BA Avios Cash Fees Rising Again From 27 May: Second Devaluation in 5 Months

British Airways is putting up the cash element of Avios redemptions again - the second devaluation in just five months. The change kicks in on Wednesday 27 May 2026, and the headline is that the Avios cost stays exactly the same, but the cash co-pay goes up by anywhere from roughly 10% to 33% depending on the route. The notice is now live on BA's own Reward Flights page.

If you've got a 2026 trip you've been sitting on, you have five days to lock in current pricing.

This is purely a cash adjustment. The Avios required for any Reward Flight stays untouched. What's going up is the fixed cash element that covers taxes, fees and carrier charges - the same line item BA raised back in December.

Here are the four examples BA has published on ba.com, all off-peak, cross-checked against the previous pricing:

176,000 Avios + £399 becomes 176,000 Avios + £499. That's an extra £100 per person, or 25% more cash, with the Avios cost untouched.

66,000 Avios + £170 becomes 66,000 Avios + £190. Up £20 per person, or 12% more cash.

22,000 Avios + £15 becomes 22,000 Avios + £20. Just £5 more, but a 33% jump in percentage terms.

10,000 Avios + £1 becomes 10,000 Avios + £2.50. Small in absolute pounds, large in percentage.

The short-haul percentage jumps look alarming, but on routes like Amsterdam you're still only talking about a couple of quid in cash. The pain is concentrated in long-haul premium where the absolute figures bite. That extra £100 each way to New York adds up quickly for a couple travelling on a Companion Voucher, because the voucher only halves the Avios, not the cash.

In December, BA pushed both the Avios and the cash up by roughly 10% across the board, citing higher Air Passenger Duty and inflation. Five months on, the cash is going up again, this time on its own. The Reward Flight Saver concept - capped, predictable taxes and fees - is starting to feel less and less capped.

BA hasn't publicly explained the rationale for this round. With global fuel prices having moved sharply in recent weeks, it's a reasonable working assumption that carrier-imposed surcharges are being adjusted to reflect that, but treat that as informed speculation rather than confirmed reasoning until BA says otherwise. Either way, the direction of travel is clear: the cash side of Avios bookings is now an ongoing risk to budget for.

Two devaluations in five months is a lot. What I find more telling than the headline percentages is the mechanism. Tweaking the cash element only, without touching the Avios number, is the quieter kind of devaluation. The "176,000 Avios for a return to New York" line still looks identical on paper. The bill at checkout is what shifts.

For my own bookings, this nudges me further toward partner redemptions where the cash side is better behaved. Booking BA metal via Qatar's Privilege Club (using the same Avios pool) sometimes lands you a lower cash co-pay than booking via BA itself - worth a side-by-side check on Award Travel Finder before pulling the trigger. Iberia continues to offer lower cash on transatlantic redemptions out of Madrid, and American AAdvantage remains the gold standard for cash-light bookings on BA metal, if you can find the availability.

It's also a useful reminder that "free" Avios bookings have a meaningful cash floor, and that floor keeps creeping upward. If you're holding a large balance specifically for premium long-haul, the case for actually using those points sooner rather than later keeps getting stronger.

If you've got a specific trip in mind, get it booked before close of play on Tuesday 26 May. Existing bookings are safe - BA's wording is that "Reward Flights booked prior to this change will remain at the current price." Just be aware that if you change anything substantive about an existing booking after 27 May (destination, cabin, seasonality), it will typically reprice at the new rate, in line with how the December change worked.

If you're short on Avios and need to top up to grab something, the Avios Balance Booster Calculator will show you whether buying via BA, Qatar or Finnair offers the best per-Avios price right now. And if you need a sense check on how many points a specific route costs, the Avios flight cost tool reflects BA's current published pricing.

The Avios programme isn't broken, far from it. But it's quietly becoming a more expensive currency in cash terms, even when the headline points number stays exactly the same. Budget accordingly. And if you've got bookings to make, the next five days are your window.

Got a 2026 redemption you've been putting off? This is your nudge. What's first on your list?