Martin Lewis has issued an urgent warning to anyone looking to book a cheap flight with British Airways (BA). The financial guru said passengers have until Monday, December 15, to act.
It comes as Avios, a loyalty scheme allowing members to collect points from British Airways flights, is set to increase its reward rates. The Money Saving Expert (MSE) has revealed that failure to spend loyalty points will mean bookings made after the December 15 deadline will mean “you’d need to use more Avios and spend more cash for the same journey”. He is advising anyone planning to use Avios to book BA flights to do so before the deadline.
As reported by Metro, BA said its decision to up prices was made after “increasing Air Passenger Duty and third-party charges, as well as changing market conditions and ongoing inflation”. The latest update is expected to increase Avios costs and additional charges by around 10%.
MSE said: “The rate at which you can redeem reward flights is changing from Monday, December 15, so you’ll need to pay more in Avios and cash from then.” The website added that the change will be applied to every BA reward flight, reward flights with BA’s partners, including America Airlines, and reward flights using Barclaycard upgrade vouchers and Amex 2-for-1 redemptions.
BA says passengers will be able to see the new prices once logged in to their British Airways Club account from December 15. They have shared some examples of what to expect:
- Before Monday, December 15 – 50,000 Avios + £100
- From and after Monday, December 15 – 55,000 Avios + £120
MSE added: “If you have an existing reward flight booked for travel on or after 15 December 2025, and you don’t make any changes to it, there’ll be no impact to your booking.”
According to the website, the value of Avios has “seen creeping devaluation over the years”. In 2021, an off-peak economy return to New York cost 26,000 Avios but, in 2025, this figure was 50,000 (plus £100).
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
