For all consumers, I hope that virtually everything I’m about to say will no longer be true within two years. For now, I really believe it is for Delta and what the airline just pulled off may be one of the master strokes of the decade in air travel.

People are emotionally lamenting significant changes to the Delta SkyMiles program, mainly around how people earn perks like upgrades or lounge access. Loyalty is now less of a fuzzy feeling and more of an absolute number. Scratch that — truly a number.

The reaction is amusing and even personal friends are hitting me for reaction out of sheer amusement for the exploding heads, talking heads and threats to never ever fly again. In one of those conversations I laid out what a business wide touch of genius this was, and how o-n-l-y Delta could’ve pulled it off. I think it’ll be wildly successful.

Multi Year, Multi-Phase Stickiness

Romantic ideas of loyalty are long gone in this house, though I yearn and lust for every gesture of old world hospitality and recognition still out there. Travel should be fun, it should feel personal and if you want people to really pull out their wallet, you gotta have rewards worth the squeeze.

What I believe Delta has proven, which I believe is the crux of this master stroke I speak of, is that building something superior does not need loyalty. If you have the best of the best with your products, loyalty is an icing and cherry on top of a Michelin starred dessert.

As I say, it’s always better to earn and participate in loyalty than not, but the master stroke here is that I think most of the negative reaction about switching airlines is hot air right now. People would be masochists.

Here’s why: for now, Delta is the best in the United States.

I am not even a Delta loyalist or regular, so just shut the f*ck up a bit before we start to march down the “omg paid spokesperson” stuff. I’m a mostly Oneworld frequent flyer who dabbles in SkyTeam via Virgin Atlantic. I don’t care about Delta’s bottom line or have any personal loyalty or business connection to the airline.

But — what I believe Delta has done is use it’s entire business to create a product people won’t leave. Not easily! Let me lay out why I think Delta is the best airline in the US right now.

• truly good free WiFi on all flights for simply joins Delta SkyMiles
• typically the best on-time performance of any US airline
• currently the best business class experience among US airlines
• world leading in-app capabilities for flight changes, upgrades and more
• most choice in SkyClubs for personalizing experience (premium options)
• competitive credit card program driving butt in seat benefits
• economy offerings that don’t feel degrading or cheap
• staff that feel empowered thanks to profit sharing
• CLEAR airport security benefits for top tier elites

What I’m saying is that if every “big time” DYKWIA road warrior who thinks Delta is giving them the middle finger wants to leave, they can — but they’ve gotta check their ego versus what they’ll experience with other airlines.

None of this stuff happened overnight. WiFi rollout takes years. Seats take years. App investments and co-branded credit card deals are endlessly challenging. If Delta tried this at any time before now it probably would’ve failed. If another airline tried this now, they’d probably fail.

Delta’s FOMO Advantage

There are people who will prefer experiences with the other big US airlines that offer competitive loyalty programs and some will enjoy dabbling based purely on the price of the ticket. But that in itself means Delta won. They made it clear their airline loyalty program is for wholistic loyalty. They’re not interesting in chasing cheapest fare.

I can’t think of another airline that comes near matching Delta’s wifi capability right now. That alone is worth actual money, if faced with the choice of paying for access on another carrier. My time is certainly worth a lot to me, particularly with the arrival of a new baby boy this month, and on-time performance is always going to win a share of my coin.

Whether it was always the plan or a fortuitous circling of events, Delta really picked a master stroke time to pull these changes whether you like them or not. I really don’t personally even have an opinion.

All that matters to me is that they picked a time when they had maximum advantage with their hand, when service levels were down on other airlines and when they had launched better products and customer centric offerings than their competitors to make the big, bold move.

I’d argue if American felt like they had nailed the flying side, customer side and tech side as well as Delta, they’d have gone further with their Loyalty Points status changes in the last year.

I Hope This All Changes

I love free markets behaving properly and with all hope almost every bullet point of “why I think Delta has maximum advantage” to pull this sort of loyalty move will be challenged.

Let’s see all the other major players roll out truly fast, exceptional Viasat style wifi that delivers streaming speed to every seat. Bring on airlines racing to push out better in-app experiences. Gimme’ a US carrier launching a world’s best business class product rather than a North American best. It’s been a while.

Please, pretty please let us see airlines race out with product updates, juicy card offers and fun loyalty opportunities that challenge the status quo. It’ll come — but I reckon Delta has a year to enjoy the fruits of this move.

The master stroke played by Delta here was putting years of product and tech work into creating the best product and sharing that vision with their loyalty and co-brand card teams. Once the flying side of the business was at optimal competitive advantage, Delta hit “go” on a loyalty program that won’t please everyone, but will almost certainly bring in more money which can be reinvested in richer benefits for those who Delta thinks deserves them.

The post The Multi-Year Master Stroke Behind Delta’s SkyMiles Changes appeared first on God Save The Points.

If you don’t speak points nerd, it means that the reward you get for engaging with Finnair from flights on the airline, its airline partners and many other non-flying activities will soon earn you this type of points currency called Avios. 

Avios initially became famous as the reward system for British Airways and Iberia, but has since grown in global appeal thanks to robust ways to earn and burn the points among global partners, including leading US credit cards. 

While the Finnair announcement is quite interesting on its own, I can’t help but look at the broader factors this news creates for loyalty, points and credit card rewards. It now feels like airlines might not be the only use case for Avios.

