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New BAEC benefits: free seating on Hand Baggage tickets, status extension for new parents

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There you go, you see.  You bang on about something for long enough and people eventually listen.

For a couple of years, Head for Points has been banging the drum for British Airways Executive  Club to introduce a ‘status extension’ for new parents.  See here, here, here etc.

This was driven by my own experience of watching my wife lose her British Airways status, twice, after we had our children and then having to restart as a Blue member after her maternity leave.

At last, it has happened.

See this page of ba.com for details of the BAEC changes.

Avios wing 7

Status extensions introduced for new parents

You will be eligible to have your Bronze, Silver or Gold status extended following the birth or adoption of a baby.  This offer is valid for both parents.  Relevant documentation is required.

You can request an extension twice in any five year period.

The rather vague terms imply that that the extension will be granted purely for the period of any parental leave taken.

Internal BA communications state clearly, however, that it will be a full year extension.  Whether they really intend to give this to a father who takes limited paternity leave remains to be seen.

You will also receive 1,000 bonus Avios if you add your baby to a Household Account within 6 months of requesting the extension.

Max Burgess

Free seat selection on Hand Baggage Only tickets

To give British Airways credit, they are not claiming that this is a great new benefit.  They admit that this was something that they took away from you and are now bringing back.

From 14th June, Executive Club Bronze, Silver and Gold members will be able to select a seat for free – in the standard time frame for their tier – on a Hand Baggage Only ticket.

BA’s problem here is that they failed (or refused) to understand how the world actually works.  Most corporate travel policies insist on buying the cheapest possible fare.  HBO was not ‘optional’ for most business travellers – which made elite members angry at the inability to select a seat.

(It also wasn’t smart to take away free food and drink from these people because – in the real world – most business travellers cannot get alcohol expenses reimbursed.  Replacing the ‘lost’ free Friday night G&T now means a direct hit to the pocket of the traveller and to their goodwill towards BA.)

If you have booked a Hand Baggage Only ticket for travel after 14th June and have already paid for seat selection, this will be refunded automatically.

A side effect ….. Avios redemptions become slightly less attractive

If you have British Airways status, Avios redemptions on short haul are now marginally less attractive.

At present, Avios redemptions allow free seat selection.  Hand Baggage Only cash tickets do not, which gives added value to the Avios ticket.  That difference is now disappearing and, assuming that you were not checking in baggage and are not bothered about ticket flexibility, you can now directly compare a HBO cash ticket with the Avios cost and see which is preferable.

That makes two good news stories from British Airways in the same week ……

Full details of both of these changes, including the all-important small print, can be found here on ba.com.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (95)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Leo says:
    4 May4 May 08:26

    I’m pleased about this. However the one HBO fare I have ever booked is for 2 weeks time so this is of no benefit – and the flight I have booked immediately after the 14th June I booked Plus because I couldn’t bear not having the seat choice again! Long story short BA – you have to make status worthwhile having.

  • James says:
    4 May4 May 08:50

    Quick question – slightly confused. I’m only BA Blue but have 3x CE returns booked.

    Assume CE flights booked on Avios would still allow seat selection for Blue EC?

    I also have 3x avios flights at the back. Assume this would not affect booked flights?

    O/T Spend 2k on BAPP / mth currently and cycle the Gold card. Always hit bonuses – is the Amex platinum worth upgrading to for 20k avios as I suppose it would cut the usual 6th month cancel and sign up on the gold? I note the old gold credit card is no longer a quick 3k avios!

    Finally, finally – had the Hilton Visa for a couple of years now for non-Amex spending and have finally been downgraded to Silver. Would like to churn this – is it a 6mth wait? I think I read somewhere they won’t give you the sign-up nights again?!

    Appeaciate anyone’s advice on some or all of this! Thanks people.

    • Alan says:
      4 May4 May 09:12

      The change is only for those with BAEC status (bronze upwards) – no change to BA charging non-status pax for seat selection.

    • Rob says:
      4 May4 May 09:54

      No, you don’t get free selection in CE without status.

