Attaining British Airways Club Gold elite status is an aspirational feat.
The perks are aplenty and the feeling it gives during travel can be really meaningful. Many people believe it somehow instantly makes them more attractive and simultaneously absolves them of all their personal flaws, like an instant symbol of being “somebody” and being superior.
That’s something nobody wants to lose, but the whole reason it’s aspirational is because it is not for everyone. If everyone is in a VIP lane, the regular Joe/Jane lane looks a lot better.
It’s not quite like the people who die and put their favorite sports team on their tombstone as part of their identity in a show of true loyalty, but elite status with BA carries a lot of weight.
Accordingly, It was no surprise yesterday as I watched grown adults act like children after a sugar crash or babies throwing toys, all because an airline made a data driven commercial decision to ensure that people are extracting program value in more logical proportion to what they offer out, putting in enough value for this to make business sense.
Many are finding out they simply aren’t as “elite” as their fantasies would like. For those who felt genuinely loyal to the airline, weren’t actively gaming the system and now feel dumped, I have empathy. For everyone else…
Taking It Out Of The Air
The biggest issue is what this does, or did, to their self aggrandizing glory.
Many people who drank enough of their own Kool-Aide to believe they were truly VIP for life, just by engaging in shenanigans to beat a system for the lowest cost, while maximizing every bit of reward at the greatest cost to the airline won’t be able to next year.
Was that loyalty? Please, cry me a river. Despite this, they’re still likely very important and deserving of perks, but not quite top tier VIP. That’s the whole point of stratification. It’s a data exercise to figure out how many people giving how much, deserve how much in return. I mean, geez, it’s not like BA would have years of historical spending and behavioral data to analyze… oh wait.
Taking this out of the air for a moment, imagine you’re the general manager of a restaurant.
How would you feel if a customer comes in, buys just a water but then demands to drink all your booze for free, running up $100’s in tabs, taking up all your tables for paying customers and then demanding to invite a friend in to do the same. All, because they showed a minimum modicum of loyalty a year ago?
At the very least emotional level, that’s going to create tension.
Delusional Hobbyists Are Running Out Of “Games”
Can modeling be wrong? Always. Is it often wrong by magnitudes? Rarely. Can any potential flaws with how many people should reach each tier be quickly corrected with promotional tier point multipliers or bonuses? Of course.
Is there any consideration that the travelers this commercial operation wants to attract may find themselves way better off, with better travel experiences as a result of these more sound and vetted economics? Of course not! That’d be non-delusional.
For many, on small hobbyist forums masquerading as broad gospel — which they’re not — this game has never been about loyalty, but about rinsing a program for all that could be taken with the lowest economic input to that program.
That’s how programs die – plain and simple. That’s how meaningful benefits get killed. Plain and simple. That’s how dissatisfaction with a program appears and aspiration is lost. Simple. It’s vital to compare program costs and benefits so you should keep doing that. All programs gotta’ bring value, but it’s a two way street.
These people fail to consider that if they were chasing status to maximize a benefit at the lowest possible cost to them, while utilizing the perks with the greatest cost to the airline – almost to a point of spite – they might have been more expensive than they were worth, and even truly economically diabolical.
Some flyers can actually have negative economic value – where the cost of providing lounge access with guesting, seat assignments and other “freebies” across the year costs the airline more than they make in profit from flying that passenger.
Remember: the average airline profit per passenger sits around $5 per journey.
Players played the game and that was fun while it lasted, but anyone with a logical pulse knew that it was economically unviable in the long term to give away so many perks with so little bonafide spend behind them. What’s got the authors and readers bees in a bonnet, is that they’re running out of hobbyist games to play, which means fewer things to write about and exploit far beyond commercial intent. For anyone with normal travel patterns, life goes on.
Remember: riling you up is a great way to build audience engagement, especially under the guise that they’re on your side, while of course selling you the financial products of the very brands they’re telling you to loathe, to keep the lights on.
If you’re an even quasi-normal traveler, you should care, because these people make it harder to reward those who play the game without malintent, who have remotely reasonable travel patterns. These people deserve better loyalty and this is how you achieve it. Money talks, y’all!
Top Tier: Dollars And Sense
It costs an airline every time someone uses a benefit. When that person uses their status to access a partner lounge and bring a guest, the airline pays even more to an external party. It’s real money out the door. All the “freebie” as we move up the elite ranks, like seat selection and waived baggage fees, have real cost and commercial impact on a business. That’s the cost of keeping loyal business, but again – it’s a two way street.
To give them away, an airline needs a business case, not a plea for self aggrandizing elitist glory from people who simply want to beat the system and feel better than others, for less.
To properly vet yesterday’s British Airways Club changes, we need to level set. The US is the most important market for BA, where it competes squarely against many US major airlines and extracts similar spend, if not more, due to the more predominantly long haul focus versus US domestic airlines.
To hit top tier ‘Executive Platinum’ on American Airlines — a fair equivalent to BA Gold — someone achieving this from scratch will need to spend a little over $27,000 on flights alone, if they don’t have an American Airlines credit card or won’t book hotels. That’s £21,535. United currently wants a little over $28,000 for their comparable 1K status and Delta is about the same for Diamond. That’s about £22,000. BA remains the most attainable of that lot.
I watched when the US programs went revenue based and covered them all the same. The comments back then were also full of people who were going to jump ship and leave, but in the subsequent years all I’ve seen is record earnings from those airlines. The two can be conflated but there’s usually some correlation in loyalty success. The angry forum mob is not indicative of the broader public.
And really, it wouldn’t have mattered if BA made Gold £15K and Silver £5K – people still would be whinging endlessly. And remember, it’s now SO easy for BA to steer people through the tiers with multipliers under the new system, so it’s all too possible that some people could spend less than the £7500 or £20,000 Silver and Gold stickers to hit, if stars align with the right incentives.
Still up for the fight?
There’s always the martyr argument, that someone could jump ship and go to a European competitor. But for most practical people, adding a connection adds time — and potential delay — in another city to every single journey, bringing complexity to what could be a point to point journey. Businesses don’t like long connections on their hours and nor does my wife.
This risk was always a risk before any program changes and people who book travel based on price alone are likely already engaging in this when it makes sense financially, regardless of loyalty. It’s actually totally fine and sane!
Contrary to the hobbyist forums, MOST people prefer direct flights over any connecting option. Few serious travelers are ever going to spite themselves on every trip, just to not participate in a loyalty program. And if they don’t want to participate in the British Airways Club, they can just not add their frequent flyer number, which is another unique form of masochism.