More Appeal For A Regional Program

Loyalty kept airlines alive during the 2008 financial crisis and also during the global health crisis of 2020. It’s a valuable part of any airline operation in good times and bad and helps airlines, hotels and other brands to generate engagement and revenue, not just for flying planes and putting heads in beds. 

People can earn points all day from home, or from their daily activities and that type of engagement and earning is good for loyalty programs.

Finnair, until now, was a relatively obscure program without much global appeal. Sorry, it’s true. Brass tax, it was what Finnish people defaulted to for their airline program of choice, but it’d be hard to name a large cohort of Americans, or even Europeans who ever signed up or meaningfully engaged. Further afield and that’s even more true.

Current Finnair Points and award charts (the rates they charge for flights from one place to another using points) will convert into Avios 3:2 when the conversion happens in 2024.

But adopting Avios brings an interesting angle.

Avios, the loyalty currency issued by IAG Loyalty has a much broader appeal, thanks to US financial partnerships with Amex, Chase, Capital One and BILT, allowing people to create Avios from other rewards they already earn.

In addition, the currency has global earn and burn partners including all the EU Oneworld alliance airlines, as well as Qatar Airways and a myriad of online travel and every day shopping online retailers. People can earn Avios by buying laptops online from Apple, or shoes from Adidas, or car rentals and even wine.

In plain English, Finnair will likely pick up new members and international interest from the play, since it’s easier for people to earn Avios with these things they already do, than Finnair’s previous loyalty currency with limited partnerships. 

What’s Next For Avios? 

With the news today, every European, Oneworld airline alliance member now uses Avios for their loyalty currency. Qatar Airways does too. That’s big.

Impressively, it feels like a virtuous circle at present, as each partner gives greater strength to the Avios currency, while the currency offers greater strength to under recognized programs that adopt it.

It’s no secret that points can be a great profit center for airlines, so I can’t help but wonder if there’s more to come. Many Oneworld airlines aren’t based in the US or EU and don’t have any penetration in these great markets.

Airlines like Malaysia have big ambitions abroad but a virtually non-existent loyalty program outside of the country. A move like adopting Avios seems like the fastest way to change that overnight with the flip of a switch.

I’d Love To See A Hotel?

Loyalty programs are so much more in focus as financial boons for travel businesses and hotels are in an interesting period of time. The “big” hotel groups have massively expanded their loyalty programs and this has really locked travelers into their system.

People with loyalty to a big group like Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt aren’t typically going to chance it with a smaller brand just to earn some one off points they’ll never be able to accumulate in larger droves. These big programs make it too easy to jump into perks, with great credit card welcome bonuses for points and strong benefits.

It feels like there could be a situation where a hotel group that has struggled to crack the US could be innovative and adopt Avios, rather than an unrecognized currency if they want to actually siphon off some loyalty.

I certainly don’t care about earning a one time amount of points from a smaller hotel group, but i’d actually be fairly open to staying with a new brand if I was earning Avios and complementing my daily credit card spend and air travel earning with my hotel stays too.

Basically, I’m less likely to stay with a small chain if I’ll earn a loyalty currency I don’t care about, but if I could earn points and or status with one I already engage in, that’s another story entirely.

Interesting Timing

For the first time in years, I’m seeing really meaningful fare discounts on transatlantic routes and a dip in hotel daily rates. It feels like the absurd once in a lifetime pricing and demand in the wake of the pandemic is waning. I don’t care what execs say to the contrary.

If that’s true, airlines and other travel businesses will undoubtedly need to get back to delivering value not only to shareholders, but customers too. Loyalty remains the best pathway to keeping people immersed in the brand. It seems like Finnair has timed this well and I’ll be curious to see if there’s more to come.

The post Finnair Adopts Avios, So Who’s Next? appeared first on God Save The Points.

Sometimes you have a moment where something just clicks and that’s been the case with Uber’s loyalty strategy for me. I never particularly cared about their program, but now I do and it’s going to drive my behavior.

It goes without saying that I love points and rarely miss an opportunity to earn more of them. More is typically better, but I find it important to admit that to me, some loyalty games never feel quite worth playing. Uber was almost one of those?

While on one hand I loved that Uber was offering me a chance to earn Marriott Bonvoy Points or British Airways Avios on my Uber rides, I also felt like Uber was a niche part of my life. With limited exceptions, I pretty much only take an Uber to the airport when no decent mass transit exists or when I’m away from home.

So what changed? Well, the whole “super app” thing.

Trains, Planes And Automobiles

I like earning Avios or Bonvoy Points on each Uber ride I take, but at a clip of 20-80 per trip in recent deposits, I’m not jetting off or crashing on any plush five star hotel beds anytime soon. It’s just a nice little “why not?” moment for my points accumulation.

But I got an email this week telling me that in the UK where I spend most of my time these days, I can now book my train tickets via the app. I get rewarded for it, unlike when I book direct. I assume the same is true in areas of the US too?

Basically, as a “super app” Uber is finding more ways to issue me more points in my favorite loyalty currencies as they interact more with my daily life, rather than just my travel or airport life.

I’m on a train to or from London every few days and I can now get 10% Uber Credit back on all train tickets booked via the Uber app. If I book directly at the station or just tap my Google Pay to hop on, I’d earn nothing back. This launched in April but hadn’t been of note to me. If I want Avios instead, I get one point per £1 spent for booking via the Uber app.

A Reason To Change Behavior

I, of course, use a rewards earning credit card to make every purchase in my life and that includes when I tap Google Pay to grab a train. But now I can get even more if I change my behavior to book the very same things via the Uber app instead.

