British Airways Not Devaluing? Let’s Have a $100 Hyatt Celebration Giveaway!

ByThe Miles Professor

I know it’s been a stressful start to the week for everyone not knowing what was going to happen to the British Airways award chart and it looks like things will be fine for now and no devaluation is coming. I know many people have trips booked or things to say. Let’s all discuss it here and, to lift our spirits, have a $100 Hyatt Gift Card Giveaway. It’s also a long weekend coming up and what better way to prepare than to have an early celebration?

I am going to be giving away two $100 Hyatt gift checks, one to each of to two lucky winners. One of these is sponsored by me and one by my partner blog network BoardingArea. There are two ways to win:

  1. Comment below on your thoughts on British Airways and the devaluation. Did you book a bunch of trips? Were you calm and thought it would be fine? Or does none of this matter anyway and you were busy concerned with more important things?
  2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet me with where you would use your $100 Hyatt gift checks. You must include thehashtag #TMPHyattGiveaway. To be eligible, you must follow me and you must use the hashtag.

Entries are limited to two per person, one for each method. Two winners will be drawn completely at random on  Thursday evening, August 28 at 8 pm. They will be announced Thursday evening on the blog. Good luck to everyone participating!

231 Comments

  1. I didn’t book a bunch of trips but I knew in the back of my mind I needed to go NRT>HKG in November. I had planned to use Avios….and I was relieved to see I booked the flight a few months ago. If BA did away with the sweet short haul…that would be a sad day.

  4. Have to book BA to Canada as you have pointed in your blog, ASAP when the miles get posted on my account.
    Really devastated that I haven’t applied for this card sooner! :(

  7. I thought the blogs on Boarding Area were hysterical in tone, with Garry L. taking the lead. I expected a more thoughtful analysis of the situation. Thank God for Dan’s Deals, the voice of sanity. So no, I took no actions.

  8. did not go on a booking spree. however, this scare emphasized yet again why redeeming miles as soon as you earn enough of them is what helps in this game..

  9. I was worried as I use Avios a lot for domestic flights, but didn’t go on a booking spree just to use up miles.

  10. Honestly I don’t know what to think. My bucket of Avios represent future family meet-up in Key West and Tulum. Unfortunately my travel is already blocked out and committed for the next 10 months so I can’t do anything with this potential news, except to hope devaluation doesn’t happen.

  12. I panicked for a bit, but soon realized I had so few avios as a result of a trip just booked that it wouldn’t make a ton Of immediate difference to me. But I’m in FL and use avios for SO much. That said my strategy is to earn and burn!

  14. It got me thinking again to book in advance as far as possible no way of knowing what will happen.

  15. I initially panicked, but realized that I was better off not booking anything I didnt intend to go.. Kept Calm and Carried On!

  17. My husband and I booked a short-haul flight for a trip we had already planned, but were worried about the rest of our balance

  19. Was debating whether to book Iberia to Spain for Aug of 2015 or 2016. Looks like I will be redrawing those plans.

  20. I was pretty stressed about it. I am sitting on over 200,000 Avios and hoping to take my family of 5 on a few domestic trips.

  23. I have some trip in mind. SGN-HKG -TPE-JFK. I don’t know when BA devaluation coming. Should I book now for safe than sorry?

  24. I just started to collect Avios as part of a diversification plan. I’m just taking a wait and see approach right now.

  26. Wasn’t too worried, but with only 6000 Avios in the account right now I wouldn’t have done anything even if I was

  27. It made me think twice, but I resisted the urge to speculatively book any short hops, hoping that we’d get a little notice from BA that it was coming. ::fingers crossed::

  29. I just started the points/miles adventure so I don’t have any of these yet but it was interesting to view the comments that flew around the web.

  33. Not worried since I pretty much used up my BA miles for an upcoming trip. But it would be upsetting and is a huge devaluation because i have redeemed for short haul …avios are expensive for most long haul redemption.

  34. While I never like to see any devaluation, I currently don’t have any Avios. But this will discourage me from trying to earn any.

  35. Didn’t book any speculative flights since I only had 374 miles in my BA account. Was a little worried, though, about my 100k MR points that I planned on transferring to BA.

  36. If people are stressing over a rumored devaluation of miles, then they are taking this points thing way too seriously.

