BA Exec Club Changes

[slim_slag]

BA Executive Club Changes (http://www.britishairways.com/travel/ecrhome/public/en_us)

From 1 July 2003, we will be introducing new benefits and changes to simplify and improve the British Airways Executive Club. I defy anybody to show how they have "improved" anything. It looks like they have told the economy class passengers to not even bother joining, and have significantly reduced the benefits for premium passengers too.

[SLF]

slim

Buried away in the middle: miles for upgrades, finally! :)

Tend to agree, though, looks like Ebenezer's had a go at it. :(

[bealine]

It's a tough one, I'll admit. On the one hand, we've got a product which is supposed to promote customer loyalty, on the other we have to control costs.

The High Yield Fares provide us with the ability to provide the hefty administration necessary to keep mileage records, tier levels, cross-communication with One World partners etc and to maintain our lounges, (God knows what our annual lounges costs are, but just one of the three lounges at LGW costs us £2m per year!) Of course, we also have to give you free miles which you later convert into a free ticket - Free to you, but not to the airline! Unfortunately, the middle end of the fares table provides us with the costs of your journey and little else and the lower part of the fares spectrum actually makes a loss!!!

It has often been likened to the Tesco Clubcard or the Nectar card loyalty schemes. However, Tesco and Sainsbury do not sell anything at a loss - unless it's to get rid of perishables!

If you're a shrewd businessman and you were in control of BA, what would do you do to control costs and still provide a platform for customer loyalty?

There are still benefits to be had from possessing the Blue card, even if you don't accumulate free mileage. It entitles you to Internet check-in, Telephone check-in, record seating preference and special meal requests etc etc.

I'm glad to see the mileage upgrade has crept in! That's an old chestnut that has been bandied about time after time - almosr since the birth of Executive Club!

I'm truly sorry if our travellers feel hurt by the changes. (Unfortunately, as I've said many times on this forum, we're not the best communicators' in the world!) The message we are sending out is that we're trying to rebuild our profitable company that was so damaged by bad management and 09/11. Regrettably, our customers perceive the signal to be that we don't want the low yield customer!!!

It's not true - certainly at Reservations, Ground Staff and Flying Staff level (those with whom you interact) we value every man-jack of our clientele (except the one in a million who has a "rage" attack) and hope you stay flying with us!

It has been done for Commercial reasons and I have no doubt at all other airlines will be following suit very shortly!

[slim_slag]

SLF,

I guess it depends on where you live, North American folk have always been able to upgrade using miles. It was not a particularly good deal then, and it is a worse deal now. So where is the 'improvement' the BA spin merchants claim?

Overall and in detail, a unimprovement for economy and premium customers alike.

bealine,

I'm not sure I agree with most of what you say, but I do agree that BA has to make commercial decisions for the benefit of it's shareholders. I don't have a problem with that, though I am not close to running out to buy BA shares. I see you blame BA management for the problems BA has had in the past, but you think they have made a good decision now? Have they suddenly seen the light?

My opinion is that these "improvements" suggest otherwise. I can understand there is an argument for degrading benefits for low yield pax, but not the higher yield pax. Most of the benefits I value as a top tier member of another airline/alliance cost the airline very little. Being at the top of the list for operational upgrades is one example. Also sitting closer to the front when I am flying economy, blocking out seats next to me when flying economy if the flight isn't full, checking in with business customers when flying economy. They are pretty cheap to provide. Lounge access when I'm flying economy certainly costs the airline, maybe in the $10 range per visit, which is insignificant given the money I generate for them when flying premium. You have to attract other airlines high yield pax to BA, and this unimprovement doesn't do anything close to doing that. As for free trips, I don't get the chance to fly off the miles I have accrued!!!! I'm going to start burning hundreds of thousands of BA miles like crazy now though :) Short term these changes will ensure I'm going to cost BA a fortune!

Actually I don't care what BA does as I don't fly them unless I have no choice, my main complaint is the English Language takes another hit. The word "Improve" has been redefined to suit the BA marketing department. Disgraceful!

[Globaliser]

One of the biggest changes, as far as I can see, is that they have made claims for "free" reward tickets in premium classes much much more difficult, while at the same time introducing or extending the reach of mileage-paid upgrades, one class at a time.

