Hi all,

Recently qualified for a Gold partner card, and wanted to surprise a colleague of mine (who I usually travel with) with a shiny BA Gold card as a present to make his time down the back a bit more bearable.

As I wanted this to be a surprise and he's not currently a BAEC member, my plan was to sign him up, but using our office address, contacts etc, so I can receive the Gold pack, give to him as an unexpected gift, then hand over the account details so he can update it to his own contact info etc.

However, I am slightly concerned that the usual BAEC rule that a flight needs to be taken before a card will be issued might apply. Obviously I don't have a way to sneak his new BA number onto a booking without him noticing, so if he actually needs to credit some flights to the account first, the surprise option is off.

Once I've upgraded him to Gold, will his card be sent out automatically? Or will I be able to phone GGL and make it happen? Don't want to upgrade his account then be hit with a blanket response of "He needs to fly before we'll send a card out".

Advice from anyone who has done this before would be useful