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

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• GUWonder says:

  13 Jan13 January 11:17

  If the BA lounges were rarely busy and mostly empty, I would take that as a sign of BA being in big trouble. That BA now wants to decimate the ranks of the BA elites entitled to lounge access based on BA elite status is not because BA is already in big trouble. It’s because BA wants to goose up its revenues and profit margins at the expense of the customers.

• Karen says:

  13 Jan13 January 12:35

  In Nov 24, I booked a 9K BA holiday to Turkey for myself and 3 family members in August 2025, however, I’m now wondering whether it would be more beneficial for me to cancel and rebook after the 1st April in order to maximise my TP’s. BA state that they will convert your TP’s but I’m not convinced I’ll receive the maximum points if I keep the booking rather than cancelling and rebooking after 1st April. Any thoughts?

  • Rob says:

    13 Jan13 January 12:42

    On the new model you get 9,000 TP split between 4, which isn’t many at all (2,250 each – not even bronze).

    At present you get ‘TP due under current system x 13.5 x 2’ for each of you. You didn’t say if you are flying Business or not – Business would be 160 x 13.5 x 2 so 4,320 each.

    • AJA says:

      13 Jan13 January 14:32

      @Rob You state that the ‘TP due under current system x 13.5 x 2’. Why the x2 at the end? If that is the double tier points then I think that is wrong as @Karen has booked a holiday for August 2025. I think the old end date for the double tier point promo was for travel by the end of June 2025.

      • Rob says:

        13 Jan13 January 15:42

        Sorry, yes, you’re right. Apologies. It’s just x13.5 then.

    • Karen says:

      13 Jan13 January 16:26

      Thanks for your response Rob,. We are flying Business Class. I read the note below that mentions it would only be x13.5 and if that is the case would it still be worth retaining the booking or rebooking do you think? Many thanks in advance

      • Rob says:

        13 Jan13 January 16:54

        Pretty marginal on that basis then – which it was meant to be. 160 x 13.5 = 2,160 each.

        The ONLY reason to cancel would be if you wanted to rebook JUST FOR YOURSELF. You book 1 flight and the hotel and you would get ALL the tier points under the system. Your wife and kids would book a flight separately. The problem there is what happens when all 4 of you turn up at the hotel – is that an issue?

        • Karen says:

          13 Jan13 January 18:12

          Thank you , that makes sense. I did also look into booking 1 flight and the hotel on one booking, but with BA holiday’s it wont let you book the hotel for more than 1 person if there is only 1 person on the return flights. I think I’ll stick to the current booking then. I also have an Amex BAPP card that I use for my everyday purchases and holiday bookings, that I have managed to obtain the companion voucher on, so fingers crossed I will also be able to obtain TP’s on the card to move up a tier 🙂

    • Dubious says:

      14 Jan14 January 01:12

      There was something in the FAQ that mentioned that for BAHs, you can avoid splitting the TPs by removing the passenger’s BAEC accounts from the booking.

      • JDB says:

        14 Jan14 January 07:38

        The TP for a holiday are evenly split regardless, so if someone doesn’t have a number, those points would be lost.

• sxparkin says:

  13 Jan13 January 14:04

  For those who may down grade their BA Amex if and when the 2 4 1 goes, especially – or before to save on fees etc or just decide to – NOTE that you need to retain / have an Amex card in your name to pay fees and charges on the Companion Voucher you are using at the time. This was buried in the terms and conditions so sharing for those no aware, in case useful for the ‘future’ as the story unravels. If I got this wrong please correct me but that is the gist of it.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    13 Jan13 January 14:18

    Actually you just need an amex card and not even one in your own name and this has been the situation for many years.

    And where has it been said that the ‘2 4 1 goes’?

