British Airways raised the cash you pay on Avios reward flights again, the second increase in five months

A reward flight has two prices: the Avios you burn and the cash you still have to pay on top. British Airways left the first one alone and raised the second, which is the quieter way to devalue a currency because the headline points number does not move. On 27 May 2026 the cash element on Avios Reward Flights went up, and it is the second time this has happened in five months.

What actually changed

The number of Avios required for any Reward Flight stayed exactly the same. What rose is the cash co-pay, the taxes-fees-and-carrier-charges portion you settle with money, by roughly 10% to 33% depending on the route. Long-haul and premium cabins took the larger increases; ultra-short-haul economy co-pays stayed small in absolute terms.

Concrete before-and-after cash figures, from BA's published fee tables:

The New York example is the one to sit with: £100 more per person, each way accounted for, on a redemption whose Avios cost did not change at all. On paper the award still "costs" what it did. In your bank account it costs more.

Why this is the second cut, not the first

This follows a December 2025 change that raised both the Avios price and the cash element by roughly 10%. So inside a single five-month window BA moved the cash element twice while telling members the points price was protected the second time. Two increases close together is the pattern worth naming: the currency is being devalued through the co-pay, not the award chart, because the co-pay attracts less attention.

What it means if you feed Avios from an Indian card

British Airways Avios is a live transfer destination for points earned in India, and the catalog cards that reach it are affected because the redemption they were feeding now costs more real money on the far side. The ICICI Emeralde Private Metal and the Amex Business Gold both transfer to Avios; the transfer ratio has not changed, but the value you get out of each transferred point falls whenever the cash co-pay rises, and it has now risen twice.

The short-haul Asia sweet spots are where Avios still holds up best, because the cash element on those awards is low and this increase hits it least. The trans-Atlantic and premium-cabin redemptions are where the co-pay is now large enough to check against a cash fare before you transfer anything in.

What to do

Do not value an Avios balance at last year's cash cost. Price the specific flight you want, Avios plus the current cash element, and compare it to the cash fare before you move points across, because a transfer is one-way and the co-pay can move again. Short-haul redemptions still clear that test easily; long-haul premium ones need the check.

The transfer partner matrix shows which cards still reach British Airways Avios and at what ratio, and the points calculator values a balance against what it actually redeems for rather than a headline rate.