Originally Posted by bisonrav

Got to go back to some of my comments when the years were aligned, as the conversation has drifted into BA centric areas. The key driver to this change is the belief that a standalone loyalty business can add about £4B at tech company margins (good double digit) and growth. This is an IAG corporate strategic pillar, announced in the report and accounts, and the point I've made a lot is that that this means that objections from within the business unit are overridden, and there are incentives and probably sanctions designed to move quickly.

Thinking it's to do with the champagne bill or crowded lounges is way off the mark, IMO. That's a very internalised view.

The changes can be very easily explained.

1) It is (too) easy to get status from flying under the status quo
2) therefore no-one will bother getting status from other activities
3) to create our loyalty eco system we need to incentivise use of other activities, including credit card spend, hotel bookings, other affiliated activities
4) therefore we must make status earning through flying much more difficult or impossible
5) Ego will force customers to use any means necessary to cement the travel privileges they value, which channels them into the eco system.

These are perfectly reasonable assertions, I am certain these were on the table when the year alignment was made. In a sensible business there would have been an announcement March 2024 that the new start date would coincide with a new method of earning status to be revealed throughout the year. Sit back and enjoy the revenue from the rush to GfL and BAH bookings on double tier points, explain the reasoning and give examples of the earning methods that will come in. Manage the change with your customers, gather issues, and behave reasonably fairly (you don't have to be nice in business, but you do have to appear fair).

That wasn't done - I am guessing because there was internal opposition to the changes (as GGLs we were all being interviewed by the HVC team on improvements to the offer, that was very confusing and misaligned) and deals were difficult to get to with suppliers in the absence of a reason for customers to take them up. Bad News Fairy gave detail in September, very accurately and with what looks like inside information, but there was still no announcement. So we get to the very last date where this can be announced to allow adoption April 1st, someone panicked about their performance bonus and pressed the "do it now or pick up your cards tomorrow" button, and it all happened with comms teams on holiday, no time to fully brief staff, and engendering a massive wave of hostility from customers, many of whom had expensive bookings to get half way to status after April, and who were also on holiday with time to get mad. I suspect a lot of what can be cancelled will be cancelled, and you'd be a bit nuts to book anything new. There aren't even important details like the soft landing (my guess is there was no soft landing in the plan, but that's been suspended while they think about it because they're worried about backlash and don't want to paint themselves into a corner; there's no real other explanation).

You literally could not manage a change like this in a worse way. Every single mistake you could make was made, But the reason it was done is valid in the IAG loyalty context (not the cost saving context although this would have been in discussions at the BA level). Please, forget the soul searching about abuse or lounge use. The underlying strategic thrust was in a different universe to that.

I would genuinely love to be a change management consultant to BA right now. The amount of sarcasm and finger wagging I'd employ would be delicious. But anyway they'll all get back into the office on the 6th and I'd imagine there'll be a bit of closing ranks, a bit of discussion about concessions around securing bookings after April, and some rolling of eyes and gnashing of teeth. Way to trash a brand guys.

PS BA, if you're reading, a great revenue stream would be to sell "fly on the wall" tickets for Waterside over the next few weeks.