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Airmiles is changing to Avios - and a new points scheme that spells the end to free flights and charges taxes and fees of up to £500. Furious protesters are fighting back

Gabrielle is similar. So far she's collected 7,000 miles and is not far short of the total needed to take her 18-year-old daughter to New York. But both are now furious that their plans have been left on the runway after Airmiles this week said it was stopping its current scheme, relaunching as Avios. It will charge Carolynne and Gabrielle £300 a head or more for what used to be free flights across the Atlantic.

Scores of disappointed Airmiles customers have vented their rage on Facebook, with Carolynne's response typical. Because I will now have to pay the taxes, it will cost me at least the same as buying flights directly with [another] airline. Surely we should be given at least a year to collect the Airmiles we need at the present rate. I really feel cheated and would never have bothered if I knew this was going to happen," she says.

From November, existing Airmiles will be swapped for new Avios rewards on a 10-to-one basis. So if you have saved up, say, 1,500 Airmiles, they will be exchanged for 15,000 Avios points. Generally speaking, the amount of points you need to redeem to get to your destination has gone up 10 times as well, although some cities have become "cheaper" to get to, others more expensive.

"I feel robbed," he says. "Can't they just freeze the entitlements that people have saved up? Or offer a better rate of exchange to Avios points? Or extend the period in which we can redeem flights without having to pay taxes, fees and charges? You can see why so many people will be saying Adios to Avios."

This week Caruana emailed the head of every company that partners Airmiles, including Tesco, Shell, Lloyds, John Lewis, Avis, eBay and Play.com - to urge them to put pressure on Airmiles to reconsider. Lloyds told Money it was aware that some of its credit card customers are disgruntled by aspects of the change, but that it stands by the deal.

And what Facebook protesters are saying

Ann Bradshaw: