[velliot72]

A great perk lost! Based outside of the UK in a Star Alliance market, BA do not always serve the destinations I need to fly to although they are my preferred carrier and that relationship extended beyond the hours inside their planes. I can completely understand restricting access in the UK but offering Brits a little piece of home overseas was a nice touch and will be sadly missed.

[Swissdiver]

So today I got my new Gold card with “more advantages”: the same 100% bonus miles than Silver card holders and…? Well they claim that discounted fares will now bring me more miles and points. More than for Silver card holders? Not sure…

[nevereconomy]

This was pretty much the only Gold benefit I ever used – about 4 times per year , so not likely to bankrupt BA. Other than that the award availabitly is next to non-existent – Gold EC for 15 years and never any Club availabilty in less than 6-8 months and even Fist very limited 4-5 months out now. This is for PHL-LHR where very often only 3-4 First seats taken ( and most of those Glaxo-SmithKline discounts or upgrades) and many Club seats open as 2 daily flights. Not renewing Gold this year as US Airways will have the new Business seat this year into Manchester, so can spare myself the heathrow hassle and do my Asian travel on SQ or TG. If I take the miles on LH M&M they hve good premium award availability.

[FormerlyDoS]

Nearly a year on and I wonder if anyone changed their choices following this policy change, or did it just result in short term complaining and then business as usual?

It annoyed me to the point where I decided to try Etihad. I have stuck with them for MLA/AUH trips (about 5 per year.)

Once I got over that hurdle, I then started to scrutinize value on other routes, ex London. (Lack of MFU avaibility was also a factor in this decision.)

The bottom line is that I have taken only 1 BA long haul journey since this policy was announced and that was to/from Cairo last December, where the schedule was perfect in comparison to MS.

How about anyone else?

[Swissdiver]

That associated to the almost doubling of the threshold for Gold (for the Switzerland based member I am) is pushing me away from BA… And the fact they won’t have any B747 in the future is also a factor…

[LPPSKrisflyer]

I have made little use of BA in the last year mostly because I’ve used EK and EY in addition to SQ for long haul and on shorthaul I’ve used LH, LX, KL and AZ far more.

That said, they’ve just sent me a new gold card because they realise it’s been a challenging year and travel has not been so easy and so on.

Acutally, my mileage has been up but BA have had very little of it mostly because of the poor product they deliver in terms of seats in premium cabins, food and inconsistent crewing.

[patvanh]

Changes to the Executive program have been a disaster for non UK members : higher threshold for all tier levels, more points needed for reward flights from non UK departure point to non UK destination point, terminating of Anytime Access. Add to this that non UK members have to call their local executive club with restricted hours and dates of operation, that upgrades with avios through ba.com almost always require telephone contact with the local executuive club, that after upgrading with points the automated allocation of tier points and avios points gets messed up and requires another call to the local executive club for correction, that the wait times for connecting with the local executive club are often very long… you understand that the business of non UK members seems no longer important to BA.

Also important : collecting avios points for non UK members is almost limited to BA flights. We do not have the possibility of collecting points at Tesco or through special credit card deals. The famous 2 4 1 deal is non existing. The BA shareholder discount has never been existing.

Add to this the sky high taxes and fees for booking a reward flight….

As a non UK member, I am still loyal to BA (after having been loyal to TWA for very long time) but I am a unique species within my company. I now also book with Lufthansa or KLM, depending on which airline provides the best schedule. The transfer at Heathrow, the very poor quality of the BA meals, especially in Club but also in First, and the versatility of the crew (in my experience only one out of two crews knows what customer care and satisfaction means and behaves accordingly) are other issues which BA has to deal with urgently.

Abandonning the non UK members and focussing on the UK clients might be a strategy for BA but I am not convinced that it will be a winning strategy.

[TravelFan]

LPPSKrisflyer – I am a little surprised that you mention premium class seat quality as an area where BA’s product is poor. I personally think that seat quality in (new) First and Club World is the one area where BA performs well (plus the T5 lounges of course). For the rest, I agree with you and other posters that the food in First and Club is mediocre for a premium cabin and that the cabin crew is a mixed bunch with all too often the “do-not-think-that-because-you-fly-premium-class-we-will-serve-you-enthusiastically” attitude.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

TravelFan: Have you tried the F & C products on CX, LX, EK or SQ?

IMO, BA are very poor in comparison to those carriers to name just some who are better than BA.

