It’s devaluation season it seems – following SIA’s hike in most award costs from 1st November this year now British Airways – principal custodian of the Avios award programme – has revealed that award costs on both its own flights and those of partner airlines like Finnair and Qatar Airways, will soon be increased.

The impact?

Well we don’t exactly know yet – but 10% across the board seems to be the general increase in store, and if that’s the case we should probably breathe a sigh of relief, because most ‘sweet spot’ awards within the programme will more or less remain valuable redemptions even after the changes kick in.

What we know so far

Thanks to Head for Points, we know that British Airways will be hiking its Avios award pricing for bookings made from 15th December 2025.

We wanted to let you know that from 15 December 2025, the price of Reward Flights will increase. This will affect both the Avios and cash elements of the fare.

We’ve kept our Reward Flight prices at the same level for some time, but we’re having to make these changes as a result of increasing Air Passenger Duty and third-party charges, as well as changing market conditions and ongoing inflation.

We want to reassure you that any Reward Flights booked prior to the price change will remain at the current price.

British Airways

BA has provided limited information so far, giving examples on only two of its own routes, but what we can surmise is:

• Increases in Avios of 8-10% on BA’s own flights
• Partner awards (e.g. CX, QR, AY) will also be affected, but no examples are provided
• Changes to the time or date of your BA Avios booking from 15th December 2025 onwards will not require additional Avios
• Changes to the destination or cabin class of your BA Avios booking from 15th December 2025 onwards will require additional Avios

The last major Avios devaluation was in May 2019, though in September 2023 BA quietly hiked the miles requirement for short-haul flights on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines by 10 – 40%, following an earlier increase in 2021.

It’s not clear whether BA will also be increasing the pricing of its ‘Avios Balance Boost’ option – which currently allows you to double, triple or quadruple your credit card points transfer from 1.53 Singapore cents per point.

Partner award rates also increasing

BA has confirmed that Avios requirements to redeem on partner airlines will also be increasing from 15th December 2025, and for most of our readers this will be the element to watch most closely.

That’s because the programme’s best ‘sweet spots’ are for awards like these from Singapore:

• Finnair to and from Helsinki for 62,500 Avios in Business Class
• Cathay Pacific to and from Hong Kong for 22,000 Avios in Business Class

Let’s hope that partner award pricing will also be increasing by only 8 – 10%, so that these awards don’t get severely impacted.

Will other Avios airlines follow suit?

As most of our readers know, British Airways acts as the ‘hub’ Avios partner but airlines including Qatar Airways and Finnair also use it as their rewards currency, with free instant 1:1 transfers via BA.

What we might see is these partners also increasing their Avios award rates to coincide with BA’s hike this month, and while there have been no announcements at the time of writing Qatar Airways at least doesn’t tend to bother with those!

This could impact sweet spot awards like:

• Singapore to Europe for 70,000 / 75,000 Avios in Business Class on Qatar Airways (BA offers the same rate when booked via its own portal)
• Singapore to Koh Samui for 6,000 Avios in Economy Class on Bangkok Airways

We’ll be watching these rates closely around the time of BA’s devaluation to check whether they are also set to increase.

While any award chart hike is unwelcome, this upcoming BA Avios devaluation looks relatively measured – at least based on what British Airways has chosen to disclose so far.

An 8 – 10% rise keeps most of the programme’s long-standing sweet spots intact, especially popular partner options like Finnair to Helsinki and Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, though we’ll need the full partner chart before calling the damage minimal.

For Singapore-based members, the bigger watchpoint is whether other Avios-issuing carriers like Qatar Airways and Finnair quietly fall into line, given how heavily many of the best-value redemptions rely on their charts. A matched increase from mid-December would take the shine off attractive options such as Qatar Airways’ Europe awards and Bangkok Airways’ Koh Samui hops.

The good news is that anything ticketed before 15th December will be honoured at current rates, even with subsequent date and time changes, so now is a good time to lock in any planned redemptions.

We’ll certainly provide a full update as soon as the full revised award tables and partner pricing become clear, but for now it appears that the Avios sky isn’t falling just yet.

(Cover Photo: British Airways)