What made you join?
May 3, 2016, 2:19 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2016
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 254
What made you join?
This may be duplicated elsewhere. Haven't found it... doesn't mean to say it isn't.
As a long time lurker and recent joinee, I am in awe of many of the regular posters. It may seem transparently obvious why many are members of the BAEC now, but why join in the first place?
For me, it wasn't an obvious decision.
My records show that I joined the BAEC in 1993. To be honest, it never really impacted on my consciousness much before then. I have, to be frank, limited recollection of the club before then, no idea of when it started, even though I was travelling long before.
I know that I moved to Brussels in 1981 and used to travel home, usually by plane, several times a year for weekends and holidays; I know also that I did the same after moving to Paris in 1986, and that I returned to the UK in 1988. I remember also that from then there were occasional flights for work (six to eight returns a year, with some triangles). along with some holiday long-hauls.
Although many of the flights were on BA it never really entered my mind to join. For me, I was sent somewhere, the company travel agent would book me a flight, and that’d be that. Or, if going on holiday, I’d arrange a package or book through the likes of Trailfinders, and just travel. Sometimes these flights were with BA, sometimes with other airlines. There really was nothing more to it.
It was the missus who converted me. When we moved back to the UK, she still carried on working one week in two in Brussels. In those days, her employer (the European institutions) would pay for the lowest price flexible ticket – which at the time was a club ticket. BA was the main carrier from Heathrow, so she started off with a card. Whether Gold was easier to obtain in the early 1990s is not something I can comment on; however, suffice it to say that she soon became a gold card holder, just by LHR-BRU.
Throughout this time, she kept badgering me to join the BAEC too, especially since I had begun to fly more long haul business trips, mainly to Asia. Although I kept thinking it was a good idea, there were always reasons not to do so: mainly indolence, sometimes thinking about it after a booking, sometimes sheer bloody-mindedness on my part.
What tipped me over into joining was an experience returning back to the UK from a weekend in Brussels. For reasons that I can’t remember, I’d arranged to meet the missus at the airport. Naturally, she was late. I arrived in good time, obviously. Everyone boarded, except me. No sign of the missus. No mobile communications either in those days. I was holding back, the last to board, and wondering what I should do when I heard the gate agent receiving a call to the effect that they should hold departure as there was a gold card holder on the way. A few minutes later, a whirling dervish in the shape of the missus arrived, we got on, the doors closed, and we left.
‘Blimey’, I thought, ‘not so shabby an idea to join the executive club after all, if they’ll hold the departure just for you’. And so I did. However, when I did so, it was in my usual half-hearted fashion. Although I was travelling more than ever, both long-haul and short-haul, I never really favoured BA and even when travelling BA only occasionally remembered to add my frequent flyer number. I therefore remained steadfastly blue for a number of years. As an aside, for reasons which I can’t be bothered to remember, the missus developed a downer on BA and joined the BMid diamond club instead.
For me, it all changed in 1999. I’d moved to a new company the previous year and my job now involved quite a few European flights – about 20/25 returns a year, some triangles…. peanuts for some I know. Anyway, the secretary who booked the flights took me to one side and told me ‘look, I’m bored with having to rearrange your itineraries in mid-journey. From now on, I’m only booking you into flexible (i.e. Club) tickets. Furthermore, it’s much easier to book you on BA when flights are available’. And so, in spite of myself, I became a BA fiend. Silver was easy to achieve, and I found that quite nice. At that time, points were then zeroised and the new year started again. However, by that time I was an addict, and I somehow found it necessary to visit a Cypriot customer for a second time. I’ll leave it to others to decide whether this trip, which pushed me into Gold, was entirely necessary.
And thus I had three years as a gold card holder. Swish into the first class lounge, irrespective of the class one’s travelling in. Book BA for personal travel, just to get the miles. Regular long-haul upgrades (sometimes of two classes, from WT straight to CW) if not expected then at least not unexpected.
And then, just as quickly, cold turkey. Stopped working in 2003 and points dwindled to virtually nothing. No soft landing then, so it was straight back down from gold to blue. Happened mid-trip, in Mexico, on the return back to the UK my card had run out two days previously; thought I’d try and chance it with the lounge dragon but she was having none of it. Oh, that walk of shame!!!
Anyway… once an addict… I thought I’d got over the whole thing, was resigned to a life of no-status, and then a few years ago the rules changed and my blue became bronze. Priority check-in. That’s nice. Then a couple more trips and I’ve been silver for a couple/three years. Lounge access…. nice. But that’s me finished. Silver is good enough. That’s all I need. Although…. gold… mmm. Tell me more about these TP runs…
Yes, I am an addict. I'll try to stick with the e-Silver.
