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I think that’s another clumsy one, as it reads as thougb you would be free to depart the UK, for example, several times as it’s not your country of residence! But the fact that it says “country of residence” and not specifically the UK suggests to me that BA intends people who live outside the UK to be able to earn TPs on BAH’s.
I think that’s another clumsy one, as it reads as thougb you would be free to depart the UK, for example, several times as it’s not your country of residence! But the fact that it says “country of residence” and not specifically the UK suggests to me that BA intends people who live outside the UK to be able to earn TPs on BAH’s.
I guess this is how it would apply to say USA citizens flying BA to LHR and getting a connecting flight to say Italy
Generally how knowledgeable are the BAH team – never had to contact them before
Clause 7 is irritating.
I’ve booked many BA US Holidays where I’m the solo traveller booking a two-double room as I’m travelling from London, and my travel mate is taking a direct flight from EDI.
@Andrew. – what you suggest is entirely reasonable but sadly you are potentially caught up in the unreasonable ruses proposed here (and I suspect elsewhere) to circumvent the rules and the obvious concept that TPs are individual and don’t accrue to one booker of a travelling party.Some of these smart alecs initially said they just wouldn’t put the BAEC numbers of other travellers in the booking and when that was kiboshed, thought they would book the £20k type holiday mentioned in these pages and collect all the points as a one stop route to Gold which was never really going to happen. It was so obviously against the whole concept of TPs that I find the suggestion that BA clarifying this point is “vindictive” etc. quite bizarre.
I think we may be reading 7 wrong:
7. All passengers using the hotel and/or car hire must be named on the booking prior to travel, any subsequent additions to passenger mix made locally could result in the booking being deemed ineligible for tier points.
I believe what this means is that if you book for £5,000 and then add an extra room or people which increases the cost you should NOT expect to get TPs from that.
I do not think BAH is thinking of people gaming the system as much as people saying “hey, I spent £20,000 on the hotel and you just gave me 5,000 TPs” and then BAH having to check and find out the extra £15k was additional expenses that had nothing to do with the original booking.
@yonasi – I think the purpose/intention of the rule is very clear and addresses an issue some have erroneously suggested would cause all the TP to accrue to one passenger/booker when the accommodation is clearly not intended just for that one person.
BA not only doesn’t want that accelerated path to status (thereby repeating the errors of the past they are trying to correct) and it rightly wishes to maintain the principle of TP being exclusively awarded on a personal basis and getting all the potential revenue in return for its generosity.
If people booked a one person BAH for double TP and then separately another passenger(s) it made no difference. Now it does.
Yes, I think the term “made locally” clearly refers to non-BA arrangements.
If you were travelling as a family, it would be easy enough, however, just to book extra hotel rooms separately, split the occupants as you see fit and not even need to notify the hotel.
But this ever-increasing pettiness (as I see it) on BA’s part makes me less inclined to give them my money. If someone wants to book a £20k BAH to get gold status, it’s both petty and ungenerous to then start making threats to withhold TPs if they decide to bring their partner or kids along.
I may well be in a position in a 1/2 years where I decide I really do want to retain OW Sapphire at least. I’m time-rich and cash comfortable so I could either spend £7.5k on a solo BAH (and smuggle OH up the back stairs) or spend a few weeks city-hopping around Europe on Iberia for considerably less cash outlay.
I’ve now got a fit of the giggles imagining BA posting spies outside their customers’ hotel rooms to intercept any illicit and undeclared lovers or family members sneaking out at dawn, lol.
@NorthernLass Completely agree. If RJ don’t get overwhelmed with ex-BAEC folk and pull the plug on everything, come and join the precious metal bird gang!
Part of clause 5 is new.
Adding a car or hotel in ‘shopping basket’ did qualify for double points. I did it lots of times – mostly adding hotel/hotel at the time using hotlines (I’m retired staff, there’s no discount on BA holidays), but also on a commercially available ticket (hotlines aren’t always much cheaper, especially during a sale, and if there’s a problem you have to message the hotline desk rather than phone). I always got the double points.@tootsci – I did have a wild moment wondering whether I could complete 46 (?) sectors for the Platinum Hawk or whatever OWE equivalent is 😂
Solo BAH’s rock……long live the solo BAH 🫡
@NorthernLass, yep 46 segments/65k tier miles to gain Platinum Hawk/OWE then 80/110k over 2 years to maintain. Status is on a 12 month rolling year, which is good, and soft landings as well. I am quite in awe of @titaniumostrich who is going for it!
Knowing my luck they would change the rules just as I was about to qualify!
@NorthernLass, yep 46 segments/65k tier miles to gain Platinum Hawk/OWE then 80/110k over 2 years to maintain. Status is on a 12 month rolling year, which is good, and soft landings as well. I am quite in awe of @titaniumostrich who is going for it!
I do roughly 100 UK domestics each year and have decided to take a chance on the RJ route after looking at them all. First segment was this morning and I had my first experience of changing the FF number to RJ in the lounge. All seems to have worked as it should and I got an email instantly confirming the update to the booking but it did all feel like such a new normal. Once I get up to the RJ version of Silver I’ll not bother swapping the numbers most likely and the faff will end. Here’s hoping they don’t pull the plug.
