Originally Posted by crazy8534

My experience is that there are 3 types of GGL:

1. Hard core TP runners / pure leisure, strongly represented on FT. I am not sure what the annual spend is but I would guess £10-20k. These are the folks flying LHR-OTP/SOF return etc., love flying/planes/travel. Never met one I didn't like. BA have said they aren't interested anymore, which is of course their prerogative, but my concern is they are ejecting a 100% discretionary spend. Most of these people will find other ways to keep their OWE status, even if not at the level of GGL, so they will still be drinking champagne in the lounges. Good on them.

2. High spending corporate customers, never even heard of FT. This is the demographic BA are targeting. Most of them have no idea how much their ticket costs. My closest friend is a London partner at a US law firm and is currently working on a case with one of the world's largest tech companies. On Monday he learns that he needs to be in SFO on Wednesday so he asks his firm's travel department to book a flight. They book business class on whatever plane and airline works best time wise. He doesn't tell them to book BA, he doesn't care. If he does fly BA sometimes he forgets to put his BAEC number on the booking. He has a separate AAdvantage number because he doesn't know AA and BA are linked. Couldn't care less about status, if BA had given him a Premier card (they wouldn't) he may slightly raise an eyebrow. Flies to Australia with his family to visit his in-laws at least once a year, goes with whatever airline is cheapest at the time. Might fly business, might fly economy. It seems odd that BA thinks the new Club will persuade people like him to fly more often with them. Annual spend is £50k+, not based on frequent flying but on last-minute expensive flying.

3. Independent contractors/also including road warriors. Professionals (IT/engineering/consulting esp.) who have a portfolio career or work in multiple countries spending a considerable number of nights of the year in hotels. Also well represented on FT. They may book their own tickets but much of the travel will be as a business expense (i.e. pre-tax). Well engaged with hotel and airline loyalty programmes (think George Clooney in Up in the Air) and with a good understanding of the optimum way to book, pay for and experience flights. Annual spend probably £30k+ but less likely to TP optimise routes and less able to book Saturday night stays, particularly if have a long-suffering partner/family at home. It isn't clear to me whether BA are trying to persuade these people to spend a bit more to secure GGL (or do more spending specifically with BA to meet the 80% requirement), or trying to put the boundary out of reach so that they are back in GF instead of the CCR. Whatever their plan is I assume there is some data to back-up the £65k qualification / £40k retention figures.

I certainly believe the 3000 figure I was given. Older conversation on here suggested pre-covid 5000-7000 with only 500 with a CCR card and this would make sense given that all GGLs now have CCR access, albeit with significantly reduced numbers of F seats across the network. I note that if the numbers of GGLs drop to say 500, when I was GGL with a CCR card and supposedly in that more exclusive group I didn't notice any significant difference in my ground experience compared to now.