As a long time lurker and recent joinee, I am in awe of many of the regular posters. It may seem transparently obvious why many are members of the BAEC now, but why join in the first place?
For me, it wasn't an obvious decision.
My records show that I joined the BAEC in 1993. To be honest, it never really impacted on my consciousness much before then. I have, to be frank, limited recollection of the club before then, no idea of when it started, even though I was travelling long before.
I know that I moved to Brussels in 1981 and used to travel home, usually by plane, several times a year for weekends and holidays; I know also that I did the same after moving to Paris in 1986, and that I returned to the UK in 1988. I remember also that from then there were occasional flights for work (six to eight returns a year, with some triangles). along with some holiday long-hauls.
Although many of the flights were on BA it never really entered my mind to join. For me, I was sent somewhere, the company travel agent would book me a flight, and that’d be that. Or, if going on holiday, I’d arrange a package or book through the likes of Trailfinders, and just travel. Sometimes these flights were with BA, sometimes with other airlines. There really was nothing more to it.
It was the missus who converted me. When we moved back to the UK, she still carried on working one week in two in Brussels. In those days, her employer (the European institutions) would pay for the lowest price flexible ticket – which at the time was a club ticket. BA was the main carrier from Heathrow, so she started off with a card. Whether Gold was easier to obtain in the early 1990s is not something I can comment on; however, suffice it to say that she soon became a gold card holder, just by LHR-BRU.
Throughout this time, she kept badgering me to join the BAEC too, especially since I had begun to fly more long haul business trips, mainly to Asia. Although I kept thinking it was a good idea, there were always reasons not to do so: mainly indolence, sometimes thinking about it after a booking, sometimes sheer bloody-mindedness on my part.
What tipped me over into joining was an experience returning back to the UK from a weekend in Brussels. For reasons that I can’t remember, I’d arranged to meet the missus at the airport. Naturally, she was late. I arrived in good time, obviously. Everyone boarded, except me. No sign of the missus. No mobile communications either in those days. I was holding back, the last to board, and wondering what I should do when I heard the gate agent receiving a call to the effect that they should hold departure as there was a gold card holder on the way. A few minutes later, a whirling dervish in the shape of the missus arrived, we got on, the doors closed, and we left.
‘Blimey’, I thought, ‘not so shabby an idea to join the executive club after all, if they’ll hold the departure just for you’. And so I did. However, when I did so, it was in my usual half-hearted fashion. Although I was travelling more than ever, both long-haul and short-haul, I never really favoured BA and even when travelling BA only occasionally remembered to add my frequent flyer number. I therefore remained steadfastly blue for a number of years. As an aside, for reasons which I can’t be bothered to remember, the missus developed a downer on BA and joined the BMid diamond club instead.
For me, it all changed in 1999. I’d moved to a new company the previous year and my job now involved quite a few European flights – about 20/25 returns a year, some triangles…. peanuts for some I know. Anyway, the secretary who booked the flights took me to one side and told me ‘look, I’m bored with having to rearrange your itineraries in mid-journey. From now on, I’m only booking you into flexible (i.e. Club) tickets. Furthermore, it’s much easier to book you on BA when flights are available’. And so, in spite of myself, I became a BA fiend. Silver was easy to achieve, and I found that quite nice. At that time, points were then zeroised and the new year started again. However, by that time I was an addict, and I somehow found it necessary to visit a Cypriot customer for a second time. I’ll leave it to others to decide whether this trip, which pushed me into Gold, was entirely necessary.
And thus I had three years as a gold card holder. Swish into the first class lounge, irrespective of the class one’s travelling in. Book BA for personal travel, just to get the miles. Regular long-haul upgrades (sometimes of two classes, from WT straight to CW) if not expected then at least not unexpected.
And then, just as quickly, cold turkey. Stopped working in 2003 and points dwindled to virtually nothing. No soft landing then, so it was straight back down from gold to blue. Happened mid-trip, in Mexico, on the return back to the UK my card had run out two days previously; thought I’d try and chance it with the lounge dragon but she was having none of it. Oh, that walk of shame!!!
Anyway… once an addict… I thought I’d got over the whole thing, was resigned to a life of no-status, and then a few years ago the rules changed and my blue became bronze. Priority check-in. That’s nice. Then a couple more trips and I’ve been silver for a couple/three years. Lounge access…. nice. But that’s me finished. Silver is good enough. That’s all I need. Although…. gold… mmm. Tell me more about these TP runs…
Yes, I am an addict. I'll try to stick with the e-Silver.
