[AviationGeek]

MidasGold – same here!!! SYD in CW with the Amex voucher! Thought I’d never see availability… and here we managed to book the dates we wanted!
I guess that was (the) one good thing with the changes….

[peter19]

I think overall it’s an ok change avios wise and could have been more restrictive.
I’m based in Scotland and it was nice to get the domestic sector as part of the reward flight. Now it is not so appealing if you wanted to say do a CE reward return – I would most likely end up just paying the fare and saving miles for upgrades.
The 50% drop is a bit of a hit on miles but suppose it distinguishes the tiers…would have been nice at 75%.

I’ll need to read up on the tier point allocation for fares but it could hit the discounted economy routes as often companies policies now are lowest fares (in whatever class) and that’s that…to think if you were an aberdeen -London commuter you would have to travel every week of the year to gain silver based on 50 flight rule as you will only earn 5 tier points if I’m right on a ecomony fare. This seems pretty harsh!

Good to see you guys have been able to snap up some reward seats though especially on the busy routes!

[superchris]

As said in a number of places, to be fair to BA, if you were to start the programme from scratch you would end up with something like this. Clear reward for those spending the most money and clear daylight in terms of increased benefits at each tier level.

As someone who collects miles on lower yield tickets, and uses BA / Amex companion vouchers its clearly going to impact me but I support the logic and if it frees up reward space then I’m fully behind it.

My only bugbear is I wish they had realigned the ridiculous bronze benefit of priority boarding which has destroyed the benefit for everyone.

[openfly]

To confirm previous comments, I have spoken to a manager acquaintance in BA South Africa. I am informed that the extra premium availability seen on some routes yesterday are only on selected areas where there is availability and route promotions. CPT and JNB, and many other routes, are not included and will see little change in the future, as the routes are highly lucrative.

[SimonS1]

As a cynic I am extremely doubtful there will be any extra reward availability. A couple of seats here and there is just a sop when this is really a cost cutting exercise.

Even the fan boys on Flyertalk for whom BA is the bees knees seem to be getting worked up.

If anyone wants to analyse it to the nth degree of detail the thread on FT has just reached page 50!!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1650090-executive-club-changes.html

[jazzcharley]

@K1ngston: “I might be wrong here, but I ask this question, I know that as a premium passenger you will be rewarded more, but what is the difference from someone who flies 30-35 sectors a year in Y as they do not have the budget or for company reasons, surely they need to be rewarded to, in fact these people are probably more loyal than premium customers who make up their Avios and tier points with less flights??

Aren’t these the people that ultimately suffer with the changes??”

Yes. I’m one of those. I commute weekly by air. In my current TP year (expiring next week, as it happens) – I’ve flown 102 sectors, for a total of 1110 TPs and just under 120,000 Avios. All my flights bar two have been UK domestic, at the lowest possible cost; my company will not pay for anything other than the cheapest flight and I’m just lucky that LHR is my closest airport – other colleagues are forced to fly Easyjet or Ryanair.

Next TP year I won’t get anywhere close to those figures. Now I see the logic of giving more rewards for more spend but bloody hell – I think my loyalty to BA deserves more than a slap in the face.

Will Silver status still be given for 50 sectors flown? I won’t get close to 600 TPs next year.

[mkcol74]

@jazzcharley – yes, the 50 sectors for silver still applies.

[openfly]

@SimonS1

Totally agree

[cityprofessional]

So, as with any change in scheme (ref: Flying Blue), some people win, and some people lose

I earn my status primarily through long haul paid (but discounted) J flying. My Avios earning is basically the same, and redemptions are easier (because fewer people will earn them, and availability seems better) and are not as expensive as for other people (because I don’t fly during school holidays – can’t think of anything worse). So net-net, I’m either neutral or slightly up

Those who buy and pay for flexible premium tickets gain the most

Those who buy and pay for short-haul cheapest Y tickets lose the most, even if they do it week-in, week-out

You might not like it, but the people who win out of the shake-up are the ones who make BA the most money. And the ones who lose out are the people who make BA the least. Which is the whole point of a loyalty scheme – reward profitability, not frequency

[Carajillo2Sugar]

citypro – agreed, the changes don’t benefit me but it’s obvious that any company in any line of business needs to look at rewarding/incentivising the customers who are the most valuable to them.

That said, there is also a need to understand the importance of influence (eg travel policy decision-maker) as well as the monetary value of the spend by the individual traveller.

[Swissdiver]

Fuel surcharge: Many airlines are buying their fuel using future markets to have the possibility to price well in advance their seats. So I would not expect to see a change in these surcharges before a little while…

Seats redemption availability: Agree with the fact I doubt we would really see a change!

Spending Avios on SH flights for British Isles residents: Are you so many to choose to go for a European flight via LHR while there are so many possibilities to fly direct?

Collecting Avios: I am not sure it will make a big difference…

Collecting points: Bad for Eco travellers, I presume. But over the years, BA has shown some consistency in pushing for premium travellers. So it seems to make sense to me.

All together, this looks rather like an evolution, not a revolution…

[cityprofessional]

Oh, I think BA is painfully aware of needing to influence travel decision makers. As a top 10 BA customer, the board of my company and many of the travel buyers all get comped Gold/GGL/Black cards. We minions all have to travel cheapest Y of course (I do paid J from my own pocket, thank you!)

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Well on the tier point issue, I’m assuming BA will change earning rates. Otherwise a O class ticket to New York on a sale fare will earn 17.5TP’s one way. Will the BA computers be able to hack decimalization or will the whole thing collapse?

[Bath_VIP]

CityProfessional,

Completely agree. As I said in my post, I am a loser under these changes but as I said, if you were starting with a blank sheet of paper, you would end up with something similar to where it is now. What is clear is that availability is a lot better from May this year (at least for Y & J).

It might be worth reminding everyone of this thread where we discussed similar issues.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Big-spenders-vs-frequent-flyers?page=1

[AllOverTheGaff]

cityprofessional – 28/01/2015 13:27 GMT
Yes, redemptions are more costly, but, as a Londoner, it always narked me that Glaswegians paid the same for a redemption to Paris

I agree, it is ridiculous that those Scots get this perk of having to be inconvenienced by flying to their destination via London and spending their entire day on a plane or in an airport to fly somewhere that point to point is 2 to 2.5 hours.

It makes perfect sense to now charge / penalise those Sweaty’s and make them pay for having the temerity to not live in London.

How very dare they.

[Author]

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