So if you want to fly in J but in a tightly capacity-controlled award class, you will realistlically have to at least fork out for a T class ticket. If you want to fly in F, you must at least have paid for an I class. I would therefore bet that a much bigger percentage of premium class reward tickets will now effectively be part cash part miles. This at least is consistent with the philosophy of protecting the premium classes as BA's strength, and keeping up the yields generated in them.

The other signal from the changes is something that won't affect current members, but will dramatically reduce the intake of members into the scheme. That's the requirement that you have to have flown at least one Tier Point earning flight in order to join. No more examples of people flying solely on deep discount tickets and dribbling miles into their account over a period of years until they have enough for one reward ticket - it must be wildly uneconomical to service these members who by definition are capacity-filling fodder and generate virtually no profit. Again, the emphasis will be on looking after only those who fly full fare or premium classes at least occasionally, but then looking after them whenever they fly.

Every change to a frequent flyer scheme in the last 9 months has generated huge amounts of "I'm going off to fly some other airline now, burning all my XX miles and never coming back to them." When every airline has finished with their changes, all designed to stop the marketing tail excessively wagging the remainder of the airline dog, are these pax all going to stay at home? Or might they just start buying airline tix on the basis of the airline which has the most attractive combination of service, frequency, schedules and fares? Some rational behaviour in the airline market. What a novelty.

As for this example of capacity-filling non-profit-making fodder, I'm sticking with my QF membership, which has already been "downsized" a while ago, which works for me on all my BA flying and which seems a less likely candidate (for all sorts of reasons) for another round of cuts.

[bealine]

slim_slag - I'm puzzled by what you're trying to say................I don't know whether you're agreeing or disagreeing?

One thing I do agree though, is your criticism of Marketing speak (although it's not just BA, it has to be said!!)
"Improve" generally means cost-reduction or downsizing!
"Rationalise" definitely means job cuts!
"New Packaging" means you get less!
"75% Fat Free" means it actually contains 25% Fat!!!
"Only 50 calories per portion" means you've got to look elswhere on the packet to see how many "portions" there are!

What you say about little things that are cheap to provide, from a company point of view, makes sense. However, operationally they often cause a nightmare! If it wasn't for the security issue, I'd suggest you worked with someone in an airport terminal one day just to see how evil people can be!

1. Being at the Top of the Operational Upgrade list - Our 747-400's to the USA used to hold 347 pax. I could bet my life that, of those 347, at least half would DEMAND to be at the top of the list and at least 45 would actually meet the criteria and you only need to move 2!

2. Preferred seating. All very well as long as your customer understands it's not guaranteed! When you have a last minute aircraft change and you've got 347 seats to allocate in 5 minutes flat, the niceties I'm afraid fly out the window! Then you find out just how obnoxious our Captains of Industry can be!

3. On a quiet flight, it is often necessary to take the front seat rows out of use for trim purposes - so your seat pref may not be
actioned for safety reasons. you then find out, again, how truly awful your frequent flyers can be!

4. Lounge Access may be $10 value to you, but, as I mentioned in my earlier post, just one of the 3 lounges we have at LGW costs £2m per year on rent alone - with our present customer base and staff levels, probably equating to £85 per passenger per visit - certainly enough of a headache to our accountants!

Lastly, your comment about BA shares is your own opinion. My share portfolio is my retirement fund (which, fortunately, is rather a long way off!) and I'm not rushing to cash them in because I know British Airways will be around long after the "fly by nights". Already, the "no-frills" bubble is beggining to weaken as George Orwell's philosophy comes true - "You can't fool all of the people all of the time!"

The Executive Club refit is designed to ensure adequate rewards are made to the customers who are making us profits.

I don't know why you have such a downer on BritishAirways - maybe it's our management, and their arrogant miscommunicaton, in which case I'm inclined to agree!!!!

:=

[bealine]

Okay! I've just popped over to read about the changes to the Executive Club and, from what I can see, there are definitely more positives than negatives:

Copied from Executive Club Website

Top 10 Questions

Q Why are you changing the Executive Club?
A Members have told us that the current Executive Club is too complex. Based on your feedback, we have created one global, simplified Executive Club programme.

For example, the fare classes that qualify for BA Miles* and Tier Points will be aligned worldwide. It will also be easier to understand how many BA Miles you will earn and how many you will need to spend for a redemption flight.

In many areas of the world, new benefits are being introduced, and existing benefits are being enhanced as a result of customer feedback.

