Tag Archives for devaluation.
Turkish Airlines just wiped out the last meaningful value in its Miles & Smiles program. After raising United domestic awards last year, Turkish has hit them again: mainland–Hawaii business class jumps to 40,000 miles each way when two years ago it was 12,500.
British Airways will raise the cost of award travel on December 15, increasing both the Avios required and the surcharges you’ll pay — but the airline won’t publish the new prices in advance. The limited examples they’ve shared point to roughly 10% higher points and surcharges rising anywhere from a few percent to potentially doubling on some routes. The full extent of the devaluation won’t be known until it’s already live.
United has raised the price of close-in saver awards without warning. Routes that were 15,000 miles just days ago now price at 20,000 miles, a one-third increase that applies only within two weeks of travel and isn’t tied to cash fares.
Hilton has quietly devalued Honors points yet again. Standard “free night” awards at top properties can now reach 250,000 points — the third hike since December. With no award chart and no notice to members, Hilton continues to erode trust while gutting the value of its loyalty program.
Singapore Airlines will devalue its award prices November 1. They’re also introducing some credit towards elite status for spending through its partners. The award price changes are in many but not all cases modest – and meaningful for a program whose redemptions are already expensive.
Last fall, Virgin Atlantic moved to dynamic pricing for award travel. Virgin has already devalued this new proposition: they’ve doubled the cash surcharges you’ll pay on these cheapest bookings.
United Airlines is making 3 big changes to MileagePlus that no one is likely to be happy about. They’re making changes to award rules, upgrades, and upgrade pricing.
Hilton has jacked up the top redemption price of a room from 150,000 to 200,000 points. That’s a 4x increase in prices in 12 years which is a 300% cumulative increase or average Honors inflation rate of 41.4% – sitting between the current inflation facing Turkey and Argentina.
Japanese Star Alliance carrier ANA is raising the cost of many award tickets on its own flights, effective with travel booked June 24, 2025 onward. At the same time, they’re finally introducing one-way awards for half the cost of roundtrip – both on ANA flights as well as partner awards.
Basic economy fares and changes to the validity of flight credits may be terrible for Southwest Rapid Rewards redemptions, on top of the reduction in points-earning and changes to how award tickets are priced.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
