[Pierre727]

I fail completely to understand your logic about “earning a privilege” guys.

All this things about belonging to a club is just marketing and doesn’t correspond to the reality. Reality is airlines offer additional services to those passenger they want to lure. They could be existing, loyal customers or new comers with high business potential. Just like a BMW dealer would give a special discount to a Mercedes owner to help him switch brands.

Of course, as loyal customers, we would like to get something “special”, some recognition… I have a BAEC Gold card and a LH Senator card and I do appreciate the extra care they take.

But seriously, I don’t care about the reasons why such and such person got another card: airlines invest some money in developing services (lounge, dedicated check-in…) and the way they allocate those services among their customers is their problem, not mine.

My only concern would be in the case they allow too many people to access these services that therefore become unavailable to me (if everyone has a gold card on a flight, it doesn’t mean anything to have preferential treatment in case of an operational problem).

My two cents.

[YorkshirePudding]

I guess my original point may have been missed by my somewhat clumsy posting initially.
My colleague had just been handed comp Gold by BMI during the BA strikes – A good idea we both thought, so I thought I would see if BA would offer something similar to me…..
This was most certainly not a case of ” don’t you know who I am’ as may have been suggested in some responses.
The fact is that I saw an opportunity & politely asked for it to be considered. Had my request been granted I would, by now, 5 months later, have flown 3-4 transatlantic flights with BA (instead of United) & 6 EU destinations….Instead, I stick to Star Alliance.
It might not make sense to all of you but just like upgrades, if you don’t ask…………..
Cheers!
John

[VintageKrug]

I did set out very clearly that BA Gold is far harder to attain even with regular paid flights than bmi Gold (which they handout at the drop of a hat) and that BA Gold is far more valuable than bmi or indeed most Star carriers’ gold cards.

BA exec club is a useful tool to lure premium flyers which is where BA makes its profits.

And I would NEVER ask for an upgrade at check in. Every second person asks and it cannot possibly be a good ploy.

Could I ask if of those recent flights how many were in Club or First, and the total value of the business you transferred to star?

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Anyone who asks for a free upgrade immediately identifies themselves as someone who does not deserve one!

If you want to travel in a higher class – buy the fare or use your points!

[seasonedtraveller]

@ VintageKrug

Thanks for your response. I did indeed look closely at the requirements for silver level (600 points as I recall).
Our company travel policy is Economy only but typically, I requalify for BMI gold after 6-7 months.
A return to Billund would only give me 20 points in economy, returns to the USA would yield 120 points in economy. This means reaching Silver would be quite a stretch….
So, to answer your question;
All flights were in economy, approx £4,000 EU and £7,000 USA/Mexico – in the great scheme of things, not a fortune to BA I realise.

[VintageKrug]

It may be more possible than you think to reach Silver; and status would be especially useful to you as an economy flyer, both for Lounge access while waiting for flights, free seating selection and also for the additional status bonus BA Miles being Silver affords.

It might possibly be worth you taking a few less expensive personal flights which would bump up your TP numbers to reach the required threshold.

The Tier Point threshold for Silver is 400 for European residents (though it is not possible to hold a BA Amex if you are a European resident) and you should also have the option in the Manage My Booking page to upgrade with cash from WT to WT+ (premium economy).

Doing this a e few times might cost you a few hundred pounds, but should permit a more relaxed travel experience, and help you earn enough BA miles for a Business Class trip for your next vacation, making the modest additional personal spend cost-effective.

[LuganoPirate]

Just read that Alitalia will match the Senator status of miles and more. Not really interested in Alitalua to be honest but it’s perhaps a back door way into Air France / KLM which does interest me.

I’ll try and find the article again or perhaps someone else has more information.

[millionsofmiles]

During the “good old times” I had LH Senator, BA Silver, KLM Gold, Starwood Platinum simultaneously. It was hard to earn these respective status levels, due to the extensive travelling I even had an office in FRA airport. I collected more than 3 mio miles on LH alone in 10 years, taking longhaul F and shorthaul C or Y.