Q What are the new key benefits?
A We have taken the most popular benefits from each of our regional programmes and made them available to all members from 1 July.

These include flexible ways to redeem your BA Miles for flights: 'Miles for Upgrade', 'Part Cash Part Miles', and 'Household Accounts'. We have improved these benefits and extended them to all of our Executive Club members.**

You will also be able to do more online, giving you access and control of your account 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including:
- Book British Airways flight redemptions
- Receive e-tickets on your redemption travel
- Book Miles for Upgrade and Part Cash Part Miles.*

We're also recognising the loyalty of our top Gold members with free Upgrade for Two Awards. Click here for more details.

Q Will I receive bonus BA Miles for flying in a premium cabin?**
A From 1 July, all members worldwide will receive the same cabin bonus. The cabin bonus gives you additional BA Miles when you fly in a premium cabin on an eligible fare.

The new cabin bonus rates are as follows from 1 July:
World Traveller Plus: 25% bonus BA Miles
Club Europe/ World: 50% bonus BA Miles
First: 100% bonus BA Miles
Concorde: 200% bonus BA Miles

For example, from 1 July, any Executive Club member travelling in our Club World cabin on an eligible fare will earn an additional 50% BA Miles on every mile that they fly with British Airways.

Top

Q Will I receive bonus BA Miles for being a Silver or Gold card holder?**
A Under the new programme, all Silver and Gold members will benefit from a tier bonus, in addition to the cabin bonus (see Question 3).

The tier bonus is currently offered to members of some regions, but will be extended globally at the following rates from 1 July:

Silver: 25% bonus BA Miles
Gold: 50% bonus BA Miles

For example, from 1 July, all Silver card holders globally will earn an additional 25% BA Miles on every mile that they fly with British Airways on an eligible fare, regardless of the cabin that they are travelling in.

For more details, click here.

Q How many BA Miles will I receive when I fly on Discount Economy fares?**
A From 1 July, when travelling on Discount Economy fares (G,K,L,M,N,O,Q,S and V), you will earn 25% of the actual miles flown. Short sectors of less than 500 miles will earn a minimum of 125 BA Miles.

This means that in regions where BA Miles were not previously available on discounted fare classes, you will now earn more BA Miles on British Airways flights.

For more details, click here.

Q How are the mileage redemption rates changing?**
A In moving to a simplified global programme, the amount charged to redeem BA Miles for flights has changed for members in some regions. From 1 July, some destinations will require fewer BA Miles and other destinations will require more. For more details, click here.

Top

Q How many Executive Club Tier Points will I need to earn to become a Silver or Gold card holder?
A We have simplified the Tier Points earning structure, so it is more straightforward to calculate how many Tier Points you will earn from 1 July. Click here to see the new table.

In addition, we've aligned the threshold levels for entry and renewal in the Silver and Gold tiers.

Please click here to see the points levels for entry and renewal.

The new entry thresholds will be in place from 1 July. The current renewal thresholds will be honoured for all membership cards that expire before 1 March 2004. After this date, the new renewal thresholds will also apply. This means that existing Gold & Silver members will have a full year to change their flying, where necessary, to ensure they maintain their status next year.

Q How can I join the Executive Club after 1 July?
A From 1 July, you will need to take an eligible flight to join the Executive Club. A flight is eligible if the booking class qualifies for Tier Points. All travel in Premium Cabins, and Economy travel booked in Y, B or H class (additionally, C class on UK domestic travel) are eligible for Tier Points.

The new Blue entry threshold applies only to customers enrolling in Executive Club after 1 July 2003. Existing Blue Tier members will continue to enjoy the benefits of their Executive Club membership so long as they have unexpired BA Miles in their account. As long as you earn or redeem BA Miles once within each 36-month period, your BA Miles will not expire.

Q What are Part Cash Part Miles, Miles for Upgrade and one way redemptions?**
A Members in some of our regional programmes currently enjoy Part Cash Part Miles and Miles for Upgrade, two flexible ways of redeeming your BA Miles for flights. We've taken the best elements of these local benefits and extended them to all of our members. For more details, click here.

Part Cash Part Miles allows you take a redemption flight sooner, by combining BA Miles and cash to pay for an economy redemption ticket. For more details, click here.

Using Miles for Upgrade you can spend your BA Miles to treat yourself to a cabin upgrade. For more details, click here.

All members worldwide will also be able to redeem their BA Miles for one way travel on British Airways, for only 50% of the BA Miles required for round trip travel.

