How families are hardest hit in the Airmiles 'rip-off'

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Families who have been saving Airmiles points for months to take their children on holiday have been hit hard by recent changes in the scheme.

Last month, Airmiles announced it was merging with the British Airways loyalty scheme, and relaunching under a new name, Avios.

Both schemes run on different point systems so, to keep them in line, Airmiles customers will be given ten times more miles than under the previous system, so100 Airmiles will now be worth 1,000 Avios points. Consequently, the number of points needed to fly to most destinations will also increase ten times.

In the new scheme, some destinations, like Boston, require fewer miles. Previously, you would need 5,000 Airmiles to fly here, but under the new system you'd need 40,000 Avios points, so 4,000 of the old Airmiles.

But other popular destinations need more points, including Paris and Edinburgh, which used to take 750 Airmiles, but will now require 9,000 Avios points (900 Airmiles in the old system).

But what's really got many of the 2.2 million Airmiles savers' hackles rising, is that they will now have to pay taxes and fuel surcharges in most flights, where previously they did not.

So, for example, a flight to Boston may require less points than before, but the customer will have to pay around £300 on top.

Also, customers only have until 15 December to use Airmiles to book trips without these extra costs, with a view to travel within one year, resulting in a desperate fight for available flights.

This means people and families will have to bring trips forward and travel out of season, and has hit families who need to travel during school holidays hardest.

Philip Walsh, who is spearheading an online campaign called fighttheairmileschange.co.uk, told the Daily Mail: 'People are hugely disappointed. They feel the company has changed the rules dramatically and unfairly overnight, making the points they have saved so hard for virtually worthless.

'Why couldn't Airmiles have given people more warning and give them longer to redeem their points?'

Airmiles bosses say the charges are necessary because of steep increases in UK Air Passenger Duty, which are reported to be the highest in the world.

One couple from Devon, Sorcha and Tim Holloway, highlight the problems customers face from the new changes.

They had been shopping at Tesco to save Airmiles for a dream trip to Johannesburg with their two children, but now instead of getting free flights with their hard-earned 32,000 Airmiles, they will have to pay £1,500 in extra charges they can't afford.

Sorcha said the family are 'gutted' and the children are 'incredibly disappointed'.

Another huge bugbear for Airmiles customers - which also affects the seven million British Airways loyalty card users - is the difficulty faced in buying tickets at popular times like school holidays.

Each flight has a limited amount of seats available for Airmiles or BA loyalty card customers, with fewer made available at peak periods when the airlines can be more sure of having a fully booked flight.

Now, in the new joint scheme, both sets of savers will be competing for the same seats. So, although there may be general seats available, Airmiles holders will not all necessarily be able to use their points if other holders get there first.

Read more at the Daily Mail.