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A guest BA post by The Rt Hon Nigel Evans, ex MP and Deputy Speaker of the Commons

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Rob writes: we very rarely accept guest articles on Head for Points. However, when politician Nigel Evans – who spent 32 years as MP for Ribble Valley and was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons until the last election – offered to write about the British Airways Executive Club changes, I was interested.

What makes Nigel’s piece relevant is that it shows that unhappiness with British Airways runs deep and that interest in the topics we cover on HfP goes far beyond the hardcore frequent flyer community.

As Nigel said to me:

“I was chair of a number of a few committees, and was a delegate to the Council of Europe which took me extensively around the world . Needless to say I am Gold for Life with BA and at one stage was Gold on all three alliances simultaneously.

Whilst I will be unaffected by the BA changes – other than a beneficiary from deserted lounges in 12 months times – I am incensed by the cavalier way in which BA is treating its loyalty members.”

Over to Nigel. I have edited his piece and any errors are probably mine:

Nigel Evans

They say that no one is as deaf as the one who chooses not to hear. British Airways whispered its changes to its well established and well loved loyalty programme during the Christmas break. It came as an unwelcome gift which would have been best left unwrapped. One can only assume there was no focus group played out with current members of BA Executive Club which would have quickly put this plan out of its misery.

British Airways is changing its loyalty programme to reward money spent rather than frequency of flying. There are nuances to it, but in essence the cost of getting elite status with BA is going to cost a huge amount more, in some cases by a factor of eight or more.

My friends who have been blindly loyal to British Airways for decades are in deep shock. They weren’t over surprised about the new tier points being awarded on revenue but they were traumatised by the huge increases required to have their loyalty recognised. Many have said to me they cannot retain their current status in the new scheme and are simply surrendering their planned trips with BA rather than even try.

There are a lot of savvy fliers who have engineered their business and leisure flights around gaining tier recognition with British Airways. A former owner of an airline once told me that frequent fliers have been known to fly in the opposite direction of where they want to go simply to fly with their chosen alliance and earn recognition.

Nigel Evans writes about British Airways

I was recently at a conference in Hampshire and there was only one side discussion of any note – who would people be transferring their loyalty to and which scheme would better reward their loyalty.

One former diplomat told me he had approached Virgin Atlantic to see if it would status match his BA gold card. Not only did they say yes, but they have since officially rolled out their status match with a further incentive of a prize draw for five lucky loyalty refugees to win a million points.

Another British Airways loyalty orphan told me he was switching immediately to Flying Blue on the day that Air France KLM announced its £99 status match. It also appears that Flying Blue is going one better and giving top tier status quietly to Gold Guest List victims. This is the highest level in their scheme and will allow enhanced recognition with extended lounge access to eight of your fellow travellers.

Another savvy frequent flyer texted me yesterday relating to his take on the changes – “I’m done with them”. He is looking at Flying Blue and planning his next BA-free break.

I am now waiting for Star Alliance to smell the stench from the rotting corpse of the BA bombshell and announce a status match offer. The scene is reminiscent of vultures circling above ready to swoop on the remains of an animal dying from, in this case, self inflicted wounds.

I have no doubt that British Airways has thought through these changes – after all they hide behind members feedback as their justification for the new scheme. I have no doubt some members have complained about lounges being crowded or the aircraft boarding by group number being a bit like the rush through the doors at the Harrod’s New Year’s sale. I have no doubt that the new scheme will rectify these problems but not in the way BA has intended.

Another friend is going to China next month and had already embarked on his loyalty journey with oneworld via BA. He has now taken out Flying Blue membership and taken a tier run to Scandinavia, he has a flight booked in business to Paris and next month will fly with SkyTeam to Shanghai. He would most certainly have booked BA to get him closer to his beloved Gold status but feels that BA have shown him no loyalty and two can dance that tango.

BA faces a big decision. It can plough on with its current proposals which have been universally greeted with total disbelief by the majority of frequent flyers I speak to or they can hear the screeching handbreak turns from former loyal members who are heading to pastures and alliances new.

The one thing I have learnt from my days in business is that the customer is always right and that they also have a choice. Unless British Airways wakes up and smells the Union coffee brewing in their lounges they will – without a doubt – soon be receiving fewer complaints from their incredibly loyal Executive Club members about crowded lounges. It will, unfortunately, be for all the wrong reasons.”


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Comments (337)

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

  • RC says:

    I’m very wary of some posts here.
    BA ‘s media/socials/PR strategy has finally woken up and is now trying to undermine, distract and drown out any criticism of their absolute brilliant business strategy and product.
    So beware of comments that seem to emanate from beyond the ‘looking glass’ in the alternative reality BA lives in.

  • PM says:

    When I read this article my initial reaction was that HfP was pranked.

    Someone masquerading as an ex-MP shared a rather weak summary of the comments under the main BA Club Changed article, added an open sourced image of a real individual and made the team believe it was genuine.

    I felt a bit sorry at first as it did not come across as very funny or helpful. It belonged in my eyes to the April’s Fools Day category.

    But now, knowing that is genuine, an entitled rich guy, bragging about all his statuses earned for flying around on taxpayer’s expenses, trying to educate the frequent flyers’ forum while bearing responsibilities for Brexit related travel inconveniences and additional burdens, I am more disappointed.

    This was not a right decision to engage with this individual – especially that he added absolutely nothing of value to the conversation.

  • A says:

    I do wander which poster in the comments Is Nigel in disguise??

  • Richard says:

    This is such a crass piece of writing, from someone I sort-of respected despite disagreeing with profoundly. I truly despair at the state of our political class.

    Mr Evans, if you’re reading, someone who swaps their top-tier status in one loyalty scheme for top-tier status in another loyalty scheme is not a “refugee”. Not even metaphorically. If you insist on going down this path, they’re an economic migrant – which is, as I’m sure you’ll agree, fundamentally different.

  • Phil says:

    I see the usuals are slagging off Raffles at FT and playing down any info he / HfP may have

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      Twas ever this.

      There is a small coterie who think they are sone sort of arbiters on what is acceptable and accurate (not the moderators but it’s soon clear who they are) and it makes the whole BA board somewhat cliquish. It’s one of the reasons I stopped posting on it (though I still read it)

      • Phil says:

        I am a reader but am just watching it seems like a determined effort to ridicule someone publicly fighting their corner.

        All very sad to see

  • Paul Adams says:

    TBF to Rob, I don’t think we’ll see another article from this “gentleman” again!

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

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