May 3, 2016, 2:39 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Glasgow
Programs: British Airways Silver, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, AMEX plat
Posts: 251
I joined because I needed to use Heathrow, in all honesty. I studied in Oxford and I used to fly home to Glasgow from Heathrow. Gatwick is quite far from Oxford via public transport, and trains from Oxford required 1/2 changes. Since I appear to have a penchant for falling asleep on trains and missing connections, trains were out 
So I used to fly LHR-GLA-LHR over some weekends to visit family back home, and I joined partly because I love collecting points of any kind, partly because it meant I could use the app and download my boarding pass onto my phone, and partly because I saw an opportunity to get status in future. I then needed to book a few long hauls and looked to BA, so I suppose they sucked me in early and being a member of BAEC has kept it that way.
So I used to fly LHR-GLA-LHR over some weekends to visit family back home, and I joined partly because I love collecting points of any kind, partly because it meant I could use the app and download my boarding pass onto my phone, and partly because I saw an opportunity to get status in future. I then needed to book a few long hauls and looked to BA, so I suppose they sucked me in early and being a member of BAEC has kept it that way.
May 3, 2016, 3:16 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Taif, KSA
Programs: BA GGL, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,903
I was trying to find out how to get lounge access on my return from a tour in the Falkland Islands. I realised after travelling in what is essentially Y for about 20 hours a shower was going to be badly needed.
I found a link to the lounge meet up thread and was guested In to GF and the rest is history.
I found a link to the lounge meet up thread and was guested In to GF and the rest is history.
May 4, 2016, 12:36 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Balham - Gateway to The South
Programs: BA Bronze
Posts: 2,020
I joined because I have a habit of collecting anything that's free. I was already collecting Aadvantage points and Vrigin Flying Club points/miles.
I took my first BA flight in 1978 (LHR-ORD) when you could check in in London (Victoria I think).
I only joined BAEC in 2010 but have found it is the scheme that I can actually use the points I collect. Since then I have flown nearly exclusively with BA.
On closer inspection of why I have done that it doesn't come down to the BAEC alone, in fact it has more to do with the customer facing staff who (with only a few exceptions) have been efficient, professional and pleasant. That, more than anything else keeps me flying with BA.
I took my first BA flight in 1978 (LHR-ORD) when you could check in in London (Victoria I think).
I only joined BAEC in 2010 but have found it is the scheme that I can actually use the points I collect. Since then I have flown nearly exclusively with BA.
On closer inspection of why I have done that it doesn't come down to the BAEC alone, in fact it has more to do with the customer facing staff who (with only a few exceptions) have been efficient, professional and pleasant. That, more than anything else keeps me flying with BA.
May 4, 2016, 1:15 am
#5
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA silver.
Posts: 213
During my student years I mostly flew whatever the cheapest airline was, with a strong preference for United because it helped me get status on bmi for relatively little travel.
Then at one point I flew BA to the states and my seat was chosen to do some survey and I signed up for BAEC at the same time as it wasn't a hassle. I was eventually able to roll my remaining bmi miles into that account, so it felt like a natural progression.
I have never flown enough (or in high enough fare buckets) to make it worthwhile to be in two frequent flier programmes, so at this point, I fly BA whenever possible, but otherwise it's the cheapest airline without any particular preference. (North American travel is nearly always BA, but eastwards flights have been a mishmash.)
Then at one point I flew BA to the states and my seat was chosen to do some survey and I signed up for BAEC at the same time as it wasn't a hassle. I was eventually able to roll my remaining bmi miles into that account, so it felt like a natural progression.
I have never flown enough (or in high enough fare buckets) to make it worthwhile to be in two frequent flier programmes, so at this point, I fly BA whenever possible, but otherwise it's the cheapest airline without any particular preference. (North American travel is nearly always BA, but eastwards flights have been a mishmash.)
May 4, 2016, 1:54 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: West Sussex
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 897
I started travelling frequently on BA in 2009. My corporate preferred carrier was BA and the expense system at that time couldn't differentiate between Economy and Premium Economy (our travel policy was Y). Hence what started a journey chasing status through work travel, in the luxurious setting of WT+ (little did I know back then).
It continues today, but fortunately now in J
It continues today, but fortunately now in J
May 4, 2016, 2:47 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,140
Curiously, for me it started in 1984 when we began having regular 'Spring Breaks' in JER, flying in KLM F-27s out of SOU. For some reason, presumably from their advertising, I joined the KLM program ... and derived no benefit over the next 3 years 
However, at least I had discovered FFPs, although when Jersey European took over the route there was no program.
