dennishoog

BA Executive Club Sucks.....

after 12 years of a Gold Tier member and look how they threat a Gold Tier member. BA wants to keep 5 empty seats at first and they don't listen a request to use avios to up-grade to first. This is what i overcome at 22-sep-2015. From PVG-LHR.
i had called the executive club to place a request for a upgrade from club to first. but it was rejected with a reason . There were no seats available at first .only one seats was available for sale proposal. After several attempt to do a upgrade, but without any succes. After checking in and while waiting for boarding at the gate. Someone with the same or lower tier got a upgrade to first while i was watching. I though it is ridiculous why somebody got the upgrade while the executive club told me there was no seats available.
After boarding i saw t with my own eyes that there was more than 5 seats were empty. at that point, i decided to quite the executive club membership.
Ba want to keep the empty than to threat their Gold Tier member to upgrade himself . But unfortunetly. it wasn't .
If this is the policy that how BA handle , than i just want t say . Ba policy Sucks。。。。。。 after 12 years of Gold tiers member . it is time to quite.

antichef

Welcome to FT and to the BAEC forum, although it seems you won't be hanging around this forum for long and off to another one where you are now about to fly.

Clearly a disappointing experience for you after so many years, but probably indicative of the way things are going, I find that there are often days when I cannot get an RFS domestic segment to try to use up some of the avios mountain. How many have you acquired, and what are you going to do with them now?

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk dennishoog, welcome to the BA board. It's good to see you here. And - given your somewhat heartfelt language I hope you don't mind if other FTers take your new arrival here into account in terms of any reply, and for you to take any feedback in the same spirit! Though it doesn't sound like you'll be doing much more flying with BA, I nevetheless hope you will continue to participate here, and that you will enjoy using this resource.

I must admit to being a bit surprised that this only became apparent to you after 12 years of Gold membership.

It is no secret that BA will not, and cannot, release empty seats for redemptions. Otherwise a simple purchase of Expertflyer and careful selection of flights means that no one need ever buy Business Class or First Class again - which kind of happens to USA airlines, with the commensurate destruction of their premium cabins. There's always been a hefty random element for this to protect revenue.

Indeed the opposite can often happen: seats are offered for Upgrade using Avios (UuA) or plain redemptions and the cabin is oversold - though rarely so in First.

If CW had been very full too, then as a Gold passenger you should have been in a good position to be upgraded too. Now that other passenger may have had a higher status to you (e.g. GGL, Prem or a high CIV), but equally possibly not. The logic for that is similar - you can't rely on upgrades in order to protect BA's revenue, and is controlled by a system called DUT. This sometimes gives upgrades to other passengers, otherwise someone like me would grab every upgrade going (though I get a goodly share, so I'm not complaining). In particular they like to encourage passengers who have never been in First or at Gold level to have a feel for what it is like, in order to invest in that person's travelling over the long term.

I hope CW was still OK for you, despite the disappointment.

carrotjuice

I guess OP is peeved that (s)he wanted to upgrade using Avios both in advance and subsequently at the gate from CW and was told there weren't any seats... but once boarded there were 5 empty seats in F.

Understandable reaction IMO.

FlyerTalker688786

My only comment, compare to US airlines, BA is too shallow in revenue management. BA's revenue management team has yet to learn that overly strict revenue management will alienate consumers.

highpeaklad

But there weren't any redemption seats so they were right, nothing available. Frustrating though.

I'm similarly frustrated. Day before my flight 5 F redemption seats. Day after my flight 7 F redemption seats. Day of my flight 0 F redemption seats.
From GIG.

Did you have a special meal ordered?

sts603

There are good parts of EC. And bad parts. One of the bad parts is that you cannot waitlist upgrades for clearance at the gate to available seats (like you can on most other major airlines in the world). But this is clearly part of the program rules and it doesn't sound like anything went wrong here.

1HourPhoto

As frustrating as it is not to be able to upgrade, it's well known that BA would rather let seats go out empty than offer them up for Avios. I've been in the same situation myself wanting to upgrade with Avios but been unable to. It's just how it is with BA.

To quote CWS " I must admit to being a bit surprised that this only became apparent to you after 12 years of Gold membership. "

irmster

Best part of BAEC in my view.

sts603

Why?

jcm9000

I love one hit wonders! I can think of a few reasons to never fly an airline again.... Crashing a lot, losing your baggage all the time, cabin crew peeing in your tea, losing your elderly mother.... Being a reasonable chap i cant ever imagine throwing my toys out the pram for this, and i suspect the op is hiding some detail....so come on back and tell us what has really got your back up, i bet a free can of irn bru there is more! Now back to my sausage sarnie.

irmster

don't like the US free for all model where people book a Y fare expecting to either upgrade with points or just be upgraded because of status. Totally devalues the point of a premium cabin.

BerksFlyer

Isn't that a contradiction? You say there were no seats available in First but there was a seat available for purchase. If you wanted to travel in First then you could have simply bought a seat. FWIW it's not actually worth it, even using Avios, IMO although many others on here disagree.

If you go to another airline that does throw upgrade round like confetti you'll only end up complaining that you didn't get one because there was a wait list full of people with a higher status than you.

The lesson here, if you REALLY want something then pay for it and don't expect it for free/cheap.

sts603

That's a gross mis-characterization of the current state of play in the US.

Such free upgrades are by no means guaranteed and no experienced flyer would expect them. You know the odds based on route, type of plane, time of day, day of week, etc. But if you want F, you pay for F. I frequently do this on AA even though I am entitled to unlimited free upgrades domestically.

Furthermore, its a loyalty generating tool. Would BA's GCH's be more likely to fly BA SH than EZY if they had a shot at an unfilled Club Europe seat? Sure it may incrementally decrease CE revenue but may increase overall revenue by getting more people to fly BA in the first place. How many SCHs/GCHs on this board don't even bother flying BA SH because they don't think its worth the price premium?

No US Airline has LH free upgrades. Top tier members earn certificates just like they do on BA. Otherwise, points upgrades on international are quite expensive as they require significant cash copay (up to $600 per direction) unless on full-fare tickets (which generally exceed the cost of discount J anyways).

Lastly, the fact that someone may have gotten into the cabin cheaper than you shouldn't devalue the experience. That's flying. Almost everyone "paid" something different.

CrazyJ82

Wait listing need not lead to a clear-every-unsold-seat model. Back in the day CO was well-known for letting international business seats go out empty on some services instead of clearing their wait list. The main advantage of a wait list would be to prioritize status members for reward seats without wasting their time with this constant checking.

I've been criticized for insufficient egalitarian sentiment on this board for suggesting such a thing -- mainly by Tesco aficionados and lower tier holders who benefit from the current system allowing them to "jump the queue." But posts like this show there are downsides to BA antagonizing high-tier elites by not prioritizing them for awards.