    • SXPARKIN says:

      13 Jan13 January 17:37

      To clarify and thanks for comments – really useful – the 2 4 1 is up for debate as per earlier comments as something that would be a game changer in addition to the other changes – see comments herein on that over the last week or so – as an ‘IF’ – I did not state it goes – its a maybe and hopefully not !……. just ‘caveat emptor’ time Here is what I stated for precision understanding ‘if and when the 2 4 1 goes’…. as above

  • AJA says:

    13 Jan13 January 14:38

    I’d be wary of ditching the BAPP card. You are throwing away the potential to earn 2500 tier points as I think it is only on the paid for BA Amex. Also if you want to sign up later again you have to meet the minimum salary requirement which is higher for the paid card than the free one. Personally I hope that the tier points will be earned from £1 or whatever the ratio will be. It will not be so attractive if the earning for tier points only kicks in once you’ve earned the voucher ie only on spending above £15k. Does anyone know when the details of this part of the scheme will be announced? I assume it will be in April.

• Garethgerry says:

  14 Jan14 January 07:57

  Longhaul I choose airline on

  1) Convience least stops and timing, 2) Ailse access business seat , 3)price

  For Cape town, 1 and 2 mean BA. Flight club suite VG, Food actually very nice , Service fine, boarding fine as you get 1 locker per passenger, no rush last on , avoid priority 1 scrum.

  The one let down T5 first lounge, wasn’t crowded, just nothing special, the B lounge better, even better food. So my one hope is BA improves the first (gold) lounge as numbers decrease. If it doesn’t then waste of time. See after April 26

  • Throwawayname says:

    14 Jan14 January 09:10

    Sounds sensible but the FFP doesn’t come into it (unless you include it in ‘price’ using some kind of formula to factor in mileage rebates). Interestingly S. Africa might well be the only long haul market to which BA fly where the country’s flag carrier doesn’t go to LON (I can also think of Argentina, but I don’t think BA fly there nonstop and an one-stop to EZE probably isn’t the most convenient way of getting there when you can grab a connection to AEP instead), so the only direct alternative is the VS route which currently is only seasonal and, given the airline in question, might be cancelled whenever they feel like it.

    • Garethgerry says:

      14 Jan14 January 10:34

      The BA food was surprisingly good. Simple but good.

      FFP has never been part of my choice except as tie breaker. Don’t fly BA short haul as it’s a 6 hr drive to Heathrow from far West Cornwall. For longhaul it’s always business , so convenience and price normally rule.

      However for example flying just after Covid reasonably priced flexible refundable tickets came first.

      Cape Town is one of the few routes where BA has it easy. But trip highlights that BA first lounge now no better than other airlines business lounge. It used to be better especially before CCR , First World problem.

      • Throwawayname says:

        14 Jan14 January 11:04

        Would you still choose a direct flight from LHR over the new KLM service from EXT?

  • JDB says:

    14 Jan14 January 09:59

    A bit gobsmacked by the “very nice” CW food comment but that aside, it is planned and budgeted for fairly significant improvements in the LHR lounges with the intention of having slightly fewer people in what will ultimately be more lounge space and an improved lounge offering.

• GUWonder says:

  14 Jan14 January 09:13

  As soon as BA made this elite status rank destruction public during the holiday periods, I had expected AirFrance-KLM to seek to grab alienated BA elites in the UK.

  And now they have:

  https://flyingblue.statusmatch.com/

  I wish AF-KL had done the status match directly without this statusmatch.com commercial intermediary, but this is how it is for now.

  • GUWonder says:

    14 Jan14 January 09:20

    Before this status match offer for UK accounts was just released, the AF-KL status match offer that’s been around for a while had excluded the UK but included much of continental Europe.

    • LittleNick says:

      14 Jan14 January 09:35

      Yes annoyingly when I tried to match my Ba Gold to AF Plat, it wasn’t open to UK residents, and now dropped down to silver so don’t think I can match to Plat 😬

    • Rob says:

      14 Jan14 January 09:39

      The fee was also £400 for Gold last time they did it. Now £99.

  • Throwawayname says:

    14 Jan14 January 09:41

    The geniuses at FB went and devalued redemptions literally yesterday or the night before (not by an horrendous amount, but some routes hadn’t been cheap to begin with). They’re trying to catch flies using vinegar.

    • GUWonder says:

      14 Jan14 January 10:04

      Unfortunately, true with that devaluation of FlyingBlue points.

