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

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• BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

  5 Jan5 January 02:33

  I’m planning on going to Toronto in the summer,

  Despite numerous searches and starting in a range of ex-EU airports and looking at a number of carriers the cheapest routing is DUB-LHR-YYZ on BA. So despite the lack of TP earnings I’ll still end up on BA (or for £50 more on AA via New York or Chicago)

  This is despite a willingness to switch to other carriers.

  I go to Berlin and Amsterdam a few times a year. BA is still usually the cheapest option over LH and KL respectively. Not that LH flies direct to BER anyway.

  If LH and KL want my custom they need to reduce their prices.

  • Throwawayname says:

    5 Jan5 January 02:56

    That’s the whole point of this discussion – they don’t need to be cheaper than BA , they have are reliable carriers who also have lots of engaged loyal customers who are prepared to pay a premium to travel with them! It’s not unusual for me to buy a Y ticket on LH costing more than what BA charge for C to the same destination (I am talking European travel, so don’t get too excited).

    If you want a decent deal to YYZ, there’s a SAS premium economy sale to North America, starting at €596 from OSL or €611 from ARN. It’s obviously not the same as a flat bed, but Toronto isn’t Tokyo- it’s not like you’d be missing a chance to get a full night’s sleep.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      5 Jan5 January 13:05

      I didn’t say KL/LH had to be cheaper than BA just not be as expensive as they do charge!

      Neither is IMHO worth the extra cost over BA

      AMS – October – BA want £326. KL wants £ 376. Not sure they are worth £40 more but worth considering.

      BER – Sept – BA want £ 306. LH want £ 630 and to connect at FRA or MUC! Am definitly not paying that!

      Those are all for business class / 2x32kg bags / lounge access / priority security.

      Not sure of their flexibility but I do value the SDC flexibility I get from BA

      • Xmenlongshot says:

        5 Jan5 January 14:13

        The fact that there are no direct London to Berlin flights in *A is very annoying. It should be feasible / profitable for LHG to connect the capitals of two of Europe’s largest economies

      • Throwawayname says:

        5 Jan5 January 14:23

        LH, beyond completely owning the corporate market in Germany, probably want to keep seats open for long-hauls. AF also do that, some of their intra Europe business class pricing is absurd, they aren’t looking to sell (m)any seats at that price, just want to push you to KLM instead.

        Doesn’t LH give you any reasonably priced options on SN? They may not be the most premium airline in the world, but the BRU transfer experience has always been stress-free for me.

• Jay says:

  5 Jan5 January 03:03

  Anyway, it will be very interesting next week or two.
  I already made my personal decision. If BA keeps the current TP levels, I still go to GfL in next 4-5 years. If not and only accept BA/IB/AA flights under the old TP conversion booked before December 30th, I am not renew GGL benefits but barely crossing the new 40,000 Gold level with already booked flights. I´ll let GUF1 and GUF2s to expire and focus on Miles&More HON and lifetime Senator, the latter which could be achieved in the next 5-6 years, although I value BA GGL benefits higher than HON status, so using the funds of GGL/GfL to HON/LT SEN with LHG. I do have already Star Alliance Gold until 02/29 and by the end of this year until 02/31 if the FFP current t&c remain. When my BA status drops finally to Silver, I select AA Platinum status(almost two years)as WoH 100 night award. By then I rarely fly to US, so would use the oneworld lounges around the world. Then, I am “safe” with two alliances.

• Simon says:

  5 Jan5 January 09:47

  I do t see anything clear on status for 2025. I will reach gold by old method on 31 March (which is the day prior to going live). I assume therefore I will be gold until 31 March 2026. Is this correct?

  • Rob says:

    5 Jan5 January 11:01

    Yes

• GB says:

  5 Jan5 January 10:07

  Do we definitively know if spend on Hotel only bookings (for example alongside an Avios redemption) earn tier points? Or is it purely BAH flight+car/hotel?

• Garethgerry says:

  5 Jan5 January 10:20

  Just one ironic thing that occurs to me.

  When it was first launched in 1990 as “loyalty scheme ” it was call BA EXECUTIVE club, tier points were lower and fares were in real terms higher such that only those frequent business flyers in club would get Gold. Similar to new levels .They then lt it drift such that it became easier for leisure travellers to gain stars as well.