Top

Q What is a Household Account?**
A The Household Account lets you collect and redeem BA Miles as a family.

We've combined our current Household Account and Family Passport schemes to create the new Household Account, which will allow you and up to 6 members of your household to pool your BA Miles together for free*** flights. For more details, click here.



* Members living in Asia (excluding Japan) collect Asia Miles - not BA Miles.
** Not applicable to members living in Asia participating in the Asia Miles programme.
*** Subject to applicable taxes, fees, charges and surcharges.



For those who still feel aggrieved, please bear in mind that these changes were the result of asking Executive Club members what changes they would like to see!

[Barney_Gumble]

Bealine,

Normally I agree with your postings as they are always good solid info, however I take issue with your comment

For those who still feel aggrieved, please bear in mind that these changes were the result of asking Executive Club members what changes they would like to see!
One of the changes is the entry/renewal level thresholds:

Silver entry was 700 and will be 600 :O
Silver renewal was 500 and will be 600 :(
Gold entry was 1700 and will be 1500 :O
Gold renewal was 1200 and will be 1500 :(

On the face of it these don't seem to be a great difference but the impact (for me at least) is (based on Club Europe cabin flights to Helsinki)

Silver renewal was 9 flights and will be 15 flights :(
Gold renewal was 20 flights and will be 38 flights :(

This is in part due to the increase in renewal threshold, but also combined with the reduction in points earned from 60 per flight to 40 per flight :(

I complete feedback forms and questionnaires on a regular basis (at least 4 times this year) and I don't remember asking for this ;)

On the up positive side though.....

I did ask to use my miles for cabin upgrades like the Finnair frequent flyer scheme and this is now possible

I guess swings and roundabouts....

Regards

Barney

P.S. For me at least it is worth continuing with membership since I recently flew to DFW on a very cheap (circa £250) World Traveller and was upgraded to Club World on check-in because of Silver membership.....

I very much enjoyed the outbound sector :O

I travelled back on World Traveller and endured the return sector! :(

[slim_slag]

hi Bealine,

I'll respond to your second post first if that's OK. You are quoting BA marketing speak, which by your own admission is easy to criticise. Your cut and paste is the sort of thing a Downing Street Press Manipulation Policy Unit would be proud of.

I didn't want this to be a "beat up on BA thread", and I haven't except to say that if all things were equal I choose not to fly them. If that's a "downer" then I wonder how you would describe people with detailed gripes.

I do not find your £85 cost per lounge visit credible. I can get a room in a decent hotel for that. I suspect this figure must be from the same rumour mill as the one that says it costs £40 to print a ticket at check in. Look at how much it costs to join a commercially available annual lounge scheme, or how much you pay for a single visit to a commercially operating lounge. Lets double your figure of £2million per year in rent and say it costs £4m to run in total. At £85 per visit thats 125 pax per day. It's unlikely that £85 is even close. I can get free lounge access on my Diners club card and I know that Diners would not pay that sort of money. I would be interested to see how much airline alliance members pay each other when a AA top tier card holder uses a BA lounge. LH/UA would be equivalent.

I don't demand anything. I fly on an airline/alliance where my travel habits get me top tier so I don't have to demand. If something is available I will more than likely get it. If the airline has to give it to somebody they are going to incur those costs anyway. If I am flying economy I don't expect anything that is not available in the economy cabin. This is just one story of course. I would think that my annual spend on tickets would be of interest to BA, but the way the BA Exec club is structured obviously not. I am not complaining about that, BA offer their services (which includes a loyalty scheme) for a certain price, and as the person with the cash I can take it or leave it. Simple.

I hope BA survives because competition is good for the punter, but I suspect the no frills carriers will survive too. BA has it's target customer base and not everybody fits in. They should use their frequent flyer program to attract this target customer but if they want the $20k per year punter I think these changes have failed miserably. I don't know why you don't just copy LH and fly business class only 737's across the Atlantic. There is nothing wrong with that model, if you think economy class pax lose you money then stop selling them tickets. The problem with that model is BA would lose its shirt competing against fractional ownership outfits. Just my opinion.

Globaliser. If you were told that every pound in your pocket was going to be worth 50p in three months what would you do? You'd spend them now. That's not the same as saying you are not going to use pounds in the future. Sensible people will burn their existing BA miles now, and continue to select the airline which makes sense for them in the future. If that's BA or Oneworld then they should continue to pick them for ever more.