  37. Booked two short hauls for quick Hyatt mattress runs. Properties around me usually run 200+ a night.

  38. Not overly worry at this points. I have very few points in account and only transfer from Chase to BA when I need it.

  39. I wasn’t too stressed out, I can’t worry about programs devaluing with no notice. Hopefully they will give notice in the future, THEN I will worry about getting flights booked.

  41. Glad the BA program looks to be intact. One of the best values for awards…if you want to take short hop flights.

  42. I had fun watching the panic from the sidelines:) I had already used most of my Avios for an upcoming winter trip to Aruba. I started looking for tix for our summer trip but could not find availability for what I need, which was kind of unexpected.

  43. Rumors do not worry me; I had all the bloggers to worry for me. I just take life one trip at a time!

  44. I booked 3 short haul trips… just in case. Can always refund them, since the penalty for redeposit is the greater of whatever the fee is and the actual amount paid… I’m only out $5 for my BOS-PIT trips!

  45. Not to worried. My hub did just gain a lot more non-stop options via Avios with AA/USAir merger though which i’m looking forward too use,

  46. I wasn’t thrilled to here about a nother potential devaluation but I didn’t worry about it either. There’s always other fish in the sea.

  50. The devaluation is going to happen eventually, 4,500 points for a one way is too good to be true forever. I’m just glad its not happening today!

  51. Currently, I am in a holding pattern. I would like more information before I burn through my Avios.

  52. My heart sank when I saw the first headline about the devaluation, until I remembered I don’t have any Avios anyway. I need to step back from obsessively checking BoardingArea. Maybe a free night in a Hyatt would help (cough).

  53. I haven’t used Avios yet to my advantage, so while I was concerned that I would never be able to take advantage of the sweet spots, I also didn’t have any points that would be devalued if it actually happened.

  55. I was alarmed, because we hope to take a trip to Hawaii next year with Avios, but can’t book yet because our vacation time availability is still unknown. I’m relieved that there doesn’t seem to be any immediate changes, but hopefully we can book soon!

  57. Good that nothing is coming of the devaluation yet, I still need to book a flight to NYC near the end of the year!

  58. I didn’t book any trips, for some reason I knew nothing will change. Or at least I hoped it won’t .. It would be very sad if they deval but that is part of the game.

  59. Tried to get two tickets last evening, San Francisco to Phoenix, can you believe they are 651 miles apart, so I had to use 7500 miles each way! When I went to pay I was reminded that BA gives you a choice to use less miles and more cash. I ended up paying 9000 miles and $91 for two one way tickets which made me happy. Love reading your blog.

  60. I have never earned avios through their co-branded credit card but use them all the time with AMEX and UR transfers. This way I always keep my balance low so as not to be killed with the devaluation when it does come.

  63. little concerned in beginning as I had made some plans(not booked yet) for future. But kind of prepared for any devaluations. Devaluation is something which is not in our hand.

  65. I wasn’t overly worried, glad there were no changes. Love Avios for short trips within the U.S.

  69. First reaction: I missed the boat again just as I was getting ready to use my BA avios points. Then thought that it’s not unusual anymore to see the word “devaluation” this past couple years. Final reaction: acceptance that changes do and will occur.

  70. I was very hesitant to just start booking trips months in advance, but lets be honest I did spend some time looking around. B.a short haul flights lives on!!

  71. I rushed and booked the last award seat available on a December weekend for my holiday trip home, one-way DCA-YYZ for 4,500 Avios. Would have costed me at least 10k UA miles.

  72. Not super concerned since I don’t have a huge Avios stash, but I would have been bummed about the loss of a good short haul option

  74. We had thought about using the Avios we just received after flying business class to Germany, for a short flight for a long weekend, but hadn’t decided when and where. We have two Marriott nights that will expire in December and wanted to enjoy a nice inexpensive trip. We can’t book right now due to some issues at work. So even though I wanted to jump right in and book my flight on BA, we waited. I do hope I get a chance to book before any radical changes happen. Thanks for the giveaway.

  75. I wasn’t worried at all, this whole miles/points is going on for years now, lots of things keep on changing
    this is part of the game, and we have to know how do handle these adjustments!

