<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
OK, then perhaps they should only offer physical blue cards after taking a couple of flights on BA?</font>
Then we have the "ugly-home-print-temporary-card" problem. Then the EC will be just like any other FF program (from the viewpoint of a newbie milecollector).
I know a few people who have never joined M&M, Frequence+, SAS Eurobonus for this reason.
On the other hand there is BA EC/United Mileage+/AC Aeroplan where you get a physical card from the first day. _This_ is the way to bind "newbie travellers" to an airline, not the cool First lounge for Gold/1K/Executive/Platinum member... a newbie won't look for that in a FF program at first. He will look for this:
1) Am I welcome from day 1 as a member (= will I get a nice welcome package)?
2) Is it possible to earn a free flight in Y or are the miles needed unreachable high?
3) Do miles expire or not?
4) Are there many airline partners?
But that's only my opinion and BA will make the decisions about EC and not we here in this forum. :-)
Kind regards,
Hammer
[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited 01-27-2003).]