I still think the BA loyalty scheme is uncompetitive, especially for premium passengers in the North American market. And their use of English sucks :)

[Globaliser]

slim_slag: Globaliser. If you were told that every pound in your pocket was going to be worth 50p in three months what would you do? You'd spend them now. That's not the same as saying you are not going to use pounds in the future. Sensible people will burn their existing BA miles now, and continue to select the airline which makes sense for them in the future. If that's BA or Oneworld then they should continue to pick them for ever more.It wasn't the "burning" that is remarkable, it's the threat to "be off and never come back". I wish I had a pound, or even 50p, for every time some soi disant I'm-so-important-that-the-airline-will-collapse-without-my-tickets "frequent flyer" has said that in the last 9 months. At the end of the day, they are all likely still to have to fly, and they are likely to be doing that on an airline with a frequent flyer scheme. Many of those schemes will be these slimmed-down schemes from major airlines that don't wag the dog so much any more.

And because the person's initial choice of airline was often for rational market reasons, many of these threats will prove to be idle posturing. Not that they will admit it when it comes to pass.

[Momo]

Barney_Grumble,

The points for Silver/Gold were never the same for non-UK residents. For example, in my case, Silver was 400 points. Now it has become more difficult.

While it would be nice to say that I can choose to change airline, as having free lounge access when flying economy is my top priority,it is not quite that simple. As with an increasing number of companies whose travel is managed by BTI, I have no way of choosing what airline I fly on. The lowest fare is automatically selected since January 1st, with the exception of non-stops. Given the lack of non-stop long-haul ex. Geneva, the low-fare rule applies. For example, for my most common destination, San Francisco, the lowest cost is United via Paris. I could not book BA if I wanted to. (On top of that, we have been moved from Business to Economy travel...grumble.)

Momo

Bealine,

You may like to make BA aware of the changes in BTI/Carlson software mentioned in the previous note. At the moment, for our 150,000-employee company, BA is much more expensive than alternatives. The days of the employee being able to easily manipulate the system to favour whatever airline he/she had privelege cards for is over. Currently Star Alliance wins out.

Momo

[bealine]

Okay - now I'm beginning to discover that most of our Executive Card holders are against the changes. My previous posts have (a) been defending the cost-cutting stance of my employer and (b) trying to show advantages.

Psychologically, I know that we human beings are a strange bunch that resist change, so I've sort of sided with my employer initially! However, I am picking up definite bad feeling over this issue and one of my colleagues pointed out that the low-yield customer may well benefit, but that our existing Gold and Silver members may well lose out.

Please bear in mind that I have been going by the information BritishAirways has given to me and bits I've picked up on web-sites.

This is the announcement made to staff from our Marketing Dept:

CHANGES to the British Airways Executive Club are on their way, making the frequent flyer programme simpler, with more ways to spend BA Miles and better incentives for loyal customers.

More than one million gold, silver and blue Executive Club card holders will be contacted informing them of the changes, which come into force on July 1.

These changes include :

· The creation of a global Executive Club by merging the existing five schemes into one programme,
· The ability to use BA Miles to upgrade on eligible tickets and to also use a combination of cash and BA Miles to buy a ticket
· Improvements to the website to enable members to manage their accounts online
· A new system enabling customers to redeem BA Miles on a geographical zone basis
· Changes to the thresholds for Silver and Gold card status to make the system simpler and fairer
· More opportunities to earn BA Miles .
· Less notice required to book redemption tickets on some routes
· People wanting to join the Executive Club as a blue member will now have to take a qualifying flight.

Today, British Airways has five different versions of the Executive Club around the world, which is complex creating both customer and staff confusion.

Martin George, BA's Director of Marketing said: "By simplifying the club and creating a single global programme our objective is to deliver better service to our loyal customers and offer them more chances to take advantage of flying with BA.

"We will be able to respond much better to our customers feedback and offer greater opportunities to add more benefits in the future for our members.

Now, I wonder if you, as our important customers, could feed back to our Customer Relations department exactly which parts of the changes you feel will affect you in a negative way - because I don't want to see our customers driven away to other carriers!