  76. I had been thinking about getting into avios, but don’t have any currently, so this didn’t affect me.

  77. Just started collecting Avios, so I figured situation was normal – too late to the party again!

  78. made me sad the 9k round trips are something ive only used 1 time for a friend and it saved him 700 dollars and got a upgrade to first class on the return.

  80. No trips booked, but I do like the 4500 or 7500 options, so I hope those remain in the future.

  81. I felt fairly secure that all would be well. If not, on to new adventures. Great blog, by the way!

  83. Had me a bit concerned, but I’ve learned to take everything with a grain of salt and wait and see before concluding the sky is falling. Glad it looks like it was much ado about nothing.

  85. I wasn’t too worried since I’m a bit new to this game, but collecting Avios was going to be my next point-collecting plan, so I was definitely paying attention to the happenings. I’m glad it turned out to be nothing.

  87. I was obviously annoyed, but didn’t book any flights since I didn’t have any immediate needs or known flights I was going to need to take. We still have about 400k in Avios in our combined accounts.

  88. I was really hoping that there would be no changes to the BA program. I love those short distance flights for only 4500 miles. They’re great for those of us who live in the southwest as we can fly south of the border pretty cheap.

  89. Phew! I was glad I didn’t freakout and book a bunch of flights in advance. The devaluation stories certainly spooked me a bit but I stayed calm in the end. Wohooo!

  90. I was initially concerned, because I wondered if American, a code share and partner of British Air, would also devalue their program. But then after reading followup columns and tweets, I was less concerned.

  94. We should assume all of our points and miles will eventually devaluate, it is part of the nature of the game.

  95. I knew there were differences between the IB and BA award chart, and I knew that IB had a worse reputation that BA for unannounced devaluations, so whilst I was concerned I didn’t do anything.

  96. No concerns. I always say, “you win some, you lose some.” In the points world. We win WAY more than we lose.

  98. Almost went postal due to hoarding Amex Member Rewards waiting for the next Avios transfer bonus!!! Still a little on edge though, and my wife thinks I’m a weirdo.

  100. The potential devaluation of Avios was a little concerning but, at the same time, it didn’t really make sense to start panicking since much of it was based on pure speculation. I’ll probably continue to go with the flow and leverage Avios if possible the next time I have the opportunity but I won’t go out of my way to do so.

  104. I rushed and booked a trip for next May that I was planning on doing at some point anyway. Now I’m stuck with a 4 night trip to St. John’s! LOL! But BA will let you cancel for free within 24 hours to get all your Avios back. Even with this purchase I still have a fair amount of Avios left plus all those Amex MR points.

  105. I belonged to the “worried club.” So many points/miles policies have devalued over recent years that this felt like another shoe was going to drop. I’ve learned it’s always prudent to keep an eye on the trends.

  106. Oh my! $100 to spend on complete solitude at a Hyatt hotel. Dare to dream!!! To take 24 hours to just get away from it all. The stress of the job, the kids, the day to day hassels. I would read, and sun and just relax…..ALL. BY. MYSELF.!! Please pick me :)

  107. Just calmly waited for some rational thoughts which came from Dan. Gary was way off the mark then commented on Dan’s that he really didn’t say that Avios would be devalued!

  110. I wasn’t too worried — i keep most of my points in AmEx MR and Chase UR until I’m ready to use them so I figured I could use those in a different way if BA Avios become less usable.

  112. I was thinking about moving some SPG points to avios to book some possible flights. But I was calm and decided to wait until morning to see how things turned out. And it appears Iberia avios never devalued after all

  113. I freaked out and booked myself a ticket to Cancun for only 9,00 Avios.

    However, my partner still lacks the 9k avios so we’ll have to wait another month to book the ticket for him!

  115. I was calm it was bound to happen and it didn’t matter because I had already booked my trip for next year hoping to rid myself of avios anyway! Woohoo
    First time ahead of the curve!

  116. I have been following your posts and have been trying to decide when to book my flights using my BA miles. I have several trips in mind. I’ve copied and printed all of your comments on how to use BA miles on AA etc., So, yes, now I’m a little stressed as to how quickly I need to do this. I also welcome any other comments on this subject.

  117. Was a little concerned as I am planning my next trip using avios points and would have had to explore other airlines.

