Worth attaining Bronze?

[FatherOfFour]

Background:
We don’t fly much, though have done a European 2-4-1 in CE last year and have a long haul 2-4-1 in November. My Blue collection year ends October 8th.
I’m considering doing a TP run, (after 8th October) which would get me 320 points for about £590, which seems to be considered reasonable value. We may do some smaller adhoc flights over the following year or so, likely to be Avios bookings, before a cash booking to Australia in Easter ’24.

I appreciate Bronze doesn’t get me much, but… as I understand it, I would hold Bronze until at least October ’24 (achieve it in the collection year 22-23, then hold into 24?)

This would give me a chance of selecting some seats at 7 days out for my 2-4-1 and would hopefully reduce our risk of being downgraded on what seems to be quite a busy flight.

Alternatively, I could cough up less money for some seats (though I’m not wedded to a particular seat, just more interested in making our cabin stick)

The bronze, if valid to ’24 would give us some seat choice IF we use a OW airline to fly to Australia.

I realise many people do TP runs to renew Silver / Gold, just not sure if I’m mad to do it for Bronze. Also have SWMBO to convince. I wouldnt be away overnight on the TP run, but i think she might baulk at £600 with not a lot in it for her!

• This topic was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[NorthernLass]

I wouldn’t do a TP run just for Bronze, you can get it by doing one long haul trip (with a domestic connection at either end if you need the full 4 BA flights to qualify). My OH managed this in 2019 unwittingly and is still Bronze from that!

Being able to select seats at T-7 is generally MUCH better than 24 hours before departure. There’s not much else to recommend it though, really. If you do end up doing a TP run I’d go all out for Silver, which is much more attractive to sell to the OH – I’m doing 2 domestic weekends away in the autumn to get this, for the lounge access, seat selection and free baggage on domestic and other short-haul US flights. We are doing a 3 week road trip to Washing DC and the Florida Keys over Xmas and New Year, and it’ll be worth having Silver status for that alone.

[FatherOfFour]

Thanks… I’d be teed up for Silver quite nicely, though doubt I’d get it in time for the LH trip. I’m just not sure if the requirement for 450 (rather than 600) will increase again after this current TP year ends, or if after December ’22, meaning the 130 gap would suddenly become 280 and more out of reach.

Being based just outside of London means that the domestic connections aren’t necessary, though I could sneak some MAN or NCL returns in – I’m sure I can find some work to do up there!

[ChrisC]

The reduced thresholds apply until the 31st December. From 1st January they revert back to the normal ones.

Reemebber that if you do get silver in your 2022/23 collection year the status would last until 30th November 2024.

[Ladyshopper]

We recently got Bronze by accident, as our 2 for 1 flights posted avios and tier points when they shouldn’t have (I think we were re-booked into revenue seats, so that’s possibly why).

Unfortunately, this happened right at the end of our tier collection point, so no way of capitalising on this and going for silver, as it’s now all re-set. We already get free selections due to mobility issues, so Bronze isn’t much use really. If we end up doing any domestic flights in America using Avios I understand we get a free bag each as BA Bronze = One World Ruby.

[PGW]

If you don’t fly enough to qualify for Bronze without a TP run then you probably don’t fly enough to gain enough from the benefits to justify doing one.

[Lady London]

@FatherofFour I agree with @NorthernLass.Silver, if you were going to fly enough to make the status useful, might just about be worth it. But for Bronze it gives you practically nothing so I think there are better uses for your money.

if you really want to try then you have a very narrow window in which you could use the double tier points offer on BA Hols (and perhaps not spend any more than you were thinking of).

[Lyn]

I wouldn’t discount the value of Bronze as readily as others here. In addition to being able to choose seats on BA 7 days ahead, or getting access to priority seats on some other OW airlines, it does have a few other benefits. For instance, business class check-in and priority boarding can significantly reduce stress when travelling in economy or premium economy, and is of course even more valuable when one person’s Bronze status applies to a couple or a whole family. So it’s value probably comes down to which class you’ll actually be travelling in, especially on the long flights to and from Australia.

[AJA]

I agree with others if you are not going to increase your travel pattern (especially travelling on OW or BA) then I am not sure there is much to be gained from doing a specific TP run to achieve Bronze. I would go for 450TP points and get Silver.

In addition to being able to choose seats at t-7 Bronze does get you more Avios on cash flights and allows you to check in at Business Class desks at outstations or the newly created WTP desks at T5 and LGW but the latter benefit is really only helpful if you are travelling economy. Business Class fares get you the Club checkin and lounge access. I’d rather spend £590 on a trip to somewhere in CE that I wanted to go.

[Froggee]

My wife has the same 8 October year-end as you and we were considering getting her silver. I’m gold until 8 August 2023 (then all downhill from there) which made me conclude it wasn’t worth it.