Money Has Become The Proxy For Loyalty
Money is not a perfect proxy for loyalty, but it’s the best model adapted by virtually every major US airline and now with these changes, British Airways and many others globally as well. By the end of 2025, I’d expect few programs to still use any other form of tracking for tier progress.
What’s important is that airlines focus on not just butt in seat spend, but holistic loyalty, like the spend on financial services products, vacations and other lifestyle choices which bring in revenue to the airline and program, and therefore deserve recognition in exchange.
The good news is that in this system, money talks in ways the bean counters can understand, so there should be less need to pull away the rich benefits or devalue the points as often as before.
This brave new world of rich data and financial modeling meeting the old school fluffy and romantic idea of loyalty (which I adore) has not been an era without turbulence. Some of the best loyalty driving anecdotes are nowhere to be found on boring spreadsheets, but a lot is. This is a flywheel everyone involved in the business can understand.
The better news, for those who can make it, is that tying loyalty to money spent makes it much easier for airlines to invest in perks, since they’re able to know and show the wider business what giving that perk to someone drove in revenue.
It should make status perks better, and it damn well better!
The hard pill to swallow for many is that not everyone is VIP, not everyone gets to be George Clooney in Up In The Air and that’s something we can only change by buying the ticket in the cabin with the treatment and sophistication we’d like, if we can’t do it with loyalty status alone.
I fly all the time on airlines without status and… it’s fine. I stand like every schmuck, sit like every other schmuck and leave the plane like every other schmuck. If I want better, I pay for what I need.
Opportunistic Not Loyal
Loyalty is an interesting game. In some regards, it is always opportunistic on both sides. Loyalty is an opportunity for a brand to gain better traction, new business or share of wallet from consumers and in exchange — consumers look for the most opportunistic program to unlock their personal needs and goals.
An equilibrium must exist, but everyone’s perception of that equilibrium or balance will be different.
Many who think they’re valuable are actually not, so the bluster of defection is hot air or air programs need not focus on. Planes fill up. Many of the most egregious abusers (like many on a certain UK site who go to a lounge to drink all day and then cancel their refundable ticket) bring negative value after they sneak through a tier and then spam the loyalty program with bills for lounges on partner airlines and guesting.
Reading the comments there, the amount of people who alluded to “gamed my way till I reached Silver and then only purchased the cheapest economy tickets and used my free lounge access with a friend all year” is an example of why these changes, although imperfect in some ways, address a real brand problem.
Again – this is a business – not a charity for ego indulgence among middle/upper income thresholds.
People gaming a system for a brief period of time, so that they can then cost the airline an arm and a leg in benefits, while intentionally purchasing less expensive tickets – where the lounge access may cost more than the profit from the transportation itself – does not drive any of the business goals of an airline forward.
You see, points can be opportunistic. They’re a game where arbitrage is the inherent goal, and that’s why they operate separately to elite status. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing max value, because they are financial instrument and not necessarily a pure measure of loyalty. Separate the two. You can be a points King or Queen and not be an airline VIP.
Becoming Actual Preference
Another comical theme in reaction is the number of people who said they spent on their BA Amex Cards (UK) JUST to hit their companion voucher, and then not another dime. And not because they couldn’t – I’d totally empathize with that.
The perceived “negative” of these changes is that if someone wants to take advantage of this new opportunity to be rewarded with extra tier points without flying, making it easier to hit the new elite Bronze, Silver and Gold thresholds from their card spend, they might need to actually keep spending on their BA Amex Card.
Shock, horror, the airline actually wants you to use the financial services product you took out more than just to hit the minimum threshold to earn the perk. I bet supermarkets want you to see food you hadn’t considered too! Ahhh, omg!
This is another perfect example of people pretending that loyalty, rather than opportunism, was the driving force in their travel preference. But, there are plenty of people who are actually loyal and value what these opportunities unlock for them. It’s not about beating a system, but about benefiting from a good system in furtherance of their desired travel lifestyle.
A seamless, integrated, path of least resistance way to get more out of travel just by living your life is a great one and looking down on that is just kind of crazy. I am thankful these seamless loyalty opportunities exist- regardless of which airline is offering them – because they make my travels better, in exchange for winning my preference.
There are connections I never would’ve made, upgrades I’d never have received and time saved that I’ve been able to spend with my family because I’ve shown enough loyalty to get it back.
There are plenty more sane and logical people than the loud mob. I don’t care who you fly, I don’t care if you are more or less loyal to any airline. What I do care about is that you don’t lie to yourself about what the real issue is when airline changes happen.
Great article. And totally on point.
Am I actually entering the new year with a positive comment on this blog? Shieeeet!
lol
I agree with most of this but not the point on the credit card – BA set the point at which you earn the milestone benefit (and have changed this in recent years) so presumably that spend plus the annual fee is aligned with them making a profit from the product otherwise they wouldn’t do it.
If they’re now incentivising further spending then that’ll change behaviour but there’s nothing about this that’s “gaming the system” like some of the examples with the exec club that are correctly cited
Touche – i’d say though that this is at least trying to incentivize a mutually beneficial behavior, if someone is so inclined. Good debate.
You are completely correct it is not fair that someone gets 280 points for spending £6000 on a flexi business class to Singapore/India etc and others can get 1500 points for spending roughly the same amount. I also have seen Gold card rage on way too many occasions which is unsightly with arrogant and entitled people pushing in the queue to board first from high spenders (mostly paid not by the person themselves but by their employer and those who are not. I have no problems with avios being changed and based on the cost of ticket. However I think they should have raised the threshold to something like 800 for silver and 1700 for gold and give more tier points when you buy more expensive tickets. It’s also makes it a bit easier to calculate using the existing method.. I fly only one world to maintain Gold status. I obviously like many don’t sit all day in lounges and abuse it as I am grateful for the perks I get which makes me a loyal customer. Loyalty works both ways for most decent people!! What BA need to be careful about is that other airlines especially Turkish and Etihad offer seats for a lower cost and arguably a better service that many customers will go elsewhere with these changes. I have 4 business class international flights booked for next year and looking at them now. I probably would have went elsewhere with 3 of the flights. Resulting in BA having lost 6 business class fares between me and my partner alone in one year!!