  118. Not upset because our points and miles are constantly losing value, it’s the nature of the game.

  119. I love my miles but I knew everything will work out at the end. I wasn’t too worried.

  120. I was slightly worried about future unplanned trips, but didn’t take any action and forgot about it a few minutes later. Looks like that was the right call.

  126. Just started collecting Avios so I didn’t have enough for a trip . But it’s getting ridiculous with all these devaluations. There’s no way I could drop everything and plan trips to burn all my miles. Just have to roll with the punches .

  127. Worried and tried to book several flights from EWR but no availability due to school calendar!

  129. Wasn’t concerned because I only have 1 Avios. I earn my points for a specific trip and book as soon as the points hit my account!

  130. I was worried but decided to wait to book some short haul flights until all the dust settled.

  131. Most of us are getting used to the idea that there are more devaluations coming so try to use our miles quickly.

  133. I remain concerned about a trip that I don’t have enough points for yet. Still hoping to be able to book it at the same level in a few months. It not, I will adjust. Such is the game we play.

  135. I have not done anything, but was worried. Just recently got the Chase BA credit card and am looking forward to some domestic travel with my Avios.

  137. I had nothing planned currently for my Avios points and glad I don’t have to scramble to maximize value (at least yet)

  138. Avios deval isn’t happening, Iberia has had that chart for years it was just more hidden.

  139. calm as a cucumber. I wanted to wait for official news before dumping my avios. Good thing I did.

  143. Was about to transfer all my membership rewards points to Avios before closing my AmEx Gold card…..almost panicked for a while :)

    1. What would be the “downside” to transferring all other award points to Avios? I was waiting for a better conversion rate than the 1:1 before transferring from Amx points to Avios, How would I get notified if that ever happens? Last time I converted at a much better rate.

  146. Just wanted to let people know that there’s an option to use Avios for hotel stays so its not totally the end of the world even if it devalues

  147. I’m not too worried about it. Award chart changes happen and you adapt accordingly. I have an upcoming trip planned that has a couple of short BA awards on it that I have not yet booked. This is a nice reminder for me to go ahead and get the flights locked in though. :)

  150. I didn’t book any speculative trips, but I have a couple plans for my Avios coming up that I was worried would be a problem. Hopefully everything is good to go now!

  151. I booked a roundtrip JFK-Antigua next winter. I still think BA devalues – it may not be today but as I said, I’d rather be months early than a day late about a devaluation.

  152. I am hoping that BA doesn’t devalue for my fellow miles collectors’ sake, but as for me, that is one airline I have not yet pursued gathering miles in, so I will not be affected.

  153. Recently booked BKK-HKG on CP Biz using Avios. I would miss their low mileage awards, such as MIA-BDA for 7500 miles. That being said, if the BA card has another 100,000 bonus in Jan/Feb 2015, I would sign up again!! By the way, thanks for the Simon CC tip. It was a magnificient tip for your regular readers!!

  156. I don’t have anything in the plans for a trip using BA miles, but was looking forward to taking advantage of the sweet spots in their chart. I’ve come to accept that devaluations are going to happen so it doesn’t do much good to get all worked up — just work with the changes as they occur. A $100 Hyatt gift check sure would take some of the sting out, especially since I’m using a free night at the Park Hyatt Milan next month. ;)

  157. I was worried, but didn’t quite bite the bullet and book anything. Nice to see things work out well.

  158. I’m worried about the devaluation as I use Avios for cheap European flights quite often.

  159. I think it’s good that there is no devaluation in the works. My husband does most of the traveling, but we do enjoy family trips a couple of times a year.

  160. After hearing about the impending BA devaluation, immediately booked a trip to Miami that I had been mulling over for a while now!

  162. I was worried so I had a drink(s), which led to a nap, which after waking up I couldn’t remember why I was worried. :)

  164. Hard to force the issue with booking close in but definitely looking farther ahead for possible trips that can be planned for 6 to 12 months out. Thanks for updates!!!

  165. I was going to use my avios for my trip to Maui next Mar, so I was concerned about the devaluation but couldn’t do anything before my days are finalized. Glad that the scare is all over!

  167. I panicked and thought I need to book flights STAT. The problem is I couldn’t figure out where I wanted to go under duress!