I dont like the idea of comping status card since it just decreases the regular value of such a status just due to the increased number of people having such a status, thus leading to: overpopulated lounges, no real priority on overbooked flights, recognition down to almost zero, no upgrades.

And, as one of the other posters showed: The value of BA Silver is much higher than the Silver cards of other airlines, so why should they comp it? Just the “promise” of bringing some business certainly should not be an issue regarding individuals, it is different with corporations and companies, though.

Thus, IMHO the stiffness with comping is correct and jusitfied.

[MartynSinclair]

cant you buy your way into the BA lounges by buying membership to the Qantas club………..!

[Cedric_Statherby]

I always used to be in the camp that said “earn the status the hard way, as anything else devalues the brand”, but as I approach retirement after 20 years of flying the sort of miles that earns you both a BA gold card by 3 months into my “year” and the sympathetic concern of your friends, I am becoming more interested in what happens after the company travel stops.

I would have thought that the important thing for BA is to win the discretionary business. They win my company’s business the traditional way (offering a large discount on quoted fares for an exclusive deal), and it works to both BA’s and my company’s advantage, and to be honest the gold card I have held for x years adds very little to the amount of business they get from me. It is nice for me to have it but as I am not the decision maker on most of my travel it does not earn BA much more than if I did not have it.

However when I am newly free of the daily grind I expect to travel a bit more – this time for pleasure and this time it WILL be my decision who I fly with. This is where BA’s gold card would be a very good incentive for me to continue with BA. Discussions with the Executive Club about a “glide path” out of business travel – say 2-3 years of gold card membership for lower tier points – have gone nowhere at all, and the concept of rewarding long loyalty seems alien to BA. It is a shame that it takes only 1500 points to retain gold but you need that 1500 points every 12 months, and my 4000+ points in my last year of business travel will mean nothing at all 15 months later.

Has anyone else any better experience to relate about maintaining status after the business travel stops?

[Gold-2K]

I do think BA could do something for longterm loyalty. A colleague from Netherlands achieved lifetime premier status with KLM for exceeding the level for 5 consecutive years. I know this is not particularly special for BA gold members, I have maintained this status for more than 12 years. Some kind of recognition eg the “glide path” or a lower threshold to maintain gold once you had maintained status for 10 or 15 years surely would not lead to a queue for bacon rolls in the T5A First lounge and would be a nice gesture for those who have remained loyal through the challenges of annual schedule disruptions, T5 opening challenges and numerous changes to company travel policies that have “encouraged” us to fly star alliance or Squeezy Jet …… Yet somehow we still manage to find a way to “fly the flag”!!!!!!!

[MarkCymru]

Cedric

If you have ten years before you retire, switch to Air France / KLM now. After 10 years, you get Platinum for Life. BA once promised silver for life but then arbitrarily withdrew it — even for those who already had it. Air France has said it will keep to its promises. And they treat platinum card holders very well.

[MartynSinclair]

I have often wondered what will happen when I hang by boots up. I must admit that 4000 tier points in one year is worthy of more than a Gold card. I thought I flew alot.

This is the kind of PR that Sir RIchard would in his day have jumped on to show BA how to reward brand loyalty. Unfortunately, he is now just a sleeping giant (or taking a rest from VA). I am sure that one day Virgin and Sir Richard (whatever his shareholding) will once again rise up and you never know, he could create a life long GOld Status card.

BA dont need to – as one of our loyal BA contributors once said words to the extent, that the BA board’s sole purpose is to create a return for its shareholders. Awarding lifelong silver/gold cards is an unecerssary cost.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

QANTAS offers lifetime Silver and Gold cards once you accumulate the required number of status credits, calculated as a total since the date of your joining the scheme. For lifetime Silver, you need 7,000 status credits; 14,000 for lifetime Gold. There is no lifetime Platinum.

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