This is a quality take. Competition is essential for us to get the best benefits and there’s no doubt other airlines will want to capture this business. The hard thing will be finding meaningfully differentiated experiences. Oneworld Emerald is a really unique tier not shared by other alliances. Turkish, as an example, has an even more inconsistent fleet than BA, so route by route you can get wildly different standards. I hope each entity works to best reward passengers.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Yes TK has a more carried fleet than BA, yet the wrist kitted out TK plane for short haul, is better than any BA plane for short haul, and in the case of IST-LHR, which is the only apples to apples comparison, one not only has 3 to 4 times the amount of flights, but a 50/50 shot at a product that is far superior to anything that BA offers on the route. Similarly, you State in the article that the average profit per ticket is 5 quid or whatever, which may be true, but for EC members, it is more like 90 quid per segment, and for golds something like 280 quid per segment. Pickling and choosing stars, may be fun, but it is not honest, especially when the conversation by definition is EC based.
But in your own assessment you kinda hit the most important point: what primarily UK based traveler wants to route via IST to go to Europe, the US or virtually any other destination outside of IST, excluding MEA? I’d certainly challenge some of the latter assumptions in present operating conditions.
TK, which is just one example, flies up to 17 flights a day from the UK to IST. Not very long ago they flew twice a day solely from London, guess what, only a small percentage of these pax are O/D UK or Turkey. In fact of one adds the UK lift of the ME3 to TK’s, one finds that the combined ex-UK lift of these four combined is more than all BA flights heading East and South, not so long ago, they only accounted for a small percentage. In fact while 20 years ago these four combined did not even match the passenger numbers of BA, one is roughly the same size, one is smaller, and the other two are significantly bigger than BA, one being about the size of all of IAG in fact. So I am somewhat confused by you only speaking about American flights. Roughly 10,000 people A DAY flying from the UK to the Middle East, Asia, Africa, etc. Sort of proves. you wrong, especially as QR one of these airlines is kind of BA’s master……
There are easier ways for TK to advertise here.
That’s not how BA primarily makes money on the card. BA makes most of its money by American Express paying BA for every Avios
Even a year after Delta’s revenue based qualification changes, there are still some bitter DL flyers who insist that “loyalty” is time spent “butt in seat” and not revenue. But it’s a business, not a personal relationship, and the airlines are going to incentivize what helps their bottom line.
Are we not sitting here in an environment of “gaming the system” with credit card bonuses, manufactured spending, award miles, etc?
All of this effort does in fact require some sort of “loyalty” that keeps the person coming back year after year that I would argue is more valuable than the occasional first class traveler.
The juice 100% must be worth the squeeze, but people need to understand right sized benefit. My parents might take out a card, fly a few time a year and squeak out Bronze. The seat selection for them is a huge win, makes them feel valued and has even lead to the odd holiday lounge access. They don’t think they’re any more, or less than that.
To be clear, I’ve always been massively against manufactured spending. It creates unneccessary risk for all involved in the system – and the end user. When those methods dry up, people have been left holding huge bills they can’t pay. Credit card bonuses are incentives to earn business – used correctly they’re totally fair game and people should absolutely time their apps to maximize a welcome bonus. I’m not for the shenanigans of cycling or any of the other garbage that (again) kills the opportunities.
Love the article. Keep trying to educate the cry babies. It’s a mammoth task.
This article is spot on and I’m so glad that you’ve told it this way. The entitlement of what I’ve seen on various boards today is that BA owes them everything for the way they have cheated the system to get to he top. Bragging that getting silver for £1600 is why BA have made this decision. As you say they’re a business not a charity, the hot air is unbelievable.
Thank you!
I guess the articles about getting a BA Gold Card for £3k was the final nail….
So true! Not sure how they spent only £3k to get Gold maybe I should have read the articles myself!!!!! My partner and I probably spend around £7 to £8k each to maintain Gold all leisure travel paid from our own money not our employers. My partner used to travel 3-4 times a year all high revenue flex fares to Asia but that all stopped with Covid and teams meetings. BA need to be careful as many other employers are seeking to reduce business travel with regards to cutting costs and to fulfil environmental policies.
I managed to get Gold Guest List renewal for £6,000 in the last few years. The party has ended, but at least I’ve got my Gold for Life…..
Excellent article and generally I couldn’t agree more. I only hope the experience does actually improve for those who spend a decent amount.
One slight wrinkle is our very different credit card market. The cap on interchange fees (still with us in the UK despite Brexit!) means the economics are nothing like as favourable so the US-style airline card schemes where people are incentivised to put their entire spend on an airline card including the mortgage, little Johnny’s college fees and Grandma’s care home bill are just not going to happen with any BA card unless the law changes. This drives massive revenue for the US carriers so I just hope McKinsey didn’t promise IAG too much in this regard.
This is it, right? Asking more, need to get more. Finding a sweet spot there is essential to ensuring long term value customers remain that way. I too lament the interchange issues. AA lets you earn status on card spend alone (albeit about $200k per year) thanks to those economics and it seems unlikely the way the UK is going, that much of the fee caps here will change any time soon. Shame. Free markets are fun.
What is the McKinsey stuff? I’ve seen this mentioned in comments.
I haven’t seen any hard facts around McKinsey and they are notoriously tight-lipped around who they work for, but the rumour is that IAG have taken advice from them on these changes. It is certainly exactly the kind of strategic change a big listed company would often take advice from McKinsey / Bain / BCG on, not just whether to make the change but how to implement it. Apparently McKinsey were behind some of the switches to revenue based programmes for US carriers (and “rinse and repeat” is definitely the business model of that kind of firm).
The difference being that BCG would actually give good advice, though.
The issue I have is that BA will start these changes from the 2025 membership year, for which people will have already bought flights/holidays that would have qualified them status for 2025/2026, but now won’t come anywhere even close. Call me a cry baby all you like but I think this is deceptive – I could have booked cheaper flights/holidays in 2025 but chose to pay extra for BA to attain status.
From the BA website:
For holidays booked before 13:00 GMT 30 December 2024 for travel from 1 April 2025, Tier Points will be awarded based on a conversion of the existing method. This means any bookings you’ve already made, including bookings made as part of the British Airways Holidays double Tier Points offer, will earn proportionally the same number of Tier Points, or more, as today.
Ah thank you – either I missed that or they’ve updated the FAQs. I knew they were doing some kind of conversion but it wasn’t clear to me at the time – but if my hungover maths is correct, it seems they convert the “old” tier points to the “new” at a rate of 13.35, so I should still just barely qualify for 2026…! I was also confused because the date on their Double Tier Point promotional page changed to the end of March (used to be the end of June), but it appears they’ve covered that in the FAQs too:
Only eligible holidays booked before 13:00 GMT 30 December 2024 for travel completed by 30 June 25 will receive double Tier Points bonus award.
