With effect from 30 May 2019, all partner award bookings made via British Airways Executive Club on/after 30 May 2019 will be subjected to a newly inflated partner award chart. While we certainly do not welcome these changes, the increment surprisingly appeared to be within an acceptable range. The Partner Award Chart also sticks to the traditional distance based award system instead of dynamic pricing award system. Keep on reading as I conclude with a different analysis as compared to others.
Here are the main changes:
Exception to BA Partner Award Chart
- Zone 1 pricing is not applicable to awards within North America. In other words, flights under/equal to 650 miles will reflect zone 2 pricing (e.g Economy – 9000 miles)
- Note that British Airways, Aer Lingus, Vueling and Iberia are excluded from the partner award chart.
Key summary to BA Partner Award Chart changes
Clarification: Many have concluded that the largest increments are in the short haul sectors. This is correct if we look at the percentage change –
- Two digits percentage change from zone 1 to zone 3 (as shown in above tables)
- Examples of Zone 3 routes:
- Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Korea (one way)
- American Airlines Miami to Chicago (one way)
- Examples of Zone 3 routes:
However, it can be misleading if we look at just the percentage change alone. Based on the chart that I have plotted above, we can observe an inverse curve relationship – with Zone 1 and Zone 9 having the greatest actual amount of extra miles that we need to spend out of pocket due to this new changes (ranging from 1,500 in Economy to 6,000 in First class).
Conclusion
While we do not welcome any inflation to the BA partner award charts, the changes are actually pretty manageable. Nevertheless, BA Executive Club remains one of my top choices where you can find good award tickets between Intra-Asia/Europe/Japan and between Asia and Australasia.
What do you think about the recent changes to British Airways’ partner award chart? Do you agree with my analysis?
H/T: TPG