@Points-Hound Crikey – if you’re not fussed about the Avios then that’s enough to get RJPH/OWE and then get Malaysian Enrich Platinum later to overlap with it!
And yes, as with all these “loyalty” programmes enjoy it while it lasts and don’t be too sad when it ends!
@Points Hound, so who do you book the flights with now> Via BA but change who you credit them to?
@Points-Hound Crikey – if you’re not fussed about the Avios then that’s enough to get RJPH/OWE and then get Malaysian Enrich Platinum later to overlap with it!
And yes, as with all these “loyalty” programmes enjoy it while it lasts and don’t be too sad when it ends!
It’s a gamble I know. 46 might keep OWE but they might move the goal posts, in which case it BA soft landings are maintained I’m no worse off this time next year. Who knows!
Not fussed about the lost Avios, I get them in abundance through the other mainstream avenues. I believe RJ points can be transferred to Avios to soften the small blow (could be wrong here, maybe they can be used to book BA flights).
Yes, let’s base TP on how much ££££ you spend. And then let’s not base it on your spend, but divide it by your family, none of whom are ever going to get status…
You can’t have it both ways. Quite sad when you have to introduce rules to enforce your stupid earlier rules. I give it 4 months.
@Points Hound, so who do you book the flights with now> Via BA but change who you credit them to?
Yes, booked as I always have done via BA with my BAEC, I mean BAC number. Selected seats and checked in yesterday to get a group 1 boarding pass. Once I entered the lounge this morning I swapped the FF number to my RJ one via the Royal Air Maroc website.
The only thing I’m not sure about is if you book a return, does that mean you are stuck with boarding group 5 on the inbound and the route to lounge access being the fact you show your gold card in the BA app in addition to scanning your BC, rather than just scanning your BC which previously picked up your status as your BAEC number was the FF number. Will find all this out in due course I suppose.
Yes, let’s base TP on how much ££££ you spend. And then let’s not base it on your spend, but divide it by your family, none of whom are ever going to get status…
You can’t have it both ways. Quite sad when you have to introduce rules to enforce your stupid earlier rules. I give it 4 months.
But @lhar TP have always been awarded individually. Nothing has changed. If you bought a BAH or just tickets for all your family and some friends, any TP were divided. So what’s the issue?
Not fussed about the lost Avios, I get them in abundance through the other mainstream avenues. I believe RJ points can be transferred to Avios to soften the small blow (could be wrong here, maybe they can be used to book BA flights).
@Points-Hound AFAIK you can’t transfer RJ Award Miles to Avios, but you can book reward flights on OW airlines with them. I’ve read on FT that redemption rates are terrible though, so best to just disregard them and if you manage to use them somehow it’s a bonusI’ve now got a fit of the giggles imagining BA posting spies outside their customers’ hotel rooms to intercept any illicit and undeclared lovers or family members sneaking out at dawn, lol.
@NL, BA will of course be hiring the lady with the severe blonde bob from The White Lotus to do this job. She’s perfectly qualified.
Not fussed about the lost Avios, I get them in abundance through the other mainstream avenues. I believe RJ points can be transferred to Avios to soften the small blow (could be wrong here, maybe they can be used to book BA flights).
@Points-Hound AFAIK you can’t transfer RJ Award Miles to Avios, but you can book reward flights on OW airlines with them. I’ve read on FT that redemption rates are terrible though, so best to just disregard them and if you manage to use them somehow it’s a bonusThanks @tootsci, nothing much lost then and a bonus as you suggest if they can be used for a flight booked via RJ in the future. May all come crashing down before then though!
Re tier points and should the lead booker have all tier points given to themselves there are 2 issues that make this a lot more complicated than with flights. Flights have always worked so that the person flying gets the tier points.
With Holidays however there are 2 issues that make my first thought, that the booker should get the tier points for all the travellers.
The first issue is the issue BA have created directly themselves by firmly announcing a policy that tier points are awarded on the basis of spend. So naturally, if I’m spending a single amount covering a number of us as lead booker, this tells me the tier points from that spend belong to me.
Because I am the sponsor, I’m spending out for this holiday. Each person added, adds a cost that I am paying to the total amount the Holiday package I am paying for costs, and as we now know : Tier points are awarded on the basis of cost. So I expect to be awarded all the tier points for the package I have purchased no matter how many people travelling were included in the sum I have paid for the overall Holiday package. It’s only fair, and it matches what BA is saying about how tier points are earned.
The second issue is that with a holiday package, more than flight bookings, it’s far more likely that I as a female or a family member, am going to be paid for by the lead booker. They may be the head of my family, or they may be inviting me as a guest. So with Holidays you will again and again find 1 person who has paid the bill for 2 or more people. In this case as my host, because they’re doing the spend I think it’s only right that they should get all the tier points. Again, it’s only fair.
Naturally with Double tier points still on offer, this just points up the issue. But I still think the head of a family that pays for the family’s holiday should get all the tier points now that earning them is based on spend. And if a kind gentleman invites me on a holiday he’s picking up the bill so same answer.
@Lady-London – but nothing has changed here! Under the old system someone could spend £20,000 on a holiday for a family of six (or just a group of friends) and each person got their respective TP and Avios. The booker/payer got a few extra Avios but nothing more. It remains exactly the same today. It preserves the important basic principle of TP being per person and not being transferable.
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