This is a great perspective and really highlights the difference in perspective of some travellers and the airline. I hadn’t considered people abusing the system like that before but now I realise I’ve read some of those posts and just ignored them.
(1) A program can pretty much decide which customers they want to treat as valuable
(2) But customers should then decide whether the value proposition works for them and
(3) It’s perfectly fair to speculate on whether the decision is rationally advancing of business interests or counterproductive.
It was pretty clear that Delta realized they made a mistake with their fall 2023 announcement of changes to elite status qualifying. They got scared by the response from customers cancelling their co-brand Amex cards, and significantly rolled back the adjustments.
Similarly, it was counterproductive when US Airways eliminated elite bonus miles (they even re-instituted them retroactively), when US Airways decided to count only full fare tickets towards status (also rolled back) and when Delta did the same thing many years ago (rolled back).
Often a program will stick with changes even when counterproductive out of hubris, an unwillingness to admit error. Not always! Hyatt made a bunch of improvements as well as customer-unfriendly changes in its elite program changes moving from Gold Passport to World of Hyatt – it cost their CMO her job, and they made a number of fixes. Some of the unpopular moves still made sense, like the elimination of 25 1-night stays to top tier that included confirmed suites. It was a mixed bag.
Ultimately it’s an empirical question whether the elite program changes BA announced will work out in their favor or not. They may not be doing enough to diversify the program towards higher margin activities like ancillary spend and sale of Avios. And they have a lot of premium seats to sell in their cabins, so doing less to encourage the sale of seats they’re already having to discount could be a mistake. We’ll see!
But a customer should rationally look at those changes, figure out how the value proposition changes for them and respond accordingly.
– Some people should become free agents, buying on schedule and price or quality (pick SQ for Singapore and Southeast Asia trips, for instance, EK for Dubai, Mideast and South Asia, maybe Delta/Virgin across the Pond).
– Other folks might prefer to earn oneworld emerald through a different program, BA Gold doesn’t provide that many benefits over and above oneworld emerald, BA Silver not that many benefits beyond oneworld sapphire. Alaska and American for instance dropped the requirement for minimum segments on their own metal for status. Alaska and American treat their 3rd tier (MVP Gold 75K / Platinum Pro) as emerald. Both count non-flight activity towards status, like online shopping. Alaska is distance-based and quite rewarding for partner tickets booked through them. A discounted business class ticket on BA booked through Alaska will earn 250% bonus qualifying miles in addition to flown miles (distance-based).
A few minor nits on your points in the post. An Executive Platinum member would need just over $18,000 (~£14,500) in flight spend to keep their status if they credited nothing but flights for this – no card spend, no hotels, no car rentals or petrol or online shopping etc. However someone starting from scratch with no status (and that’s not necessary – American offers status challenges or ‘Instant Status Pass’ to expedite) would need $27,012 (£21,535), not $40,000.
I don’t think “tying loyalty to money spent makes it much easier for airlines to invest in perks” is quite right.
– Show me the airlines that have moved to revenue-based qualification that has made their program better for elite flyers still making status after the shift? It largely began with Delta, and lots of copying because other airlines thought Delta executives were the smartest, though of course the first true revenue-based (redemption) program was Independence Air, hardly the most lucrative!
– The value of a loyalty program is in shifting wallet share, earning incremental business the airline wouldn’t otherwise get. It’s not highest gross spend, but spend as a result of the loyalty investment. Who’s the customer where the marketing investment pays off – the business traveler on a corporate contract, required to fly BA and traveling on a route only BA operates non-stop? Or the traveler paying for high margin seats and checked bags, who carries a BA credit card, shops through the BA portal, and transfers points into their BA account from partners – and chooses to fly BA over competitors filling up seats that would have otherwise gone unsold (and therefore their revenue is almost all profit, while that high yield traveler might displace another passenger)?
Rewarding gross spend you’re going to get anyway may be necessary once you’ve got a program, but is largely wasteful in terms of generating incremental profit – except, of course, that business travelers are leisure travelers and treating that customer well when they don’t have any choice but to fly you earns their discretionary business, too!
Again, we’ll see how this all sorts out. It may turn out well for BA, it may not, and thinking through which seems more likely is fair ground for commentary. More important, though, is for customers to understand what the changed value proposition looks like for them, and where they’ll get the best deal going forward.
I’d add that since American’s Platinum Pro is more functionally equivalent to BA Gold than Executive Platinum, I should note that takes US$18,679 in spend from scratch with nothing else but flights credited… and just US$13,889 (£11,085) to requalify.
Gary, as always I find it hard to disagree with just about anything you say. I also agree with the historical references and hubris being a bad indicator muddler of true performance tracking.
Call me crazy, but I actually think it’s the premium leisure crowd who really benefits here, precisely against what many have argued. As you note…
“The value of a loyalty program is in shifting wallet share, earning incremental business the airline wouldn’t otherwise get. It’s not highest gross spend, but spend as a result of the loyalty investment. Who’s the customer where the marketing investment pays off – the business traveler on a corporate contract, required to fly BA and traveling on a route only BA operates non-stop?
I really think there’s a broader leisure opportunity, that BA is better Holidays is a far bigger business than it currently is, perhaps one that can compete regionally with OTA’s, and that they’ll be able to shift a lot of premium leisure with this change. I too see only so much value in the further enticing the already enticed corporates but I really think people are missing a bit of the plot with how much leisure business this could bring to help fill those cabins up front. As always, much love and happy new year. Will fix AA figure.
I think your point #2 is obviously the most important and that’s where BA probably owes me more. There’s more being asked, but the full kimono has not been pulled back. I’d certainly like to see what additional investment from flyers would bring. Heard on the tangible reinvesting of cash into perks.
BA wants to shift behavior, and shift whom they’re rewarding. They’re asking more of customers, and based on what they’ve announced so far they aren’t really giving more to those customers who respond. We don’t know the full extent of the carrots, like benefits earned between tiers, so we’ll see!
Those willing and able to shift their hotel bookings to vacation packages – giving up hotel points, elite status benefits and status credit if they stay at chains – may be able to make up some of the difference.
As I say, I wonder whether some BA customers might not find themselves better off crediting to a different oneworld program. It’s going to vary by situation, and worth modeling.
Also, as you compare ticket revenue to U.S.-based programs bear in mind that tickets are frequently less expensive ex-Europe than on this side of the Atlantic. It can be cheaper to earn status here in the U.S. even with more expensive tickets!
I think it’s fascinating to watch. I just wish BA really would say, look, we expect more from you in earning our status but when you do we’re actually going to give you more! A lot of flyers are just tired of staying on a treadmill, having more and more asked of them, without the corresponding sense that they’re better cared for as a result.
