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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 (336)

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

  • Alex G says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:24

    I don’t think anything new is being said here that hasn’t already been said in the 3500 comments on the original article.

    But if we are all repeating ourselves, I think the changes are good for shareholders, as BA will be more profitable. They will be good for people flying in Business Class, as we will be able to get a seat in the Lounge and get genuine priority over economy class passengers when boarding. They will be good for the environment, as people stop flying purely to earn status. They may even lead to an improvement in on board service, if BA have to compete on quality, although I suspect most people in the South will continue to choose non stop flights on BA over their competitors.

    BA will lose customers from the regions, but connections from the regions are so poor it probably wont make much difference. If BA want to keep their regional customers, they will have to improve standards and connectivity, which can only be a good thing.

    True loyalty comes from offering excellent service, not gimmicks.

    • mef says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:24

      How will BA be more profitable? The point of any loyalty scheme is to engender loyalty, and keep people coming back to your brand rather than competitors. Very many people will now not fly with BA. I’ve already cancelled two sets of flights. Those seats won’t be filled by people paying more than I would have done. The previous scheme, whatever its flaws and opportunities for gamification, kept people fling BA. The new scheme won’t.

      mef

    • memesweeper says:
      20 Jan20 January 10:49

      >>> True loyalty comes from offering excellent service, not gimmicks. <<<

      Indeed, and BA do not offer anything remotely like excellent service. As a result these changes will result in reduced bookings.

    • Redhand says:
      20 Jan20 January 11:04

      I’m from the “regions”. Presently Gold but will never be Gold again after April 26. Lucky to even reach Silver. However my annual 241 voucher ties me to BA as it includes the connecting flight from the “regions”. So whilst the changes stink, it will still be BA for me.

      • Jill Kinkell says:
        20 Jan20 January 14:00

        I’m in the same boat ( or should it be plane!) Regional connection via LHR to long haul destination all on one ticket is reassuring. More than once the value of that has been great when things go down awry. However, we do have a KLM to AMS flight, so worth exploring for future.
        I’ve variously been silver and gold over the years and utilise cash as well as 241 reward flights. Never going to reach the dizzy heights again!

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      20 Jan20 January 11:11

      Stopping TP runs won’t help the environment,

      The flight is going anyway.

      • DaveP says:
        20 Jan20 January 11:22

        +1

      • Alex G says:
        20 Jan20 January 11:44

        “How will BA be more profitable?”

        Reduce costs in the lounge. BA won’t be making money on a Silver flying economy from T3 to Faro and using the Cathay Lounge.

        There will be some new ancillary income from people who no longer have status but decide to pay to reserve seats in advance.

        These may seem like small amounts, but we are talking about a sector that raises profitability by removing one olive from a salad.

        “Stopping TP runs won’t help the environment, The flight is going anyway.”

        Passengers are not weightless. More weight means more fuel. More fuel means more emissions. A flight with an empty seat is less damaging than a full one.

        • KG says:
          20 Jan20 January 12:12

          This! When you ask frequent flyers their opinions on environmental impact – majority would be aware but value the pleasure/convenience way higher and instead look at ways to offset some of this through charity (like HFP), modifying personal behaviour etc, the 2nd group (which is growing and becoming more vocal) would say “Look at China and India!”..and today I got to know of a 3rd – “The plane will fly irrespective of whether you are on it” :/

        • LittleNick says:
          20 Jan20 January 13:21

          Passengers are not weightless. More weight means more fuel. More fuel means more emissions. A flight with an empty seat is less damaging than a full one.

          Unless the seat would have been taken up by someone else anyway. You don’t know it wouldn’t have so probably makes zilch difference in the grand scheme of things

          • Alex G says:
            20 Jan20 January 14:42

            “Stopping TP runs won’t help the environment, The flight is going anyway.

            That assertion would only be true if all flights operated at 100% capacity all of the time, and supply did not increase to meet demand.

            If a tier point runner taking a seat results in another person not traveling at all, by any means, then no damage is done. But that will rarely be the case.

      • CJD says:
        20 Jan20 January 15:40

        Is there really organic demand for 50 or so business class passengers to Sofia and back?

      • BSI1978 says:
        20 Jan20 January 16:42

        Not if there is reduced demand overtime. No airline inclusive of BA will continue flying half empty planes indefinitely.

  • Trevor HK says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:39

    This all feels like an echo chamber. Facebook gold groups whining over and over. The decision has been made by BA and I assume they have done the sums. Personally I may have introduced the changes differently but I am not a BA Director. So every one has a choice. If you don’t want to fly BA don’t. But there is no need to tell me or a wider audience. Individuals have agency- use it

    • John33 says:
      20 Jan20 January 08:57

      I suspect we won’t hear the end of this for a while. It will be Gemma Collins next as a guest writer here.