I’ll still earn my credit card reward when I pay, but I’ll double dip with this opportunity to earn 10% back in credit, or points with a loyalty program I already enjoy by changing my method of booking.

I have to imagine that Uber has worked out a clever partner strategy with these travel booking integrations that doesn’t eat into the train company revenue like traditional online travel agencies have for flights, cars and hotels.

I Don’t Necessarily Want This, But…

I want to be clear that I like robust competition in the market. We tend to benefit more from competition than anything else in life.

I say that, because Uber developing a “super app” where you can book flights, trains and all sorts of other stuff that isn’t a traditional car and driver, may cause a real shift in the market.

You could easily argue that Uber is helping tourists discover things like train options and therefore the train is acquiring new customers, but if the Uber app becomes the primary source of growth and customer bookings, the train company could become subservient to Uber, or stop innovating with their own booking platforms.

However you see this gaming out, for now — Uber is brilliant for using their loyalty program and coalition partner earning strategy as a call to action to use their platform for things you could book elsewhere.

The post The Power Of Loyalty In Uber’s “Super App” Strategy appeared first on God Save The Points.

British Airways is moving to a system where you’ll earn Avios, the points currency used to fuel the loyalty program, based on how much you spend rather than how far you fly.

Air travel is a particularly emotional endeavor and that’s even true when things go on time without a hitch. It may not be new, but flying is still aspirational and vital for so many reasons.

For a long time, the way people earned miles and rewards in the British Airways Executive Club when flying was based actually on the distance flown. It matched the emotional component of more reward for longer journeys, even if it wasn’t entirely logical.

Particularly since the invention of the internet, increased airline competition and new sales technology, distance became an increasingly questioned metric for earning. This is a world where someone can fly from London to Australia for £450/$550, but fly from London to Geneva for £600/$784.

British Airways Moving To Spend Based Avios Earning: Background

The first programs to switch over to “spend based” earning were in the U.S. with programs like Delta and none have shifted course, while many have joined. That list already includes European programs like Air France/KLM’s ‘Flying Blue’ as well as Miles & More from Lufthansa and Swiss.

Spend based earning rather than distance based earning creates a tighter relationship between spend and reward points dished out. If you ask any loyalty program leader, you’ll always hear that unlocking more reward seats for members with points is a key concern. Having better economics around the points helps that cause.

It’s fair to say it’s more transactional and feels less warm and fuzzy than the emotional relationship of flying long distances to earn more points, but it’s also fair to say that it better rewards people flying shorter distances more frequently, and people flying long distances may still earn more rewards this way. Let’s dive in.

Avios Earn Rates Under British Airways New Program

Any flights booked from October 18th, 2023 will earn based on spend rather than distance. And yeah, any flights booked before that date, even for travel after that date will earn as they currently do.

To be clear, metrics for earning elite status is unchanged for the time being and this solely impacts Avios points earned which can be spent for rewards.

From October 18th, 2023 British Airways Executive Club members will earn Avios based on the following rates per pound spend. For other currencies, total eligible spend will be converted into GBP.

Fare and carrier charges apply to the new Avios earn rates but government imposed charges do not. Hopefully British Airways will do a good job of displaying how many Avios you’ll earn in the sales flow, so you don’t have to do any math.

• Blue members will receive 6 Avios per qualifying* £1 spent
• Bronze members will receive 7 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
• Silver members will receive 8 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
• Gold members will receive 9 Avios per qualifying £1 spent

For a direct, apples to apples European comparison, Air France/KLM’s “Flying Blue” offers 4 points per euro spent for base members, and then 6,7 and 8 for elites. This makes British Airways changes more generous by at least one point per tier.

I find the best way to assess loyalty changes are through practical real world examples. There will always be red herring situations, but factually speaking British Airways will actually issue more points to members via this new system rather than fewer.

Take a recent trip to Geneva

On the lowest fare, which may still be quite expensive, London Geneva earns 125 Avios each way currently. Yes, a round trip would earn a measly 250 Avios. Even the most expensive economy fares only earn 500 Avios each way, for a total of 1000 round trip.

Under the new upcoming system, a base ‘Blue’ member paying just £100 each way would earn somewhere around the current high Avios total for the economy cabin. Geneva fares often trend into the £275 each way mark during key times which means base members would earn far move Avios under the new system than before.

The £275 example would yield 1500 circa Avios each way which easily surpasses the current highs. A Gold member at 9 Avios per £ spent could make off extremely well.

Winners And Losers

Spend based earn is a concept far more familiar than many people will make this out to be. Blogs including this one shout all the time about the merits of rewards credit cards. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these are spend based earn tools.

Spend X, get Y Avios.

The British Airways Premium American Express Card has offered as much as 70,000 points as a welcome bonus in the UK this year and has defined earn rates. All partner hotels, Uber partnerships and online e-store purchases are also spend based earn.

Take a Booking.com promo of 10 Avios per £1 spent on hotels via BA and you have an identical program to the new British Airways spend based earn for flights.

For many flight distances there will be some winners and losers in the new spend based program, but again, more points will be issued by British Airways, IAG Loyalty and Avios to support this program, which means more people are being rewarded, more.

Clear Winners

Inflexible travelers with fixed dates who often purchase high fares will mostly win out with these changes. They’ll earn more Avios. The more painful the ticket cost, the more Avios you’ll earn to soften the blow.That may likely include families on school holiday schedules, business travelers and premium leisure customers.