Nonetheless, I take your point about emotional reaction. I mentioned Hyatt earlier. With the shift to World of Hyatt, they fired a lot of elite customers! Those were the most vocal of course. And given the richness of benefits, and the limited supply of those benefits, Hyatt probably *was* overrewarding them. Many arguments about programs shooting themselves in the foot wound up a bit self-serving and perhaps not so borne out as time passed.
Still, I wonder if pairing this with some givebacks to customers might have helped. I remember when United Airlines CFO John Rainey said in 2012, “We had certain groups in this program that were over-entitled if you will.” In August 2002, when Ben Baldanza was Vice President at US Airways, he said that customers buying inexpensive tickets (that the airline was offering for sale) didn’t represent the kind of loyalty they were looking for. There are better ways to approach your customers who thought they were in a loyalty relationship based on the rules set forth by the program!
I think BA could have done more to manage the messaging to members here. Most Golds don’t just squeak into Gold, what does their modeling show about how current elites overall will be affected? That could be useful in comforting members… also help members see what their qualifying spend in the current and last membership year was, so how their current activity ends up! And show them what they could do in the program going forward to make up for any shortfall. That could help encourage the kind of behavioral shift they want to see…
Cheers,
Gary
“I think it’s fascinating to watch. I just wish BA really would say, look, we expect more from you in earning our status but when you do we’re actually going to give you more! A lot of flyers are just tired of staying on a treadmill, having more and more asked of them, without the corresponding sense that they’re better cared for as a result.”
I think this is the key thing that needs to be addressed. More is a two way street, I’d like to see the houses on said street. Cheers, sir!
Loving the article. I found it pretty entertaining watching all those freeloaders gaming the system cry. Best one of seen was the idea that AIG share price will go down when they stop flying BA which was hilarious.
Hopefully soon we will stop seeing people pouring drinks from the lounge to their bootleg and loading their backpacks full of food.
You talk about all this BA premium leisure product that is untapped?
Just like the corporate big spenders they fly BA because it is convenient not because they offer a better premium product.
Alienating loyal BA flyers that pay less needs to be offset by attracting this premium crowd with a better premium product, both in the sky and on the ground. And BA just doesn’t measure up to the ME3 and Asia, not to mention even AF.
Great rational article spelling out simple business economics. I assume all the moaners must also get very cross that Tescos and Sainsbury’s don’t shower them in riches for just buying meal deals, instead rewarding spend as they do. It’s not a new concept.
Simple economics alienating people and making them look elsewhere. Makes perfect business sense to increase profit. We’ve seen with Bud & Jag that office wallers, pen pushers & accountants are often wrong only looking at numbers and not the people that give those numbers.
And liking it to Tesco & Sainsburys? Let’s put it into perspective. Now, I can buy a meal deal and get 3 points, with BA’s model, I’d need to buy 60 sandwiches to get 3 points. I’ll go to Asda instead.
Great article and agree wholeheartedly. You should look beyond the US at progammes such as PPS on SQ which follow a revenue based model also (albeit more restrictive, only butts on seats in J and F on SQ count, no CC tie ins, no partner flights ). With that programme you at least know where you are, given they have differentiated it sufficiently to Krisflyer (PPS sits above KF) — their mileage earning programme (eg. dedicated customer lines, easier mileage redemption for Suites for Solitaire status, depending where you are based invites to events (F1, tennis, better lounge access on own metal, plus willingness to “bend the rules”).
In the real world, most people weren’t gaming the system, and it takes quite a few ‘waters’ at some reasonable cost just to get into the hallowed ground of the Galleries Club lounge – where you have to work pretty hard to get £100s of benefit.
I also note your point that airlines make about £5 profit per passenger, but that’s profit, so presumably after all the FF benefits have been paid for…
These changes are very disheartening for previously loyal BA leisure passengers like me, who just make Silver every year through our own spend. And, there are plenty of us.
Well said. Yes, the lounges were full, and sure, there are some high-profile cases of people boasting about taking cheap mileage-run flights. But are these people really as typical as Gilbert’s take suggests they are?
Most of us have been paying a premium, out of our own pocket, to keep flying BA when there were cheaper and more reliable alternatives. Case in point: I’ve regularly been flying BA World Traveller Plus on multiple annual transatlantic trips when travel aggregator sites showed me cheaper fares with Delta, Virgin Atlantic and United’s premium economy products. Then there is Norse Atlantic, where the seat in premium is much better than either BA or Virgin (sure, the meal on Norse is pretty average, but so what?), at a much lower price.
As a result, while most of us would have grudgingly accepted an adjustment to the programme with the bar raised for the tier levels – we all understand that this is a profit-making entity – what BA has done is take a wrecking ball to the whole thing. It has made achieving silver, let alone gold, very hard, verging on impossible for small business folk who pay their own way. But, unlike the big firms, we are not locked in via corporate contracts; we have a genuine choice.
Also, the holiday benefit is not that great. Yes, I could book a £5000 vacation for my family, but the tier allowance would be split, and booking them separately to get the points is a hassle.
Anyway, I guess going forward, I’ll get used to not having lounge access or simply getting it through my bank account, and I’ll pay for my seats myself. But on the plus side, I’ll save money and have the chance to sample other airlines.
So rather than being an ‘adult baby,’ I can see some positives going forward, and it’s made me question whether the extra $/£ I was paying was really worth it in terms of benefits anyway. Perhaps what BA has actually done is set many of us free but at a cost to its own business.
“For many, on small hobbyist forums masquerading as broad gospel — which they’re not — this game has never been about loyalty, but about rinsing a program for all that could be taken with the lowest economic input to that program.”
This, on a website that literally exists to help people earn, use and exploit points and perks, is beautifully ironic.
With the UK economy in the doldrums, uncertainty how long premium leisure travel will continue to be strong, and corporate travel likely to face continued softness in a MS Teams world, I’m not convinced that angering customers and creating more ill will is a smart strategy.
Brand loyalty is about a long-term relationship. BA has been under threat for years from low-cost carriers in Europe. Creating weakness amongst another customer segment (or more than one) seems like a strangely risky move from a company that’s recent decisions have already alienated people. Nothing in this feels like it offers greater customer benefits (except less crowded lounges, with BA choosing the scrooge-like path of limiting lounge access rather than improving the lounge situation).
BA has made its choice. Consumers and businesses will now make theirs. I’d already switched flights to Delta and Virgin in Q3-4 2024 and this will just continue that shift.
Is this written by someone who makes a living selling credit cards with travel benefits?