Initially it seemed appealing that a BA holiday from Edinburgh to Greece or Madeira (for instance) would do it. Half term is 8 October for two weeks so 40 points from EDI to LHR and then 80 points for the next flight x 2 for return and x 2 for the BA holiday would have done it. Ten days away is about right so any flight from the Sunday would have worked.

So the boys and I would have slummed it in economy with the Mrs in J. It would work okay as with four of us, someone always has the hardship of sitting by themselves with a book. It’s generally me with the kids and my wife with the book as my wife flies poorly.

But looking at flights, they really aren’t cheap. The best I could find was about £1,000 for her flight and a car for a week and this seems quite a bit for silver. I guess it would be the premium over Y flights so maybe half that as a true cost. This of course assumes we genuinely wanted to fly via Heathrow to wherever we were going, When we fly long haul it is in J and I’ll be able to take care of seat selection for the next couple of years so the only real benefit would be her earning extra Avios points if we pay for flights over the next year or two.

It’s also annoying that BA seems to have lots of the 80 tier point routes out of Gatwick which is a non-starter as she will go through zero hardship such as a change of airport!

So we’re not bothering. Unless you can work out the actual benefit you get, £600 is quite a bit of money.

[FatherOfFour]

Thanks all – realistically our flights over the next few years will be in Y. I can’t justify paying for 4 young kids to go in club- they wouldn’t appreciate it! So, the benefit of the check-in desks and additional Avios is a consideration.

I’d like to go for silver, but I think initially Bronze would be achievable before my trip. I’m probably looking at 4 scenarios:

1) No TP Run, no seat reservation: Risk getting bad seats/downgraded on my outbound flight in November. If this happens, I should actually get money back? £0
2) Reserve seats on the busier outbound sector. Still a risk of being turfed out, but seat fee refunded and reimbursed for downgrade. c£200
3) Reserve seats both way. c£400
2a/3a) See if BA run an Avios seat fee sale again this year, which worked out at about 25% of normal Avios cost or 2p/point. Take advantage of that.
4) TP run to get to Bronze, reserve some half-decent seats (all window pairs gone, but would go for a honeymoon pair), and reduce downgrade risk £600.

Typing this out, I realise I’m effectively looking to insure my CW booking. As this is a once in a generation treat for us, (probably 14 years before we can leave the kids again), we’d be gutted to be downgraded, but is it worth £600? probably not.

Any additional flights (apart from Australia) are likely to be CE redemptions or ET cash, so wouldn’t make status very quickly.

[Lyn]

@FatherofFour – Bronze or Silver definitely make a lot more difference if you are flying in economy. If you are seriously considering paying for 3) just for this CW trip then the extra cost for 4) might be reasonable to make your Australia trip more comfortable and less stressful. You could assign an estimated value to the extra avios earned in a household account as a partial offset. Peace of mind also has value.

[NorthernLass]

I completely forgot about Bronze getting priority check in and boarding! This is because we have only flown one with BA since 2019 and we were in F/CW so didn’t need it. Agree it would make a difference.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Another thought … all this is predicated on the Australia trip making it “worth it” to have status. However if this is cash then you have a huge choice of carriers, only a few of which would even recognise that status – so it is more than likely your status would be useless/irrelevant; or make you take a worse deal as you would feel you had to stick to certain airlines. To be honest £600 cash would go much further in making your Aus trip comfortable if spent on it directly – two nice rooms at the best airport hotel at each end or at a stopover half way, paid lounge access for 6 each way, or a little extra spent on the flight tickets to secure a better carrier or more convenient flight times and connections. Connecting at Changi rather than some desert hellhole is an upgrade in itself for example.

As for risk of downgrade in Nov – if it happens then people tend to make a lot of noise but I’d hazard a guess that it happens less than 1% of the time – most certainly less than 5% of the time for all 2-1 flights, and Bronze status is unlikely to change anything in that scenario anyway. I’d say the benefit of being Bronze in terms of reducing this risk is basically zero. It all depends then on how much you want to sit together on that flight….in which case you should bear in mind that “together” means you can exchange a few slightly awkward words but CS seats are closeted enough that you won’t be interacting that much anyway, while old CW is pants enough all round that you’re not even missing much if sent back to Premium – the food up front is currently laughable for example.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[John]

Not sure if BA bean counters are geniuses for making people seriously consider spending £600 on futile flights (which might be the total budget for another family’s holiday) just because they are scared they are not going to get the loyalty product they have earned, or idiots because this sort of thing puts people off BA.

[FatherOfFour]

Thanks @The Savage Squirrel and @John.
I’m suitably convinced spending £600 on this might be a bit of fun for me, but a rather reckless waste of £600.

I had a discussion with the wife too… and the idea was quickly shut down, though she was keen to apply for a new Barclaycard!

[NorthernLass]

You’re very considerate – I haven’t told the OH yet that I’ll be away for 2 weekends in the autumn yet! He’ll come round when he realises how the benefits work. I’m not leaving him with 4 young children though, which makes a difference …