British Airways Avios Increases Fees on May 27

It’s time for British Airways to have another devaluation… After increasing the number of Avios required for many redemptions in December 2025, British Airways is now increasing the cash fee component attached to Avios redemptions. These changes will take effect this Thursday, May 27, so we do have the option to lock in a few bookings until then.

At least British Airways provided some advance notice, so it’s not a sudden devaluation. British Airways has also included a few examples of what redemptions will look like, so let’s take a look at the damage.

Avios New Pricing

British Airways provided the following examples of new pricing for Reward Flights (affecting only the cash element of the booking) on non-peak dates:

• A round trip in Club World from London Heathrow to New York JFK will require 176,000 Avios + £499
• A round trip in World Traveller from London Heathrow to Cape Town will require 66,000 Avios + £190
• A one-way trip in Club Europe from London Heathrow to Rome will require 22,000 Avios + £20
• A one-way trip in Euro Traveller from London Heathrow to Amsterdam will require 10,000 Avios + £2.50

The first example is most relevant for most of us based in North America. On the British Airways website, we can see the price today is 176,000 Avios + $820 CAD, so the difference is about $110 CAD round-trip. That measures the increase at just under 14%.

Today, pay 176,000 Avios + $820 CAD roundtrip

It’s interesting that other sources report the current round-trip price as 176,000 Avios + £399, which represents a 25% increase after May 27. Are Canadians getting fleeced to begin with, or what is going on here?

British Airways didn’t give an example of what Toronto flights will cost, but expect it to be similar to New York JFK.

There’s no mention of fuel surcharges for redemptions on partner airlines, but I’m optimistic those won’t change since all the examples provided were on British Airways metal.

Should You Lock in Flights Now?

Normally, this is where I’d say to lock in redemptions before May 27, but the reality is British Airways already charges uncompetitive rates for transatlantic flights.

88,000 Avios + $410 CAD one-way is steep for routes like Toronto – London. In comparison, Aeroplan is charging 60,000 points with no fuel surcharges for a flight of this distance. Even in the next distance band, Aeroplan will be charging 75,000 points one-way come June 1 (up from 70,000 today), and still with no fuel surcharges.

There is one major bonus with British Airways: the points availability guarantee. British Airways guarantees the following number of award seats on all flights to and from London Heathrow (LHR):

• 8 award seats in economy
• 2 award seats in premium economy
• 4 award seats in business class

For high-season trips, like taking the family to Europe for Christmas Markets, this guarantee is genuinely valuable because you know award seats will reliably be there when schedules open.

Credit when credit is due. When was the last time award availability looked like this on a random search?

There are more than 8 business class seats available on some flights!

Book British Airways Flights with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Instead of booking with Avios, you can book British Airways flights with Asia Miles at a better price.

For a flight from Toronto to London on British Airways business class, Cathay Pacific charges just 63,000 Asia Miles one-way + $377 CAD. So the taxes and fees portion is similar at $377 vs. $410 (charged by British Airways Avios), but the points portion is significantly cheaper at 63,000 Asia Miles vs 88,000 Avios.

63,000 miles one-way + $376 CAD is pretty good for a British Airways flight

You can transfer points from both Amex Membership Rewards (MR) and RBC Avion to Asia Miles at ratios of 1:0.75 and 1:1, respectively. Now is a great time to sign up for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite and RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege, due to the all-time-high welcome bonuses on offer of 70,000 and 100,000 Avion points.

Even taking into account RBC’s current 30% transfer bonus to Avios, 88,000 Avios still require 68,000 Avion points, which is more than the 63,000 required by Cathay at a 1:1 transfer ratio.

Avios is Still a Great Program

Now, that doesn’t mean you should never transfer your RBC Avion points to Avios — just that redeeming for British Airways is not the best use of Avios. Avios is still a fantastic program, where I find value in both economy and premium cabin redemptions. Here are a few of my favourite uses:

• Qatar Airways Qsuites business class one-way from North America to Doha for 70,000 Qatar Avios; continue onwards to Southeast Asia or Africa for 95,000 Qatar Avios
• Finnair business class from North America to Northern Europe for 62,500 Finnair Avios
• LATAM business class from North America to southern South America for 75,500 Finnair Avios
• American Airlines business class from North America to the Caribbean for 25,000 Finnair Avios
• American Airlines economy flights within North America for 12,000-16,000 Avios

Keep in mind you can transfer Avios freely between British Airways Club, Finnair Plus, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub. As each offers their own sweet spots, it makes sense to move Avios around accordingly.

Takeaway

This latest British Airways devaluation is annoying, but not especially surprising. The good news is that only the cash portion of award tickets is increasing, not the Avios pricing itself. Still, British Airways already charged hefty surcharges on many long-haul redemptions, so adding another ~$100 CAD round-trip to flights like New York–London only makes those bookings harder to justify.

That said, Avios remains an extremely valuable currency — just usually not for flying British Airways itself. Between Qatar Qsuites, Finnair business class, LATAM, and short-haul American Airlines flights, there are still plenty of strong uses for Avios. And if you do want to fly British Airways across the Atlantic, booking through Cathay Pacific Asia Miles instead of Avios can often save a substantial number of points while keeping the fees roughly similar.