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

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• Catalan says:

  2 Jan2 January 00:31

  One has to remember that whilst committing oneself to never flying BA again, because of their ‘treachery’, their bread and butter routes are across the Atlantic. The revenue here is shared with those in the Joint Venture agreement. So, whether one flies BA or not they’ll still get their money. Losing us ‘low value frequent flyers’ from BAEC will matter to them not one jot!

  • Throwawayname says:

    2 Jan2 January 00:58

    That’s another good reason to switch to Skyteam. By the way, and unlike oneworld, their JV doesn’t cover routes to/from Mexico, so you can actually choose where your money ends up!

    • Catalan says:

      2 Jan2 January 03:28

      Despite this I’ll stick to collecting Avios and Virgin points to fly in premium cabins. It’s the reason why I originally started reading HfP years ago. I’m not prepared to head off to some FF program I know absolutely nothing about. My raison d’être was never about trying to achieve BA Gold/Silver so these changes don’t upset me in the slightest.

• Michael says:

  2 Jan2 January 00:34

  Comment 2025.

  Bets on how this all plays out…

• Danny says:

  2 Jan2 January 01:03

  This comment on the FT thread, seemingly by a very well-informed BA insider, provides interesting insight

  https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36774680-post1468.html

  • AviosTraveller says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:20

    Clearly not someone well-informed, the bonus piece is complete bullshit (from an insider, too).

    • Danny says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:02

      They were well-informed enough to know what was going to happen months ago….They were ridiculed for it… yet it happened.

    • Danny says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:04

      And I’m unsure what the bonus bit is that you’re referring to…

      • Danny says:

        2 Jan2 January 09:05

        Ahh the bonus for those at BA…tbh it has been rushed out and i can see why certain types would want it announced by year-end

        • Fred Hopkins says:

          2 Jan2 January 10:38

          I think you’ll find it was cooked up by Colm Lacey & Adam Daniels (I know you hate IAG Loyalty having to take ownership for crap decisions but they are complicit here) not Ian Romanis. His move to CF is related to another thing entirely.

        • Tim S says:

          3 Jan3 January 15:41

          But that makes no sense.

          If it were in someone’s milestones for YE to achieve their bonus, it would have been in the to do list at year start.

          there’s little work to do to actually scope out this scheme, so they could have easily announced it in May 2024 for implementation April 25.

          Giving everyone 10 months notice with no need to come up with an, as generous, scheme to reward people who have already booked for post April 25.

• The Original Nick. says:

  2 Jan2 January 01:28

  @ Patrick. Thanks. I may just stay at the hotel and sit in the sun and use the pool right up until the last minute and turn up at the airport as late as possible.

  • andy says:

    2 Jan2 January 07:30

    this has absolutely always been the better choice to begin with, in the history of mankind. noone *sane* ever thought that sitting in a lounge, be it marketed as ‘exclusive’ to flax their own low self-esteem, was in reality a better experience than sitting by the pool.

    no changes here

• The Original Nick. says:

  2 Jan2 January 03:06

  This would be a good time for an airline like Virgin to offer a status match from BA surely.

  • Tim S says:

    2 Jan2 January 07:40

    It’s been said here several times that they are.
    And I’ve said several times that a match from status with lounge access to one without lounge access (silver to silver) isn’t a match at all.

    Though the free luggage at all fares might be useful (I need to look carefully at that), BA only give me a free extra check-in if I’ve already paid for the first one, and I never ever travel with 2.

    • Nico says:

      2 Jan2 January 07:58

      Last time, I think, they matched silver to gold.

      • Tim S says:

        2 Jan2 January 09:31

        good to know

        thanks

    • Clive says:

      2 Jan2 January 10:35

      As Tim S comments, VS is offering a status match, but it has to be linked with a premium cabin booking with VS. Having once been Flying Blue Platinum, before switching to BA for the 2-for-1 vouchers from AMEX, I’m now dusting off my current Blue card to check their gradings, while also checking whether my flight pattern (involving spending quite a lot of my own money with BA) would be better served by using my current Burgundy level membership with QR (taken out to get an hour’s free wifi, oh dear, I’m a ‘freeloader’ in the eyes of some).

• LittleNick says:

  2 Jan2 January 07:49

  Now a petition:

  https://chng.it/C5CGK9FhbP

  Sadly I doubt it will change much but at least it might be worth signing

  • StanTheMan says:

    2 Jan2 January 07:51

    Hahahahahahahhaha

  • danstravel says:

    2 Jan2 January 07:57

    LOL – how very British of us. Maybe we should take a leaf out of the French and and head to the streets to start a protest as well?

  • Paul says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:09

    Done

  • George says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:25

    😂

  • JDB says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:35

    That’s the most terribly worded petition that seems to play directly into BA’s narrative without making the case for the complainants.

    • George says:

      2 Jan2 January 08:41

      “This move will be a testament to their commitment to a customer-first approach”

      Customer-first approach and BA (and probably most other listed or private equity companies) in the same sentence 😂

  • Steve says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:44

    Goodness me, that petition and moreover the perceived’ ’injustice’ is embarrassing.