Momo

Thanks for feedback re BTI/Carlson Software and their travel policy. I will kick that one back to our Corporate sales team, cos there are a lot of businesses trying to save money at the present time. (Indeed, I think were actually heading towards a recession in Britain, cos all the indicators are there, although the government has stated differently) In the short-term, there's no easy way out of this one for us due to: (a) IATA and stupid "Gentleman's" agreements on TransAtlantic fares tables and (b) the use of lower fares to encourage transfer traffic from mainstream airlines and (c) the reduction of fares by United/U.S. and probably American, before long, as they strive to generate cashflow committing commercial suicide in the process!
BA will be simplifying the fares tables over the coming years and steadily reducing the hundreds of fares available by rationalising the restrictions. Unfortunately, it will take time!

[MarkD]

bealine

thanks for taking the flak as usual... much more user friendly than that AskBA thingy :D

Just this morning's post I got a newsletter with partner offers and so on from KLM Flying Dutchman, having received my card in the post recently. Now I don't fly KLM cause they don't have online booking originating in Ireland, but I saw an offer to sign up and get miles one time and so I did in case someday I would do.

British Airways on the other hand have never sent me anything [except tickets] after I regoed online and got my FF number - not even a Blue EC card!

Now I fly on my own nickel [3 x Canada last year, at least 2 x this year] so I can only afford the 25% miles online booked flights and thus it's unlikely I'll afford a free flight before I'm 60, but in customer service terms KLM feel like they have more interest in you, even if you haven't flown them yet! I'd like the EC card for using in partner transactions [I know you probably don't need the physical card but I'm weird that way].

So maybe you guys could get out the cheque book and hire whoever's running KLM's FD programme?

[bealine]

Thanks MarkD

I always work on the assumption that, if people can be bothered to complain it usually means they want to carry on using BA!

Unfortunately, if you really upset a customer, he/she just doesn't come back!

I love my job and don't want to lose it just 'cos management gets it wrong!

Good Luck

Ian

[Barney_Gumble]

Bealine,

May I add my thanks for the info you have given. It is obvious that you enjoy your job and BA ought to be very grateful that you are prepared to stand up and speak for them on an open forum. I visited the stand in the Exec Club in LHR T1 this morning (they had a lady explaining the changes) and had a chat with her. In some ways we will be worse off and in some ways better; like I said swings and roundabouts.

I will continue to use BA because I have friends who work in the engineering department. Perhaps your management have got it wrong but let's see what happens in the long term.

Thanks Again

Andy

[Globaliser]

MarkD: Now I fly on my own nickel [3 x Canada last year, at least 2 x this year] so I can only afford the 25% miles online booked flights and thus it's unlikely I'll afford a free flight before I'm 60Have a look at the Qantas scheme - http://www.qantasfrequentflyer.com.au/ for the home page. You might do better under this. Unlike some other oneworld FF schemes, you earn 100% miles on pretty much all paid BA flying. QF revamped and slimmed down their scheme 18 months ago, and the current competitive situation in Oz suggests that they would find it commercially and politically impossible to do it again in the near future.

[MarkD]

Thanks a lot Globaliser, nice one.

Now if only FF schemes were like credit cards for transferring balances :)

[slim_slag]

Bealine,

Thankyou for posting the internal propaganda :) which is actually a lot more honest than the stuff they provide their paying customers.

There was not a a single use of the word 'improvement'. I like it!

I'd make a comment regarding the phrase better incentives for loyal customers.

BA has not been interested in loyalty for some time. If you look at the tier structure it's been interested in revenue. I don't have a problem with that, revenue is what matters, but revenue and loyalty are different. You can kill the club class loyalty of frequent fliers when they are flying on business, if you treat them like crap when they fly economy on their own dime.

Although BA has a superior premium product, BA is very good at treating economy pax badly :) These Exec club changes only exacerbate this "second class citizen when in the back" phenomenon. Getting to silver tier was never easy compared to other schemes, and now its harder. I generate around USD20k in trans-atlantic travel every year, but when I used BA exclusively I never made silver. Close, but not close enough, and when travelling in economy nobody cared if I was 50 points away. Strange but true, but if BA doesn't want my business then I am happy to take it elsewhere and not feel upset about that at all.

Out of interest, have you found out how much a lounge visit costs the airline?

Globaliser.

