BIG NEWS: BA moves to revenue-based tier status for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold Guest List

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• AlanD says:

  3 Jan3 January 15:20

  “What’s new
  Watch this space over the coming months as we share details of our initiatives to enhance your experience both on the ground and in the air.….. “ Mon derrière. Unbelievable but that’s on the BA website.

  • RC says:

    3 Jan3 January 16:01

    Time for some 2025 guesses:
    BA punctuality and cancellation rate worsens again.
    BA admits it hasn’t cleaned any aircraft inside since 2021. Now serves foraged fungus from the dirt on board in the lounges.
    Sean Doyle remains hidden and continues to have never met a customer.
    Avios see further devalued by going dynamically priced because ‘customer feedback’ asked for more availability.
    Overbooking resolved via combat in the gate area. (Not different from current feel of boarding).
    Chances to earn Avios on another overpriced wine promotion (at least every two weeks).
    Head of BA customer experience manager actually meets a customer:- but it turns out to be a BA colleague planted for a press event.
    BA admits club suite has a design fault with a huge gap in the middle when flat – but will not fix it due to ‘customer feedback’.
    BA head office hacked and ‘customer feedback’ released onto the web. Suspiciously all feedback has the same email address from an opioid fined consultants Mck-firm,
    BA admits new club suite rollout won’t be finished until 2032, due to ‘787 engine issues’ (excuse #2 after ‘customer feedback’). Older 777s to get life extension to 50 years old as company bet on Boeing and Airbus has no delivery slots until 2040s by then.
    New IT systems changeover crashes all systems and BA grounded for a week. BA claims its was due to ‘customer feedback’.
    Hearhrow terminal 5 bag delivery fails every week… again.
    Brunch service catering moved from Do&Co to Morrisons for club and F. Due to ‘customer demand’. Menu reduced to pie and chips or pasta salad In first. Club gets a choice a (undefined ) meat or potato pie and chips.
    IAG has to issue a profit warning to the LSE as BA’s bookings from road warriors and leisure holiday traffic have been ‘under expectations’. Every hedge fund is already Short, using their profits to invest in easyJet instead.
    BA removes all long haul IFE as ‘customers demanded more choice’ – on their own devices.
    Inflight WiFi still unusable and still used by only a handful of customers. BA continues to ponder alternatives but does nothing.
    New app still loses bookings, and still can’t rebook customers irrops because‘customer feedback’ means we choose to wait on hold on a phone line for 2 hours instead of.
    After an incident involving lost bags, a downgrade to a middle seat in Y to accommodate a vip who turns out to be a junior BA manager, HRH bans BA from using anything that alludes to or resembles a crown or crest

    • tootsci says:

      3 Jan3 January 18:18

      @RC That gave me a good chuckle! We certainly find ourselves in a situation where we have to laugh otherwise we’d cry. I wonder which of your ‘predictions’ will come true, I think a few might well do!

    • Fresh Republic says:

      3 Jan3 January 19:10

      @RC Probably the best comment among many gems.

    • Lady London says:

      3 Jan3 January 19:33

      Excellent.
      Though not clear why you’re holding back… go on, say something really negative.

      Oh, and you missed out dynamic pricing for avios seats upcoming… the last step in the finalisation of BA’s new disincentivisation program.

    • CJD says:

      3 Jan3 January 23:11

      Removing in-flight entertainment from long haul would actually be genuinely interesting in terms of possible seat design without needing to factor in the screen.

• cats_are_best says:

  3 Jan3 January 15:55

  Just called Amex to cancel the BA card.

  Rarely use it anyway, I’ve a ton of Avios and prefer MR or Harrods points, companion voucher stays valid as I still have other Amex cards.

  If BA were to offer some remarkably attractive incentive I can always get another, but it seems unlikely, and 2500 newTP at a likely high spend:nTP ratio certainly doesn’t move the needle.

  Btw the online chat wait time just increased by two minutes every minute! Gave up and called instead, to hear that the Amex BA phone number is experiencing unusually high call volumes and suggesting I try again in 24 hours, queue jumped on Centurion.

• Michael says:

  3 Jan3 January 15:57

  what happens to existing status ? will all cards be reset to blue on April 1st ?

  • Rob says:

    3 Jan3 January 17:06

    No, you keep what you currently have as expiry.

• Namster says:

  3 Jan3 January 16:06

  Only keeping the Barclays Premier account and avios plus cc now. Happy Blue year to all

• David S says:

  3 Jan3 January 16:10

  Just curious as readers haven’t complained too much about the LGW lounges being totally overloaded. If BA are trying to get rid of or downgrade the leisure flyer, who do they expect to fly from LGW ? The CE prices from LGW are seriously expensive and there are usually between 9 and 13 rows in CE. How will Euroflyer be profitable in future.
  Same issue I guess for any leisure routes ex LHR

  • Danny says:

    3 Jan3 January 16:34

    I don’t really rate the BA Gatwick lounges. Unpleasant smell. The staff, while generally nice, seem to mill around and hover over your table and try to take any plates that you haven’t touched for 20 seconds. Much prefer No1 Clubrooms.