  • Tiger of ham says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:02

    This is like the farmer protesting that they don’t get to keep all of their tax incentives. And we want them all back.

    Can we all get some perspective?

  • Skywalker says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:22

    Really?!

    Plot twist: BA started the petition themselves, just for the japes.

    😄

  • John says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:26

    Instead vote with your feet and move your business elsewhere and hope the CMA open an investigation into their monopoly at Heathrow – only problem is this monopoly exists for all national airlines at the main hubs

  • Mike says:

    2 Jan2 January 12:51

    Sorry, I’m not begging them. Scrw them, I’m switching to a different mileage club. I may still use their flights but I will be collecting benefits elsewhere.

• Seagull says:

  2 Jan2 January 07:58

  May have missed it, but do we know if cash upgrades (either in advance or at the airport) will be a qualifying spend?

  • LittleNick says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:20

    I suspect that will be the same as now, if underlying fare is cash booking yes, if avios redemption then no

  • John says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:27

    £59 to £150 spend will make all the difference. Remember any taxes uplifts won’t count

  • Jack says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:44

    There is a note somewhere I think in the FAQs that any AUPs purchased at the airport will qualify

• mda23 says:

  2 Jan2 January 08:05

  I’m currently Silver as is my partner, who used to be Gold but now not flying as much in J class to the US for work. We’re both originally from Australia so fly back there annually and often also to the Far East for holidays in Thailand where we stay in smaller top-end resorts. There are also a few trips in Europe too, mostly in economy and we have the BA Amex Platinum card (I’m the secondary card holder). For the long-haul flights we typically travel in J class but have found good deals on other Oneworld airlines like Cathay, Finnair and Qatar which all have excellent business products, often much cheaper than BA. We’ve therefore achieved our status more through the benefits of the Oneworld alliance and enjoyed the tier benefits when flying shorhaul economy in Europe on BA. So unless we only fly BA business longhaul and book our hotel/resort accommodation through BA Holidays, it’s unlikely that we would be able to maintain our status. I would be happy to try, but there are two main problems. The first is that BA is often not competitive on price and there is still a good chance one will end up in the old Club World seats on flights to Singapore and other cities. Secondly, BA Holidays only seem to sell hotels in the cities or islands they fly to. Currently, the only option for Thailand, for example, is places like Phuket, Koh Samui, and Pattaya, etc, which are very overdeveloped and not somewhere where many discerning travellers want to go. Many of the hotels are often large bland hotels. We prefer to stay in a small five star resort in the quiet north-east of Koh Phangan and have also done holidays in Krabi and Chang Mai, but as far as I can tell it’s not possible, or at least straightforward, to book a BA holiday in these places. Similarly, this year we’re considering going to the Greek islands, but probably to Sifnos or Milos which would mean flying to Athens and then taking a ferry. As for Thailand, it only seems to be possible to book packages for islands where BA fly into. I’m not sure if it may be possible by calling some godforsaken BA Holidays call centre, but it doesn’t seem to be online. There must also be plenty of people like us who fly and then connect to other places. Unless BA Holidays becomes a more attractive and flexible offering, then we’re likely to give up on BA under the new rules. Here they really seem to be missing a trick and losing solid revenue, which does not make much business sense.

  • Throwawayname says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:29

    If you really enjoy flying on oneworld airlines, you just need to find a FFP that works better for your travel patterns. I’m not the world’s most discerning hotel guest, but I would never accept my hotel choices being dictated by an airline.

    If you want to be travelling to smaller airports in Greece and Thailand, you should probably be thinking about switching to Star Alliance anyway. Why on earth would you want to mess about with ferries etc when you can just fly Aegean/Thai to your actual destination?

    • mda23 says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:45

      Well it’s not that I enjoy flying Oneworld, but that many of them do have a better business/first product and lounges at a cheaper price than BA and that’s how the programme worked under the current rules. I do have a Qantas FFP membership but it’s been dormant since living in the UK. Perhaps I will revert to that going forwards. However, as I said, I would be prepared to give the new BA Club a try and have potential under our spend to reach the necessary threshold for Silver or Gold, but the offering is not very attractive to our needs. BA seem to chasing high-end travellers, but BA Hols as it currently stands, is not appealing to them.

      As to your other point, not all Greek or Thai islands have an airport, Sifnos and Koh Phangan, for example, but which are appealing to many people because they are not overdeveloped and have top resorts. For Koh Phangan, one flys to Koh Samui (possible through BA via Singapore) and then takes a speed boat organised by the resort to Koh Phangan. As it currently stands, it’s not possible to book accommodation through BA beyond Koh Samui even though Koh Phangan is only a short boat trip away. Similarly, it’s not necessarily a problem to take a 1.5 hour ferry to a Greek island that doesn’t have an airport. My point, I guess, is that BA Hols is very inflexible and doesn’t really appeal to luxury travellers who don’t want to stay in some bland hotel in Corfu. In short, they are trying to appeal to high-end spenders without offering a product that appeals to them.

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