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BA Raises Reward Flight Prices by 10-15%
BA has announced a 10-15% price increase to the Avios and cash elements of Reward Flights from 15th December 2025.
Let’s face it, it could have been worse.
The rise applies to all British Airways flights and partner redemptions booked through BA. Upgrade pricing will also increase, although Avios part payment remains unchanged.
Having just announced that Tier Point bonuses are here to stay, we thought BA was trying to address the abysmal changes to the loyalty programme. It seems this is not the case.
The post on the BA site gives the reasoning for increasing states, “as a result of increasing Air Passenger Duty and third-party airport charges, as well as changing market conditions and ongoing inflation”.
Some examples of the new pricing given by BA include:
London to Geneva Off Peak One Way
- Business – 15,000 Avios + £12.50 will be 16,500 Avios + £15
- Economy – 9,250 + 50p will be 10,000 + £1
London to New York Off-Peak Return
- First – 136,000 Avios + taxes, fees and charges will be 150,000 Avios + taxes, fees and charges
- Business – 160,000 Avios + £375 will be 176,000 Avios + £399
- Premium Economy – 85,000 Avios + £305 will be 93,500 Avios + £350
- Economy – 50,000 Avios + £100 will be 55,000 Avios + £120
If you’ve built up a balance and don’t want to pay the new, inflated prices, make sure you book before 15th December 2025, assuming seats are available.
If you’re planning to use an AMEX companion voucher from 15th December, the Avios cost for the main traveller will increase. For solo travellers, a 50% discount will apply to the new pricing. For Barclays Cabin Upgrade Vouchers, the Avios needed for the reward will increase.
If you already hold a Reward Flight for travel on or after 15th December, nothing changes as long as you do not amend it. If you amend the destination, cabin or date after 15th December, the new pricing will apply. However, you can switch to another flight on the same day without paying the new prices.
It’s not all bad news, though. You’re not stuck with booking partner redemptions via BA at the new, increased prices. You can transfer your Avios to other IAG or Oneworld loyalty programmes, such as the Qatar Privilege Club and Finnair Plus, via ‘Transfer Your Avios’.
What do you think about the latest change? Let us know in the comments below!
AMEX OFFER: 20% Dining cashback at 100 UK restaurants
American Express has brought back the popular dining discount offer for Platinum and Preferred Rewards Gold cardmembers. You can now get 20% cashback up to £500 at 100 UK restaurants until 24th December 2025.
To receive the cashback, save the offer via the ‘offers’ tab of the app or website, then pay your restaurant bill with an eligible card. You can also use the offer multiple times until you reach the £500 limit.
Although the list is smaller than in previous years, there is still a good range of options across the country, although 77% are in London. Highlights include Pétrus by Gordon Ramsay, The Fuji Grill and Hide Mayfair.
If you haven’t used your dining credit yet, you can use it alongside the discount if the restaurant participates. Some overlaps include Yauatcha Soho, The Wolseley, Heddon Street Kitchen and The Delaunay.
This is an excellent time for AMEX to offer a dining discount. It’s a great time of year to dine, make sure you book ahead to get a table! Statement credit should appear on your card within 30 days.
View the AMEX dining site and participating restaurants here
Virgin Atlantic 70% Buy Points Bonus
Virgin Atlantic has just launched a 70% buy Points bonus until 31st December 2025. The annual purchase limit has also been increased from 200,000 to 300,000 points during the offer window.
The bonus structure is as follows:
- 5,000 to 24,000 points – 20%
- 25,000 to 69,000 – 40%
- 70,000 to 124,000 – 60%
- 125,000 to 300,000 -70%
Once purchased, the bonus should show in your Flying Club balance within 24 hours. Virgin will now allow you to purchase points if your balance is zero, but there are easy ways to fix this, such as transferring Amex Membership Rewards Points and Heathrow Rewards Points.
Worth It?
If you purchase the full 300,000 points, you’ll receive 510,000 points for £4,500, which works out at 0.88p per point compared with 1.25p under a 20% bonus. There is also a £15 one-off transaction fee to be paid.
If purchased with the full 70% discount, the offer is excellent value! For example, I found a last-minute one-way Upper Class fare from Heathrow to Barbados on Friday for 115,000 points. The cost of purchasing the points is £1,012, plus £512 in flight taxes and fees, so you’ll pay £1,524. The same flight can be bought for £2,385!
In Premium, the same flight costs 35,000 points (£308) plus £401 in taxes, so you’d pay £709 vs £2,016 if paid in cash.
Since Virgin joined SkyTeam, there are now many partners you can redeem your points with beyond Virgin. This includes partners such as Air France-KLM and Delta. You can also use your points for Virgin Voyages cruises or Virgin Experiences. You can read more about this in our How to Spend Virgin Points article.
If you’re planning a trip with Virgin soon, make sure you work out whether purchasing points to redeem (or a top-up) would work out cheaper than paying cash.
10 comments
So off peak First Class return to NY is cheaper than Business!! Where do I sign?
First – 136,000 Avios + taxes, fees and charges will be 150,000 Avios + taxes, fees and charges
Business – 160,000 Avios + £375 will be 176,000 Avios + £399
The taxes on First will be about £850 (and will probably go up as well). Also, First availability on Avios is almost impossible in advance (unless you have a Gold Upgrade Voucher or Gold Guest List space release). First is generally only opened to general availability a few weeks before the flight, if the cabin isn’t selling.
Because first is not at RFS rates – so fewer avios but considerably higher taxes and fees.
Always over-tightening the screw, even when the economy and travellers are stretched to breaking point – quintessentially British Airways!
In BA’s email to me they say that part of the reason for the increase is ever increasing rates of APD but on 2 for 1 redemptions in Club you always pay the tax anyway. I shan’t bother retaining silver with them. It’s just not worth it. My next two long haul flights are with Virgin and Kenyan. It will be a welcome change. Bye BA. Have fun.
P.S. Maybe as well to remind people that Virgin and some others are still doing status matches. I have just done mine with Virgin. Super easy and was accepted inside 24 hours.
I’m with you. Bye bye BA. To give less than a month’s notice to such fundamental changes to an agreement seems poor.
I really don’t understand BA quoting “inflation” as a reason for making these changes. We all obviously already pay more with recent fare increases (to cover inflation, which is fair) AND in a way already get less in return with the BA Club changes earlier this year (in terms of earning status/benefits), so… you’d like to think the reward to the customer would go hand in hand with that. Instead this becomes a double, or even triple, whammy – we pay more for the same (mostly) product/experience at the same time as the “thank you” for being loyal becomes worth less. Hmm… Just another step to there really being little point trying to earn status or be loyal/pay a premium to fly BA.
The BA website says “ These changes apply to all British Airways-operated flights, to all destinations.”
That implies partner redemptions are not affected, but your article says they are?
The changes apply to partner redemptions booked via BA but if you were you use ‘Transfer Your Avios’ to move your Avios to say Qatar/Finnair, the price of redemptions would not be affected.
Advising to transfer to a partner such as QR is surely denying the obvious; they will be next and soon