No, actually. This is a fun passion project.
Problem is that BA ‘nickel and dime’ their premium passengers and having status allows you to bypass some of that
Only reason I want status is so that I can choose my seat FoC when I book a business class flight, the only other useful feature is lounge access which I get with the flight
It’s somewhat ridiculous that people paying ‘000s for a business class flight class flight have to pay to reserve seats! Plenty of other airlines allow free seat selection in lower classes SIA for example
Which may be exactly why they’re doing this. Wonder if their models show convincingly that any revenue loss to other airlines is more than compensated by cost savings from fewer status passengers getting loyalty perks AND more passengers simply accepting the rampant nickel-and-diming.
Totally stupid. A frequent Flyer programm is for frequent flyers. I’m sorry. They are now just “selling” memberships. Glad Star alliance is still based on flights and not money for the status.
Yeah, United is a leader in being based on flights 😉🤷♂️ and Singapore Air PPS club loves people who spend on discount tickets.
100% spot on! I may be one of the few travellers to absolutely LOVE these changes. Why? Because I mostly buy full fare Club World tickets and up until now I get the same return tier points (280) per trip when I spend $10k on a last minute flexible ticket, but sit next to someone that paid 2/3 less but got the same tier points. I’ve easily retained gold for over 20 years (and I have GFL), but never enough for GGL despite spending close to $100k per annum on roughly 10 return trans-Atlantic flights per year. I’ve met many people that cleverly spend $30k and get GGL, but unfortunately my travel is always very last minute and I can’t be clever about it. Under the new rules I will easily achieve GGL status each year…finally!
Understand your perspective but respectfully disagree. I’ve sat at silver for many years and have been quite content. Primarily short haul European travel that would have been easier and possibly more comfortable with other airlines. I’ve stuck with BA, even taking business class flights for no reason other than making it to silver again that year, but now silver is out of my reach there is absolutely no point in my continuing to stick (or demonstrate loyalty) to them. I may not be the target demographic behind these changes but I suspect there are plenty of others like me and collectively BA may regret cutting us loose.
Not sure where the credit card came in, I have a BA card and until this year had never gained TP for using it.
Hey Thomas, you’re one who I offer an apology to with this article. I think well intentioned loyal travelers should never be overlooked and your comment sounds like they’ve put you in a very hard place. Talking to a friend (in this comments section actually) the good point was made about managing potential break ups and your POV sounds like it deserves that. To be clear, the BA Amex going forward will offer people a certain number of tier points, up to 2500, for spending on the card. For someone, possibly like you, who may not hit the new thresholds on flights alone, this could be a meaningful bridge to get there, if so inclined (particularly if you book BA holidays too). Respect, sir.
There are many of us in this boat, so to speak. I’ve been Gold for many years and managed to retain it through a mix of business travel but mostly leisure travel and have never done elaborate “tier point runs” apart from maybe a quick short haul biz to get over the line if it was looking like I’d fall short a few TPs. I’ve enjoyed the perks such as priority boarding, seats, and lounge access (never filling up my backpack with snacks and booze!?!). But under the new model, I will just not be able to retain Gold, or perhaps not even Silver. It does feel like a real kick in the teeth by BA, that all those years of loyalty mean nothing. What happens to my lifetime tier points?! I did think that one day I might get to lifetime Gold but now? They feel worthless…
Mavis, you sound like a fair person who is on the losing side of these changes. I know it probably doesn’t feel great and I think there’s an opportunity here for BA to do better with the messaging. I have empathy. Ultimately, they made a decision and it sounds like you’ll fall into Silver. For what it’s worth, I’d really hope and think BA will try and improve these tiers in light of the changes. You deserve to see the full deck of what’s ahead and to be able to make your loyalty decisions accordingly.
This is funny to me because the vast majority of your commentary piece is criticising people, calling them cry-babies, and telling them to sod off – when those people are long-standing, loyal travellers. Who are you to judge their intentions, if they are paying money to British Airways?
I’m one of those who is hurt pretty badly by this change, not because I’m a voracious consumer of loads of perks or because I’m “abusing” the system with tier points-runs, but because I’m a regular flyer with some business/premium cabin trips and the new set-up makes Silver very hard to envision and Gold impossible. And BA seems to think I’ll be excited about these enhancements after a decade as Silver. No thanks.
Hey, the rich deserve to be treated better than others. They are simply more valuable as human beings.
Your corporate booklicking isn’t going to make Daddy Sean Doyle notice you and send you away with a thank you note and a pat on the head for being a good little boy, you know that, right?
Yes, I’m so desperately seeking approval that I chose to disregard emotion and instead focus on data and facts, can you imagine such a thing? I’d say see ya in the lounge and you can take your shot like the rest!
I’m sure someone else has already written this in the many comments or is certainly thinking it but what numbers do you have of these adult babies that are upset or is it just because you’ve read some reviews on social media and picked up on a handful?
I’m from the UK & have been loyal to BA for over 10 years now choosing to drive for 2 hours and stay in an airport hotel overnight for a 2 hour flight rather than travel 40 minutes to my local airport in the morning. I’m a regular Joe who liked the brand and therefore chose them over others.
Most of the business travellers where the company pays the ticket price won’t be overly worried as they get all the perks anyway like lounge access and group 1 boarding and will now retain a status with perks they don’t really need just by flying Club but many more, me included show loyalty and in return we receive said perks when not flying club since BA do economy flights over here. It seems I’m not allowed to be upset by that and am referred to be a baby throwing my toys around.
When you suggest any time someone uses a lounge and has a drink or some food, that costs the airline, no, that costs me as I have paid for that flight and paid over the odds for many other flights into BA’s bank account to earn a status. And let’s be fair, they don’t have the quality that food or drink that Cathy or Emirates do.
Focusing on data isn’t always the best option either as we have seen many failures over recent years where that has been the case, there often needs to be a human interaction to make sure this’ll all be fine, BA have a future lab of people who have been, or so they thought, helping to improve, guide & inform BA, judging by what I am hearing, BA didn’t listen there either.
For me, I’ll be travelling much cheaper with less inconvenience from my local airport and so will many others so we’ll see how this data you so dearly live by fairs
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with receiving status perks when not flying in a cabin that providers benefits, provided that the spend throughout the year is deemed to justify what that is worth. I think there’s no doubt that some loyalty has been marginalized here by numbers, it sounds like you may be a part of that and that’s an unfortunate shame. Ultimately they made a decision about who gets to keep those perks based on spend and people will have to decide whether the new program is worth it for them.