I agree with what you say about those who huff and puff that they will "never come back". Most are full of hot air. Still, I think these changes will drive premium travellers away and prevent the poaching of others. Expecially in the US market, which I always thought was the most lucrative. BA has it's priorities and I may have it all wrong, and if the share price goes up then I will have missed yet another opportunity to retire early :)

MarkD

Now if only FF schemes were like credit cards for transferring balances

The best way to do this was to transfer miles to Diners Club (at 50% discount) and then use the Diners BA double miles offer to put them into BA miles. So you could transfer UA or AA miles to BA on a one to one basis. I was going to shift the max number of UA miles to BA this summer using this route. Not now! I am sure BA are happy about that.

Does anybody know if you will be able to buy miles from BA to top up if you are a little short? If so, has the cost changed appreciably?

[Bumz_Rush]

Following the good advice here, I have joined the Quantas FF plan. lets see just how good it is, can not be any worse than the rest....

[Momo]

Strikes me that joining the Aer Lingus plan would also be a good alternative for UK-based people. While I am not a member, it looks like it is easier to gain miles and levels with their card.

Momo

[jethrobee]

My tuppence worth!

As a BA gold card holder while I remain loyal to flying BA, I am not too happy about the changes.

I have had the gold card for the last 4 years, I have 1350 points so far this year so would have already had enough points to maintain gold for another year. My year doesnt run out until October, so I should be OK (even though I cant fly BA to kuwait next week because I want to travel on days other than they are currently flying :-( )

The mileage redemption on the routes where I normally redeem my miles has also increased. A recent example is when I spect 100000 miles to take Mrs Jethro to NY for a shopping spree. Had I waited another month for the new levels to kick in it would have cost me 125000. (we flew WTP).

On the plus side......

On the last redemption we were upgraded both ways to Club World, and the service which I have always had on BA has been exceptional.

Rgds
Jeth

[DuncanF]

I've managed to rack up about 1600 points this year, but it's not likely that I'll make the old Gold threshold of 1700 points before my renewal in August. But ... the threshold drops to 1500 in July. So will I get my Gold card?

The website talks about honouring the old (lower) renewal thresholds, but nothing about entry thrsholds. Hopefully I'll benefit but time will tell.

Anyone any view/answers?

Ta muchly,

Duncan

P.S. I guess gone are the old days of Silver etc. being handed out like confetti. In '95 I did one J-class return LHR-JNB and found a nice Silver card waiting for me on my return even though that was my first BA flight for many years. At that time the flight was only worth about 80% of the required points for Silver.

[Kremmen]

Interesting thread. I'm a BA blue card holder. I own my own business and cannot, with the best will in the world, justify Club fares. I would like more incentive to fly BA BUT...and it's a big BUT...the incentives I already get are good. I can get pretty competitive fares and, on occasion, I can get upgraded to Club. Now that's good! And BA do Club Class very well indeed. Do I need more incentives? Well, maybe. I fly from the South West and so the PLYMOUTH link, taking me straight into LGW has always been a godsend. However, since the transfer of many flights to LHR, it's easier to take Great Western (a misnomer if ever there was..) to Paddington. Now, and increasingly, I'm flying BRISTOL to AMS and onward. Why? Bristol is close and the connections are superb (and you can get a decent cup of coffee at AMS!). With BA closing down it's Plymouth operation, the chances are they'll lose me. I know BA says it can't make money on the flight but increasingly people want to fly locally. It makes a hell of difference. KLM's service is NOT as good as BA's...I personally think BA's service is superb (compared to the many others I've flown on)....but it's local and quick.

What's the option?

[ramraideruk]

One obvious answer to all the changes to the Exec Club, is to use another frequent flyer program. The one I have allows me to get 100% of miles flown on discount economy flights, including BA,and I currently have a premium tier with them. This allows me lounge access with BA. I've even scored a few upgrades to Club world with them.
I'd rather not say who it's with, as I'm paranoid that they'll change the program. I'm sure it would just be a process of elimination to find out which airline it's with

[PAXboy]

The loss of Plymouth and it's implications are the best example of the short sighted view of a company.

As I have said elsewhere about the LCC's, people want to fly from as near to their home as possible. The public roads and lack of public transportation is the reason.

The rapid expansion of the LCCs is driven by opening up new locations, such as LBA, BRS and so forth. In the end, we shall see full circle and the main lines will want their own feeders!

I am fortunate to live 36 miles from LHR and so have acces to the maximum number of destinations but at a price of both flights and housing costs!

In days gone by, I used to use Sabena to get to JNB in club a lot cheaper than any other. Then VS started Premium Economy and I changed to them.