Advice after Two Major Devaluations This Week

This week, two airline programs announced higher award prices (i.e. miles devaluations). This news is always unwelcome, but especially so when we have no advance notice.

Virgin Guts Delta One Awards to Europe with Huge Fees, Higher Rates

A few days ago, Thrifty Traveler discovered a big devaluation with Virgin Atlantic awards on its partner airline, Delta. Previously, you could use Virgin points to book Delta One business class awards to Europe for 50,000 points. Now, the price has increased to up to 77,500 points during peak season PLUS ~$1000 in taxes/fees. Yikes!

The good news is that economy redemptions remain unchanged with the amount of points and fees/taxes. And, to be honest, I don’t think this Delta One award redemption was very common. Finding availability for these Delta One awards was like finding a unicorn. A great award value isn’t great if there is never any availability.

British Airways Devalues Alaska and American Awards

Oof, this one stings more for me since I’ve used British Airways Avios many times to book flights on American Airlines for fewer miles. As reported on One Mile at a Time, British Airways has increased the number of Avios required to fly on AA and Alaska award flights. This is the second time in 7 months that these award prices have increased! It feels like British Airways has flipped us the bird on our Independence Day.

Flights of up to 650 miles cost 12,000 Avios in economy (+3,750 Avios increase) or 24,000 Avios in business (+7,500 Avios)
Flights of 651-1,150 miles cost 16,000 Avios in economy (+5,000 Avios) or 32,000 Avios in business (+11,500 Avios)
Flights of 1,151-2,000 miles cost 18,000 Avios in economy (+3,500 Avios) or 40,000 Avios in business (+11,000 Avios)
Flights of 2,001-3,000 miles cost 20,000 Avios in economy (+4,000 Avios) or 50,000 Avios in business (+8,000 Avios)

Ouch! Once upon a time, the short mileage flights were 4500 Avios! The good news: As of now, you can still book these AA and Alaska partner award flights using Qatar and Finnair Avios at lower prices.

What can we do about these changes? Advice for miles and points travelers

Unfortunately, we can’t control award prices. It sucks when airlines have these sudden devaluations. But, as miles and points travelers, there are things we can do to mitigate our risk:

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Collecting only one miles currency is risky. Flexible points (from banks like Chase, Cap One, Amex, Citi) are more valuable because you can transfer to multiple airline and hotel partners. Don’t transfer points until you find award availability.
Focus on collecting credit card welcome bonuses. With the cost of award travel increasing, it’s more important than ever to keep collecting as many miles and points as possible. Credit card bonuses have also been steadily increasing over the years along with award prices. I remember when the standard bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card was 40,000 points. Now, it’s been as high as 80,000 points. Welcome bonuses are the easiest way to add more miles and points to your stash.
Shop around for award flights. If your go-to redemption airline is no longer the best value, seek out other options. It’s ok to divorce your favorite award program. Over the last few years, several free or cheap award search engines have popped up (point.me, points.yeah and more).
Consider flying in economy or premium economy instead of business. In the miles and points blogging/message board community, I almost feel like “economy” is a bad word. But, you don’t have to keep up with the Joneses of the miles and points community. A free seat in economy or premium economy is still better than not getting to the destination or having to fork over cash for a ticket.

Readers, what are your thoughts on these recent mileage devaluations?