Generally speaking, base members will be more rewarded than they were before on short haul travel with fares at current levels or higher. Any elite Bronze, Silver and Gold members will have their spend better captured.

And though no one likes paying for ancillary purchases, ancillaries like seat selection, upgrades or other fees will also be eligible for Avios earning.

Marginal Wins And Losses

Customers who typically fly longer distances like a London – New York as their primary route will win some and lose some. New York is one of the “cheaper” routes of longer distance, with fares sometimes dipping as low as £350 round trip these days, or £1500 in business class.

With high government taxes on this route, like other US routes, the earning may really fluctuate. A “Blue” member would currently earn 1729 Avios each way to New York on most economy fares currently.

Looking at a £505 round trip fare, only £310 of that fare isn’t government taxes. A blue member would earn 1510 Avios for this flight round trip, which is an unfortunate dip in earning.

In business class, I recently flew London-New York as a Gold member and earned 17,290 Avios round trip. At a rate of 9 Avios per £1 spent, a £2,300 business class ticket would earn me more Avios, hitting exactly 18,000.

And this is a key distinction: currently, there’s no benefit to spending more. It doesn’t matter whether I paid £1500 for a business class ticket and you paid £7,0000 — we’re rewarded the same. In the new program, if you spend £7,000 on a ticket as a Gold member, you’ll earn 63,000 Avios for a flight you previously earned 17,290.

Potential Losers

I would certainly never derive pleasure from calling the most pedantic spreadsheet folks in the Flyertalk crowd losers, but they’re likely targets here. People flying almost exclusively on error fares will earn fewer points than they currently do with flights earning based on distance as they do currently.

Since these types of fare typically make it to less than .0001% of customers, it’s not something for most to really factor. Don’t get me wrong, I love a generous fare, but I am also not greedy enough to think I deserve to be top tier for enjoying them.

Those who book the lowest super sale short haul fares may also earn fewer Avios. Some like to use fares like £80 round trips as an example, but there are a lot fewer of those than there are realistic fares over £250 at the moment.

It’s not like there were big hauls of earning from these flights anyway. Pre-elite-status earnings typically topped out around 1,000 Avios round trip for most short haul routes. Hardly a primary avenue for significant points earning compared to credit card spend, wine clubs or e-store purchases.

Spend Based Earn: Sustainable Economics?

The fuel needed and crew required between London and Geneva is nowhere near the cost required to fly someone between London and Sydney, yet as previously noted, it might be cheaper to fly to Sydney and you would currently earn more points. That puts an immediate strain on loyalty program economics across the business for no logical reason.

U.S. airlines have used spend based earn to invest in better loyalty perks than those available in other markets, largely because there’s better accountability for customer value. Points are issued without question. It’s a bit “show me the money” (barf), but it’s also a lot easier for finance teams to see the value that loyalty brings in real terms.

There will always be a fair element of missing the “good ole days” of loyalty being an open ended game without perfect logic, but there’s also excitement around programs actually performing better and delivering on their value promise.

Having better tech, more valuable benefits and more seat availability is arguably far more exciting than the “game” of old, however aspirational and whimsical it felt.

However you feel, British Airways is moving to spend based earn starting October 18th, and from that day forward there will be a direct relationship to what you spend with the airline and what you earn, much like you already do with credit card rewards, e-store purchases and partnerships.

The post British Airways Is Changing How You Earn Avios From Flights appeared first on God Save The Points.

One of the best ways to get people to care about points for the first time is to simply show them the good stuff. Book that hotel room, flight or travel experience that makes them realize it’s not just hoopla and let them enjoy it to the max.

This was booked with points…for real? Yeah.

Yet when it comes to sharing experiences with points, things aren’t quite so seamless. Many companies either charge a significant fee to transfer points to another account, only let the individual account holder redeem the points or make it really difficult to move points.

There are a bunch of perceived logical reasons for this, but a trend is emerging where the sharing of points is actually encouraged.

Why Banks, Airlines And Hotels Protect Points

Travel points are aspirational, but ultimately they are a cash alternative and have real implications. At every airline, bank or hotel issuing points, they’re treated like a major currency and large teams of people people spend considerable time ensuring that they are flowing in and out the door in an optimal way and that fraud is minimized.

A bank would react quickly if you were to claim fraud on a $1,000 purchase, and so too would a travel brand or credit card company if you were to claim fraud on a 100,000 point transaction.

And fraud or mismanagement can be pretty “vague”, when you consider someone’s kids using their points without authorization, or business owners squabbling over how to divvy all the points earned on their corporate accounts.

To many airlines, banks and hotels, it’s easier to just slap a lot of red tape on who can redeem points or transfer points than to deal with the millions of situations outside of their immediate control, which can result in dissatisfaction and loss. That’s pretty easy to do and it’s accomplished a few different ways.

• By automatically making the account holder the named guest on the reservation.
• By requiring any people you wish to share points with to be added to a named list.
• By limiting online functionality to require call ins for any sharing transaction.

That may, or may not be the right way to go and lately, people are finally wondering if the latter is actually simpler for everyone thanks to technology.

Opening Up Points Sharing For All

In the US, Marriott has become a world leader at allowing points to be shared socially. Any two people with Marriott Bonvoy accounts can login online, and with some basic detail, can freely share points with any other person. In the UK, fintech startup Yonder is setting the trend, with open points sharing for all.

