Very interesting thread I only found after my Ponts Guy post was moved.
I do wonder what impact loyalty schemes really have.
Many will be on company tickets. I used to be with RBS. BA group deal no choice.
What did used used to happen at all levels was additional travel when close to the end of your membership year to get / keep status so I suppose there is a behaviorccjange c
If you pay for your own travel then all thing being equal you choose the airline with whom you are a loyalty member ( assuming you value the scheme ). But how often are all things equal ? On a personal point of view depending on direction of travel I will probably go Emirates. Would I pay a premium to travel on ba simply due to the loyalty scheme? Maybe if I particularly needed the avios or I was close to the next tier , but even then the premium I would bear is low. Helpfully ba often have the business class deals so they win out on price - certainly to the America’s.
Nearly all full service airlines have a scheme and I appreciate that where people can excercise a choice this may give marginal benefit. I also appreciate no airline is really that likely to abandon a scheme to see what happens !