  They have now REVERSED policy so once more only hard core business travellers will get Gold. Making it the EXECUTIVE club once again. However renamed it just CLUB droping executive, to make it sound modern and more inclusive, how ironic .

  Who remembers when in 80s before Teir points could pay for membership at £142 (equivalent to silver) , about £300 now. Will they reintroduce it

  • pigeon says:

    5 Jan5 January 11:15

    The only problem with rewinding the programme to the early 90s is there are now Zoom calls and things like Docusign…business travel has declined and premium leisure is up.

    • Danny says:

      5 Jan5 January 11:33

      Don’t tell the BA apologists this… They’ll tell you that business travel is on the up and up and up 😂

    • JDB says:

      5 Jan5 January 11:56

      You shouldn’t underestimate the number of premium leisure travellers who have zero interest in status.

      • Phil says:

        5 Jan5 January 13:30

        You shouldn’t underestimate the number of Prem Leisure who live outside London and do – you are now conversing with one.

        BA is neither a direct flight nor if you pull away status benefits is the connection attractive even if you are in a CW or First for the long-haul.

        Example recent trip to Namibia with BA
        for 5 of us, 2 in first and 3 in business.

        MAN as its domestic don’t open boarding until 2hrs before, in reality meant various of us sitting around for 20 mins before even start queueing.
        BA ground staff in stand-off with guy who queued in priority lane trying his luck from start and is in economy…

        2 of group no status as 1 big trip a year and on economy flights to LHR so no lounge and had to do the depressing main concourse cuppa in a heaving Aug.
        Rest of us in the Escape Room complimentary which also packed and separate from paid one so even if got friends in there it was separate.

        MAN-LHR on a basic A319 with a nice crew but same seat as economy, you just pay to have the centre seat of 3 left empty, then sit around for over 3hrs but less than planned as 15 mins late arrival…
        We managed to guest our friends into the Concorde Room due to 1st and status.
        F lounge quite busy but CR was largely empty. Didn’t have a meal but had a cocktail & champagne after some cuppas and biscuits. No mickey taking except of each other.

        LHR-JNB lovely crew & good craic, nice flight and although not comparable to ME First it was really enjoyable and felt premium.
        CC also saved disaster as despite BA help claims you do need to collect bags MAN staff unsure.

        JNB usual chaos and AirLink plane change meant first come first served as to if got on plane. AirLink is BA’s partner and despite booking via travel agent and all via BA it is viewed as separate ticket not throughticket by BA… TA found this after multiple enquiries later and speaking to a manager as business tickets became economy on that flight due to chaos of plane changes.

        Return journey friends in business routed Capetown not JNB so not able to meet in LHR.

        As no status and they were economy they came of business flight to sit for nearly 5 hrs in LHR in the Wetherspoons with some bloke who’d been to Turkey for teeth work asking for their used glass so could self pour his duty free Fireball.
        Their cabin crew went AWOL between meals.

        My return in First the blinds broke so had to move and the new one was asked not to use the storage as the lock kept sticking

        • Phil says:

          5 Jan5 January 13:47

          Ran out of space…

          Now I’ve been on the economy conx out of LHR to MAN and if you get a delay or cancellation which frequently happens it is miserable without a lounge.

          Conversely could have gone Ethiopian for less and no AirLink, no LHR and quicker if a crap conx via Addis.
          They went BA to be with us and a couple of weeks before flying were bumped to a Cape Town return, presumably due to overselling.

          If don’t have gold or silver then no lounge on the return LHR to MAN and paying business for the A319 45 min flight is extortionate for what you get on BA1398 ( Easyjet essentially) then we are all agreed another time go elsewhere.
          If we don’t go BA then our less frequent flyer friends will go whatever route we go.

          BA don’t seem to care about Northern Monkeys like myselfand that’s why the FFP was actually the one thing keeping them in bookings along with rumours of them actually getting space in the MAN regen.

        • PH says:

          5 Jan5 January 14:07

          OT – so you don’t get lounge access coming off a CW flight with a Y connection, even tho you would have arrivals lounge access if your journey ended at LHR?

        • Tim S says:

          5 Jan5 January 16:18

          AirLink are not BA’s partner, they are just the airline that they use to book connecting flights.

          Their partner in SA – Connect Air went bust.

          I’m surprised that they couldn’t book you a through ticket, I had no problem with my journey. But what you can’t do is use your status to go in the lounge whilst waiting at JNB.

