When booking the flights I did my best to ensure that we would have the new first class product so as to hopefully experience the best that BA has to offer. When we got home I actually had to go back and double check to make sure that the product we saw was the new one; the experience itself wasn’t defining enough that I knew.
Yes, I had just come off of Emirates and their Suite so I’m sure that my point of reference is somewhat skewed. And I’m a bit disappointed that we couldn’t get a spa treatment in the Concorde Room lounge, though that is in part due to our short connection and my not pre-booking because of uncertainty with the connection times. But the seat itself was not particularly impressive, especially not for a first class product.
There is no doubt that the seat is good on privacy, but it isn’t particularly large. And, unlike other first class seats I’ve flown in, the British Airways seat tapers somewhat dramatically at the foot. Not enough to be uncomfortable to fly in, but I’m also not nearly the tallest or widest passenger they’re going to be dealing with; I’m actually probably smaller than average for the F cabin.
On the plus side, the soft product on board was incredibly good. I slept nearly the entire flight in the quite comfy PJs I was offered so I didn’t really eat or drink much, but the bits I had were very tasty. At the top of my list was one of the appetizers, a seafood dish that was delicious and also quite nicely presented.
I’ll give a bit of a pass on the lounge bit as missing the spa treatment was at least partially my fault. That said, the quality of the food served was, well, British. Not bad, but also not particularly awesome or inspired. And the soft product was very, very nice, definitely first class. But the hard product on board – the seat – really was a bit of a let down. I understand that the new seat – particularly the iFE options are better than the old one. To me that’s more a comment on how bad the old one was than an endorsement of the new product.
At this point I’d say that there are a number of business class products that I’d probably take over the BA first option, unless BA is pricing first at the business class price. In this case it was more or less free as an add-on to the Emirates fare home from Sri Lanka so I’m not really upset about it, but I was definitely expecting better from BA. I literally had to check after the flight to figure out if I really was on the new product. That’s probably not the impression they’re trying to leave with customers.
On the plus side, snagging seat 1K and getting to look out the front of the plane was pretty awesome.
Tags: A380, Airbus, Boeing, British Airways, Dining, Emirates, in flight, London, NYE2011, Photos, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 17, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
It took a long time before I managed to get myself into a proper first class cabin on a long-haul flight. I still haven’t actually done it all that often. And now I believe myself wholly spoiled from enjoying it in the future. I’ve had the great pleasure of flying in the Emirates A380 First Class Suite.
Coming home from Sri Lanka actually involved two flights in Emirates First, one on a 777-300 which is a proper F cabin and pretty impressive on its own. The seat is huge and offers a decent amount of privacy, though the 2-2-2 configuration does mean that the outside pairs involve climbing over someone or having someone climb over you for window/aisle access. As we were a couple traveling together it wasn’t a huge deal.
The other amenities on the 773 are comparable in many ways to the A380. Each seat has a private bar, though the good stuff comes from the flight attendants, not pre-stocked at the seat. And the ICE entertainment system is awesome in so many ways. Huge screens and options for both movies and music.
My only minor complaint on the first flight is that there was no meal service at departure. It is only a 3:30 flight and it leaves around 3am local time from Colombo. Still, the food options in the airport sucked and I was hungry. I chose to sleep through breakfast to try to actually get a couple hours of sleep so I basically had no food on the flight. Other than that, lots of fun.
Our layover in Dubai was just long enough to get lost in the lounge (I’ll post about that later) and then it was time for the crown jewel of the trip: A380 Suites.
The 773 provided a lot of space and privacy. The A380 bested it by far. The closing doors on the suites, in particular, was a nice touch for privacy. Also the 1-2-1 layout allows for isolation quite well, Sitting in the middle we were unable to actually see out the windows at all which was slightly annoying, but that’s how much privacy it afforded passengers. The photo below shows just how much space there is; my 22" TravelPro fit nicely under the desk at my seat, with plenty of room for the seat to still recline into bed mode.
The service started with the purser presenting our menus for the day and offering up some quite lovely advice, "The champagne today is, of course, Dom 2002." Suffice it to say, a bottle or two of that ended up in my belly. There’s a 21 year Single Malt and an 8 year rum, too, if that’s your thing. And the wine list was pretty impressive as well.