      Sadly, I am expecting a pretty substantial devaluation in Avios too to hit my BA account if I don’t use the points sooner than later.

  • Nick P says:

    14 Jan14 January 19:00

    Now is it was a status match to LH Star Alliance that popped up tomorrow, I think that would [at least should] be a wake-up call to BA.

    Whilst this [FB] could be a good move for some, the devaluation of their redemptions makes this less appealing.

    • RC says:

      15 Jan15 January 10:22

      Only a matter of time before Avios are massively devalued by dynamic redemptions, so nothing to lose. I know several GGLs who’ve already made the switch (though their flying is long haul and none live in west London).
      No doubt @JDB wil soon pop up to tell us how ungrateful we should only fly with BA because it’s better for it’s shareholders, ignoring customers again. At least AFKLM are more customer centric, and they’re implicitly state backed so actually safer free foyer schemes longer term than BA 🙂

• davestat says:

  14 Jan14 January 09:53

  Having completed what seems like zillions of surveys from BA in the past, you get the impression that they are loaded questions and no one reads the comments anyway but having flown MH this week they seem genuinely interested in hearing your views and their IT is amazing compared to BA. Everything works, the upsell features are all there (none of the …we are busy, please try again later) and they are so good at keeping you updated. 25 minute delay flying to PEN last week and they let you know immediately, sent apologies afterwards and on a 176 mile flight, they still dished out food and drink upfront.

  • RC says:

    14 Jan14 January 10:46

    As at @JDB will let you know, only BA knows how to run an airline. BA has no need to look at anyone else and therefore functions on the same stale outdated business methods- reaching for McKinsey to educate them for a fee.
    BA has a corporate arrogance that isn’t justified by an airline so badly rated in consumer surveys.
    Nice to hear others still try

    • JDB says:

      14 Jan14 January 12:58

      @RC – what a ridiculous riposte! What can be said is that BA has successfully run a hugely profitable airline for many (non covid) years with margins that are the envy of its European legacy carrier competitors, the only fair comparators, although the metrics stand up very well against others as well. BA also has no government moral or financial support unlike the LH group or AF/KL and it’s still standing after all those years when so many flag carriers have gone bust. So they must be doing something right. Perhaps a more balanced analysis would carry more credibility.

      It wouldn’t appear that you have ever looked at airline finances or operations in any depth and I’m sure you would be surprised how other airlines that are very highly rated send staff to BA on secondment and vice versa.

      I don’t agree with a lot of what BA does and I think their current CW offering is unacceptably poor and long haul cabin crew inadequately trained but that doesn’t in itself make the company rubbish any more than the current TP saga. My support, such as it is, mainly comes in response to lazy tropes.

      Your blanket assertion about BA management is mindless, not supported by any evidence and unnecessarily rude to individuals who can’t respond. The jibe under another article today that “BA can’t manage their way out of a paper bag” is fortunately sufficiently extreme to confirm its risibility.

      • Garethgerry says:

        14 Jan14 January 15:57

        I disagree that the BA CW is poor. Club suites and service out of LHR is beter than OK and often good. BA CW out of Gatwick is something they should ASHAMED of.

        BA T5 FIRST lounge , is at best an OK business lounge, this is where I look for improvement

        BA gold line is good.

        But I do agree strongly that BA must be a well run company to survive and make money in a tough competitive world with no subsidy l

      • Ziggy says:

        14 Jan14 January 19:08

        @JDB – So far in this very long set of comments, you’ve said that “people have enjoyed unduly cheaply acquired status”, you’ve talked about people “who think BA owes them a living” you’ve called people “faux Gold” and “faux silver” and you’ve called people “gamers”, and yet, somehow, you still manage to find the audacity to call other people’s comments “lazy tropes”. Staggering.

      • RC says:

        14 Jan14 January 23:23

        @JDB how do you explain that even Iberia has had better margins, better Skytrax scores than BA for three year years now.
        BA is not the ‘envy’ but seen as a business study case of over earning, and increasingly reliant on the one trick pony of the Atlantic. Both spell trouble ahead and with a weak US partner (AA) that has trashed its corporate base, it’s easy pickings for Delta/ST.
        Thats why the smart money is selling IAG shares into strength.

