British Airways is trying hard to convince its members of the Avios loyalty scheme – with the airline doubling the number of reward seats.
British Airways Boeing 777-300ER taking off from London Heathrow – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The airline is promising to release over 250,000 additional reward seats made available, for travel from 28 July. British Airways has doubled this guaranteed minimum number of reward seats in Euro Traveller (short-haul economy), Club Europe (short-haul business class), World Traveller (long-haul economy) and Club World (long-haul business class).
The airline has also added guaranteed availability in World Traveller (Premium Economy) for the first time too.
Extra availability is on flights from 28 July 2021 and can be booked from today.
A summary of the changes is below:
| Cabin | Change | Current guaranteed reward seat availability per flight (flights pre 28 July) | New guaranteed reward seat availability per flight (flights 28 July onwards) |
| Euro Traveller (short-haul economy) | Doubling | 4 | 8 |
| Club Europe (short-haul business class) | Doubling | 2 | 4 |
| World Traveller (long-haul economy) | Doubling | 4 | 8 |
| World Traveller Plus (long-haul premium economy) | New guaranteed availability | 0 | 2 |
| Club World (long-haul business class) | Doubling | 2 | 4 |
Booking seats
Seats and be booked through the British Airways Executive Club area.
Reward seats are seats that can be booked using Avios, paying a cash amount covering just taxes, fees and carrier charges. On short-haul, return flights start from as little as £1 plus Avios, and on long-haul, £100 plus Avios.
The cash and Avios amounts can be flexed to account for people with differing Avios budgets. They are separate from Avios part payment, where Avios is used to reduce the cost of any ticket, in all cabins, on all flights.
In Quotes
Tom Stevens, Director of Brand and Customer Experience at British Airways, 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, said:
“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.”
More seats to go for…
Availability has sometimes been a challenge – especially when two or more people are travelling – especially families with three or more. Extra reward seats will come in useful – maybe not for this summer, but going onwards (as a lot of those seats may be snapped up already).
For the single traveller, this could be what you are looking for when looking for availability on flights on popular dates.
But be aware – these seats are for redemption within the British Airways Executive Club and different inventory may show with other airlines.
… and book from… now
The change went live today for flights on the 28th July onwards. If you need to snag seats, the time is now.
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