The food service was also at the top of my experiences, with a couple minor caveats. I liked the meals better than those I had in Lufthansa First last year. There were more choices, we were served more of them, and I thought that the quality of the food was slightly better.
My wife did remind me that the Lufthansa options are a bit more of a stretch in terms of providing a fine dining experience – fancier preparations and presentations – but I think that Emirates is nearly at the same level there and delivered on the attempt much better. Even the caviar service appeared better to me on Emirates.
You can eat anything you want off the menu whenever you want to. I understand that there is some flexibility to that effect on Lufty but they weren’t nearly as happy about providing it. And when I couldn’t make up my mind between the lobster and the lamb, the flight attendant solved that problem quite quickly, serving up both. They were delicious, though the lobster truly shined.
Oh, and then there was the shower. At roughly 35,000 feet over Ankara I stepped into my "spa experience" and enjoyed a quick rinse. We had been on the go for about 30 hours at that point and the shower was quite refreshing. I was somewhat concerned about the 5 minute limit on water but I ultimately found that by turning it off when soaping it was more than enough for me. There are a full set of shower amenities provided and the flight attendants are happy to explain the process to you, including the instructions to sit down on the bench should the plane encounter turbulence.
The flight attendant also made sure to ask what beverage I’d like to have when I finished my shower, and I came out to not only the aged rum that I had requested but also a fruit plate to have as a snack. She was top notch.
While she was great I cannot really say the same for her colleague across the aisle. My wife and I received notably different levels of service. Even when we specifically requested to dine at the same time we had issues with the timing of the food. Not the end of the world by any stretch, but it was a bit annoying. She was good, but not effusively so like the FA on my side.
There are some other things that are a little different with Emirates. There isn’t a proper amenity kit, per se, in that there is no little bag to take home with you.That said, everything you need – and then some – is provided either at your seat or in the lav.
And then, all too quickly, we were on final approach into London. The flight was only 7.5 hours. They were 7.5 hours of aerophillic bliss, but it was done. And now I am spoiled rotten. Flying in First will never be the same (though I’m more than willing to try just to confirm that concern).
Tags: A380, Airbus, Colombo, Dining, Dubai, Emirates, in flight, London, Lufthansa, NYE2011, Photos, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 10, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, News |
As part of their bankruptcy reorganization efforts American Airlines has announced that they are cutting the longest route in their network, the flights between Chicago and Delhi, India. The flights are being terminated as of March 1, 2012. Live from a Lounge (a local on the India side) and One Mile at a Time (a quite vocal AAficionado) have both weighed in on the topic, mostly with disbelief. To me the surprise is really that it took the bAAnkruptcy to do the route in.
At least one analyst out there says the route was losing $40MM annually. And naturally you’re going to cut anything that isn’t profitable in a reorganization, right? The problem with that approach is that, at this point, nearly everything American touches is not profitable; they’ve got the inverse of the Midas touch. The real question should be whether a route can be profitable, not whether it is right now. And in the case of the Delhi flight, the answer is still no.
It is the longest route in their system, roughly 7500 miles in the air each way. That’s a whole lot of fuel that needs to be carried so the plane can make it to the destination, and that fuel has increased significantly in cost since the route was launched in 2005. It seems that even if the company could get the labor costs down, their stated goal in the bankruptcy process, the other fixed costs of the route are still too great.
The same analyst who asserts the $40MM annual losses also suggests that there are a few other routes which are hemorrhaging cash and which seem primed to be cut: New York-London, New York-California, Chicago to Delhi, Beijing and Shanghai and Miami to Buenos Aires. Seems unlikely to me that all those are going to be touched. The London routes gets the advantage now of ATI, something that was far too late in being granted by the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. That should help significantly for margins on that service. The transcon market is an interesting one and I could see some changes come, but I doubt they’ll fully retreat. And the South America service seems to have way more potential than the Asia routes, putting it squarely in the "potentially could be successful" category.
Could the Beijing and Shanghai routes be on the out? Loads to China are down and the yields are likely following. At the same time, however, getting back into that market is incredibly challenging. Plus, there aren’t particularly great onward connections if you look to partners. It seems much more likely that the China routes could be profitable and that they’d stick around a least a bit longer.
