Washington DC

It is on an Executive Club page though, discussing its changes - it should explain that "our routes" refers not to routes that are offered by the Executive Club, but are only the subset that are on BA metal.

They then need an additional explanation that this also excludes routes on BA metal that are not direct.

HIDDY

I've never understood why HiFly flies with BA either.....she's done nothing but flippin' moan about them ever since she's come to this forum.

You do talk some sense dear......I thought Air France were the frogs legs till the Dutch came along. Then they started fiddling with their loyalty programme and that was it.....I was off before I even had a chance to spend my miles.

The way some people have over-reacted to yesterdays news makes me wonder if they actually have a life outside of collecting and spending miles. You would think they would have more serious things to get anxious about.

As for me....the changes don't bother me. I've forgotten what the old redemption rates were so have nothing to compare the new ones with.

usually sat at the back

I agree completely with this, one day it will become a consideration and rumblings will occur but I believe (or rather hope) it would be too complex to execute.

You have to wonder how HMRC would calculate the benefit in kind when according to the terms and conditions of the BAEC Avios have zero value.

I also suspect if it came to it many people would counter it with the personal time (unpaid time) spent travelling and away from home when 'earning' these perks. I would say that for me a miniscule portion of true travel/away from home time is time paid for by the company and that Avios is not a full reward for the personal time given.

USATB

Far Siren

While some of the changes are bad, there are enough improvements to balance things out.

HOWEVER...I, too, have a huge problem with how the changes were communicated to the customers.

I've never seen a more convoluted, opaque and roundabout way of release of information by a company. Instead of presenting the changes all at once they chose to feed their customers the info piecemeal. Why were the partner reward charts not announced beforehand? Surely it's not because they were still debating the redemption levels at 11:59 pm on Nov 15?

AC and UA recently made big changes to their programs. Compare the way they announced the changes to BA's method and you'll see what I'm talking about.

And I'm strictly referring to their decision re: communications here. I agree that some of the changes they implemented have been very positive and I applaud them for it. But the communications have been a total, utter disaster.

T8191

I don't think I've read a single contrary view on that subject

A very strange way of going about it, and IMO not at all constructive.

HilFly

At least I do fly BA on a regular basis, as opposed to those who rarely fly BA but constanly criticize posts from those who do.

Maybe if you flew BA more frequently you would experience some of the things that others complain about.

HIDDY

^

btw...I flew twice with BA this year and both flights were brill. As for the new redemption charts....much ado about nothing.

HilFly

Yes, a lot of my flights are brill, too. I have posted many times about sterling service from onboard crews, but the overall experience being dragged down by the ground and customer service center experiences.

Washington DC

Only two flights? Wow - which airline do you prefer?

NickB

I do not think that this is a fair comment. It is in fact a complete change of how the system works, from a zone-based system to a segment-based system.

In some cases, it will increase the number of miles required very substantially and we are not necessarily speaking here of esoteric routings designed to 'maximise' awards. If origin and end require a connection to a local hub (something as ordinary as BRU to DPS or ICN, for instance), you will need to add 3 components as if you were doing 3 separate rewards.

As far as changes to redemption go, this is not merely an increase here and there or a simple inflationary increase. It is a radical change. Now one may regard it as a good thing or a bad thing and, in any event, it is BA's prerogative to design their FFP in the way they see fit.

However, it would be disingenuous to describe it as an insignificant change. In recent years, I think one would have to go back to the AF/KL Flying Blue April2009 changes for a comparable complete rehash of an FFP. Again, I am not saying that the BAEC changes are as bad as the FB "April fool" changes. There are positives in those changes and, for quite a number of FTers, these positives exceed the negatives. But they are nonetheless significant changes.

HIDDY

Mostly on routes that were well underpriced anyway....and non BA routes at that.
You can't please everyone but considering the earning potential has increased greatly for most members over recent years then one can't really complain.It could have been a whole lot worse.

stewaran

Out of interest, if you dont fly to London, why do you use a airline based there?

NickB

Maybe, maybe not. As I said, I don't really want to get into the discussion of whether the changes are "fair", etc... (which is a discussion which leads to nowhere but preaching to the converted) but on whether they are significant and it seems to me difficult to deny that they are.

bernardd

So a 35 minute hop on a BA codeshare, plus 9-10 hours on BA longhaul plus 45 minutes on BA to a zone 1 city justifies a near 40% hike in miles? I didn't ask either airline to be a hub & spoke operation - they do it for their own financial reasons.

bernardd

AA basically invented them as a way of getting people to make irrational choices when spending other peoples money, by using up capacity that was otherwise going empty.

Over time however they've become so bent out of shape, and BA is complicit in this, that they've become THE major marketing plank for the carriers. Those here who say "it's only a game" have it wrong; it's vital to the carriers, otherwise why would they need NDA's and to be secretive about changes?


If you own and operate a business there's no real distinction between your own money and "company" money. Sure, the taxman tries to make one, and you can squirm rounds the edges, but in the end it all comes out of one pocket.