  174. Concerned, but not panicked. Did not book anything. I would rather lose some value rather than book a trip I was not really wanting to take.

  176. I was pretty calm. I have 0 Avios (always do UR/MR transfer when I need them) so I didn’t book anything, but I was quick to tell everyone around me who had Avios to book some awards…

  178. In Canada, we have very little competition between carriers and a relatively small market, hence huge fares even for short flights. BA devaluation would have been catastrophic for me… didn’t make any speculative booking but booked what was already being planned.

  179. Dear miles professor, even though I have not been a miles person for very long, I realize that your miles are to use, not save. I have over 140,000 British avios. Of course, the devaluation hurts. But, I prefer to look on the bright side and still enjoy the benefits. We are going back to maui this Thursday, August 28. My first trip was on your recommendation to the andaz. We loved it so we r going back. Then in October I’m taking my daughters to Paris, to the park Hyatt.
    It would be great tonsil the $100 Hyatt gift card. I would use it in Maui to go on a helicopter tour! Always wanted to do that.
    Thank you for everything.

  180. I was thinking of getting the credit card, now I’m not. I’ve got enough in other programs.

  183. Since I do not have any need to any immediate trave, I do not book any trip. It is not a concern to me yet, but Avios change(s) may come in a near future. Thanks.

  184. I freaked out and booked a trip in haste only to discover later that evening that I had a conflict. I was able to cancel for no loss (other than my time!).

  187. Booked one-way flights in Economy from LAX to KOA (Kona, Hawaii) for myself and my family for next April. Now, we have to figure out how to get back to L.A.! In a way, the dire warnings from all the bloggers (that never came to pass) was a swift kick in the pants to plan our vacation, so I’m happy to have done it! :)

  189. It is never fun when a program devalues their program, but there is nothing we can do about it except adapt and move on.

  191. If this devaluation would happen we would have to postpone our Caribbean getaway… Hope there won’t be any changes soon!

  196. I thought of booking something, but with other non avios trips lining up, I cannot think of a sure plan using avios. So did not book. I used avios earlier this year to fly to cancun on aa flight, thanks to your posts!

  197. I keep most of my points in CSP so I have little exposure to any possible devaluation. All anticipated trips are booked.

  198. I didn’t make an knee jerk moves as a result of the rumor, but it did make my start thinking about booking some short haul flights while I can still get an awesome deal.

  199. Booked a March trip, but not on BA but Southwest and AA. The scramble make me concerned that I might not find what I needed and so I found the best values on other programs besides BA, but it inspired me to act anyway I was concerned about how quickly a rumor like that influences collective behavior. And it seems to snowball so if you don’t at least look at booking you could miss out.

  200. The world of miles and points is always changing and we are fortunate enough to live in US to enjoy the benefits by simply signing up for credit cards and getting huge sign up bonuses. I am truly appreciative of the benefits and devaluation although is not well received I tend to look on the brighter side of still being able to enjoy the benefits of traveling cheap!!

  201. I did go ahead and book a flight to WestCoastDO, and I look forward to seeing you again there!

  203. I am relieved to hear that the BA Avios is not devaluing as I plan to apply for the card and collect and use Avios for my upcoming trip to Europe, plan to use it to get around within Europe!

  204. I didn’t book any trips, and I am happy that there wasn’t a huge devaluation! I loved my west coast to Hawaii trip on avios!

  205. Why worry of things you cannot control, everyone will still collect points & continue to fly regardless of what happens.

  206. I didn’t book any trips yet, but I knew I would need to in the future…using only Avios. Sure am glad things are staying the way it is for a while!

  207. I had planned on booking ORD-PTY anyway so I went ahead and snatched the seats as soon as I saw this, but still sitting on ~360k and not rushing to use them

  209. I don’t really have an opinion. I only recently started getting miles, so I won’t be too hurt if the miles get devalued. Then again, if they don’t, I’d be really happy.

  215. Planning a trip to Europe next year, so I’m very glad it didn’t end up devaluing!! Hope to win this Hyatt certificate to use on that trip! :)

  227. Haven’t been traveling as much recently so I wasn’t aware of the potential devaluation.

  228. I didn’t book any trips, but I do worry about devaluation for any “sweet spot” awards like the short haul BA awards

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