The other consideration for American, more than individual routes, is the combined effect of cutting too much on the route map. Their international network was already somewhat anemic outside of Latin America and further cuts won’t help that. Even with partners and the ATI agreement, it is hard to market and sell flights to corporate contracts when you don’t actually have service to the destinations they need to serve. And a merger with US Airways, JetBlue or Alaska Airlines isn’t going to solve any of those problems.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on December 22, 2011 under frequent flyer, News |
A binding agreement has been signed regarding the sale of Lufthansa subsidiary bmi to IAG (the consortium which owns British Airways and Iberia). The sale is still subject to regulatory clearance – no small issue considering the impact on slots at Heathrow – but the two companies expect the deal to close in Q1 2012. Lufthansa expects the impact of the sale to be off their books by the end of next year while IAG will spread the costs of the acquisition and restructuring over a three year period.
IAG only wants the mainline operations of the bmi portfolio. As part of the deal Lufthansa is still shopping the bmi regional and bmibaby units to other potential suitors. If the bmibaby brand is not unloaded there are "significant" price reductions to be accounted for. And Lufthansa is still on the hook for the pension plan of bmi employees. At the same time, IAG will receive up to 56 additional slot pairs at Heathrow, further growing their position as the largest operator there.
IAG CEO Willie Walsh offered up the following comments:
Buying bmi’s mainline business gives IAG a unique opportunity to grow at Heathrow, one of our key hub airports. Using the slot portfolio more efficiently provides the option to launch new longhaul routes to key trading nations while supporting our broad domestic and shorthaul network.
This deal is good news for the UK as we will maintain a comprehensive domestic schedule including Belfast. Our plans to expand our longhaul network would guarantee growth by making Britain better able to compete on a global scale. It will also help maximise Heathrow’s position as a world class hub airport.
Customers will benefit from access to new destinations, more convenient schedules, enhanced frequent flyer benefits and greater investment than had been possible for loss-making bmi.
Sure, maintaining the schedule is easy. The real question is what fares will look like without competition on the routes. It is rare that losing a competitor in a market makes things better for the customer.
I really do need to redeem the last of those Diamond Club points quite quickly.
Announcements from IAG and Lufthansa.
Posted by Seth on December 19, 2011 under Flying, News |
Millions of dollars have been spent to learn the answer to this question. Thus far, all indications are that it is not possible. But that doesn’t stop folks from trying. Apparently there is another billionaire out there looking to become a millionaire, because someone is apparently going to give it a another shot.
Odyssey Airlines is the supposed name of the upstart which is expected to launch operations between London‘s City Airport and New York City‘s JFK with a Bombardier CSeries jet in an all business class configuration. This service would compete directly with the twice daily service offered by British Airways on Airbus A318 jets, with the added advantage of not requiring the fuel stop in Ireland on the west-bound leg.
The operation would launch in 2014 or 2015, assuming the timeline for the aircraft deliveries doesn’t slip. Oh, and there is apparently no one out there who actually works for Odyssey Airlines, so none of these details can actually be confirmed, but that hasn’t stopped many from reporting on the potential.
Breaking into the aviation market is horribly difficult and expensive. Doing it on one of the most heavily trafficked routes – NYC-LON – where there are something like 30 daily frequencies split between at least 5 carriers is even more challenging. And doing it in an uncertain market where fuel costs are significantly higher than they were last time a couple upstarts tried to break in is almost certifiably crazy. On the plus side, the new aircraft will have lower operating costs, but that doesn’t come anywhere close to guaranteeing success.
Also of interest is that the company involved has supposedly ordered 10 aircraft. That’s way too many to operate only on the NYC route so it can be presumed that there might be other routes considered as well. I can think of a few others in the same range that would be likely candidates, but they are also heavily contested and there isn’t a whole lot of room on the margins to make it work.
Don’t get me wrong – I hope it actually launches and that I get a chance to fly on Odyssey. But, much like Maxjet, SilverJet and eos before them, I don’t expect that opportunity to last long.
Related posts:
Posted by Seth on November 18, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
When British Airways and Iberia announced a couple months back that they were integrating their loyalty programs under the Avios moniker there were a whole bunch of folks (mostly based in the USA) who were pretty upset at the potential issues it could raise. At that time I took a somewhat measured approach, suggesting that there are a few areas in which folks might see benefits, mostly for those in the UK or Europe. Now that the details are out and we can look at the numbers I’m still not certain, but the program mostly seems to be a debacle unless you live in the UK or Spain and only fly on simple trips.
