Flybe continues to do battle with its major shareholders over its takeover by the Connect Airways joint-venture between Cyrus Capital, Stobart Air and Virgin Atlantic.
Whilst the completion of the transaction is far from certain, Flybe is taking steps to move forward.
Flybe has been an Avios partner for some years. Flybe and Avios have confirmed that it will not be possible to earn or redeem Avios on Flybe from Tuesday 30 April 2019.
Unlike BA or Iberia, Flybe doesn’t have its own frequent flyer programme per se. Rather, it uses a shared Avios “platform”, which is also used by Aer Lingus and Vueling for their frequent flyer programmes.
Whilst this move was expected, there are specific steps some Avios collectors will have to take to avoid forfeiting their Avios balances.
If you opened an Avios account via Flybe, before 30 April 2019 you will need to open an Executive Club account with BA (if you do not already have one) and use the “Combine My Avios” tool to move your Avios balance to your Executive Club account. Affected members should receive an e-mail directly from Flybe to advise of this.
Avios can be earned and redeemed on Flybe as normal until 30 April and all existing reward bookings will be honoured.
A full list of Frequently Asked Questions has been published on the Avios and website.
Whilst there is three months’ notice of these changes, it’s obviously better to deal with this sooner rather than later in case of any IT gremlins.
Virgin Atlantic is due to relaunch its frequent flyer programme this year and it is likely that the newly rebranded Flybe will participate in this programme.
