"I'm sorry sir, which airline is this?"
 

Flew LAX - SFO today on AA. Went to T4, and walked over to the new premier check in area. Called over to a counter. Gave her my new Gold Card and Passport.

She looked at the card, looked on the system, looked back at the card and said to me "I'm sorry sir, which airline is this?" To which I replied "BA, British Airways" - more quizzical looks at the card, and then I said "It's the new design - I know - it doesn't have BA's name on it"

"Oh - er - ok" she said and with that I had my boarding pass and off I went.

Having seen other posts on here about not having the BA logo on the front, I wonder now if it was a minor error - given the fact if they don't recognise it at LAX, what chance do other minor outstations have on the OW network!

I've had the same problem at Hyatt and Langham hotels, they've had to come back to me because they don't know when airline to select from their drop-down menu.

Personally I see it as more than a minor error not to have the main branding on the cards and luggage tags. :o

BA - please be proud of the brand name!

If this were a car I'd expect a recall by now, and re-issue with appropriate corrections. All my other loyalty cards are adverts for their respective brands.

My British Airways Amex card is looking more like a frequent flyer card than the real thing!

If it is any consolation, the words "property of British Airways plc" can be found on the back of the EC cards in very very small print, so surely it's not as if the one card was intended work accross the entire IAG network.

That said, as my shares are now effectively in IAG, I would not have a problem in it being the IAG Executive Club, were it not for the fact that I am (only) Silver. :)

Haha! Oh dear, this is surely a story that will be repeated for a little while yet, until check in staff become familiar with the new cards. You would have thought that BA would send out a memo to all it's staff and partners advising them of the new card designs wouldn't you?

My new Silver card arrived today and I actually quote like it! ^

At least they have the BA logo on the front of the card, unlike the bmi diamond club cards when they were redesigned (have they fixed this yet?).

Star Alliance outstations had enough difficulty knowing what bmi is even when their cards had their logo on the front.

It's just obvious this is going to be incredibly irritating. The odds of the lounge guru at Tirana airport recognising the BA/ Nike logo on the card are miniscule, let alone outstations and OneWorld destinations outside of Europe.

I've had more than enough trouble with my BMI card, but at least it has a clear*A Gold logo which suggests to agents that it's probably not some supermarket or car rental programme.

BA and BD are already trying to streamline operations in anticipation of their almost definite merger, hence equally confusing membership cards.

I renewed in October 2011 and got sent the old card... will I be waiting another 9/10 months until I get a new card, or are they gradually replacing current card with the new design along the way? It does seem mad not to have the airline branding on the front...

RUH lounge staff didn't recognise the old version of the card. The only way to gain access to the "lounge" was by a rubber stamp on the BP given at check-in. As long as you remember to get BP stamped up you were fine, but that means no guests unless they got stamped up with you at check-in.

(by the way - the check-in staff in RUH are fantastic! always friendly, cheerful and helpful!)

No. They haven't. They found it so catastrophic that they had to sell the airline!

Perhaps the new owner will put it back? Hold on, didn't they sell it to BA? Oh well, perhaps something will turn up? ;)

:D:D

Half of the printing on my card has now worn off - expiry date , name and Gold have faded hugely.

Same here. Expiry date and membership number have virtually disappeared. And both the bag tags broke the first time I used them. Kind of rubbish really.

I've only taken a cursory look at the new card. Are the gold faces printed onto white plastic and its the printing that's wearing quickly?

Doesn't bode well for visiting contract/oneworld lounges, does it?

How odd - I simply do not show my card that often. They have everything on the Boarding Passes even at AA. Mine still look shiny and new - so you all must pull yours out more often. When and why do you do that? I'm just curious.

Maybe I should wear mine (Gold) round my neck when I fly Eurofleet so that They Know Who I Am - but only if it matches or contrasts my blouse or Jaeger creation.

Something you Gentlemen would not concern yourselves about!