You didn’t want to connect, did you?
The single-partner award chart isn’t nearly as bad as previously expected, with a catch. Awards on a single partner now do not permit connections. If you require a connection for your itinerary then you redeem an award for each flight. That means JFK-EZE on AA would be one price (25K one way in coach) but connecting via Miami would add 7,500 to that total; connecting via Dallas is 10,000 more. So if you can position yourself to get to a hub gateway (or if you are lucky enough to actually live in one) then the numbers can be quite reasonable still. I queried ~150 city pairs on routes operated by wide-body aircraft by Cathay Pacific, Qantas and LAN and found a few routes where the numbers aren’t completely awful. But that assumes you’re at the gateway and want to go to the hub. A pretty significant catch to be sure.
Also on the connection front, it appears that folks based in Europe are going to feel the pinch of award prices rising. A trip from Istanbul to Paris sees a 4,500 point surcharge over a trip from Istanbul to London. Not all that surprising considering the rate on London-Paris is 4,500. In other words, even if you stay on BA metal for the journey you get hit with a connection penalty. This applies to flights originating in the USA as well, and the up-charge might be even more than you’d expect (ORD-LHR is 20,000; ORD-CDG is 25,000 while MIA-LHR and MIA-CDG are both 25,000). In other words, the award charts are very inconsistent and nearly impossible to decipher with any reasonable sense of reason.
Multi-partner Awards
The multi-partner award chart is unchanged and is shown below. With this scheme you are permitted up to 8 segments on an award, including an open jaw stopovers so long as the stopover is on the direct point of travel. That basically means only at hubs, which is also not particularly great, but also not atypical.
| Avios costs for multi-carrier reward flights |
| Miles in your journey |
Avios needed for an economy flight |
| 0-1,500 |
30,000 |
| 1,501-4-000 |
35,000 |
| 4,001-9,000 |
60,000 |
| 9,000-10,000 |
70,000 |
| 10,001-14,000 |
90,000 |
| 14,001-20,000 |
100,000 |
| 20,001-25,000 |
120,000 |
| 25,001-35,000 |
140,000 |
| 35,001-50,000 |
160,000 |
|
Business class reward flights: x2
First class reward flights: x3
|
Some "gems"
So, what are these "gems" I referenced in the thread title? There are a couple to talk about.
If you’re looking for flights operated by international configured aircraft and hoping for a bargain there are a few routes that come up as quite reasonably priced. Some have gone down from the prior charts, though, again, no connections are permitted any more so there’s that problem. Still, take a look at some of these routes with the decent redemption pricing (o/w, economy):
| AMM |
DTW |
30000 |
| AMM |
JFK |
30000 |
| AMM |
ORD |
30000 |
| AMM |
YUL |
30000 |
| AMS |
HKG |
30000 |
| BOG |
MIA |
10000 |
| CCS |
MIA |
10000 |
| CDG |
HKG |
30000 |
| CUN |
MIA |
4500 |
| CUN |
SCL |
20000 |
| FCO |
HKG |
30000 |
| FRA |
HKG |
30000 |
| HEL |
SIN |
30000 |
| HKG |
PVG |
7500 |
| HKG |
HND |
10000 |
| HKG |
ICN |
10000 |
| HKG |
KIX |
10000 |
| HKG |
NGO |
10000 |
| HKG |
LHR |
30000 |
| HKG |
MXP |
30000 |
| HKG |
YVR |
30000 |
| HKG |
JFK |
35000 |
| ICN |
TPE |
7500 |
| JFK |
LIM |
20000 |
| KIX |
TPE |
7500 |
| LIM |
SCL |
10000 |
| MAD |
SCL |
30000 |
| MIA |
PUJ |
7500 |
| PUJ |
SCL |
20000 |
Comparing those numbers to other carriers I’ve compiled data on suggests that the program isn’t a complete fiasco, so long as you can avoid that pesky connection problem.
Also, it is possible to redeem 10% of the regular Avios award price for an infant in lap which is a nice feature and most certainly not one that most programs offer. But that’s a pretty small consolation.
Upgrade or downgrade?
