stifle

I suspect it will earn absolutely nothing.

Petrus

Sweden Visa: It says the voucher is valid for two years? This is wrong. It is 1 year.@:-)

Prospero

Good points. The section has been updated with more accurate terminology. BA also provides guidance on eligible flights here: http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_gb

MNManInKen

The "Reservation Assurance" bullet is still missing from the Silver list.

You could perhaps also link to BA's "compare the tiers" page at http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_gb?

This could logically sit in post 3, just below the enumeration of the tiers following "There are four primary membership tiers in the BAEC".

stokeCity

To get Avios points for purchases made in a partner, Say Apple, do I need to go via the BA website or Can I make a purchase in a shop and then claim Avios?

PanGalactic

You have to go through the eStore.

iambazza

Hi, I was after a bit of advice.

I have emigrated from the UK to Australia and have been an executive club member for some years now. I have gained Silver (one world sapphire) on a couple of occassions but am now down to blue with 50k avios points. Most of my points are gained through travelling to the US, which I usually pay for premium economy and use miles to upgrade to Club (business). I usually gain 13,000 miles and spend 25,000 on my flight and top up my miles inbetween flights with Amex purchases. I have been told by BA that I can use miles on the route from Sydney/west coast (on AA/QF) but only in full payment ie not money plus miles)


My question is with regards to which loyalty club to join and try to gain points through. I had thoughts of joining Qantas or American's loyalty clubs as I am still plaining on visiting the USA, although this will probably be via San Fran/LA. Given how I use my miles I would appreciate any advice (and reasoning behind the advise)

Many thanks

Barry

PS im posting this in BA, AA and QF forums

LTN Phobia

If you want to earn/keep your status, bear in mind you need to do 2 or 4 (depending on the tier) BA sectors. If you are not going to fly a BA sector and want to keep/earn status, then you need to be with QF or AA.

Which would suit you better is dependent on how you intend to earn your points/miles and what your flying patterns are.

Hippo72

Thank you for this great thread! ^^

Actually there *is* an annual fee:
89€ for the British Airways Barclaycard Premium

49€ for the British Airways Barclaycard Classic while the first year is free


What I'm missing here is an explanation of member year / card year (Membership ends / Card expiry). I am still a BAEC newbie (coming from BMI DC*G) and I'm still uncertain about that.

ups

For the Indian credit cards section, you can also add Citibank PremierMiles Card which earns 10 PremierMiles (Citibank's currency) for every INR 100 on airline spend, and 4 PremierMiles for every INR 100 on other spends. These convert directly into BA Avios at 1:1, so a better proposition than the ICICI card.

Annual fee of INR 3000 with 10000 PMs as joining bonus. The card is a Visa Signature card which gives lounge access to several airports in India and some international airports. Also comes with some vouchers which may or may not have questionable value.

Official page: http://www.online.citibank.co.in/por...miles-card.htm

FlyerTalk thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...iles-card.html

mauricet99

Please feel free to delete this after answering if it is an inappropriate forum.

I have honestly tried to get my head around the tier transition but need a bit of help.
I am a lowly blue that should attain Bronze in mid - October. My year ends on Nov 12th.
I know that I will loose my tier points on the 12th Nov, as a bronze, which will probably be about 200 of them.
To obtain Silver in the year beginning the 12th Nov, Do I have to earn a further 300 tier points and 2 further eligible flights, or do I have to go the whole hog as it were, and achieve 600 points/4 flights in that time??

Many thanks for clearing this up for me.

M

Prospero

From Nov (9th??) you'll begin a new membership year initially at 0 TPs and as a Bronze. During the 12 months that follow you will need to accrue 300 TPs plus 2 eligible flights to retain Bronze or 600 TPs plus 4 eligible flights to attain Silver. When you reach this tier, the Silver card will be valid until 31 December 2014.

mauricet99

Many thanks for your quick reply... yes I got the date wrong! Thanks again for the help.
M

rolandasmx

Well, I advanced to BA's Bronze tier. So I can enjoy some extra benefits for one membership year. That is all - one year! I will earn 25% extra miles (which will give more redeemed flights (with little extra fee paid), I can use business check-in and reserve seats 7 days in advance. For someone who travels short-haul and has no bags to check in, all those benefits seem marginal. And if I want to retain that Bronze level of treatment, I have to not only fly at least twice this membership year (starting today) but actually accrue 300 more tier points, which will take me to Silver level. All of that means MORE SPENDING AND MORE FLYING with BA! On certain routes, I have no option much but fly with BA. Once I reach Silver level, I have to make my money work harder - earn 600 tier points in one calendar year to retain my Silver level, which translates into MORE SPENDING. On the BA route I use, that translates into almost 8 business class flights a year. And that is at the cost of £3880 a year. SPEND SPEND SPEND! Alas, it's not a lifetime recognition by the airline, alas I have to keep spending to be treated nicer. I always compare various airline tickets, sometimes it is cheaper to fly with BA, especially if you take baggage, meal and travel to airport costs. In conclusion, perhaps it is worth achieving that next tier level, if you don't mind keep on spending and want a little a few extra benefits during that tier membership year. But neither BA in-flight meals, nor lounges have been as extra enticing to keep on doing this.

MNManInKen

So, did you expect your status to last for life? That kind of benefit would have cost you a lot more than what it takes to get to Bronze, which is really easily achieved.

Strictly speaking, you get your status benefits usually for longer than a year: they start the moment you achieve a status level and last the whole of the next membership year, during which you can then collect points to retain that status.

I would have thought that extra avios is good news actually, and to use priority check-in is something that is very valuable at outstations, especially where there are no kiosks. I have on many occasions been grateful to jump those queues. Of course, if you prefer lengthy queuing than by all means don't use the facility.

What are you talking about? First, surely it's perfectly normal that you will have to continue to fly with BA and collect points in order to retain status? As above, you don't expect it to last for life, do you?? It seems to me that 2 eligible flights and 300TPs is actually a very small commitment.

Congratulations for figuring out what FF programmes are all about. The airline gets more of your custom in exchange for status benefits.

Well, you are not obliged to achieve status or retain it! If you want the benefits of a status level, you need to achieve the required number of flights and TPs. If you don't, you don't get the status. Seems both simple and logical to me.

In any event, I don't even know what you're bothered - you say above that you're not interested in the benefits anyway.

The cost of bronze can be a lot lower than that, but that is neither here nor there. FF programmes and status benefits do what it says on the tin: the airline get more of your custom, you get the status related benefits. To retain them, you continue to fly with them. The idea that just because in one year you have given a modest amount of spent to the airline the benefits become lifelong is, frankly, laughable.If you don't like the BAEC benefits, then don't bother with status. Easy, no??

There is no pleasing some people.