Globaliser

Yes, it slows down the earning of status - any status - if you fly on these fares. Status is thus more closely aligned to profitability, blunt though the TP tool remains for this.

But that's a different proposition from "the tier point earning changes do seem designed to stop silver card holders like me ... from getting to silver".And so next year, you might think about taking an extra weekend break, or accepting a POUG or AUP that you might not otherwise have done ... and you see how it can work for the airline!

PUCCI GALORE

Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking. Those who leave are perfectly entitled to do so. Indeed, I have said so often I have never understood why anyone who was so dissatisfied would stay. I am sure that if enough do leave then something might halt these "enhancements".

Me? No, in my instance I suppose it's the Devil I know. Do they not say that the other man's grass is always greener?

RobDBA

I'm not sure that's true, best network yes - but by some margin?

Star have a great network from London, especially long haul, and from a better terminal than BA nowadays. Yes it wouldnt work if your travel was mainly to France or one or two other European countries that don't have direct flights, but otherwise you can fly direct to a wide variety of global destinations. Where there are not direct flights east you've got a couple of good options in Turkish and Singapore.

Globaliser

These are not the people who I think have been milking the system. You and I both know the sort of people who have.

And while I agree that it is a bit simplistic, I am trying to contribute to an internet forum rather than writing a treatise or essay on yield management and market segmentation!

popmagnet

I’ll lose lounge access through the changes, but sitting in a restaurant/bar instead isn’t a big deal. I often thought it was a form of madness to sit in a lounge eating mass catered Thai green curry (again) rather than charging a nice meal to my employer!

The main change will be psychological. As someone who just barely makes silver through a lot of long-haul economy flying, I used to arrive at T5 thinking ‘isn’t it nice that BA values loyalty among its economy customers’. Now I’ll arrive aware that they aren’t that interested in my loyalty at all. You could argue that I’m shallow for wanting a faceless corporation to value me, but hey, it got me paying more to fly BA. Now I won’t.

So I’ll either base my decisions on price/schedule in future, or possibly try to stick to Virgin as the only other airline that operates on all the routes I use. As an aside, does anyone know what UUA availability is like on Virgin compared to BA?

RobDBA

Yes, I'd already thought about the POUG possibilities which I'd sworn I wouldnt be considering any more due to new CE. Damn you BA, I thought you'd made the decision easy but it looks like you were cleverer than I thought

Globaliser

So you only fly long-haul economy on sale fares? That's the only way that your long-haul TP earning is going to change.

RobDBA

Check your BA transactions, as per the recent discussion above you may find your tier point situation won't be much different. In my case I had 12 l-h segments last year and only one was in the new 25% fare classes despite corporate policy being cheapest possible direct routing.

mario

Quite the opposite. For people who REALLY spend a significant portion of their lives on the road, being away from airports, lounges and airplanes is the real perk.

I wouldn't dream of doing a TP run or something similar. I think that's just insane.

NickB

... and you and I both know that reducing TPs on O,Q and G fares haas nothing to do whasoever with abuses and "milking of the system" nor could it possibly be designed to keep would-be unprofitable customers off their planes. I believe that it should be possible to avoid half-truths, red herrings and misleading arguments without necessarily writing a treatise or essay on yield management and market segmentation ...

popmagnet

I checked back through my Avios statement for the last year and about half of my economy sectors were in the affected fare classes. My company is quite relaxed about having a preferred airline to fly with (within reason), but if I started to book more expensive fares just for the tier points they might start to ask questions why I’m paying so much for economy tickets.

Globaliser

Nor did I say, or even insinuate, that it was.

shorthauldad

That's a bold assertion. If you weren't one of the gnashers, how are you able to determine that things are 'back to normal'?

Full disclosure: I don't think I was gnashing - at least no more than normal - but last year I did make sure to do at least 30 flights on M&M airlines' metal to keep Silver with them until 02/2018; so that's lounge access at MUC and now LHR T2, priority check-in and extra checked bag sorted.

Of course that means 30+ flights I didn't take with OW/BA, compared with the year before.

Swanhunter

I was thinking about it from the perspective of threads on FT and BA's financial and operational performance in their quarterly earnings statements.

shorthauldad

You manage to make it sound as though BA's financial and operational performance takes a temporary hit after an enhancement. If only