Originally Posted by
T8191
However, a further revelation of how many people seem to join BAEC and yet
avoid flying on BA. I know there's a
oneworld thing, but seen from BA's POV it must be just a little bit frustrating seeing all these NA members never putting their bums on a BA seat. It's supposed to be a
Frequent Flyer Programme.
Personally, I don't care. I'm time-rich, cash-rich and Miles-rich. And the taxes and fees that cause
so much angst 'over there' don't bother me in the slightest. We just carry on flying Club on a 4-sector trip to the US East Coast in CE/CW for around $1,000 US each [$200 each more on a bad day]. I certainly don't expect BA to consider reducing that cost to $500 pp ... they would go bust.
Regarding North American flyers who don't fly BA:
This is a direct result of BA's decision to sell miles to Chase and Chase's decision to offer massive 100k signup bonuses. Prior to that time, many of us didn't have BA accounts and would likely have credited any BA flights to our AA accounts (as AA has no surcharges and AA elite benefits are likely more useful to US-based flyers).
It is further a result of BAs use of absurd "fuel surcharges" to gouge customers using their miles, as well as the heinous London "taxes" on premium cabin travel. These are concepts that are mostly unknown in the US where you only pay relatively low federally mandated taxes and fees on award tickets (usually about $10 on my southwest roundtrips, and maybe +$70 on an international ticket).
Consumers are not stupid. When they can redeem fewer miles and spend few $$ for award seats on partners they are going to bypass BA. In the same way that UA customers use partners to bypass UA's mediocre premium product.
So while you don't care, the massive devaluation is a big deal to us yanks. I am just thankful that I recently zeroed out my BA account. And in December I will cancel my Chase card and let them know exactly why I am doing it.
FF programs stopped being a reward to frequent travelers a long time ago, when the airlines realized that they could turn the programmes into a profit center by selling miles. Get over it.