Originally Posted by
hourami
.... My question is that BA stipulate that you need 4 tier point earning flights operated by BA to achieve and retain Silver or Gold. My BA flights are at the beginning and at the end so does that mean that all the points I earn will be wasted as I won't get moved up as the flights are not on BA? So I could have 2,000 tier points but will still be on Blue? What should I do?
Potentially I could do a cheap euro flight in Club Europe so that is two (return flight) and then LHR-MRU an then MRU-JNB, making the 4 on BA but the Australia flights are Qantas and the N.America flights are AA and CX.
Another thing, if I am getting moved from blue to silver and then silver to gold WHILE travelling, how do I get into Qantas club rooms and AA Admiral lounges etc etc. Will my AONE4 fare let me in anyway without the status.
Yes, BA has been reported to have done that. You cannot get Silver status until you have 4 BA flights (and you need 4 each year to retain it); and -- the worst part -- when you reach Silver, points are reset to zero, so any "excess" is then wasted and does not count towards Gold. So, you would stay Blue, even with 2000 tier points, and if/when you fly 4 BA flights, you would become Silver with 0 tier points. If this is after your OWE has ended, then all you earn is Silver and not Gold. The optimal strategy is to fly 4 BA flights prior to getting the points needed for Silver.
The AONEx ticket is all you need for lounge admission outside of the US; for AA domestic flights, you need OW status, and for that you will have to have your physical card from BA. AA sometimes accepts other proof of status, but basically you need to have your BAEC address functional and the card forwarded to you after it is issued. Or just give up on BAEC.