‘Earn BA tier points by buying SAF credits’ is now live but not recommended

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• John says:

  3 Apr3 April 05:43

  Can it get any worse

• Anders says:

  3 Apr3 April 06:36

  Wow, this is not only terrible for customers but also a massive greenwashing lawsuit risk. Selling carbon credits and pretending they’re SAF is incredibly misleading to consumers.

• david says:

  3 Apr3 April 06:36

  Loved the child analogy.

  • AlastairB says:

    3 Apr3 April 06:59

    I’d go further and say something along the lines of “the child bought magazines and then skipped games at school. When questioned the child claims they in fact purchased a net calorific intake similar to having had lunch and playing football”

  • Marc says:

    3 Apr3 April 10:07

    Haha yeah was gonna say the same. Brilliant one, Rob! 😀

  • Callum says:

    3 Apr3 April 13:57

    I thought it was ridiculous…

    Reducing carbon emissions is reducing carbon emissions, regardless of how it’s done. Eating ice cream instead of a balanced lunch clearly doesn’t provide the same benefits at all.

    Not to mention, I don’t think Rob’s analysis has much substance to it. It looks like a bog standard offset scheme to me – pay money and a portion of the “carbon credits” generated from BA’s SAF use will be attributed to you. Which will, by necessity, mean BA will need to buy more SAF anyway (otherwise they wouldn’t meet the targets you mention). Well – assuming people actually purchase it, which I agree, you’d need to be pretty desperate to do!

    • Rob says:

      3 Apr3 April 14:34

      Yes, it’s an offset scheme, obviously.

      It’s not being sold as an offset scheme though. It’s being sold as a way of getting more SAF into use, which isn’t the case (well, it is happening – by law – but its not getting more SAF being used on top of that).

      There IS a big difference. People are being told that SAF is expensive to make. People who donate intrinsically believe they are helping to encourage the use of SAF by subsidising it – and they are not.

      To take another example: assume you donate to famine relief in Sudan because you have personal connections there, but Oxfam takes your money and uses it for famine relief in Chad instead. The same number of hungry people are getting fed, so is there a problem? Yes, to you there is, because you wanted to help Sudan.

      What BA is doing here does NOTHING to increase SAF use. It DOES reduce carbon by an equivalent amount but you are doing naff all to develop a sustainable SAF infrastructure in the UK.

• Darcy says:

  3 Apr3 April 06:39

  Three days into this and still no Amex explanation and the website talks about “details closer to the launch”. In the words of Logan Roy / Brian Cox’s character from Succession, “BA – you are not serious people”

• Jezza says:

  3 Apr3 April 06:52

  The purchase (or otherwise) as SAF does indeed look misleading but perhaps dial down on the emotion which litters the article. We know you’re still upset about the BAEC changes (a BA commercial decision which in part reduces some gaming of the system you derive benefit from) but HPF =/= Daily Mail I hope.

  Did BA respond to your prior enquiry about SAF? How do others do this (SK and AF look better for example).

  • Edd says:

    3 Apr3 April 07:01

    It’s hard to imagine a worse deal so I think the tone is appropriate.

    For GBP1,000 you get tier points equivalent to 5% of Gold Status.

    And the money you spend doesn’t even really go to the cause they depict.

    Absolutely gross.

    • Jezza says:

      3 Apr3 April 07:20

      Perhaps BA didn’t intend selling SAF (ahem) to be a back door way of getting Gold quickly?

      I wonder if we just need to adjust to a world where gaming BA to gain Gold for peanuts is past.

      • Lady London says:

        3 Apr3 April 20:04

        Well the 1,000 attainable tier points cap makes that clear.

        More worryng is there must be people who would fall for this?

• Brian Peers says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:04

  Rob, regarding the carbon saving I’m not sure your interpretation is correct. What they are trying to say in rather clunky language is that they are using “book and claim”, a hot topic in the SAF space. This means your SAF will not be fuelling your own flight and potentially not a BA flight either. IAG has offtake and equity positions in numerous SAF plants and this approach will most likely deliver SAF at the lowest cost…

  • Rob says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:24

    You clearly are not buying ANY SAF. The wording is not ambiguous on this part.

• daveinitalia says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:16

  Unless you’re going for GGL the Iberia scheme is better in every way.

  First off, the tier points are measured in Euros, not pounds, which means the lower spend required offsets any advantage possibly gained when Amex is announced.

  For example to reach Platino (Emerald, equivalent to BA Gold) is 20,000 tier points, but in Euros so at current rates is £16730. But (as dodgy shopping channels say) there’s more…
  As well as the bonus points on BA flights, the Iberia scheme also gives bonus points on their own (obviously) and AA flights. BA only give bonus points on their own flights.
  You can also achieve platino status by segments.
  The earning of tier points on partner airlines is easier to understand than BA
  Iberia also lets you earn up to 30% of your tier points by non-flying partners. Although on this point it’s worth noting that the Iberia eStore only has a Spanish version, but any Avios earning partner that lets you credit to Iberia (such as Avis, Iberia’s version of booking.com, Club Avolta, eta) will help you earn tier points.

• Higham44 says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:16

  Shambolic and disingenuous! How BA are getting away with this at senior management level is beyond me. Amex, BAH and SAF are a laughing stock – but it’s not funny.

  • Zain says:

    3 Apr3 April 09:53

    Why are Amex a laughing stock? This is BA’s mess.
    If anything, Amex are laughing at BA, not with them.

    • John33 says:

      3 Apr3 April 11:49

      They won’t be laughing long when people stop using British Airways Amex cards

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