As long as accounts are properly secured, which thanks to things like 2FA (two factor authentication) is fairly straightforward and de-risked, it feels better to err on the side of ease and joy for members than bureaucratic processes.

It’s also a lot cheaper for the business to create an online functionality to than to perpetually operate a call center to handle transfer requests. Plus, who wants to pick up the phone and listen to jazz music these days?

Points Sharing Allows Incredible Member Experiences

We all have people who we value and love in some way. Being able to create travel joy and create emotional and aspirational experiences for others is such a fun way to turn points from something mundane to meaningful.

Tell your friends who don’t have enough points to upgrade their honeymoon flights that “you got them”, you just need their account number and they’ll be whisked over in an instant. Let your sister book that better hotel on her much needed vacation all by sharing your points.

The joyous reasons and possibilities are endless and when they’re made easy, they’re a whole lot more fun.

I somewhat recently leant a friend 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points just before they added online points sharing. I had to call in and it was all fine, but it was an “effort” to make it happen. I had to carve time to call, wait, explain and all that stuff.

When that friend built their points balance back up, they couldn’t believe how easy it was to send me 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points back online. It actually prompted a “how awesome is this” discussion about other ways we’d share points with friends.

The post Should We Be Able To Share Points With Anyone, No Restrictions? appeared first on God Save The Points.

Points can unlock the extraordinary, but there are usually limits when it comes to “peak, peak” travel times.

Unless you’re willing to grind or become a super planner, it just ain’t easy to to bag a coveted seat during spring break to the hottest destination of the year. I say “usually”, because Avios, British Airways and IAG Loyalty are changing the record on that with a very cool opportunity.

Channeling a clever concept from Qantas but with a new level of fanfare, British Airways will offer a series of flights to peak destinations at peak times, every seat of which will be booked using Avios. Yes, every seat on the plane will solely be available using points.

British Airways “Avios Only” Flights

Starting from the home base of London, British Airways is releasing a series of flights for Avios fans and collectors to book the most sought after destinations at the most in demand times.

Rather than four or eight seats being released and people gobbling them up the moment strikes midnight almost a year in advance, entire British Airways planes will be made available exclusively using Avios.

Avios Flights: When And Where?

British Airways will operate “Avios-only” flights starting in November 2023 and continuing in February and March of 2024, with London being the launch city for both. Flights will be available to increasingly popular Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and to Geneva during peak ski season.

• First flight will be London Gatwick to Sharm El Sheikh in November 2023.
• Four London – Geneva flights will jet off in February and March 2024.

Specifically the Geneva flights will be flight BA728 from Heathrow to Geneva and BA729 from Geneva to Heathrow on February 10th, 17th, and 24th, as well as March 2nd.

The Sharm El Sheikh “Avios Only” flight will depart Gatwick on November 3rd.

To be clear, these seats go on sale today!

How To Book

These flights will be as hot as a Jordan 1 “Chicago” drop, so make sure you tune your eyes in here for a moment to get it all right. To be eligible to book you’ll need to have an active Avios account with British Airways and have enough points.

Don’t forget that points can be transferred into Avios from Amex Membership Rewards in the UK, and from Amex, Chase, Capital One and Brex in the US, if you’re short.

Simply login to BritishAirways.com and select “Book With Avios” and enter the dates mentioned above. You should see wide open availability if you move fast. If you don’t, you’re too late and will have to wait for the next drop of destination opportunities.

Pricing for London – Geneva starts at 18,500 Avios + £1 each way in economy or £1 plus 30,000 Avios for business class, or you can use more cash to lower the Avios price still.

The London – Sharm El Sheikh flights will run £1 plus 27,500 points for economy or £1 plus 48,500 for business class, with the same opportunity to lower points costs by using more cash. One pound has a nice ring to it.

The good news is that every seat will go using Avios. The bad news is that a larger amount of people than usual will be all over this and want one too. Oh, and just FYI companion vouchers can be used.

More This, Please!

In a time where cash doesn’t seem to go as far as it once did, it’s really cool to see airlines investing in creating memories and experiences for people that bring joy. I can only imagine how many awesome and nerdy conversations will take place on these flights.

Qantas was pretty much the first to trial this before the pandemic, but these new flights take things to the next level and it’s the kind of competition where customers win in every way. I’d be elated if every airline starts doing this in some fashion.

Good lock on the hot Avios seat drop!

The post Forget Cash, This Airline Is Launching “Points Only” Flights! appeared first on God Save The Points.

With inflation being everyone’s favorite word du jour, it feels like it’d be hard to convince someone that its possible to grab flights and hotels and jet off somewhere delightful for about $1/£1 per person. Incredibly, it’s true.

British Airways has launched a new option to use Avios, which allows travelers to book entire flight and hotel, or flight hotel and car packages using Avios. With things like two person trips to Spain with flights and at least two nights of hotel for 67,650 Avios and a grand total of £1 for two — nope, not per person! — there’s a lot to love.

Choice is good, so here’s everything that matters about these new offers allowing you to use Avios for British Airways holidays, including even for trip deposits.

British Airways Holidays & Avios

Avios are proving increasingly valuable with recent changes lowering taxes and fees and huge recent card bonuses certainly don’t hurt either.

Now, there’s a new way to cash out Avios, that might be just the ticket for people who want a nice getaway but don’t want to pay more than £1/$1 in cash for their flights or hotel. Even if you’re made of money, a trip for £1 has quite a ring to it. You can’t get a coffee for that.

