Will There Be Another Avios Devaluation?

If you’ve been collecting points for long enough you’ll know that every program goes through a devaluation of some sort semi-regularly throughout its history. Avios unfortunately is no exception to this rule! In this post, we are going to take a look at the potential of a future Avios devaluation and how to protect yourself against it.

Will we know in advance if there is an Avios Devaluation?

No, not necessarily! The 2021 short-haul price increase wasn’t announced and was only noticed by customers looking to book Avios flights! You shouldn’t rely on being given notice regarding a potential Avios devaluation. It could happen at any time without any notice.

What can I do to protect against an Avios Devaluation?

The best way to avoid an Avios devaluation would be to use an Amex card that collects Membership Reward points. This gives you the ability to convert your Membership Reward points to Avios when you need them. If Avios devalues you can simply redeem your points for one of American Express’s other partners e.g. Virgin Atlantic, Hilton, or Marriott. You can view American Express Membership Reward earning cards here – https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/all-cards/ – select membership rewards at the top.

Unfortunately, if you use this method points aren’t transferred instantly. They can take a few days to appear in your BA account. Whilst this is OK for most purposes you won’t be able to react quickly to new Avios seats coming available. Though this wouldn’t be a problem if you are planning to buy at T-355 to secure seats.

Remember once you’ve converted your points to Avios you CAN’T transfer them back! Though with Avios’ new partnership with Nectar you can convert your Avios to Nectar at a rate of 250 Avios – 400 Nectar. That means you’d get 0.8p worth of value from each Nectar point as Nectar points are typically always worth 0.5p. You can also exchange back to Avios at the same rate.

If you only have an Avios earning card and don’t want to take out a Membership Reward earning card you have the option as above to convert your Avios into Nectar points giving you a value of 0.8p a point. Not too far under our 1p valuation when using them for flights! See our article here on How to work out Avios point value?

Conclusion

Do you think we are due another Avios devaluation soon?