NEWS & OFFERS: BA will raise price of Avios & subscription, Heathrow blames loss on price cap and up to 35% off luxury hotels

BA will raise the price of Avios and Avios subscription

If you were planning to take out a subscription to buy Avios, then don’t hang around as the prices are due to rise on 1 May. In normal times I would not advocate buying Avios on spec; however, given the very high prices we are seeing it could be worth it. I would do some research first and look at how much you are likely to save. Plus, of course, the drawback is that there may be no seats available.

There is a countdown available showing how long you have left at the old price on the official ba.com subscription page. 

You can see the full details on Avios subscriptions in this article.

Here are the subscription price changes:

The price of buying Avios is also rising, but I would not recommend buying any now unless you need them urgently as there is usually an offer about every six weeks ago for around a 50% bonus which is better than the saving you would make on the price changes. Obviously, should an offer arise in the next week before the change, then you may wish to consider it.

Here are the changes for standard Avios purchases:

Heathrow blames loss on price cap

I’ll get out my tiny violin for the next piece of news as Heathrow has reported a loss for quarter one of £139 million due to and I quote “CAA’s H7 settlement being set too low. We have appealed the H7 settlement to the CMA.” So basically what they are saying is that an effective monopoly should be allowed to choose whatever it likes. 

Now I may have had some sympathy until I read that they believe that they have been “Delivering excellent and consistent passenger service” Apparently we “rated Heathrow’s service ahead of our main EU hub rivals”. Now given that they are competing against Amsterdam and Paris Charles de Gaulle I’m not sure that is an achievement. If they can’t make a profit given that passenger numbers have rebounded close to 2019 levels and they are operating without full staffing and with an increased passenger charge, that suggests poor management to me. 

One area I do have some sympathy for them is the removal of VAT-free shopping which they also mentioned in the press release. This was a completely unnecessary move by the UK government which meant that you now only save money on alcohol, tobacco and perfume at Duty-Free instead of previously being able to buy everything tax-free airside. This must have had an impact on the shops airside as well as deterring passengers who would have transferred at Heathrow to take advantage. 

Up to 35% off luxury hotels

GHA hotels is a group of luxury hotels including Kempinski, Anantara and Corinthia. They have a new offer for up to 35% off including 30% off Kempinski Hotel & Residences Palm Jumeirah and Kempinski Seychelles. You need to be a member of their loyalty program, Discovery (free to join). Book by 1 May 2023. 

You can find full details here.