Avios For Trip Deposits

British Airways Holidays is still offering double tier points to earn elite status with the airline and is often a source of great deals. Airlines are often willing to eat part of the retail fare for those booking holiday packages, which can lead to real savings.

Avios holders can now use their points as the deposit for a trip, allowing you to lock in a great trip without any cash outlay at all. Even for pricier trips in first or business class, BA holidays offers low deposits starting around £300.

Avios For Entire Trips

It’s always healthy to break out the value calculator and price out a trip offering with points, in cash as well to compare value — but either way you can now use Avios to cover entire British Airways Holidays trips. You can also use them to cover part of a trip too.

This can be to book flight and hotel, flight hotel and car, flight and car or basically any permutation. Whatever the cash price, there will be an Avios price too.

Again, it’s good to zoom out and look at the prices in cash separately, or elsewhere, but quite often the BA holidays price are tough to beat and these Avios prices sound very competitive. A couple real live examples from London include…

• Barcelona: Round trip flights and two nights’ hotel from £1 + 67,650 Avios for two people sharing (50p + 33,825 per person)**
• New York: Round trip flights and three nights’ hotel from £1 + 246,275 Avios for two people sharing (50p + 123,188 Avios per person)**

These prices will sit differently with everyone viewing them, but there’s a lot to love. For many people it’s all about the food, wine, museums and shopping at the other end, so being able to use points to cover flight and hotel is everything.

Paying 123,188 Avios per person for a trip to New York with three nights of hotel and no cash outlay is incredibly competitive, considering flights alone would cost 50,000 Avios per person, so you’re only paying an incremental 70,000 ish Avios per person for three nights of hotel.

Choice Is Great

Blog readers tend to get a bit holy about sacred points valuations, but for most people a deal is a deal and not forking over cash is not forking over cash. These offers simply give new choice to British Airways Avios holders and expand the ways you can redeem points at very solid rates.

Everyone can mix and match how many Avios they’ll use, if any, and during promos or great hotel sales some phenomenal values are likely to creep out. You can check out how Avios sits within the new British Airways Holidays.

The post British Airways Now Lets You Book Entire Holidays On Avios Points appeared first on God Save The Points.

Like a bad cup of coffee, points devaluations from your favorite airline, hotel, credit card or coffee chain leave a bad taste in your mouth.

You go to the trouble of staying loyal to an airline or hotel, even when it’s not easy, or dive deep into personal finance to figure out which card gives you the most points on each type of purchase, all to have your special plans foiled by a loyalty program which blindsides you in the middle of the night, taking away your dream trip with no notice.

It sucks, full stop. But a better use of time would be to stop creating long term points strategies which are likely to devalue, and instead focus on the wins that points bring, and will long continue to. It’s a lot less disheartening, and far less blogger dramatic.

The TL;DR Version

If I ran an airline, I wouldn’t want my loyal customers joining the loyalty program of another airline, because that program is better at offering my flights than I am. Yet for years, that’s exactly what the juiciest parts of the points and miles world have been. Using points from one airline for better values on another.

As airlines work smarter, and dive deeper into their multi billion dollar loyalty programs, which in most cases are worth far more than the airlines themselves, these types of ‘ripe’ values to redeem points are increasingly numbered or restricted.

It’s great to make hay while the sun shines, and maximize sweet spots that exist today, but long term, focusing on sustainable values will cause far less disappointment, and still provides values which can be more than worthwhile the hassles of playing the game.

The Boom Of Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs were once simple ideas meant to reward loyal behavior, or to keep blinders on the best customers and keep people from going to competitors. They still are, but they’re so much more. They went from being 2U, to U2.

Points weren’t really attached to your credit card and everything you do in as meaningful, or as mass-marketed of a way. They existed, you could earn them, but few realized their most valuable potentials.

But once your fave travel brand figured out just how valuable loyalty could be – like loyalty programs being 3x more valuable than an airline or hotel itself – the game went from a simple tool to keep the best customers loyal, to a money spinner designed to create extra brand stickiness, even with people who’ve never actually flown their airline, or stayed in one of their hotels. Or never will!

Fun facts: if you have an airline or hotel branded credit card, they get money from every swipe you make, so it doesn’t really matter whether you stay or fly, though it helps. Even if you don’t, if you transfer your credit card points to an airline or hotel, they get paid by the credit card company.

As points became a part of every day life, from buying a latte to paying your taxes, and blogs like this one popped up, showing literally millions of people how to make better use of their points, a game of cat and mouse began. It’s still going, big time.

Airlines and hotels continue to look at widening the gulf between what people redeeming their points actually cost the business, and what they earned from the points people earned, and used to redeem. It’s a simple game of profit, and yes, points have costs, even when you transfer them from a credit card to an airline or hotel, the airline or hotel gets paid, well.

But the fun part of loyalty, is that if you remove all the ‘sweet spots’ the game is over, and a program goes from worth billions to worth zero. If there’s no way for customers to win, there’s no point in participating right?

Where Airline ‘Loyalty’ Is Headed

In the excess and corporate ‘why not’ mentalities of the 80’s and 90’s, some really odd airline and hotel partnerships sprung up, probably after a long night after international travel on an expense account. Hey, we’ve all been there.

This created odd alliances, and ways to use points from one airline, on random other airlines. But the game for now, and going forward, is about total control of the best journey for a brand’s customers. Obviously, for an airline or hotel, you want the best customer journey to be an experience with your loyalty program, not some random other offering better.

