British Airways is doubling the number of guaranteed bookable reward seats available on any flight, adding 250,000 more reward seats for travel from July 28, 2021. Reward seats have been doubled for Euro Traveller, Club Europe, World Traveller/Plus and Club World.
On Friday (May 28, 2021), British Airways announced that they will double the number of guaranteed bookable reward seats available on any flight, adding over 250,000 reward seats for travel from July 28, 2021. The guaranteed minimum number of reward seats have been doubled for Euro Traveller (short-haul economy), Club World (short-haul business), World Traveller (long-haul economy) and Club World (long-haul business). Additionally, for the first time British airways is adding guaranteed reward seats in World Traveller Plus, the airline’s popular long-haul premium cabin. The additional reward seats are now bookable for travel from July 28th.
In Friday’s announcement, British Airways’ Director of Brand and Customer Experience, Tom Stevens, said,
“Our Members appreciate the benefits their Executive Club membership brings, but the feedback we hear is that people would like us to make it easier to book flights using Avios. We have listened and acted on this, and today’s announcement directly addresses this feedback, opening up six extra reward seats on a short-haul flight, and eight on a long-haul flight. We hope this means that a family holiday, or that big friendship group trip away, will be much easier to book using Avios.”
Adam Daniels, Chief Executive at IAG Loyalty, which manages the Avios currency, added,
“This is an exciting change that we have worked closely with the British Airways team to deliver. We hope it offers Executive Club Members even more opportunities to spend their hard earned Avios.”
British Airways reward seats can be booked with Avios, requiring customers only to pay taxes, fees and carrier charges in cash. Short-haul return flights start from as little as £1 plus Avios, while long-haul flights start at £100 plus Avios. Customers can ‘flex’ cash and Avios depending on their Avios budgets, a separate option from Avios part payment, which allows the use of Avios to offset ticket prices in all cabins on any flight.
Today’s announcement is just the latest in a series of improvements British Airways has made to their Executive Club loyalty program. In February, the carrier announced a six month extension to all Executive Club vouchers due to expire on December 31, 2021, while tier status of Executive Club members was extended for another year in March. British Airways is also adding an additional six months of validity to all new Companion Vouchers or Travel Together tickets earned between June 2020 and December 31, 2021. Finally, the airline continues to reduce the amount of Tier Points needed to reach each Tier by 25 percent, for members whose Tier Point collection year ends before July 2022.
Source: British Airways