        • Phil says:

          5 Jan5 January 21:39

          @PH
          Couldn’t see a reply option but
          – I got told twice on sep occasions by Galleries staff that I couldn’t when flying in CE & once in CW with connections in economy back in 2023 when post Covid starting again on status.
          Friends without status also been told this last few years on BHX and EDI conx.
          Was also told that by the help droids by email when asking about CW afterwards too.
          I was also told a similar tale in US when arriving off a TATL with a domestic US conx as final dest years prior.

          I thought they’d changed the rules at BA but if haven’t will be fuming as booking CE connections for that very reason and its ridiculous money.
          I’d lose the Escape Lounge in MAN as not a BA lounge I expect but its fairly meh anyway.

          If I lost status and flew back First I’d have been heading to Wagamamma based on what I was told.
          Joy of listening to a BA employee and thinking they knew best.
          That’s a few trips they’ve had me paying over odds on and companions too.

          I will follow up with BA and get a final answer thank you so much for the OT query.

      • GUWonder says:

        5 Jan5 January 16:01

        Indeed most of the business/first class leisure travelers in my family and friends circles who rarely travel for work o choose airlines based on convenience, perception of quality/reliability of service and price. Going with BA via LHR rarely wins that competition.

        • Phil says:

          5 Jan5 January 16:38

          AirLink was meant to be the replacement for the lost ComAir and is a codeshare partner.

          I have done the JNB route many times and sometimes its treated as a codeshare and sometimes absolutely not.

          The main issue is not AirLink portion even if you read its the fact if you are outside London BA is a crap link airline so all this ‘non-stop ticket’ is London centric thinking

    • Garethgerry says:

      5 Jan5 January 12:07

      BA is not in the premium lesuire market . Seriously, if it was it wouldn’t have such cr*p out of Gatwick, no premium leisure traveller chooses ying-yang. BA can’t compete in premium leisure going East.

      • JDB says:

        5 Jan5 January 12:22

        Gatwick is not for the premium leisure market – it has tiny old club cabin and serves second tier leisure destinations like Cancun and the Dominican Republic. There are plenty of premium leisure customers from LHR flying not only to beach places like Barbados or Maldives but also to the likes of South Africa, Japan etc.

        • Phil says:

          5 Jan5 January 13:54

          I’ve said earlier the Prem Leisure people often book via dedicated operators and speaking to some who work in one people who prev specified BA or OW only on their quote requests have changed it after the status debacle.

          I’m on such a flight Mar 27th which BA / OW was requested to secure status for next yr and kickstart the new status yr with the return in April.
          Its a photo tiger safari in Bandhavgarh and 3 nights extra in Delhi. BA can’t sell that holiday but they can send me back to EK for most flights East as I’m EK Silver

        • Cicero says:

          5 Jan5 January 17:23

          The Maldives may be a premium destination for JDB but I’m not sure they are for anyone else. Presumably he spends his holidays in Skegness.

        • Tim S says:

          6 Jan6 January 07:42

          Replying to Cicero

          Just because the Maldives isn’t always a premium destination doesn’t mean that it never is. (And I mean a destination where, once they have arrived, those premium travellers are fully isolated from the bucket and spade mob)

          These travellers have to get there and private jet is probably too far up the luxury scale (and so not the environmental thing to do nowadays)

  • Phil says:

    5 Jan5 January 11:33

    Air Canada and a few let you buy lounge access for a year IIRC.

    BA is pricing its membership at £7.5k and £20k in flights so they have decided anything below those is too cheap.

    If they were smart ( which they aren’t) and priced it right they could offer end of year status upgrade purchases as a tier bonus between Silver and Gold.

    I doubt it would make finanial sense though

    • JDB says:

      5 Jan5 January 12:24

      It’s funny how people keep saying BA isn’t smart (ie the outsiders think they know better) when BA and IAG are quite so profitable vs other carriers. They are doing something right.

      • Tom says:

        5 Jan5 January 13:18

        Yeah, I) BAEC and II) LHR which has structurally higher margins than any other European hub. They’ve just deliberately kicked one of those two crutches away so if they stick with this (and I think BA will come to it’s senses and modify the proposition very, very shortly), let’s see what happens to 2025 results and IAG share price accordingly.

      • Danny says:

        5 Jan5 January 13:59

        I think BA will have to discount its seats even more now to fill them or cut further destinations and retreat to its favoured locales across the pond.

