Changes to Gold Guest List Qualification Criteria
Nov 26, 2014, 3:36 am
#46
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Manchester, UK
Programs: BAEC Gold, Alitalia Freccia Alata, Avis PC, Hertz PC
Posts: 52
Quite. I will achieve Gold with 10 months left on my year, and 4-5 long haul trips planned in that time. I will fly with BA if I am in Y, but if any of these flights are in J there is little point in using BA, as the tier points I will accrue will not be sufficient to reach a higher status, and I can get avios easily through other means. When a loyalty program is not producing a motivation to be loyal for J flights it rather suggests there is something a little awry.
Nov 26, 2014, 3:39 am
#47
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: GGLfL
Posts: 1,126
I doubt that the TP runners (aka GGL abusers) make up anything but a tiny minority of GGL members, and are not the issue.
The issue is just that 3000 TPs is not that hard to get and there are too many GGL members to deliver the personal and special service which was originally intended.
Nov 26, 2014, 3:39 am
#48
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Near Edinburgh
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 9,034
Nov 26, 2014, 3:43 am
#49
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BA, Marriott, Hertz, Dennis The Menace Fan Club
Posts: 2,015
Depends on your flying patterns though. I made 3k TPs last year and probably will this year, via domestic, ET and a couple of long haul WT flights. Nearly 200 legs each year. I think that was pretty hard to get and there is no longer any incentive to do that again, apart from creeping ever nearer to the magical 35k for Lifetime Gold. Then again, BA will probably lift that bar too.
Nov 26, 2014, 3:47 am
#50
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,944
Surely it is now just a matter of time before the other thresholds are raised...
Bronze to 400
Silver to 1,000
Gold to 2,000
Those would be my guesses - remember the travel market has bounced back since the crash in 2008-2010, and so I suppose BA has noticed the trend hence the move upward
Bronze to 400
Silver to 1,000
Gold to 2,000
Those would be my guesses - remember the travel market has bounced back since the crash in 2008-2010, and so I suppose BA has noticed the trend hence the move upward
Nov 26, 2014, 3:51 am
#51
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR / LAS
Programs: BA GfL, GGL/CCR
Posts: 2,409
I really cant see this change being down to those riffraff TP runners 
.
If it was then surely the renewal qualification would also have been 5000 TP.
Maybe, with the economy 'booming'
, there are just more people flying at the moment in premium cabins.
.If it was then surely the renewal qualification would also have been 5000 TP.
Maybe, with the economy 'booming'
, there are just more people flying at the moment in premium cabins.
Nov 26, 2014, 4:01 am
#53
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: TLV/ATH/LON/EZE/NYC/UIP
Programs: BA*GGL, A3*G, AF*P, VS*S
Posts: 1,011
Cost/benefit ratio was probably considered quite carefully but I definitely fall on the wrong side of it.
I am now cancelling a couple of CW rev flights I wedged in to ensure I crossed 3,000 TPs before 8th Feb, and now will not be booking a TLV-LHR-USA/LatAm rev J ticket for the summer as part of getting 3,000 TPs in 2015. May as well do it all on OB and Avios (who knows when they will be devalued anyway?!) and just scrape my usual 1,500 TPs.
What a pity.
I am now cancelling a couple of CW rev flights I wedged in to ensure I crossed 3,000 TPs before 8th Feb, and now will not be booking a TLV-LHR-USA/LatAm rev J ticket for the summer as part of getting 3,000 TPs in 2015. May as well do it all on OB and Avios (who knows when they will be devalued anyway?!) and just scrape my usual 1,500 TPs.
What a pity.
Nov 26, 2014, 4:01 am
#54
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: UK
Programs: BA GGL, BA Amex Prem, Amex Plat, Hilton Diamond, Sir Crazy8534 de l'ordres des aides de Pucci
Posts: 4,436
I am directly affected by this change- I was going to hit the first year / 3k TPs this membership year and with an increase in the amount of F travel that I am currently taking would make 3k TPs 2015/16 too.
Having said that, I have always been a bit unconvinced by the GGL benefits if you don't have the CCR card (my wife has her own status so I don't need partner cards, the GGL line might be 'wonderful' but honestly the silver line has done everything I ever needed, lack of change fees is something but in truth I don't change award booking much anyway).
I will still fly BA but instead concentrate on LTG as a goal.
Nov 26, 2014, 4:05 am
#55
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Nov 26, 2014, 4:07 am
#56
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol, UK
Programs: HH D, Rad Plat
Posts: 5,352
Given the change to the entry level of GGL, and the double TP's over Gold to maintain GGL...will BA finally recognise GGL as a new tier please?
In other words a soft landing to gold if threshold are not met.
Only seems fair given the change to entry and it is obvious, now more than ever that GGL is Gold, Gold is Silver, Silver is Silver and Bronze is very nice as well.
Glad I didn't do my TP run plan for the new year, silver is good enough and now ranges from 600 TP's to 5000!
In other words a soft landing to gold if threshold are not met.
Only seems fair given the change to entry and it is obvious, now more than ever that GGL is Gold, Gold is Silver, Silver is Silver and Bronze is very nice as well.
Glad I didn't do my TP run plan for the new year, silver is good enough and now ranges from 600 TP's to 5000!
Nov 26, 2014, 4:07 am
#57
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: Mucci, BA, Hilton.
Posts: 1,158
Nov 26, 2014, 4:26 am
#58
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ireland
Programs: VS Silver, EK Gold, BA GGL/CCR
Posts: 487
Interesting change and would agree with c-w-s's assertion that the grandfathering of existing members with the 3k renewal threshold seems to imply those in the 3-5k TP range are a little too valuable to BA to risk alienating them with this change.
Hopefully this reduction in GGL volume is paving the way for some additional improvements in the ground handling experience at LHR as alluded to by another poster some time ago.
Hopefully this reduction in GGL volume is paving the way for some additional improvements in the ground handling experience at LHR as alluded to by another poster some time ago.
Nov 26, 2014, 4:36 am
#59
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,888
Anyway, there have been many discussions about this in the past and I am sure there will be many threads in the furture - and this isn't a thread to discuss the merits of a revenue based system so I won't go any further in to it.
Nov 26, 2014, 4:37 am
#60
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA CCR/GGL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,483
The GGL change doesn't impact me, as the gap between 1,500 and 3,000 was too high for me, as a leisure traveller, to bridge. If the Gold threshold is increased to (say) 2,000 or 2,500 I'll simply not bother trying.
I too am keeping an eye on LTG, but fear that it will be scrapped by the time I get there.
I too am keeping an eye on LTG, but fear that it will be scrapped by the time I get there.