Just traded my TAP Victoria Gold with BAEC Silver...
May 4, 2015, 8:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2015
Programs: KLM FB Gold
Posts: 49
Just traded my TAP Victoria Gold with BAEC Silver...
I've been reading through these forums on flyertalk for quite a while now but this is my very first post here 
I just thought I'd introduce myself and tell you about my BAEC experience so far...
I thought I'd explain first of all why I chose to transfer from TAP to BA. If you don't want to read that part just feel free to skip ahead
I've been travelling a lot between Brazil and Norway for the last 9 years and I've been a Star Alliance Gold member with TAP Victoria for the last 5 years. Most of my flights to Brazil left Stavanger with SAS @ 06:00 to Copenhagen and from there with TAP Portugal to Fortaleza via Lisbon. For some reason TAP does not offer the morning flight with SAS to CPH anymore and the only alternative is a late flight via CPH,OSL or FRA to LIS with an overnight stay in LIS (hotel included in the ticket fare) before the final flight to FOR the next day. Suddenly a 15 hour trip turns into a 30 hour trip. As TAP has a monopoly to Fortaleza from europe (except for a few weekly charter flights), the fares are quite expensive, £800-1200 in economy depending on the time of year. As a SA Gold member with TAP I've earned enough bonus miles to upgrade to business about every second trip, so that was convenient, however, with the longer travel time due to a massive layover in LIS I was starting to look to other airlines. When TAM finally left Star Alliance and joined One World, I finally decided to sign up to BAEC. Only 2 weeks after I signed up I received the nice letter from BA explaining the changes to the BAEC program to take place after April 28th.
At this point I'd already purchased 2 return flights on BA WT & WTP to Brazil, so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a try.
My personal experience with BA...
World Traveller: Much better than TAP. Polite and attentive crew. Food much better than TAP (although TAP's food couldn't possibly get any worse). Seat comfort about the same, nothing special. Entertainment, even on the 747 was much better than on the old IFE systems found on TAP's old A330's.
World Traveller Plus: I haven't tried this on the 747 yet, but I will in June. On the 777 I found it very comfortable. I was amazed on how much recline you actually have, and the leg room is great. Food was very good and the entertainment system was fantastic with a big and new screen together with USB and power outlet. Crew was very attentive and polite so I was very impressed. The return fare with WTP is about what you pay with TAP in the high season, so it's worth the money in my opinion.
I'm actually currently a Bronze member with BAEC, however, I will be Silver after my next flight, so it was fairly quick and easy to gain status with BA.
I have yet to make any upgrades with BA although this is something I want to try with my next trip on WTP, at least on the return leg. I'm also impressed with the BAEC site where everything is very tidy and I really like the fact that it saves your previous searches so it's easy to just log in and check if the prices have changed since your last visit. This is just a league of it's own compared to the TAP Victoria site!
So far, my only gripes about BA and BAEC is obviously the changes that they made to the program only weeks after I signed up. I wasn't aware that BA had 4 classes (compared to TAP's 2 classes only), and the fact you can't upgrade directly from WT to CW. Also, since I've already had a sneak peek into the Galleries lounges at T5 it's obvious that its crowded, and members on this forum have already confirmed that. Then again, the TAP Gold lounge in LIS was also seriously overcrowded with nowhere to sit at times, so that bit hasn't really changed for me.
For the time being I'll continue flying with BA and give some time to actually compare the two alternatives. If TAP starts to offer better connections again I might return but for the time being I'm quite satisfied with BA.
Anyways, that was my first post here on FT so hope you enjoyed the read Hopefully I can contribute with my experiences in the future on this forum.
Best regards,
Andreas B.
I just thought I'd introduce myself and tell you about my BAEC experience so far...I thought I'd explain first of all why I chose to transfer from TAP to BA. If you don't want to read that part just feel free to skip ahead
I've been travelling a lot between Brazil and Norway for the last 9 years and I've been a Star Alliance Gold member with TAP Victoria for the last 5 years. Most of my flights to Brazil left Stavanger with SAS @ 06:00 to Copenhagen and from there with TAP Portugal to Fortaleza via Lisbon. For some reason TAP does not offer the morning flight with SAS to CPH anymore and the only alternative is a late flight via CPH,OSL or FRA to LIS with an overnight stay in LIS (hotel included in the ticket fare) before the final flight to FOR the next day. Suddenly a 15 hour trip turns into a 30 hour trip. As TAP has a monopoly to Fortaleza from europe (except for a few weekly charter flights), the fares are quite expensive, £800-1200 in economy depending on the time of year. As a SA Gold member with TAP I've earned enough bonus miles to upgrade to business about every second trip, so that was convenient, however, with the longer travel time due to a massive layover in LIS I was starting to look to other airlines. When TAM finally left Star Alliance and joined One World, I finally decided to sign up to BAEC. Only 2 weeks after I signed up I received the nice letter from BA explaining the changes to the BAEC program to take place after April 28th.
