irishguy28

But BA allows you to gain status even on the cheapest economy tickets once you reach a certain number of sectors and long before you reach the necessary number of Tier Miles. IB apparently do the same in their programme.

EI however gives no such shortcut that speeds up status for those flying lots of minimum-Tier-Credit-earning flights

BrianDromey

Well, I suppose it doesn't give a shortcut, but AerClub Tier Points are easier to earn than in the BA scheme and the thresholds are lower.

Silver is gained at 40 flights (7.5 Tier Credits for Saver in A,Z,W,T)
Platinum is gained at 80 flights
Concierge is gained at 140 flights

Flying weekly to the UK, even on the cheapest available flight would easily get you Platinum (40 return journeys).

By comparison with BA;
Bronze - 300 Tier Points / 25 BA Flights
Silver - 600 Tier Points / 50 BA flights (Do codeshares count?)
Gold - 1500 Tier Points
For reference the cheapest BA fare on DUB-LHR is worth 5 tier points in Executive Club.

I would consider EI Silver better than BA bronze. Further up though, Im not sure. Im not clear what lounge access EI silvers can expect, is it only EI branded lounges, or the use of the EI contract lounge when flying EI, as in the Gold Circle days? Lounge access for BA Silvers is Business Class lounges when travelling on one world, so its hard to compare.

Most of my travel is Ireland-UK, from UK regional airports, so EI seems like the better scheme, at least until EI join one world. That said with an Amex Plat card, the ability to combine avois across BE, EI and BA and the irritable FR fares at the minute, Im picking and choosing.

JAXBA

Apparently not - it'll be the full 16 digits when booking through EI.

I already had an Avios.com account, and while my new EIAC profile is linked and shows my Avios.com details, my Avios.com profile doesn't look any different.

Has anyone, who wasn't a member of Avios previously, tried logging into Avios.com with their new EIAC login? My EIAC/Avios.com login details are the same, so I can't tell, but I'm wondering if new EIAC/Avios.com members will be able to use their new number in the same way as non-EIAC Avios members - and earn on Iberia, Flybe, Kulula, etc.

Basically, I wonder if new EIAC members have an Avios number 'restricted' to EIAC only, or if they are also fully Avios members too (via EI)? I suppose it might depend on country of residence, as Avios.com members need to have a UK/Spain/South Africa address to register for a purely Avios.com only account. https://www.avios.com/ie/en_ie/ refers to joining EIAC

It would be interesting to know if it's possible to use digits 7-16 of your EIAC number as the Avios number to credit IB flights to - just as I'm looking forward to crediting a UA flight to EIAC and having it appear in my Avios.com account to transfer to BAEC...

Very strange way of setting this all up!

irishguy28

Yes, as a Dutch resident I was not formerly able to join Avios. But having an Aer Club account requires you to associate an Avios account with the Aer Club account.

As a European resident, you still can't join Avios directly, but are directed to "join" by first joining any one of IB Plus, BA Executive Club, or EI Aer Club. (http://www.avios.com/eu/en_gb/about-us)

Given that using an IB Plus or BA Executive Club doesn't require an Avios.com membership or associating with a pre-existing Avios.com account.

So, creating an Avios.com account via Aer Club does indeed seem to give you an Avios.com account that exists only in the Aer Club "walled garden", so to speak. It says nothing about being able to earn on Iberia; I have not seen any Iberia options presented when looking up redemptions; and the reservations are only available at rates that far exceed the rates that are available from within BAEC.

So, an EI AC-created Avios account is apparently NOT a "standard" Avios account.

BrianDromey

The IAG markets day made reference to moving all IAG schemes to the Avios "platform", which could be read separately to the Avios Currency. flyBe works similarly to EI - but is an even more basic Web link to avois.com. FlyBe don't bother with status at all, so it's a bit easier.

I imagine by basing all accounts on seperate "partitions" or "walled gardens" what we call "sweet spots" can be eliminated. Like DUB-BOS now in Zone 5.

Dambus

Waiver of change fee for concierge also not working.

Dambus

No.