Enter: devaluations, or seismic shifts in loyalty. Many more to come…

In recent years, I’ve cataloged at least 10 changes where an airline either removed the ability for people with points from any other airline to redeem first or business class seats, or restricted or prioritized them for their own members.

• Singapore Airlines mostly blocks other loyalty programs from booking long haul first or business class seats at all.
• Qantas now largely restricts first class availability to its own loyalty program.
• Emirates has cut off access to first class for virtually all partners, minus Aeroplan.
• Lufthansa only makes first class seats bookable to members of other airline loyalty programs from 15 days out, which is impossible for most travelers.

That’s just a few small examples. Sure, this is just the opinion and data points of one person, but I’d counter this notion with – can you provide 10 data points of airlines adding obscure transfer partners at great rates, in the time these disappeared?

If you don’t see the direction things are moving, you haven’t been paying attention. Airlines are actively looking to weed out situations where another loyalty program offers better value for their own flights than they do.

For airlines which aren’t officially partners, there’s less pressure to decouple those values, but it’s ever present nonetheless.

The Virgin changes to Delta flights using points were a perfect example. Virgin Points were a much better way to book Delta flights than Delta SkyMiles. That shouldn’t make sense, but it did, and Delta, as a 49% owner in Virgin Atlantic was keen to make that change.

Focus On Best Paths to What You Need

For now, take advantage of every super value loyalty program opportunity that exists today, and don’t look back.

But longer term, so as to avoid constantly cancelling credit cards or shifting loyalty programs on a yearly basis, try to focus on the best sustainable routes to things which will save you money, miles or upgrade your travels.

And also, perhaps most importantly, try to focus on the flexible currencies banks offer from your spending, which allow you to move points into loyalty programs at will, rather than being stuck with one program.

Yes, if an airline or hotel goes too far in devaluing their program, all they accomplish is driving customers from getting their airline or hotel credit card, to getting something safer and perhaps more rewarding, like an Amex Gold Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture, Citi Premier or something along those lines.

These cards allow you to earn points which can be moved to a variety of loyalty programs, while sitting safely in the ‘bank’, rather than stuck in one program, subject to devaluation.

I’ve remained a die hard Chase Sapphire Reserve fan, specifically because I can get 1.5 cents of value (100,000 points equals $1500, etc) on virtually any paid travel purchase I want, regardless of dates or availability. If it’s bookable with cash, it’s bookable with my points to cover all, or some of the purchase. The same now applies for Airbnb.

But airlines aren’t stupid, devalue too much and people stop playing. That would mean banks not paying them for points transfers (because no one transfers points there any longer) and that would be bad for business.

Find Incremental Wins And Upgrades

Which airline offers the most reasonable value to use miles for the flight you want, or fairest path to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business Class, or the best rates for their own flights from one region of the world to the region you want to reach?

Does your airline offer a companion ticket or upgrade if you get their credit card? That may not mean booking a $10,000 flight for 100,000 points and “winning”, but paying a $95 annual fee and saving $500 a year or more is still meaningful and worthwhile.

We all love a super sweet spot where epic value exists, but there are only so many left, and they’re disappearing. Again, it’s fantastic to “burn” points on these mega values, like using Japan Airlines Miles to book Emirates First Class – yes, you can do that – but many of these opportunities will disappear.

Devaluations are far less likely, particularly during the pandemic, for things which don’t involve partners. Value from miles on one airline to use on flights with the same airline are hopefully going to actually improve, as airlines look to fill seats. In other words, you may actually see loyalty programs become more generous in the next couple years, but only for people who are using their own loyalty program.

Going back to the Delta and Virgin Atlantic example, they’re a perfect example. Virgin recently dropped a restriction of which type of premium economy ticket you needed to book to upgrade to Upper Class, and Delta has gone heavy into SkyMiles ‘Flash Deals’, where you can save a considerable number of miles on Delta flights, but only if you use Delta miles.

It’s perfectly fair to lament the loss of amazing opportunities to use points, but being surprised by them lacks foresight and context. Book some amazing opportunities in the short term, and start playing sustainable long term games to benefit the most from your points in ways which won’t leave you frustrated, or holding the bag.

The post Stop Being Surprised By Points Devaluations And Learn To Avoid Them appeared first on God Save The Points.

Vacation is exciting and so is any excuse to hop on an international flight. Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Red are giving you reasons to be 30% more excited, with their latest offer reducing the number of points you’ll need for a reward flight or upgrade.

Whether you’re headed to the UK or actively looking for someplace nice departing from it, there are deals in both directions and they’re available immediately.

If you’re looking to get in on the action, here’s everything you need to know, including how to transfer credit card points from most programs into Virgin Points.

Virgin Atlantic 30% Off Flights Using Points

Virgin Points are the shared currency of Virgin Atlantic and the wider Virgin Group loyalty program called Virgin Red. The first thing to know is that even if you aren’t yet a member of either, you can still take advantage of this great deal.

You’ll simply need to create a Virgin Flying Club account, and ideally link it with your Virgin Red account, if you don’t already have one of those either. Once that’s done, you can transfer points from Amex, BILT, Capital One, Chase and Citi into Virgin Points and they typically appear instantly.

The Key Dates For The Deal

• You can book from February 16th to February 28th for travel until May 31st.

Reward seats come and go regularly and when there’s an offer they tend to fly. Though you technically have until the 28th of February, it always makes sense to book when and if you find a flight you want.