      • RC says:

        15 Jan15 January 10:34

        Let’s look at the facts:
        BA has been consistently incapable of running a schedule on time and to plan for 3 years – due to recruitment and retention problems. Unlike sat easyJet. These are well known by everyone except BA management.
        IAG’s own data show that BA has badly underperformed Iberia financially for three years, as well as on operational metrics and Skytrax. Skytrax has BA under review to become a 3 star airline.
        BA has lost Heathrow premium market share over the last decade. Thats a fact and customers are voting with their feet.
        External assessments of employee recommendations see BA perform poorly. @JDB your employees don’t recommend BA as a place to work. There’s a lot of data on that but public ones like glassdoir are visible to all.
        BA has consistently devalued Avios. Redemption costs have increased, add on costs have increased and continue to do so, earning rates are slashed, and tye latest changes risk collapse (due to disengagement) if the Avios ‘ecosystem’.
        Alternative options like the flying blue status match are safer. Unlike BA, AF and KLM are happy to accept being implicitly stare backed. To me as a customer (and customers don’t care about whether your margins are high or low), those are airlines with longevity that BA may not have since it’s underperforming Iberia.

    • JDB says:

      14 Jan14 January 13:04

      @RC – while you have lauded MH for the service it offered to @davestat are you aware that it fairly recently went bankrupt, has had to be bailed out several times and has had a series of management catastrophes/crises – see what Malaysians think of the airline. Is that what you mean by good management?

      • David S says:

        14 Jan14 January 14:31

        MH definitely has had its issues but the staff are fantastic, it does run on time, they regularly communicate news and promote the arrival of additions to the fleet. BA just seems (IMHO) to stick its head in the sand. It needs to be more humble. Sorry JDB

        • JDB says:

          14 Jan14 January 15:54

          No need to be sorry at all @David S – my issue is simply that BA isn’t all bad and this sweeping criticism about the whole company is quite embarrassingly lazy.

          I know BA has a huge amount to do and even if they do a lot, they still aren’t going to get near ME or Asian carriers that simply have a totally different approach to hospitality and can also employ far more staff because staff costs are just so much lower. It has been particularly noticeable to us on the BA China routes just how good the local crew are vs the UK based crews; quite tragic really. The Chinese crew are/were of a totally different calibre, better presented, much more professional and charming. They actually gave one the feeling they enjoyed their jobs which was very impressive as they had been given notice of termination as a result of the Beijing route suspension.

      • RC says:

        14 Jan14 January 23:17

        As a passenger I don’t care about the airline’s finance. Any flag carrier is effectively state backed, as Covid demonstrated. BA devalues Avios and the exec club every year, so it’s earn and burn, don’t save.
        So why should anyone care about all the balance sheet nonsense?
        Much more interested in best product/price. BA fails that in short haul, fails going east, and Delta is a league ahead Atlantic.
        Your comments do show how arrogant and out of touch BA is though – and how poorly it understands customers.
        Don’t presume btw – we run funds of several €bn for HNWs only.
        And as for secondments to BA: yes but they report back how badly it is run, so @jdb you’re in denial.
        Point stands, go look up ‘enshittification’ (you’ll need to – they did nt teach that in the 1960s) and see how well BA fits that.

        • JDB says:

          15 Jan15 January 08:39

          @RC your comment re secondments is totally incorrect and shows you have absolutely no clue as to what they involve.

          The comment re BA devaluing Avios and the Exec Club every year doesn’t bear analysis on any reasonable time frame. Both have actually improved in the last 25 years.

          As a passenger, you should care about airline finances as profits finance improvements. It’s relevant in the context of your praise for Delta and whoever you are suggesting going east. They are able to do more/offer more because of structural, cost and subsidisation that BA can never attain.

          Re BA not understanding passengers. Hmm! I think they understand them all too well and adopt the famous maxim of Colbert.

