I have read a couple of other bloggers indicating that the changes to OnBusiness (BA’s small and medium business rewards scheme) coming in May are not as bad as expected. I thought it might be good to work out exactly what impact the changes will have on the points I have accrued.

So my balance sheet is:

Picking four different types of reward to compare side-by-side, I selected short haul trip, a long haul trip and an upgrade. The table below lays this out neatly:

So in fact the value of my points holding goes up significantly on 27 May. This tends to support BA’s statement about more value from cheaper cabin redemptions after the doubling of points as part of the conversion.

My ability to earn will be cut significantly as I never buy expensive fares and so, in summary, it would be wise for me to earn as many OnBusiness points as possible before 26 May to secure maximum value from the scheme afterwards. Once the changes happen it will be hard for me to earn anything of value and so I may just pick the 5% discount BA is offering in exchange for not taking OnBusiness points.

Unfortunately, the changes won’t come soon enough for me for a couple of trips where the new upgrades from R and I fares, and at the same time making them available on AA flights would be great. (I am flying AA to JFK and BA on the A380 to LAX but on a low I fare.)