In the end, I believe that the overall changes to the program are quite negative for most customers. Yes, there are a few bright spots where award costs have gone down and those should be celebrated, but for most customers the connection penalty will be a rather steep price to pay to make the Avios retain value. That said, if you live in a hub or in a spoke with good frequencies there is the slight chance that the program can be made to work for you.
I’m quite happy that I’m not sitting on a pile of Avios right now, even being in NYC where I have the advantage of many non-stop options. If it comes to that I’ll just move some Membership Rewards points over and leverage the program that way.
Check out some other views on the changes from these noted loyalty bloggers:
- Lucky’s posts
- TPG’s thoughts:
Related Posts:
Tags: British Airways, Cathay, Chicago, frequent flyer, Iberia, Istanbul, LAN, London, Membership Rewards, New York City, Paris, points, Qantas, Spain
Posted by Seth on October 9, 2011 under frequent flyer, points |
The three largest US airlines have apparently decided to have some fun with bonus frequent flier points and London this fall. It is not particularly clear what started the push, but American Airlines was first out of the gates with their promotion: 25K bonus points for the first flight, 35K for the second and 45K for the third between the USA and anywhere in Europe. Each subsequent flight will continue to earn at the 45K level. British Airways has a similar deal out there as well.
The catch here is that the tickets must be booked in a full fare class. So paid premium cabin tickets as well as Y, B and H fares in coach are the qualifying fares. Generally not a tremendous value, though there are some discounted business class seats available around Thanksgiving that could make this a worthwhile deal.
United Airlines was next on the list, with bonuses of 25K, 35K, 45K and 45K available for flights on either Continental or United metal but only to London. The United offer is slightly less attractive in that they are only offering the bonus for premium cabin flights; full-fare economy gets you no bonus.
Delta was on board just a couple days later, matching the United promotion. They, too, have limited the deal to only London and only on premium cabin fares.
No idea why London has become the target of the big bonus miles, but if you’re going anyways and you’ve got those high fares you may as well take the bonus points. Registration is required for each program’s bonuses.
UPDATE: If you’re looking to cash in on this deal without dropping a lot of cash check out the sales to London on right now from most of the carriers for later this fall. There are some bargains to be had (~$1400 r/t) if you can make the dates work!.
Posted by Seth on September 2, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
British Airways has announced a number of changes to their loyalty scheme this week. While some of the reactions have been overwhelmingly negative, I see things slightly differently. Yes, there are some changes that will devalue the points for some members. But there are other changes that are surprisingly positive. Going forward, the program is skewing heavily in favor of members residing in the UK or Europe at the expense of members pretty much everywhere else.
So what are the big changes?
For starters, the points now have a new name: Avios. Not points, not miles, but Avios. Yeah, that’s stupid, but in the grand scheme of things doesn’t really matter.
More significantly, the single partner award chart is going away. This chart represents the most valuable awards for folks outside of the UK and Europe so it is understandable that it will be a tremendous downgrade for those customers. In many cases it appears that award costs are increasing by 2-3x assuming they keep the existing for BA/multi-partner awards. That hurts. I’ve previously suggested that the single partner awards between North and South America or North America and SE Asia are a great deal, particularly with the lack of YQ fuel surcharges on those carriers. Seeing that award increase from 80K in business class to 180K sucks pretty badly.
So that’s the bad news. But what about the good news? If you live in the UK and outside of London there is one rather significant benefit coming. Onward flights between London and the Regional airports will no longer carry a surcharge for redemptions. That’s a rather nice bit of relief for those members.
Additionally, if you are traveling within Europe the fees for redemptions are mostly going down. With the variety of taxes and fuel surcharges the airlines charge in Europe it is not uncommon for award prices to be comparable to revenue ticker prices. The new scheme will fix those costs at £27 for a return trip. That’s a pretty good deal.
Also, with the exception of Tel Aviv, most destinations in the Europe/Mediterranean region are staying level or decreasing in redemption costs. Again, a move that is heavily favored towards the folks in Europe, but it is a positive change.
Finally, there are some other bits like points expiry extending to 36 months after the last activity rather than 24 months as currently.
Overall, the impact of these changes would seem to depend on where you’re living. If you live in the United States and are sitting on a large stash of BA points, now is a pretty good time to look at unloading them, Maybe the Brits have finally decided to get their payback for that little Revolutionary War thing.
Related Posts:
