[Anonymous]

[BABenji]

Good afternoon all,

I’m currently looking at a trip to Oz in Feb/March and was wondering if I earn a full compliment of BA Exec Club Tier Points (i.e. 220 each leg) if I fly business with Cathay Pacific?

When I entered the details in the calculator on the BA website it gave a result of 0 miles and 0 Tier Points.

What experience does anyone else have?

Many thanks,

[gordo66]

If your flight is with a connection, the write in the website the segmants of the flight separtly.

[VintageKrug]

Good advice Gordo.

You do indeed get the full complement of TPs when flying with oneworld partners.

The only disadvantage of flying Cathay over British Airways is that if you have a BA Gold or Silver Exec Club card, you will not get any bonus miles (which would be a not insignificant 50% and 25% bonus respectively), and of course cannot earn onbusiness points.

You still need the four minimum sectors on BA to maintain status, in case that is a consideration.

Cathay’s new Business Class seat :

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_MY/whatonboard/newbusinessclass

has not been that well received, with many feeling it narrow and claustrophobic, though CX is generally felt to be superior if you were upgraded to First.

There should be some excellent premium cabin fare sales coming out in the next fortnight, so it might be an idea to keep your powder dry before rushing in to book.

[NTarrant]

That too is good advice VK regarding the cabin bonus, which one easily forgets.

If you travel LON-HKG-SYD(say) then you would get tier points for each sector irrespect of whether the LHR-HKG portion is CX or BA, is that right, assuming there is a stop over in HKG?

[BABenji]

Gordo, VK…much obliged! I just used the calculator per segment; low and behold, it worked! Thank you.

I had noted the comments on a previous stream re: the new business class cabin with Cathay and as such CX remains a last resort. I’m just trying to keep my options as wide open as possible to satisfy current company travel policy/maintaining status (sufficient BA segments already flown…thanks for the reminder VK…all too easy to forget!).

Happy travels all!

[VintageKrug]

Do bear in mind you can marginally increase your Tier Point earning by switching aircraft in SIN, even if you break the journey for just 90 minutes.

This is less easy to do than used to be the case due to fewer flights/destinations and increased Minimum Connection Times (MCTs).

For instance, flying straight through SYD-LHR yields 220 TPs, whereas flying SYD-SIN changing planes and flying SIN-LHR yields 120+120=240 TPs.

You should also note that Qantas flights between LHR and Oz also qualify for the same Elite Tier bonuses for BAEC members, as BA/QF operate what is known as a JSA Joint Services Agreement on the route.

When checking fares, you may find that a oneworld explorer Round the World RTW fare, or flying via HEL on oneworld partner Finnair might be less expensive, so always bear those options in mind when speaking to your TA.

Here is the BA Tier Point and Mileage Earning calculator:

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/calculatemilesandpoints/execclub/_gf/en_gb

[UpandAway]

You don’t need to change plane or flight number as VK has wrongly advised.

Just have the itin ticketed to show a break in SIN. SYD/SIN/LHR rather than SYD/LHR. There is also no need to have a stopover (X) shown In the PNR just a simple break. I’ve done it plenty of times.

[VintageKrug]

Thanks for the correction; I wasn’t aware you could do this – I don’t *think* that can be done online, so you would probably have to call up to book it.

[Binman62]

CX do offer the same TP points as BA would and I would also agree that splitting the journey on the ticket if not in fact, boosts both TPs and miles.

The issue is how much more are you prepared to pay to BA to get additional miles. I am also interested in VK comment about an upcoming premium sale from BA……

Frankly BA are going to have to go some to beat CX and others for that matter.

BA to HKG in Aug (2A 2 kids) in club £9750 and an jaw dropping £17400 in First. I did LHR SYD last August for almost £7000 less in First!

CX in business to Bali via HKG is £9000 with some bucket shops offering it for even less and this is before I look at alternatives KLM new service to Bali is less than £6000 from LHR.

Current JFK in Club World is over £2000 on BA and the last sale got this down to £1500. Great 25% discount if you were going anyway, but the last premium sale did not encourage people, particularly leisure travellers to upgrade.

I would welcome greater restrictions on Club and First fares if they were reduced and allowed BA (or others) to fill excess capacity. But I know for certain that in August and to a great many destinations, BA will be upgrading huge numbers of people, many of whom would have gladly paid a little extra (double perhaps) at the time of booking. For other they will simply lose those to the competition as BA fares are simply to high and are not justified by some extra miles.

[VintageKrug]

I trust you take advantage of the additional 10% off Shareholder Discount, which works even for the premium fare sales?

[ivornomates]

CX biz class does not come close to BA but CX F blows BA F out of the water

[VintageKrug]

As I predicted on the 11 January:

“There should be some excellent premium cabin fare sales coming out in the next fortnight, so it might be an idea to keep your powder dry before rushing in to book.”

BA will be launching a Premium Cabin Fare Sale next week, as reported by Business Traveller:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/ba-premium-sale-starts-january-27

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