    • Dominic says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:04

      I mean, I’m sure people said the same for Nokia and Blackberry’s smartphone approach… “They are the execs, I’m sure it’s all in control”

    • Shaz says:
      20 Jan20 January 13:14

      The assumption that execs in large companies that are largely relying on consultants to “do the sums” are infallible is a laughable suggestion.

      Remember “new coke”? They did the sums, and it fell on its face to the point it is still a case study for silly decisions.

      Consumers/customers absolute have every right to criticize a company that changes their product to something they think is worst.

      And yes, the best reaction is to vote with your wallet. But even better is for the company to listen to concerns and address them. Let’s not forget that for a lot of people, proper air travel (esp being an island) is very important.

      • CJD says:
        20 Jan20 January 17:17

        People actually preferred New Coke in blind taste tests though.

        • HPN-HRL says:
          20 Jan20 January 19:49

          As I recall, Pepsi drinkers (NOT people in general) preferred New Coke in blind taste tests, which I can believe as New Coke tasted much closer to Pepsi than Classic Coke. However, Coke drinkers HATED New Coke – the company lost far more former consumers than they gained.

  • FlightDoctor says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:44

    I live in the South East and am GFL. Always default to BA but currently on my first ever flight with ANA and just about to land at HND. The Room business class is exceptional, the service really friendly and attentive and the food a real step up from BA. If I had flown with the latter it would have been twice the price and old CW on a 787.

    • Mark says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:09

      That’s good to hear! We have cancelled an upcoming flight with JAL and switched to ANA as we are no longer chasing the TPs for BAC and wanted to try the Room.

  • SB says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:46

    BA fly direct. Sort of helpful if you don’t mind about caviar and Cos D’Estournel 2006.

    A tier run to Scandinavia, to then fly business to Paris, to then enable free selection on a likely connecting flight to Shanghai….?

    Life is too short.

    He could have walked half the South Downs Way in the time spent, staying in lovely remote pubs en route, and just bought a direct quick Chinese flight (over Russia still).

    • CamFlyer says:
      20 Jan20 January 10:35

      Depending on where one lives, ‘direct’ is not always the best option. For example, from East Anglia, driving I am 40 min from Stansted, 75 min from City, 1 hr 45 min (on a good day) from Heathrow, 1 hr 50 min from Birmingham, 65 min from Luton, etc. A connection LCY-AMS/ZRH/FRA onwards will likely have the same total travel time as direct from LHR. WizzAir/Ryanair/EasyJet from Luton and Stansted are preferable to driving to LHR just to get BA. I have flown AJet (and my OH Pegasus) via SAW from STN. Fast track + extra legroom on an LCC is, IMHO, almost as good as short haul European business class.

      What BA have missed is that they have just cut the cord of loyalty for those of us for whom a nonstop from LHR is marginal, even for business travel.

  • LellS says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:57

    I don’t live in the SE and flying BA is fairly inconvenient, especially with the Hokey Cokey they play with Aer Lingus redemptions. I don’t points run but I have spent 20 years loyally flying BA with my leisure travel and maintaining my silver status, spending a hefty amount of my own money. BA seems to have decided to sack a large number of customers, myself among them, so I shall be switching my loyalty and more importantly my spend to a more convenient airline.

  • Jeff says:
    20 Jan20 January 09:28

    On the plus side, he will be able to get a seat in the lounge from now on.

    Should go some way towards him losing his last year…

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      20 Jan20 January 11:18

      Any thoughts that the lounges will suddenly be empty is ridiculous.

      Economy flyers currently using their BA status to access the lounge will be replaced by the same flyers using their newly matched RJ status and still in economy. They aren’t suddenly going to pay for Club.

  • Skywalker says:
    20 Jan20 January 09:37

    Not really interested in emotive words like “traumatised” and “victim” and “rotting corpses” when talking about the BA changes – it’s just not that big a problem in the grand scheme of things.

    Those words I reserve for the suffering in the myriad wars around the world that we have the privilege to be able to fly around, circumvent and avoid.

    • r* says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:40

      Fortunately, words dont have exclusive uses so can be used however the writer sees fit.

      • Skywalker says:
        20 Jan20 January 09:42

        r*, I never said otherwise. I just said I am not interested in the words in this context.

    • Skywalker says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:40

      BA has done what it has done. Maybe it’s just time to get busy living with the changes or get busy flying with another airline.

  • Frances says:
    20 Jan20 January 10:07

    I’m a member of the BA customer feedback group – and it’s poor. all verbal comments, so I don’t see how they can get any meaningful data from it. I do recall a long survey but it was more about branding and app layout.
    I will certainly look to try other airlines. living in Scotland though, I almost have to use BA to get to London, can’t get to Gatwick, but my next trip to the US will be Virgin I think. and then I’ll look at Qatar etc for going further afield. fortunately KLM is good to get to AMS and beyone.

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