Avios: Award flights devaluation for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines

Without warning, British Airways Executive Club has revised its fare structure for award flights with Alaska Airlines and American Airlines. This update, which particularly affects short-haul flights, means a significant increase in the number of Avios needed to book these routes.

For example, an American Airlines flight between Montreal and Chicago now costs 16,000 Avios one way. Before July 2024, this same flight could be booked for just 11,000 Avios.

Unfortunately, this change on the Avios side means that you’ll have to do even more research to find the best prices for short- and medium-haul flights within North America.

The majority of North American routes operated by American Airlines are also operated by United or Air Canada. Although Aeroplan points award flights are subject to dynamic pricing, it is possible to find good deals if you plan ahead.

In addition, flights operated by United follow a fixed fare of 6,000 points when the distance is less than 500 miles or 10,000 points for flights between 501 and 1,500 miles. Tools like seats.aero are a great help in finding availability.

A program often overlooked by Canadians: Etihad Guest from Etihad Airways. This carrier partners with many other airlines in several different alliances. They also partner with Air Canada and American Airlines.

This is an interesting option for short-haul flights in North America: award flights with Etihad Airways are priced according to distance. In addition, American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to Etihad Guest at a rate of 1:0.75.

For example, the same flight from Montreal to Chicago costs 12,000 Etihad Guest miles, or 15,000 Membership Rewards points (or less, depending on transfer promotions!).

American Airlines‘ own loyalty program, AAdvantage, is a partner of the RBC Avion Rewards program. Avion points are transferred to AAdvantage at a rate of 1 for 0.7. Pricing is dynamic in this program, but it’s an additional option for short-haul flights within North America.

MBNA announced a long time ago that it would eventually be possible to transfer MBNA Rewards points to the Alaska Mileage Plan program. Unfortunately, we still have no news on the development or timeline for this feature.

With very attractive Alaska mileage rates (from 5,000 Alaska miles for a flight of less than 700 miles), this is a program to keep in mind for future flights to North America.