        Plainly obvious they have little enthusiasm to expand further East… I’ll guess Sydney will be given the chop in some time. Perhaps they’ll throw in the towel for Shanghai too.

        The only thing that matters to them now is money…and Americans have deep pockets…

      • Phil says:

        5 Jan5 January 14:38

        Because BAEC and LHR dominance gave them a position and the geographical position made them useful conx for travelling to most continents with their network.

        This has diminished a lot now and add in brunchgate and running services below competition for more

        Outsiders can take a condor view, BA & IAG are often tunnel-visioned.
        Brunchgate is clear example

      • Cranzle says:

        5 Jan5 January 17:21

        Pretty much a monopoly position with historial slots. Fired all their expensive & experienced staff. Giving customers a 10g snack. Stopped cleaning planes but announcing regular deep cleans like they are doing us a favour and it’s some type of premium service. Poorly desgined ‘new’ cabins that quickly fall apart. Perinnel announcements of evern newer cabins that will probably never be full rolled out.

        I wouldn’t call them smart. Take away their ‘inhertied’ routes and being completely untouched by government and genuinely the management isn’t smart enought to run this business. And yet people complain the ME3 have an unfair advantage.

      • Scott says:

        5 Jan5 January 18:09

        They’re not really having to do anything right.
        Brand name, Heathrow, lots of planes, BA planes fly to many places people might want to go to etc.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    5 Jan5 January 12:10

    Why would they introduce an option to buy status on the cheap when they have just implemented a system that is the reverse?

    • Cranzle says:

      5 Jan5 January 18:32

      Because they are so smart that they can pull in revenue and then immediately p*ss off those same customers. It’s won’t really affect their business due to monopoloy/dominance/halo effect that they have.

• Mike says:

  5 Jan5 January 10:33

  December 2024: ‘We’re evolving our rewards to match the way you love to travel.’

  April 2026: ‘Remember that wine you discovered on that trip? Sign up for a monthly case of wine with The Wine Flyer and get 2,500 TPs/year.’

• Tom Reid says:

  5 Jan5 January 11:24

  Does flying with Qatar to Asia still look like a good option? If you fly flexible business you get 50% of the mileage as tier point (as I understand it). As an example, London to Singapore via Doha is roughly 7000 miles so you should get 7000 tier points on a return trip – presumably? The cost of this ticket should be considerably less than 7000 pounds (plus taxes).

  Thoughts?

  • Peter says:

    5 Jan5 January 12:27

    I have the same idea with Finnair and by my calculation 3 x return trips to Asia in business on J ticket should keep gold with a cost at £10 K already pay approx £8.5 K for reduced business seat unsure though how long partner alines with adopt mileage before changing to cost ?

  • Ollie says:

    5 Jan5 January 13:13

    Pricing for a random week in September 2025 (not the Grand Prix) for a 7 day trip shows about 3500GBP return in P class and 6250GBP in C class. P would give 3550 new TPs and C would give 7101 new TPs as you say. In the old world both would yield 560 old TPs, so just shy of Silver. However I think this actually elegantly demonstrates who they’re targeting with the new system. First, why would you buy a flexible ticket in the first place unless you actually needed the flexibility? Often it’s cheaper to buy closer to departure when plans are clearer and it’s still less than fully-flexible. I’m guessing most SMEs and leisure travelers aren’t going to waste cash on flexibility that seems to be designed for bankers who need to stay in New York another 15 hours to clinch a $20m deal, have no time to even rebook so noshow and still get a refund – in that case the flexibility absolutely makes sense. You are slightly better rewarded with flexible tickets in the new system, but that too is dependent on the partner airline (see my earlier comment about encircling the planet 4 times in Cathay First to earn Gold).
    Second is the predictability – assuming you travel more than once a year and therefore don’t blow your travel budget on an unnecessarily flexible ticket, the complexity of topping up what you earnt from that flight detracts from even trying in the first place. Travelling with some airlines, e.g. CX will require an inordinate amount of spend even to make up the other 3450 you need for silver, BA will need about 4500GBP of spend (cos taxes), and I simply plan my travel differently. It’s much easier to think “I need a couple more TPs to make silver this year, and I’m heading to these 2 places which will do it because the TPs are fixed”.
    Third, Silver is a mediocre status that will give you almost all that you already have in a business class ticket anyway. An Amex Platinum card can be had for 650GBP (maybe 150GBP if you net out all the rebates) that gives access to perfectly acceptable lounges and works with any airline, for 4 people. The fun has always been in chasing Gold and above, and being welcomed into the First Pier at Hong Kong with a massage and 6-course tasting menu. Something which, even with those unnecessarily flexible C class tickets, needs 3 returns to SIN costing around 18.5k — suspiciously close to the 20k required on BA. It’s just not worth it.