US based members, can enjoy 30% off the following departure points.

• New York, Boston, Washington or Antigua to London Heathrow
• Atlanta, Miami or Tampa to London Heathrow
• Austin, LA, San Francisco or Seattle to London Heathrow

UK based members, can enjoy 30% off the following departure points.

• London Heathrow to Tel Aviv from as low as 12,000 points.
• London Heathrow or Manchester to New York from 14,000 Virgin Points
• London Heathrow to Antigua from 14,000 Virgin Points
• London Heathrow to Austin from 21,000 Virgin Points 

Booking these flights should be easy and the discounts will apply automatically whether you book online at VirginAtlantic.com or via the Virgin Atlantic call center. As a nice touch, companion vouchers and upgrade vouchers from Virgin Atlantic Credit Cards can also be used in conjunction.

Amazing Virgin Seats To Aim For

Virgin Atlantic’s new A330neo ‘Upper Class‘ may feature the best business class setup flying across the Atlantic between the UK and US currently. With bluetooth wireless, privacy doors and lightning fast wifi, there’s not much else you could ask for.

Next best, the A350 is an outstanding passenger experience and not only brings a great private seat, but improved cabin environment with less noise and both better pressure and humidity which feels more like life back down on earth.

Happy booking!

The post Virgin Offering 30% Off Flights Using Points In All Cabins appeared first on God Save The Points.

I’d hate to have jumped the gun with angry comments and articles…

Last week, British Airways and IAG Loyalty unveiled some of the biggest changes to pricing using Avios on British Airways flights in years. The main gist is that surcharges in cash went down massively, and the price of Avios went up a bit.

People now pay less than half of what they used to in cash surcharges. For most people, it’s a lot easier to earn a few more points than change their income level. For anyone with a British Airways credit card, the card is also now more valuable than ever before.

Anyway, I found the changes really positive for my situation and for most people in the US & UK, but that still left the rest of the world. Initially, they weren’t nearly as happy.

There Was One Big Worry…

Readers with British Airways accounts in other geographies were raking me over the coals last week about the new “Reward Flight Saver — aka RFS” changes. The changes were good for the US and UK, but pricing changes appeared less attractive elsewhere.

Rather than journey into angry tirades and pitchforks, assuming all the changes were done and that these places had been excluded from the newly improved pricing, I said “let’s wait and see” — because frankly, it seemed like there might be more to come.

It wouldn’t make sense to take away value from other important markets. Waiting may be the hardest part, but sometimes waiting prevents entirely unnecessary panic and inaccuracy.

“RFS” Pricing Extends Beyond US & UK

The heads up team at point.me flagged that European accounts seemed like they might have suddenly gained access to “Reward Flight Saver” pricing today, which is the new and improved pricing structure which massively reduces surcharges.

I decided that rather than pontificate about what these changes might represent, I’d just ask someone at British Airways if indeed the theory was right. Would “RFS” really be available in Europe now, and potentially elsewhere?

They came back quickly and told me that “Reward Flight Saver” pricing had now indeed made it to Euro currency countries. They also shared that they are “are reviewing and working through other markets” too.

People with accounts across Europe can now immediately benefit from the significantly reduced surcharge levels and pricing changes. It’s live.

Just like people in the US & UK, if they want the old — I’d argue far worse pricing — they can also still select it at the time of booking.

This is great, since it adds choice and personalization to rewards. If you want to spend more Avios and less cash, you can do that now. Most tend to people prefer that. If you have more money than sense, you can spend more of your greenbacks, Euros or Great British Pounds instead.

From the sound of the comment, it sounds like more regions may be coming. Let’s wait and see. Bottom line: this fundamentally changes many of the perceptions around the only perceived negative pain points with the changes. People in the US & UK came out well, but people in Europe felt short changed. That’s confirmed not to be the case now.

With this knowledge that “RFS” is now in the wild for Euro countries and could be elsewhere, there’s a lot to like here. In many ways, European currency countries come out aces here, with new access to significantly lower surcharges and points earning opportunities across the continent.

Easy UK Avios Offer Too

While we’re talking Avios, there’s a pretty great new offer to earn Avios for a thing many people are likely already planning to buy this holiday season, which I found out about last night. Yes, its wine.

The Wine Flyer is British Airways rather creative “ground-up” new wine business, and they’ve layered in extra Avios on top of the already attractive Avios earning rates on wine, wine subscriptions, mixed cases and more. Here’s how the offer stacks…

Amex Cardholder? Want to boost your Avios balance? Need to stock up before Christmas?

If you have a BA Amex Classic Card, you can earn 6,475 Avios when buying the 12 case on subscription or 4,000 Avios if just buying it as a one off! Click here to buy!

If you have a BA Amex Premium Plus Card, you can earn 7,475 Avios when buying the 12 case on subscription or 5,000 Avios if just buying it as a one off! Click here to buy!

Buy both the 6 and 12 case at the same time and earn even more Avios. Offer expires 31^st December whilst stocks last.

The Wine Flyer

More Positivity Around The Changes?

These changes are looking increasingly positive as the dust settles. More regions, if not all, seem to be included.

During a time when people are feeling a squeeze but want to get away more than ever, people can now fly two people in aspirational business class seats on a long haul trip for just £700 round trip departing from London. Similar economics play in more areas now, with todays development.

The post Scoop: British Airways New Avios Pricing Hits More Countries appeared first on God Save The Points.