HaleiwaFlyer

So just found out today BA has a lifetime Gold Guest List (CK equivalent) once you reach 100k Tier points. Tempting.....

FT Gold Guest List Beginner's Guide

stant

at 210 points per transatlantic flight, whats what, a million five in spend, if you get good deals on seats in J

GoBirds

Tempting perhaps, but also sounds like a very long road.

You get 420 TP’s for one RT F long haul trip. I probably fly those 10-12 times per year, and quick math says you would need around 240 RT’s to hit lifetime GGL.

That would take me a minimum of 20 years, and to be honest I really hope that I’m not flying as frequently as I am now for 20 more years!

execplataa

Once again - bag of salt as it is a Reddit post (🤦‍♂️) - someone posted that they have AA corporate travel contract etc and were told their CK statuses for travel spend leads etc will end July 31st. We’ve got a week to go and no word. Delta is catching on and refusing to accept the April 30 expiry date for match. Fun times.

metallo

On the surface, maybe yes, but realize that Delta just doesn't really do any matches to Diamond. I've also matched to United 1K and Delta Plat within the past year.

The best match I received via CK, though, was getting Air Canada Super Elite (their 100k level) a couple of years ago (EP was only being matched to 75k at the time). I was then able to maintain AC SE last year with a combination of their U.S. Aeroplan credit card, crediting some UA J tickets to AC (to help meet the mileage requirement), and doing some TATL flying through Canadian airports -- it's really not that different connecting through YYZ or YUL instead of PHL or JFK.

Anyway, status matches seem to be more popular than ever at the moment, and it's interesting reading the anecdotes here, which suggest that plenty of FT CKs seem to be taking advantage of them.

sqw

I have heard the same thing regarding corporate contract: “All active AAdvantage status allocations, except for Instant Status Passes, using the previous year’s budget will be extended to July 31, 2024. Members will see the extension reflected in their AAdvantage account by the end of February.”

I heard nothing and my account shows end of April expiration, maybe this means I have been qualified based on individual spend rather than corporate.

I stand ready to status match BA with my United 1K depending on what happens.

HaleiwaFlyer

I mean, we are all spending around 100k or more per year with AA and get no significant lifetime benefits.

If you switch to BA with that type of spend, at least lifetime BA Gold would be doable. This means lifetime AA EXP equivalence. Lifetime FFL access/OWE status at 35,000 tier points.

I think most of us can generate close to 5-10k tier points per year with CK travel frequency and class of service.

stant

Correct me if I'm wrong, but tier points arent calculated based on spend like LPs. So whereas american REALLY likes to see those full fare F tickets to qualify for CK, BA doesnt care if you are in a sale priced J or a full price seat...

So even with 100k spend that would be 15 years assuming you found the best fares around. if not you are looking at maybe as much as 3-4 times longer, or 3-4 times the spend in a year. I havent paid much attention to BA transatlantic in a few years, but I have seen some fares sub 3k$ whereas I'm paying probably $6k on average on AA

HaleiwaFlyer

That is correct, your actually spend doesn't matter, which can save you/your company significant money with nearly all of the perks of CK. I mean in reality, most of us (at least I hope you don't) require much IRROPS assistance and have the funds to just purchase another ticket on another airline and refund the AA fare if you need to get somewhere fast.

The distance of travel and class of travel is what matters with BA. I was reading up on tier run threads, and most recommend a connection to help increase tier points earned between two destination, such as LHR-JFK-LAX rather than LHR-LAX. Segments come into play, which means sacrificing more time at airports/connections to expedite more tier points.

Also, AA typical domestic 2 class narrow bodies don't count towards F category, and only J for tier point calculations. BA will reward the domestic AA fliers who have the most segments.

BA has a tier point calculator to help out.

For example: my typical one way HNL-DFW-PDX will earn 180 tier points. 14 round trips to earn Gold Guest List, which is easily doable when adding on international trips.

To maintain Gold Guest List with CK flying patterns is even easier at 3000 tier points; and no more waiting for AA's secret formula to determine if you are CK worthy or not.

YMMV; but after researching it abit more, lifetime BA perks might be a better option for potential CKs due to known criterias to achieve. Only thing that can swing the pendulum over is if AA announces a lifetime CK status.

For the younger aged CK flyers, I think BA is the way to go. For older CK flyers, I think trying to reach BA lifetime gold might be worthwhile pending your travel pattern.

GoBirds

You are correct. When I was BA Gold, I would just fly four discounted F RT AA transcons in a year, and that would be over 1500 TP's. You also do need to fly 4 segments on actual BA metal as well though to get Gold.

I don't think that's correct, because as I said above, I'd fly discounted F narrow transcon flights on AA, and still get 210 TP's per segment. Perhaps that's changed recently, but it definitely worked that way 3 or 4 years ago.

HaleiwaFlyer

Transcon 3 class A321T are counted as F, if flying F.

For rest of the domestic AA F routes, they are 2 class narrow bodies, which even though AA labels as domestic F, only counts as J in the eyes of BA.

GoBirds

That's interesting, but to be fair, the part you quoted says F in two-cabin aircraft will earn miles based on business, but says nothing about TP's, and TP's are what matter as regards achieving elite status on BA. If that also does appy to TP's, then that is definitely a change from several years ago, as the flights I was referring to were two cabin planes, and I was earning 210 per segment for those discounted F flights.

Of course I don't profess to be anything close to an expert on BA's program, so I could very well be wrong about TP's as well. I will defer to my Avios brethren who are far more knowledgeable than I on the finer points of their program.

HaleiwaFlyer

FT BA Tier Point Run Thread

Pretty much has all of the current BA rules/earnings and best tier point run options. Apparently Central America is a great option.

In a nut shell, you can do low cost TP runs to augment any organic spend to reach either lifetime BA gold or lifetime BA Gold List status.

Guess what I am saying, had I known about BA lifetime status as a HNL based flyer, I would have shifted spend over much sooner. If I get renewed as a CK this year, I think I'm going to still credit all of my AA flying to BA FF.

jhalapin

It's clear to me, if this is the case, that there is serious retraining to be done with the current FA staff....

private_md

Had I known about this a decade ago, I’d be very close to GGL for life today. AA is simply not competitive in the lifetime status arena.