• Greg Small says:

  5 Jan5 January 11:45

  Changing the Tier Point system based on spend is a good call but maybe the points for each status need looking at. In addition the timing is poor. BA have incentivised customers to use BA holidays for double tier points on booking to the end of June and then changing rules in April seem disingenuous.
  Allowing members to gain tier points through spend is a good way to spend with BA in different ways. However, we don’t know spending levels for tier points. Tier points on spend limited to 2500! Why?
  They should have taken the opportunity to review the perks. The one I detest with the old tier system is when you are allowed to book your seat for free. If a lower status booker, you can pay for your seat and then later be gazumped by someone who has a higher status how can this ever be fair. They should look at the perks of each status and at least change this one and maybe add something better.
  Overall the right thing to do but implemented badly and in a convoluted way in my opinion.

  • Garethgerry says:

    5 Jan5 January 12:21

    Never heard of a seat being gazumped once paid for.

    • Greg Small says:

      5 Jan5 January 13:20

      Yep happened to us. Still got a seat in same cabin but not what we originally booked.

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        5 Jan5 January 13:24

        Well I hope you claimed yoru refund.

        • Garethgerry says:

          5 Jan5 January 15:09

          Was it change of plane, only acceptable reason

          Whatever you were due a refund

    • Lady London says:

      5 Jan5 January 16:16

      Happens a lot, from reports. And not just due to equipment changes. So unlikely to be any other reason than taking money and then deciding if airline is gonna honour the seat reservation at their convenience. A bit like the higher vulnerablity as we;ve seen, for people travelling on 241’s or even just award tickets, to be bumped if there;s a good reason… or even, it seems, when there;s not other than that BA appeared to have wanted to keep the option to resell that seat.

      There’s just too many reports of all of the above, sustainably over time for it not to be a working practice of BA and not just as a result of extreme events.

      • Tim S says:

        5 Jan5 January 16:37

        what would be the point of BA bumping someone who had paid for seat selection with someone who gets it free.

        They’d be paying money back to the self-payer and getting nothing from the free booker.

        It’s not like there are routinely no seats for priority customers to pre-book. The majority of people who don’t get free seat selection wait until check in.

        • Scott says:

          5 Jan5 January 18:11

          Same reason BA won’t always book someone onto another flight costing maybe £100 after some issue, yet then pay out £2k for compensation, expenses etc.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Jan5 January 22:51

          Oh, many hundreds or even over 1000 pounds in revenue receivable if they resell the award seat they already sold to someone. Obvs a couple travelling on a 241 make an even more tempting target. Because there is even more money per seat between what BA can sell those seats for now, vs the cash actually paid for them.

          You can put some down to equipment changes, some down to moving paid for seats because someone checks in with a really good reason for their party not to be split amongst remaining unbooked seats (eg disabled accompanying person), with a stretch some can be attributed to the normal overbooking parameters being exceeded by people that did turn up for the flight…. one can make allowances that an award person bounced out of their seat or off the flight, with or without a 241, is perhaps more likely to complain if they’re an HfP reader….

          But even taking all that into account, over the years and years it’s really clear that award seats and especially if more than one seat is needed or wanted for re-selling, 241’s and award seats are targeted first by BA to lose their seat or even the particular flight, that they paid for.

          Someone even contributed BA;s internal priority list for bumping, ISTR, sometime last year, which did confirm this by a prioritised list.

        • Tim S says:

          6 Jan6 January 08:20

          The discussion wasn’t about bumping people off the plane completely. It was about bumping people out of a pre-booked seat into something inferior

      • Phil says:

        5 Jan5 January 22:33

        I think this is probably the ae old oversold plane and not gazumping per se.
        Had this on Qatar and can lead to involuntary deboarding ( has happened ) and they put on another flight or downgrade to next cabin down.
        Should compensate either way.

        I was once deboarded and sent to a non-existant connection in same day by Qatar. Not impressed.

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