The only positive benefit I can see is the change fee waiver for Concierge which doesn't yet work (just coughed up to change a flight later today).

The downgraded lounge access for Silver (in particular no guests), the removal of long haul upgrades with points and the total evisceration of redemption values are nails in the coffin as far as I am concerned.

For anyone who is Avios rich from other sources and redemption-value insensitive EI has become more accessible for rewards which I guess is a plus.

At least the extended Tier status renewal deadline gives plenty of time to look for alternatives - AA may now be a better option for me, assuming EI eventually join OW.

The Newbridge Silver Christmas decorations and the occasional special invite (e.g. To test and feedback on options for the new Business class seats a couple of years ago at the Convention Centre) were nice. End of an Era.

MBDublin

Completely agree. For all its failings as a programme the GC tried to look after the regulars. I don't see AC doing that and now with a common currency in Avios we can make direct comparisons with BAEC and IB+

As a OW emerald AC actually disincentives me to fly EI. West I can go AA or BA and almost certainly get more Avios per leg. LHR with BA- More Avios per leg and arguably a better lounge in Dublin and LHR. Other UK and European cities I will probably continue to use EI where its suits but with the low earning rate on Avios there will be no great incentive to pick them over FR or other carriers. Any Avios earned will most likely be transferred and spent in BAEC but I don't see this being a significant amount. GC lounge access in Dublin would be nice but I certainly wouldn't miss it as when I need a decent meal I would go elsewhere anyway.

I don't think that I will be unique in this viewpoint and I wonder if this is by design to reduce the membership levels on the higher tiers or just poorly thought out.

As an aside if the GC lounge as expected becomes significantly quieter will BA start using it instead of the DAA lounge. I would hope not as I think the food offering in the DAA lounge is better but if this happened it would be a quick and easy cost saving for IAG

MBDublin

Well I take back the late bit. 45 tier points have just arrived. However I have no idea what flights they are for. Also a quick look down at the flights taken tab shows over a 100 TP in the last 6 weeks. So I stick with the unclear and shambolic statements.

I guess its up to me to go back through my flight history and determine what TP's I should have but I am really not sure its worth the effort of getting the Silver card.

irishguy28

In another thread, a few months ago, someone said that EI customers travelling to the US no longer had access to the GC lounge but could only use the general lounge past US preclearance. I don't know if this is true, but one of the reasons suggested here was to make room for "all the oneworld elites".

Now, we know that oneworld re-entry is still a long way off, and there still isn't full IAG cross-recognition.

But maybe they ARE determined to thin out the EI numbers using the lounge?

It looks like it is the EI faithful that are the biggest losers. As an existing BAEC member, the change is "good" for me, to the extent that it should become easier for me to spend my Avios on EI. That is, if they sort out their crazy cash amounts, and put business class tickets up for redemption (I haven't managed to find a single J seat for redemption yet)

MBDublin

I had a look on EF and found U class availability on a DUB-JFK flight. Logging into avios shows the same availability. Was that RFS box there yesterday or is that a new addition.

irishguy28

Yes! This mention of Reward Flight Savers is new and encouraging.

On BA, you have to have earned at least 1 Avios by flying in the previous 12 months to qualify for RFS.

Could somebody who has had Tier Credits applied to their account - meaning that their account has been marked as having earned Avios by flying in the previous 12 months - please do a dummy booking for DUB-LHR or AMS and post a screenshot of the resulting cash requirement or just tell us?

4k Avios plus how many Euro?

With no Tier Credits and no Avios from flying in my account yet I just still see the high cash element.

Thanks!!!

MBDublin

There you go I have TPs and avios in the account as of this morning

irishguy28

Thanks. So no RFS just yet!

I'll probably just book with Ryanair this time, then. Again!

Dambus

Couple of points from the "Introducing our new loyalty programme" brochure picked up in flying out of ORD today:

- Green members will not get a physical card but can print one
- AerClub number needs to be on all reservations to earn credit (GC number no longer valid). No indication if existing bookings are translated automatically
- Depressing example of a EUR500 return ticket to NYC ticket earning 1320 base Avios in total.