Fast-forward to 2000, and we flew VS to the USA, and so I automatically joined their program [don't shout at me, they were the cheapest option!] - I still have my VS Red card! After a brief dalliance with VS, we switched to MaxJet (MY) for TATL - but a sale or something had us book a TATL with BA in PE in 2007 ... so I joined BAEC, because I could.
And that trip in May 2007, dear reader, was also our last experience of PE
Since then it's been CW all the way, climbing the greasy pole of BAEC with our bi-annual trips to IAD and making Silver for the first time in 2011 ... and achieving "Honolulu Gold" in Jan 2015
Over the last 7 years we've squeezed a lot of benefit from BAEC, regularly [and reliably] using MFU/UuA to travel in Club World/Yerp. But the discovery during 2014 of ex-DUB options to the USA has most of our l/h travel now being with AA - although we still credit to BAEC, and burn a 2-4-1 annually just to show BA we still care about them
However, at least I had discovered FFPs, although when Jersey European took over the route there was no program. Fast-forward to 2000, and we flew VS to the USA, and so I automatically joined their program [don't shout at me, they were the cheapest option!] - I still have my VS Red card! After a brief dalliance with VS, we switched to MaxJet (MY) for TATL - but a sale or something had us book a TATL with BA in PE in 2007 ... so I joined BAEC, because I could.
And that trip in May 2007, dear reader, was also our last experience of PE
Since then it's been CW all the way, climbing the greasy pole of BAEC with our bi-annual trips to IAD and making Silver for the first time in 2011 ... and achieving "Honolulu Gold" in Jan 2015
Over the last 7 years we've squeezed a lot of benefit from BAEC, regularly [and reliably] using MFU/UuA to travel in Club World/Yerp. But the discovery during 2014 of ex-DUB options to the USA has most of our l/h travel now being with AA - although we still credit to BAEC, and burn a 2-4-1 annually just to show BA we still care about them
May 4, 2016, 3:01 am
#12
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: EBD, BAEC GGL/CCR, Alitalia AlataPlus, Club Carlson Gold, SPG Plat100, HHD
Posts: 654
I joined the BAEC in 2010 shortly after having moved to the UK, and therefore having more than 1-2 flights a decade (as a child) with BA. Seemed to make sense even though I was blue for the first year or so, and then eventually reached silver in 2012. After that I am both a frequent leisure traveller and business traveller - mostly in premium cabins (when budget allows).
May 4, 2016, 3:13 am
#14
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: United Kingdom
Programs: BA Exec Club - Silver | Aegean Miles & Bonus - Gold | IHG - Gold | Marriott - Silver
Posts: 44
My parents used to fly VS to HKG (Hong Kong) every year when I was a child and really enjoyed the customer service and friendly flight attendants, so that was how I developed my interest in travelling.
Later, during my time at university, I had a study placement in Spain and every time my parents booked my flights MAD-LHR on BA, I'd always feel slightly more reassured I was going home. The sandwiches, the welcome drinks and the other nice touches really helped. Living in Spain is an experience in itself but adjusting to their idea of working life and customer services was another kettle of fish...
I then began to collect my own Avios when I needed to take a random trip on VY (BIO-LHR), so set up my own Iberia account in summer 2013, then proactively created a BA account in early 2014.
I've been collecting ever since...
Later, during my time at university, I had a study placement in Spain and every time my parents booked my flights MAD-LHR on BA, I'd always feel slightly more reassured I was going home. The sandwiches, the welcome drinks and the other nice touches really helped. Living in Spain is an experience in itself but adjusting to their idea of working life and customer services was another kettle of fish...
I then began to collect my own Avios when I needed to take a random trip on VY (BIO-LHR), so set up my own Iberia account in summer 2013, then proactively created a BA account in early 2014.
I've been collecting ever since...
May 4, 2016, 3:26 am
#15
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 219
I joined in university because at the time I thought I wanted to become a consultant and thought (wholly naively) that a frequent flyer forum would give an insight into that life.
That didn't happen and I went to the bar, which hasn't involved much air travel (although the 261/2004 thread is of ongoing professional interest).
The forum came into its own for me when my girlfriend moved to the U.S. and I started doing TATLs every six weeks or so at my own expense...
That didn't happen and I went to the bar, which hasn't involved much air travel (although the 261/2004 thread is of ongoing professional interest).
The forum came into its own for me when my girlfriend moved to the U.S. and I started doing TATLs every six weeks or so at my own expense...