And they will decide! I just don’t think it’s right you can suggest so many of us are adult babies throwing toys when we have all shown great loyalty to a company, I think it would have been better titled “Some hobbyists get upset but 99% of loyal customers are rightly more so”.
That’s fair. The hobbyists were always the loudest of the babies, so they’re the ones this is really directed at.
Have you commented upon whether the BA gold “experience” is worth putting down £20k (plus taxes, fees etc) per year? Did you approve of BA telling us it’s actually what we wanted and they’re doing it for us?
Some people have absolutely had over the top reactions, but BA have made huge changes with short notice and devalued their loyalty scheme to the extent where it’s pointless for most. I’ll be interested to see how this affects their bottom line.
This is a debate worth engaging in for sure. Excellent questions. To me, it’s a personal calculation and BA needs to reveal more of the kimono here of what the new club will fully entail.
Gold isn’t a “need” for me, but a nice to have. I really like the first wing. It gives a certain level of “worst case” clarity for most journeys which allows me to factor in time savings and stress levels. Those have financial value to me. In irregular operations (IRROPS), I find Oneworld Emerald treatment with all Oneworld airlines is generally excellent. That has value to me. We’re still not at 20k yet, but coupled with the lounge and check in experiences in the US with AA, plus enhanced seat availability for some Avios seats, we’re again moving the needle. Silver is a must for me, but that’s easy because I know my spend will get there. I’m a Silver+ who may end up Silver, but may squeak Gold.
In most years I juuust about will hit new Gold just about, and I really stand by the positive of the holidays part. We like nice hotels, travel with kids, often need bigger rooms or two rooms, so I can rack up a hell of a bill there. This change makes that spend count and that’s a lot better for me, since my (day job) work travel has a generous travel policy but not one that allows for flexi first or anything like that. I’ll probably hit £10-12K organically on flight spend and between AEXP and Holidays just about make up the rest.
For someone who buys first all the time, status doesn’t matter, but if it’s on offer, no one is going to pass it up either ; )
Gilbert I do kind of agree with you BUT-
BA is the airline that allowed Molly maid to unplug their server whilst hoovering the carpet and had a successful class action for a data breach. Anyone who has used their website knows their grasp of IT is somewhat shakey. I not not trust them to make a data based decision when their IT is not robust. Was their decision to introduce brunch in First whilst Qatar were bringing in caviar in Business data based as well.
You are probably very used to very substandard premium products where a scoop of ice cream with a sprinkle of smarties magically becomes a business class dessert. A lot of Brits tolerated BAs dreadfulness in exchange for status that could be easily achieved.
In many ways it’s refreshing I will just collect the Avios (mostly by not flying) and ignore the tier points. I will however miss boring people with my stories of back to back tier point runs from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta.
Quite childish to treat your readers like that.
Nice comments from a bunch of McKinsey fake posters.
You neglected to address
Are the thresholds at the right level? No seems to be the internal airline view
Why is every other expert of the reverse view? Could you be wrong . Yet again.
Why should anyone read your sh1tty obsequious arse licking website anymore.
Which toddler wrote this?
Adult babies that your website has given no shortage of ‘gaming’ guidance to. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Judgemental and sanctimonious article. Poor form.
That’s across the street.
The suddenness of this with only 3 months notice is simply not cricket. That is the main thing that riles me up. BA provide an annual earning cycle, encouraging loyal customers plan flights around that earning cycle. And suddenly BA scrap the program. For something as major as this they should provide at least a year’s notice and plenty of comms in advance. Project Mgmt 101. The rushed implementation is completely botched up and demonstrates a complete disregard for its customers. The lack of clarity on soft landings rubs further salt into the wound. Whoever is running this project should be sacked for generating so much rancour and hostility. It didn’t have to be this bad.
Ps: not even going to get into how limited the selection is on BA holidays and the limited attraction of having three kids with bronze rather than the bill payer getting silver. Whatever I’m voting with my feet.
No argument that some soft landing of many elements or better insight into future would be helpful for all (myself too).
“Like many travelers, you’re probably in hot pursuit of how to find as many as you can, as quickly as you possibly can, to earn more of those tempting perks. This easy guide will unveil all the best tips and tricks to understand the British Airways tier point game and play it like a pro.”
Can you guess who wrote this almost exactly a year ago. I will give you a clue his name is at the top of this post.
Both today’s post and the BA policy change are great examples of at best deluding yourself into believing that you can convince your target audience that a decision they don’t like and probably isn’t benificial towards them is good which best is delusional and at worst it is insulting their intelligence. Remember a lot of frequent flyers are well educated professionals.Using phrases like “adult baby” isn’t exactly the language you should refer to many of your readership as.
I think today’s post was unnecessary, rude condescending and going back to the quote at the top of my post totally hypocritical.
I never told people how to break rules, just what the rules were and how to add. I (and google seemed to agree) that it was one of the most useful pieces of information out there. I didn’t set the rules, nor have I now.
Gilbert, you are getting very defensive have you anything to hide?? Saying that I can’t see what your reply has to do with my post I haven’t mentioned rules (or any synonym) at all yet you mentioned them three times, strange??
You mentioned an article I wrote about how to earn tier points, years ago. So, I responded about said article and its efficacy on the internet as an information source and that it’d been helpful to show people how the game was payed. Beyond that, I’m at a loss trying to follow here…
My point was that is is somewhat hypocritical/ two faced and extremely disrespectful to tell some of your readership in one breath how to maximise how they collect tier points then in the next breath call them “adult babies” when they are unhappy when the perk is removed. It was you who first mentioend rules and I duly responded. I hope this clears up matters .
I just want to clarify that these were breaths across approximately 6 years? I think I first wrote that article in 2018, maybe even 2017? I always want to give people the information of the time, that was the info of the time. As I mention in this penning, I have empathy for anyone who was really loyal and may get squeezed out here because they don’t spend as much. I’m telling a different group, who are adult children, that they are indeed, adult children. I hope you find travel delight whatever your loyalty journey takes you on.
No Gilbert, however as intrinsically lazy as people are, many (including myself) wouldn’t have entertained “gaming” the system at any level, had the rules been highlighted.
The very fact that you (and others) did, highlighted the possibilities and enabled people to realise what was (and wasn’t) possible.
As others have stated there are many elements to your article which are beautifully ironic, when you consider the function of your “passion project”.
I’d be interested to know from the “data”, how many of the current crop of gold travellers actually achieve status from rock bottom TP runs (I’m certainly not one of them) or indeed the double tier point offer which people availed themselves of for a number of years.