  • Danny says:

    3 Jan3 January 16:35

    However, Euroflyer suffers from very inconsistent cabin crew in Club. Some lovely ones and others who make it apparent they don’t want to be in the job.

  • RC says:

    3 Jan3 January 16:39

    Good questions, and ones McKinsey probably never thought of. I doubt they even know Gatwick exists. Neither does Sean Doyle. And has their customer experience manager actually ever met a customer? Runour is he has to be driven to the plane to avoid the ‘great unwashed’.
    Another mystery is why BA thinks anyone will give up direct booking hotels fj. Direct is far more flexible, often cheaper (they’re not paying BAH 15-20pct com) and hotel frequent user schemes are just way better than BA. Suite upgrade with Hyatt for 14 nights or an hour in a BA lounge? Simples : book direct and use a better airline.
    Adam Daniels is no doubt still claiming he’s an underpaid genius. (If he is, it’s well hidden if you meet him – unimpressive is an understatement)

  • jj says:

    3 Jan3 January 16:52

    Why would you think those Gatwick CE flyers are buying their ‘seriously expensive’ tickets just to get status? It’s more likely that they want an empty seat next to them, a meal and a glass of wine on the flight, the right to take more, heavier luggage, and access to the lounge.

    • Kaye says:

      3 Jan3 January 17:04

      So it’s more likely that they’ve paid for it? Yet other people are obviously economy flyers taking up space they shouldn’t?
      I don’t think (a) the world is as black and white as you think (b) you have any clue why/how or how much people have spent to be in the lounge. Sounds like a lot of stereotyping and judgement of who you think should be in a lounge.

    • PH says:

      3 Jan3 January 17:24

      Agree, if anything BA is betting that ppl who lose their status benefits will buy premium cabins (and/or unbundled premium benefits if they start selling them) to retain the experience they are used to. I can’t imagine there was a big cohort buying premium cabins *only* to get status, excluding the niche activity of TP runs.

      Also wonder if BA considered this in relation to the business cycle – a recession seems overdue, and many have had their discretionary spending budgets squeezed by rising mortgage rates, etc. So is part of the strategy to focus on the immune top 5% and on the more robust US consumer, with the view that the ‘squeezed middle’ will become increasingly price sensitive over the next few years…but does that make loyalty benefits more or less important for this group…hmm.

      While BA is far from world class, it offers a very – and on some key routes the most – competitive nonstop product to the Americas & Caribbean, Africa and India. On routes further East, it is often significantly cheaper. Short haul dynamics are a bit different, but LHR and LCY will still be preferred by many. In the ‘real world’ convenience and directness are hugely important.

      Some of the online outcry about this change reminds me of certain elections in recent years when folks have been surprised that the loudest voices on social media – and in turn traditional media, which uses Twitter etc. opinion for lazy reporting – turn out not to reflect the ‘silent majority’ at all.

      All that said, this has been rolled out artlessly and probably isn’t calibrated quite right. The ‘points minority’ is certainly loud and with some creativity they could have thrown some bones to this group to keep them on side, or at least not turn them into active detractors drawing attention to BA’s other weaknesses to boot.

      • No longer Entitled says:

        3 Jan3 January 17:47

        A recession seems overdue? Feels like we have been living in one for he past decade even if not technically so.

      • Matt B says:

        6 Jan6 January 15:10

        “I can’t imagine there was a big cohort buying premium cabins *only* to get status”

        I was, regularly, to ensure silver status. I fly to the Caribbean or US up to six times a year for work, sometimes more, but have to travel economy. I regularly upgrade my ticket at personal expense to WT+ (and occasionally from there to CW) and now have no incentive, at all, to do it. Small beans in the big scheme of things, but even if I keep flying those sectors on BA going forward (which is far from guaranteed: Jet Blue to JFK is a far more pleasant experience at half the price) I won’t ever be tempted to spend hundreds of pounds of my own money to upgrade a ticket if there’s no chance of retaining status. Premium economy is nicer than economy, but it’s not worth the additional money without the business class check-in and lounge access that silver status affords. I’ll just travel everywhere from now on in the cheapest/most convenient way.

  • Clive says:

    3 Jan3 January 17:00

    The question posed by David S is very pertinent: LGW is a nuisance for us, but to avoid flying via the US, it’s the only way to get to the Caribbean with OW. Also, places like MLA are only served from LGW (So last year we each earned 80 TPs by flying from LGW to join a cruise in MLA, but returning to LHR. More expensive and more of a nuisance, but the TPs were useful). I’ve never found the First Lounge at LGW crowded, nor experienced the smell reported by Danny. On my last visit I went walkabout to explore the Galleries lounge, and thought it much better than either Galleries lounge in T5A. But when we leisure travellers whom BA no longer wants cease to use OW, I won’t need to go anywhere near LGW, so who will fill the CE seats, never mind CW and WTP in the clapped-out long-haul 777s?