At this point I'd already purchased 2 return flights on BA WT & WTP to Brazil, so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a try.My personal experience with BA...
World Traveller: Much better than TAP. Polite and attentive crew. Food much better than TAP (although TAP's food couldn't possibly get any worse). Seat comfort about the same, nothing special. Entertainment, even on the 747 was much better than on the old IFE systems found on TAP's old A330's.
World Traveller Plus: I haven't tried this on the 747 yet, but I will in June. On the 777 I found it very comfortable. I was amazed on how much recline you actually have, and the leg room is great. Food was very good and the entertainment system was fantastic with a big and new screen together with USB and power outlet. Crew was very attentive and polite so I was very impressed. The return fare with WTP is about what you pay with TAP in the high season, so it's worth the money in my opinion.
I'm actually currently a Bronze member with BAEC, however, I will be Silver after my next flight, so it was fairly quick and easy to gain status with BA.
I have yet to make any upgrades with BA although this is something I want to try with my next trip on WTP, at least on the return leg. I'm also impressed with the BAEC site where everything is very tidy and I really like the fact that it saves your previous searches so it's easy to just log in and check if the prices have changed since your last visit. This is just a league of it's own compared to the TAP Victoria site!
So far, my only gripes about BA and BAEC is obviously the changes that they made to the program only weeks after I signed up. I wasn't aware that BA had 4 classes (compared to TAP's 2 classes only), and the fact you can't upgrade directly from WT to CW. Also, since I've already had a sneak peek into the Galleries lounges at T5 it's obvious that its crowded, and members on this forum have already confirmed that. Then again, the TAP Gold lounge in LIS was also seriously overcrowded with nowhere to sit at times, so that bit hasn't really changed for me.
For the time being I'll continue flying with BA and give some time to actually compare the two alternatives. If TAP starts to offer better connections again I might return but for the time being I'm quite satisfied with BA.
Anyways, that was my first post here on FT so hope you enjoyed the read
Hopefully I can contribute with my experiences in the future on this forum.Best regards,
Andreas B.
May 4, 2015, 9:08 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Glasgow / London
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 3,457
Welcome to BAEC, welcome to FlyerTalk and welcome to the BA forum! ^
It's nice to hear that you've enjoyed your experience with BA so far, despite the recent changes, which have, understandably, caused a lot of mixed emotions amongst members. All that aside, it is still a good airline with a lot of positive features. Hopefully you'll get a lot out of the board and, in future, share more of your experiences with us
It's nice to hear that you've enjoyed your experience with BA so far, despite the recent changes, which have, understandably, caused a lot of mixed emotions amongst members. All that aside, it is still a good airline with a lot of positive features. Hopefully you'll get a lot out of the board and, in future, share more of your experiences with us
May 5, 2015, 12:31 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,026
Andreas B.aka BrazilTraveller78 Welcome to FT
I would have considered the AA ffp while flying on BA. AA plat challenge is an option
Upgrades on BA would have been an issue, but AA earn/burn on long haul is hard to beat.
I've been reading through these forums on flyertalk for quite a while now but this is my very first post here I just thought I'd introduce myself and tell you about my BAEC experience so far...
<snip>
When TAM finally left Star Alliance and joined One World, I finally decided to sign up to BAEC. Only 2 weeks after I signed up I received the nice letter from BA explaining the changes to the BAEC program to take place after April 28th. At this point I'd already purchased 2 return flights on BA WT & WTP to Brazil, so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a try.
I just thought I'd introduce myself and tell you about my BAEC experience so far...<snip>
When TAM finally left Star Alliance and joined One World, I finally decided to sign up to BAEC. Only 2 weeks after I signed up I received the nice letter from BA explaining the changes to the BAEC program to take place after April 28th.
At this point I'd already purchased 2 return flights on BA WT & WTP to Brazil, so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a try.Upgrades on BA would have been an issue, but AA earn/burn on long haul is hard to beat.