British Airways rebrands loyalty program, unveils new revenue-based system for earning elite status

[atuk]

[quote=atuk post_id=13919 time=<a href="tel:1735973431">1735973431</a> user_id=75]
It seems that the changes will be detrimental to leisure flyers not business flyers.

When emerging from Covid BA realised that, given all the technology used, business travel would be impacted so they offered perks to leisure travellers. Book a BA Holiday to the value of x£ and get free lounge access - result over packed lounges for champagne Charlie’s.

However they also offered double tier points: a reasonably easy way to reach the 600 point threshold to obtain silver. I took advantage of this for Mrs C and I and used BA Holidays on a regular basis: LIS, MUC and NCE in 2024. Now we are about to embark on our first long haul trip since 2019 and should maybe have reached Gold. Who knows?

But loyalty is a fickle business. Tweak the parameters too far and you could lose more than you could gain. A prime example is the furore over meals in J class - a policy being reversed due to customer backlash.

I wasn’t always a BA card holder. The company I worked for used bmi for corporate travel so I was a Diamond Club member being a Star Alliance Guy I would use LH, SK and SN out of GLA and also EDI, just as I do today on BA. When BA bought bmi it was a no brainer and I’ve been a Oneworld guy ever since. That could change: a disruption transfer to LH during the snowstorm in MUC in December 23 saw my fly home on LHR for the first time in around eleven years - and they were good, but not as friendly as BA.

The most important thing about this change is they do not clarify what happens to your status on 01APR25. My points, currently 905 expire; under the old system that would mean Silver status during 25/26 with 7,500 point being required during 25/26 to retain Silver in 26/27 which would be unlikely. Perhaps Speedbird Julie could advise?

Finally it’s not all about the lounge, or just sitting upfront. Silver gives automatic free seat selection: something which isn’t cheap on BA as I remember it cost £78 to select a window seat premium economy seat on a DXB-LHR leg which I’m glad I did as the alternative would have been in the centre last row of Premuim.

Great clarity there.
Ta Much
[/quote]

You’re very welcome Hads. A very happy New Year to you.

[FlyGLA]

Of all the posts on A.net about this, this post in particular nails it for me.

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While I'm no fan of BA, as is clear from some of my previous posts, I do find the reaction to this, here and on flyertalk, quite amusing.

Imagine you were designing a frequent flyer programme from scratch. No one sane would design it to reward people for spending as little as possible while using the product as much as possible would they? Or imagine this had been the original design, and BA were switching to the distance based system. People spending far more would suddenly get less reward than someone taking one cleverly designed return on QR. Be honest, you could never justify it could you, it's completely illogical.

The thing you have to remember is frequent flyer programmes are not actually about rewarding loyalty. They are about incentivising loyalty. BA are a business, they want to maximise the revenue they get out of you, always have. Don't kid yourself they value you or care about you. Or any business for that matter, and it'll make your life a lot easier. Some people are reacting almost as if they've been dumped by their lover. "How could they do this to me?!"

I get that there is some ego involved and a lot of people unfortunately allowed themselves to base a lot of their self worth on an airline frequent flyer programme, but perhaps there's a lesson for people there.

Some people are already saying they feel 'free' now, and are looking at other airlines and seeing they can spend thousands less on a single flight. I find it incredible people were so wedded to BA they wouldn't even look at other options? Literally spending thousands more, just to get access to some stale sandwiches and a free glass of champagne before a flight. Taking bizarre itineraries that take days out of their lives just for lounge access. One thing's clear, these people obviously don't value their time very highly!

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtop ... &start=100

[atuk]

Like my previous post stated; loyalty is a fickle thing.

I make credit/loyalty cards work for me; not the other way round. That way I can gain the maximum return in benefits be it Avios points, bonus avios miles from hotel transfers or in the case of HSBC vouchers to use in a shop/supermarket if my choice. It’s rather like my Tesco club card save the points all year and redeem the value at Christmas. Mrs C does the same with her M&S credit card.

As said it’s not the lounge, or the glass of fizz; I actually prefer Bombay Sapphire but that’s gone from up front too. The best saving is the free allocated seating which, on BA, can be quite expensive.

[egpffqtv]

LH offering status match for BA Silver and Gold card holders

Welcome on board British Airways Executive Club & Iberia Plus members.

You can now enjoy all the benefits of Frequent Traveller or Senator status with
Miles & More, the frequent flyer programme of the Lufthansa Group.

https://lufthansa.statusmatch.com/