    • cats_are_best says:

      3 Jan3 January 17:55

      Agree about the LGW lounges, I find both Club and First better than the T5 ones, also the toilets/showers are better, never seen a mouse there.

      Short walk from security, which typically is faster/friendlier than T5 fast track, to the lounges via the corridor avoiding the descent into the duty free obstacle course.

    • Rob says:

      3 Jan3 January 19:44

      Agree on the LGW lounges. Have only visited the Galleries lounge but found it much more pleasant than the LHR lounges.

      • Michael L says:

        3 Jan3 January 22:35

        Agree 100% on the First Lounge at LGW. The ability to actually order food from a menu and get it served to your table is something you can’t do in the First Lounge at LHR. The burgers really are worth ordering… or were.

• Kim H says:

  3 Jan3 January 17:02

  As a loyal BA customer for 15+ years, consistently holding Gold or Silver status, these changes feel like a slap in the face. Unlike corporate travelers whose flights are funded by their employers, I now pay for all my travel out of pocket. Over the years, I’ve made significant personal investments in maintaining Silver, frequently booking Business for leisure travel, even though the tangible benefits only really apply to the few Economy flights I take.

  What makes this even more frustrating is that I no longer reside in the UK. When I lived in London, using BA felt natural as the UK’s national carrier, but now, based in Copenhagen, I’ve consciously chosen to fly via LHR and stick with BA and OneWorld partners for my leisure travels. This wasn’t always the most convenient or cost-effective choice, but my loyalty to BA made it worthwhile.

  Now, with these changes, I can no longer justify that decision. Alternatives like SkyTeam (with SAS recently joining) or Star Alliance, both well-suited for travelers flying out of CPH, suddenly look far more appealing. Price-wise, these alternatives are often comparable, if not cheaper, and they don’t require connecting through LHR. For UK-based travelers, I can see how BA’s status as the national carrier might still hold some appeal, but for someone like me—loyal despite not being UK-based—it’s clear BA has taken my loyalty for granted.

  The new revenue-based system, sold as an “improvement,” makes it abundantly clear that my years of consistent support mean nothing to BA. The thresholds are absurdly high. Bronze – which offers almost no perks – requires a £3,500 spend, more than a Copenhagen-Buenos Aires return on Business on sale. Maintaining Silver, which I’ve valued for the perks on occasional Economy flights, will now require such extensive spending that it’s no longer worth the effort. And Gold? Completely unattainable unless you’re a full-time, corporate-funded traveler.

  BA is clearly cutting off the leisure and SME market, which has supported them for years, in favor of a shrinking group of full-fare business flyers. The irony is that many of those already have the benefits that status provides, rendering the tiers redundant.

  For me, this is the final straw. It’s time to explore other alliances where loyalty is still valued. BA seems to have forgotten that loyalty isn’t just about revenue – it’s about filling those “vacant” Business seats and being the first choice for its loyal customers.

  • Throwawayname says:

    3 Jan3 January 17:53

    From a UK, perspective, BA can be seen as quite representative of basically everything that’s wrong with the country – expensive, inefficient, opaque, deskilled, with everything increasingly centralised in a small geographical area, and, arguably worse of all, held back by classism and delusions of grandeur.

    Can anyone imagine even the most arrogant/out of touch amongst Lufthansa managers making the sort of comments about elite (!) customers that were reported on flyertalk by BadNewsFairy and others with internal knowledge of BA? If these rumours are true, beyond the poor communications and the questionable business sense, we’re talking totally unprofessional conduct indicating sociopathic tendencies.

    • PH says:

      3 Jan3 January 23:20

      sociopathic?! I take it you thought they were referring to you with the *alleged* cheapskate comment…

• RC says:

  3 Jan3 January 17:30

  Seems like there’s been a wake up call.
  It never was a loyalty scheme – but a marketing tool.
  BA is loyal to no one but itself and its desire to take maximum money off you while providing the most mediocre main cabin and premium cabin product it thinks it can get away with.
  It’s a purely transactional relationship, which airlines try to wrap with the emotion of loyalty. Never forget that: it’s each person for themselves.

  • BrancasterLancaster says:

    3 Jan3 January 18:00

    Loyalty schemes are always marketing tools, as you rightly say. However, done properly and done well they nudge customer behaviour to your brand and do engender genuine loyalty. And that loyalty does (should) go both ways *in a good scheme* – albeit it will always flow more from the customer than to.

    The BA Club is no longer a loyalty scheme, or a FFP. It is now nothing more than a spending “ecosystem” tangentially related to an airline.

    One way or another this will be discussed in MBA programmes. Personally I think they’ve got the implementation wrong, even if it makes sense from a business perspective.

• patrick says:

  3 Jan3 January 17:50

  100%

  • patrick says:

    3 Jan3 January 17:51

    BA has now stated this extremely clearly to us all.

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