It's been 1 day, and I've already had an argument (and the p*ss ripped out me) on the BA forum... Lord!

I just don't seem to fit in over there. I can't put my finger on why... I may have to stay away for fear of being banned :D

I just had a look over there, and left with a very bad impression. Don't think I'll be back. I simply wanted to learn what my soon to be BA Gold card will get me in terms of status. Had a look at their "dashboard", but for the life of me couldn't find any thread linked there that summarizes anything about status. Unbelievable, or maybe I'm just blind. I would think learning about status would be one of the most important things.

Ok, so I clicked on "The Ultimate Guide to all things British Airways", thinking maybe there would be some useful information there. But being I'm a complete newbie who knows absolutely nothing about BA, I quickly determined it was not written at all with newbies in mind, seeing terms such as, "BA Club World", but no place is there any mention of what that even is. Perhaps I'm just impatient, being this BA status is being thrown at me without being asked, and I don't really want to find out everything about BA. I just want to know enough so I might be able to better use what I'll be receiving.

In my opinion it sure would be nice if someone could write a Newbie's Guide To BA for BMI Members, and post it here, so that we could understand quickly and easily what we have, and ask some basic questions without having to deal with all the issues on that board. I realize though that most members here are likely British and so are probably already much more familiar with BA than someone such as myself who doesn't live there and never flies BA or even OW.

It's simple: that forum has two rules -
1. You must be a member of the in-crowd to post and fit in.
2. Thanks for your enquiry but no, you may not join the in-crowd.

They eat their young there; it can be fun to read if you're not faint hearted, but there's very little point in trying to post there.

Oh, how true is this :D

No, really......

Well I personally don't think it's too hard, it took me well under 30 seconds to find this.

In essence Gold will get you increased Avios earning rates, access to the best seats, First Lounge as well as Business lounges (where available), OneWorld benefits (key difference with Star here, OneWorld's luggage benefits are not as consistent as Star), fast track security in many places, fast track check in everywhere, increased luggage benefits on BA and some OW companies. And unspoken, a good chance of operational upgrades on longhauls - though people's experiences here vary considerably. Similar divergence of view, but on board Golds should get first choice on meal options and perhaps a personal welcome from the Cabin Service Director or Manager.

Your point about a guide for new BMI entrants is a good one.

In terms of how the BA board works, yes it has its own style, and is possibly a difficult place for some posters, but if you look at the join date of some of the regulars, you will see many of them have joined recently, and have no problem being accepted. The upside is that the BA forum is often very entertaining as well as informative. Many of its members, including this one, looks forward to welcoming you on board.

I thank you for that reply, for welcoming me to the BA board, and for your brief description of the status benefits BA Gold will receive. As for the link you provided, I already had seen that and had skimmed over the text. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no mention of the status benefits that I see. No mention of lounge access, priority luggage, luggage allowance, fast track, priority check-in, etc. Those are what I'm interested in. What I get if traveling with BA, what I get if traveling with OW, if there are important differences, etc. In short, I'd like to have one detailed post that talks about status benefits, as opposed to strictly how to earn some status. I doubt I'll renew my BA Gold, being I don't fly OW, so couldn't care less about what are the requirements for each tier. But being I've already got (will get) the card, it'd be a shame to not use it at all. So I'm figuring I'll force a few OW flights in order to check out some OW F lounges, etc., with probably the HKG OW F lounge being the most likely.

If I was planning to be a OW frequent flyer, I'd probably spend the time to go over all the materials and learn as much as I could about the program. Being I'll only dabble in OW briefly, a newbie's guide would be the most helpful for me.

I think you may find that at the end of the Wiki link embedded within?

I agree that a newbie guide would be welcome. But I guess it's BMI that should write it: the approach would be to point out the changes between what they are used to and the benefits BA is luring them with. BA regulars possibly don't have *G and don't know what we expect.

Award availability comparisons is also something difficult to have.

Like many forums on FT, they do have their own style and challenges to a new poster. Some are very accessible, some require more reading. The BA forum does have all of the information you could wish for, but you have to put the time and effort in to finding some of it as it isn't all in one place. Like anything else, you get out what you put in.

As for comments as to the regular members there - it is definitely different to here. However all communities are shaped and moulded by the participants involved. If you don't participate, then nothing will change. As a number of Diamond Club forum members start to participate there, whether a vocal minority of the locals like it or not, things will start to evolve and change.

That is why I don't post there- despite being a BA Gold since 1998 and a FT member since 2004...

+1

Or not, remember the AF/KL forum mergers when AF took over KL. It's not really the same situation (if BMI is totally swallowed at some point, what will there be left to discuss?) but sometime you have to accept that different communities just can't merge. As I don't read the BA forum, I can't tell how different the forums are, and perhaps the gap isn't that large, though.

To be honest if one is looking for information on the benefits of having BA status then the best place to look is ba.com I would have thought.

What the Dashboard forum sticky excels at is providing information on things which can't be found on the BAEC site.....the Dashboard delves deeper.

Let's not forget it is only a forum and not the be-all and end-all of being a BAEC member.

Indeed; the table with the differences are here (watch out for the small 1 denoting additional tier point requirements):
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_gb

Seems the benefits of Gold over Silver are:

• Use of First Class check-in and Lounges (all OneWorld)
• No booking or service fees on reward flights, hotel stays and car rental
• Additional reward availability in economy
• Free Seat Selection at time of booking includes exit rows

The First Lounge Access is probably the most appealing to me given some *A member's trend towards restricting *G access to basic lounges but how often it would be useful in practice isn't clear.

I don't understand the BA board as well
 

I spent a good amount of time on their "guide" and left more confused then when I went in. As an American I am surprised how different two the two British airline forums can be. I think most of you all would be much more happy in the VS forum!! Though I have to say, the BA group does seem to be well traveled.