          I don’t require lessons on vocab, traditional or contemporary.

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

          15 Jan15 January 14:01

          “Any flag carrier is effectively state backed”

          Airlines received covid support like many other businesses. it doesn’t mean anything in the long term. ot a future govenrment will bail them out.

          Even the concept of a flag carrier means little today.

          Oh and please stop with the petty insults and snide remarks. They really don’t help anyone.

          And that’s even before the concept of a ‘flag carrier’ went out years ago.

• George K says:

  14 Jan14 January 10:45

  Hoping someone could help double-check my maths here. We’ve got a BA Hols planned for end of April (albeit not fully paid off yet), booked well ahead of the Club changes, with the intention of benefiting from the double TP offer and getting three of us as close to Gold as possible.

  Before the changes were introduced, I expected that the trip would yield us 1440 TPs, which includes two non-BAH positioning flights, a BAH which is a mix of economy and business fares multiplied by two.

  Is there any way to calculate what we’re due in the new world order? BA said that it’ll honour existing bookings by awarding the equivalent TPs under the new scheme, so very roughly, I expect that 1440×13.35 will land us at 19224 each. If that’s accurate, that’s fine and we’ll push ahead with it.

  But I predict an onslaught with BA’s IT, as it’ll have to contend not only with what will now be a historical offer of double TPs (which was originally supposed to run till June) but also with a historical award rate. The new structure of BAH which splits the TPs among the people in the booking is also a worry, but I expect that BA will honour the historical arrangement which awards the same TPs to everyone.

  Is there a way to calculate what we’re due now, so we can be armed with this if (or..when) it all goes wrong after we come back?

• Jonathan says:

  14 Jan14 January 11:34

  To all those who think BA will change their minds and move things back to the way it currently is right now, there’s no hope whatsoever.
  BA definitely looked at this long and hard, and saw that there’s far too many people gaining status by buying dirt cheap tickets, or taking advantage of the likes of Qatar Airways extensive network and being able to pick up Gold status by doing just three return bookings in Business, with the amount of seats they’ve got to fill, and departures from all over Europe, it’s easy enough to find very affordable fares, plus QR will give the option of flying on BA metal to and or from transit in Doha, so that makes the 4 flights on BA metal mandate easily done.

  I’ve got no idea what idea how people reacted in the likes of the U.S. when the major airline programs first announced these changes to their policies, people however got used it soon enough…

  • GUWonder says:

    14 Jan14 January 11:46

    The US airlines packaged it with a “spend like crazy” on the airline credit cards (or with “the airline shopping mall” partners) and you can still have some elite status. Over time with these spend-target qualifications, some people dropped out of the elite status game but instead went into the bank card and/or manufactured spend game for either elite status or travel benefits.

    Most US airline elite status level benefits are mostly useless nowadays for most travel in the US anyway. So now people have just sort of surrendered to the worsening value proposition of airline frequent flyer programs for travelers and suffer what they must or pay up for an upgrade or premium fare ticket.

    • Throwawayname says:

      14 Jan14 January 12:23

      Exactly, the US analogies are missing the point when one considers that most US airline customers travel domestically the vast majority of the time and literally the most important benefit of status everywhere else in the world (namely lounge access) isn’t part of their status benefits (DL even exclude it internationally), the second most important one (express security clearance) can be purchased from the authorities through a subscription and the third one (baggage on cheap fares) can be had through a basic credit card. You’re basically left with the odd short haul upgrade and business class check in- and even that is discouraged (e.g. through reduced opening hours) in favour of the self service kiosks.

      • Ishan says:

        14 Jan14 January 20:32

        The US is also set up differently in that the top end Delta Amex provides you with 15 Delta lounge passes (previously unlimited but changing in April 2025) for your $650 annual fee. Sure, you can achieve similar here with an Amex Plat but it’s not a BA lounge.

  • Ishan says:

    14 Jan14 January 20:30

    Which they could equally have solved the LH Hon Circle way of requiring a certain number of tier points for Silver and/or Gold to come from BA metal instead of just four flights.

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