Few people are arguing with the basis of your article (all good things come to an end after all), however your branding of people as “adult babies” is itself marginally petulant.
The levels of reaction is a 2 way street. Yes you do have people spending 3k on a gold renewal (god I can’t remember where I saw that article) moaning incessantly and you’ve also got business travellers who don’t pay a penny out of pocket poking fun at those in the middle ground who earn status for the majority on self funded luxury travel.
Perhaps so “data driven analysis” of the responses on your part, may have helped you present a more reasoned argument, or was rage baiting the readership your objective?
I find your point about ‘Executive Platinum’ on AA really interesting but I am not sure this is correct. AA recognizes BA Gold as Platinum Pro; not Executive Platinum as the article suggests. So the comparator of AA’s spend requirement of c. £21k to get Executive Platinum is redundant.
Executive Platinum is the higher of the OWE statuses on AA and so the equivalent, and more appropriate, comparator on BA is GGL, which has a massively higher spend threshold of £65k (vs. £21k).
It would be interesting to know what the spend requirement for AA’s Platinum Pro is as that is a better comparator. Also, AA gives bonus loyalty points on status and the credit card points are much more generous that what is proposed by BA.
And before jumping onto CK: CK status is invitation only and more akin to Premier, although many people compare GGL to CK status. The difference between CK vs Premier is it seems that more people stand a chance of being invited because of spend. The spend requirements to be considered are rumored to be somewhere between GGL qualification and renewal.
Overall, BA’s revamped scheme seems a little out of kilter whether you agree or disagree with the changes.
To hit top tier ‘Executive Platinum’ on American Airlines — a fair equivalent to BA Gold — someone achieving this from scratch will need to spend a little over $27,000 on flights alone, if they don’t have an American Airlines credit card or won’t book hotels. That’s £21,535.
To be clear, American has always viewed GGL as CK equivalents. People often met at gates or driven across the tarmac when connecting onto AA services, so I don’t think Gold to CK is a good comparison. I somewhat that the point with Platinum Pro, but there’s room for debate there, particularly given that BA Gold unlocks lounges and Flagship services on AA domestic, whereas AA’s own tiers don’t (excluding CK). I think that gives BA Gold slightly more weight as a tatl status. I think AA has done a masterful job with their loyalty program and think AAdvantage is one of the very best programs in existence right now, with steep thresholds but many fun games to play to reach them. Even our dear Gary Leff got CK from donating to charity during the pandemic.
The thresholds seem steeper under the new BA model and more difficult – for example AA’s credit cards and online shopping portal are much easier than BA.
I’m curious about your comment on the AA programme. Being a little selfish for the moment, I am ok the process of moving to the US on a work assignment. Up until these changes were announced I had planned to keep BAEC (as my location is an AA hub with frequent travel back to UK). Now, I am not sure whether to stick or switch to AA. I’m likely to retain at least BA, probably BA Gold, for the first year but then my travel might drop a bit and switch more to AA. Grateful for any input from you and others.
My issue is that BA and VS have so many revenue sharing agreements and alliances that competition on fares has vanished. From the U.K. premium fares are the highest in Europe and even if you walk you cannot escape the clutches of IAG or the VS equivalent.
The reason why airlines have moved to revenue based loyalty is because the can without risk
My wife and I (both frequent travellers) gave up on BA two years ago after a spare of cancelled flights, lost bags, opaque and difficult compensation processes, and, frankly, rude customer service. There are better alternatives in almost every case. We live in the NW and now route through Paris on Amsterdam for long haul flights rather than London.
We have lots of unused Avios as it is so hard to use them anyway and, tbh, we just can’t be bothered.
I know people that cling on to BA because they have status, most of those people will now finally give up as well.
To be a premium airline, you have to offer a premium service. BA doesn’t even come close these days.
“What I do care about is that you don’t lie to yourself about what the real issue is when airline changes happen.”
Perhaps BA could’ve explained the real issue in its press release, rather than talking about “evolving travel needs”!
Potentially these changes have the potential to benefit someone like me and my partner who spend quite a bit on premium travel and stay in high-end hotels and resorts. The problem is BA seem to be saying that all high-end travellers need to do to maintain their status/benefits is book all their travel/ accommodation through BA Holidays. But it’s actually quite an inflexible booking system and not very appealing to premium travellers with bespoke needs and often complicated itineraries. It’s fine if you want to simply travel to a city or airport in a premium cabin where BA fly to and stay in one place at some bland chain hotel. But there are many discerning travellers who spend eye-watering amounts (not us) on flights and exclusive hotels/resorts/tours in locations beyond cities/islands/ports that BA Holidays actually offer. For example, if I want to fly business/first class and and stay two weeks in Thailand but prefer to stay in an exclusive high-end resort that is not in overdeveloped and overcrowded Phuket, Pattaya or Koh Samui on offer through BA Holidays, I cannot book such a package through BA. Similarly, when we do our annual multi-city trip to Australia in business class, it’s extremely complicated, if not impossible, to do so through BA Holidays. Furthermore, unless you only want to travel to Sydney on BA, you are forced to fly on a Oneworld airline between Asia or the Middle East to other cities in Australia, which now is disadvantageous. In short, BA Holidays is not very appealing to those of us with complicated itineraries with bespoke and very specific travel needs. Unless BA make it easy for me to spend my current annual travel spend with them, I won’t do it. I’m more than happy to take my business elsewhere, but if you take their claims/arguments at face value they are trying to recognise/reward this type of thing. If so, their inflexible, complicated product is simply not up to scratch in my opinion.
You make a phenomenal point. If they’re going to hinge some of this success on building Holidays into a bonafide, it needs to be a bonafide. It’s not easy to shift premium travelers who have high spec needs, so that is a legitimately interesting challenge.
Thank you, Gilbert. I have appreciated your viewpoints in comparison to other pages which have encouraged gaming the system, but I still think that BA have got some work to do to appeal to those who they claim they are trying to recognise.
Complete agreement.
Their holiday booking website (like their main one) is buggy and terrible, it’s usually cheaper to book the flights and hotels separately, points are only awarded per person (as opposed to the whole booking), and most hotel chains have their own loyalty programs or even (anecdotally) treat you better if you book through them directly… Most people would have put up with this under the “old” system, but when you need to spend £7000+ I doubt many will bother, but I could be wrong!
Totally agree. Also, if you book via BAH does your spend/nights count for hotel status and do they give you the same benefits? Typically through OTA (like booking.com) these are denied. I sometimes luck out via the work travel agent (Amex) increasingly hotels are not honoring or awarding.
On point Gib