      In theory you won’t get another Hilton free night but they appear more generous in reality.

    • JP says:
      4 May4 May 11:57

      Yes 20K Platinum is worth it. If you can spend the £1K quickly then it will cost very little and get you over a year’s hotel gold status in various plans – Hilton, SPG, Marriott, Carlson being the main ones.

  • Jason says:
    4 May4 May 08:50

    OT booked a avios redemption for next week, just to confirm that a hold bag is included even though it doesnt show on booking or flybe website
    thanks

  • Neil says:
    4 May4 May 08:51

    Can we just summarize what has happened here! BA tried to copy Norwegian, Norwegian then release their accounts and it turns out they are going bust! BA is now desperate to claw back their loyal executive members who have already left…Next they’ll be bringing back food & drink…Well done Alex but it’s time you got lost mate!

    • Callum says:
      4 May4 May 09:15

      They’re not copying Norwegian specifically, there are many budget carriers out there…

      Nor is Norwegian remotely close to going bust.

  • ChampagneSocialist says:
    4 May4 May 09:04

    Re. the parental benefit, I agree the published terms are vague but I don’t ser anything that disagrees with BA internal communication. If it were limited to the actual amount of leave taken, the blurb would have said “up to a year” instead of “for a year” (knowing BA I doubt they would have missed this!). Also, they ask for proof of birth OR proof of leave, not both.
    From a business perspective, it makes sense for BA to be generous and offer a whole year to mothers AND fathers – the latter will be taking much less leave on average but I bet also more likely to be frequent flyers and have more elite members than the first group, thus benefit from the policy more. All this is good for BA because new fathers are incentivised to travel BA – it works especially well for someone like me who can almost always achieve Silver but never reach Gold – the parental extension is going to make me travel BA more because it’s the only way I can ever achieve Gold!

    • Barry cutters says:
      4 May4 May 09:41

      It won’t make your collection year longer and make it easier to get gold. It will only freeze your silver card

      • ChampagneSocialist says:
        5 May5 May 07:47

        The T&C say this :”4. Eligible Members can continue to collect Tier Points and Avios and enjoy their tier benefits. Should a Member qualify for a higher Tier during the extension period this will be honoured and the extension on your previous Tier will come to an end.”
        This read to me that effectively your collection year is going to be extended.. though reading it again I agree it’s ambiguous. It could equally be that the collection year stays the same..

  • NFH says:
    4 May4 May 10:09

    If some business travellers cannot expense alcohol (and I’ve never had this problem), then perhaps BA should by default itemise all drinks simply as “drinks” or “beverages”, with more specific itemisation only upon request.

    • the real harry1 says:
      4 May4 May 10:55

      hmm, NFH – I see you had £24 worth of drinks on that 2 hour flight – ah, Coke was it? – you must have been very thirsty…

  • Kat says:
    4 May4 May 11:12

    To be fair, I had my gold status extended for a year last November when I called up executive club to explain I was on maternity leave and had been unable to fly. All required was my son’s birth certificate.

    Now I am not sure what’s going to happen when the year ends if I’d be Silver or Blue as my flying days are limited ever since I have my son!

    • Anna says:
      4 May4 May 18:32

      If you think it’s limiting now, wait till he starts school!!

    • ankomonkey says:
      4 May4 May 21:32

      You need to max out before he reaches 2 and you have to pay for him!

  • Chelseafi says:
    4 May4 May 11:36

    O/T Just used my Amex on ParentPay, went through OK, thought they stopped amex last month?

    • the real harry1 says:
      4 May4 May 11:40

      I think there is the capacity to pay certain things even after a card has been cancelled

      eg if you use your associated Lounge Pass (after the 2 freebies have been used up) then you will be billed the £15 on your cancelled card

      • Alan says:
        4 May4 May 11:43

        I think Chelseafi was meaning they thought ParentPay no long accepted Amex – something that I understand from comments here was only a temporary situation for a month or two

    • Andrew* says:
      4 May4 May 11:49

      No, they said they were going to stop it. Then the day before there was an announcement to say it was staying.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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