[RichHI1]

Travefan I agree with Krisflyer, NCW is short and New First is somehwat cramped too. Give some of the others a try and then at least you will have a better yardstick, after all maybe for your build and oreferences BA does suit best.
Swissdiver, from what I have been reading BA 744’s are going to be around for another 4 or 5 years folloeing BMI acquisition. Hopefully they will finish NF roll out by then.

[Binman62]

I think it is interesting that this raises it head again.
I had cause to call BA recently to discuss some changes to an Avios booking. The girl was charming and helpful and the changes I needed were done in a flash.

At the end however she hit me with

“that will be £100 in service fees (there were 4 passengers)…. and a further £120 in fees as I could have done it on line)

In her defence she recognised almost right away that the change could not have been done on line and that I was a gold card holder but the service fee was not avoidable as I had changed the date of travel by a single day.

I was stunned, so much so that I said nothing which prompted her to ask if everything was ok. I then told her just how I felt about this and how the benefits of being a card holder were being eroded.

She then explained that they have been deluged by complaints from UK card holders over the changes since last year and in particular from gold card holders. She went on to say that our conversation was being noted and sent to the Executive club that day. I was then asked about how I| felt about the changes and explained that the addition of fees combined with the now minimum £500 in fees for a premium Avios seat, had resulted in a decision for me to seek best value rather than pursue status. As I explained as a family of 4, all with status, it had not been achieved for nothing yet I find it hard to use my points unless my name is Lord Voldermot or I am able to drop everything and fly today or tomorrow. When I do get a booking I am looking at over £2000 in fees 2/3rds of which goes directly to BA.

The only positive I have found was the reward saver service which just about makes EU travel worthwhile now.

I then pointed out that we will all lose our status by this time next year and she could see this from the details of each passenger on the booking. It was clear that this was something she and her colleagues were becoming familiar with and whilst she did not say that BA were worried about the changes it was clear that they have been instructed to seek feedback.

She went off and sought clearance to waive the fees and this was done.

In short I do not think it is just non UK members who get/got a raw deal from the executive club and BA. The problem is that unless and until people vote with their feet and leave BA, things will not change. While they continue to win awards and get rated as the best loyalty programme they will continue to act like a grown up Ryan air, charging where and what they can.

[Swissdiver]

Being based in GVA, I have a lot of travelling options… For me, BA was a preferred choice because (not in the order):
– Fully flat seat (CW)
– T5
– B747
– Anytime Access
– World Tour on miles

Out of this list, the two latter disappeared, while B747s will soon be retired. In the meantime, fully flat seats are becoming the norm (even LH is introducing them!).

So in short BA is cutting what makes this airline special to me while asking me to fly twice more with them to keep my Gold privileges. Not sure…

[SimonS1]

I used to be Gold, mainly on the back of trips to Middle East and Africa. About 3 years ago I started using Emirates due to better service and schedule and have moved on from there – last year SAA to JNB/Malawi, TAM to Brazil/Argentina/Uruguay and so on. Can’t say I miss BA at all, in fact apart from a brief trip to Prague I can’t remember the last time I used them. Even the newsletters from Exec Club are directed to junk these days.

[RichHI1]

Binman, here comes the AA commercial… friendly service and 24 hour quick answering Exec Plat line (as BA).No charges for telephone service or changes or cancellation if booking is for you, If you make bookings for 3rd party (i.e. you are not travelling) then $25 charge, no fees on redemptions on AA or most One World or other partners (other than taxes). Bookings on BA equipment do attract the service fees. Bookings can be held for 4-5 days while you check other arrangements (miles and normal bookings). No Credit Card fee on Internet or Telephone bookings as EXP (same as BA gold). Downside is that availability gets less every year the same as BA and a lot of other carriers across Atlantic. No I don’t work for AA and my realame is not Vintage Mountain Dew. I just goit fed up with being ripped off and think i have found a better deal to collect and use miles on One World. Have CX and JL memebrships as well but I find for me based in UK and US for most things AA is best in One World. When I did a lot of time in the Far East, thnings were different.

[TravelFan]

LPPS/Rich – yes I have tried some of the other players, for example F on CX, TG and LH (new as well as old) and C on LX, LH, CX and SQ. I certainly agree there are many products that are better than BA’s even in terms of the quality of the F and C seats. So BA is not the best, and I am often inclined to choose such other alternatives when they are available on the relevant route at roughly the same price. However, for me this does not mean that BA’s seats are “poor”.

When I put BA’s and its competitors’ products into perspective I find that whereas I am satisfied with (i) BA’s seats and (ii) the T5 lounges as well as some outstation lounges, I am not impressed by their (i) onboard meals and (ii) some of the cabin crew.

[Author]

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