Sixth Freedom

If you did this then premium passengers with long connections may avoid BA, resulting in spoilage.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but if it were to happen then I would mutter and splutter and say that the country is going to the dogs.

T8191

I wish you all happiness with the potential benefits.

However, as I noted up-thread, would lifetime Gold actually make you loyal to BA? Or would it afford the opportunity to choose other (better?) carriers without having to consider the loss of BA's TPs to retain status?

Not, I assure you, having a dig at Golds - just wondering [as are others] whether lifetime status actually benefits the airline.

HIDDY

Knowing how tight fisted some status members on here are they'll likely enjoy all the benefits of being Gold while flying on discounted Y tickets especially when in their dotage.

LTN Phobia

I did indeed jump ship immediately upon attaining QF Lifetime Gold (I had already renewed Qantas Platinum for the year at the time). Loyalty lasted, post-LTG, a big fat 0 hour, let alone one day.

But I have to confess that around 50%, possibly quite a bit more, of the QF status credits that counted towards my QF LTG status came from flying BA anyway, so it was a simple matter of changing the programme to which I credited within OW.

I also have maintained Star Alliance Gold in the last 3 or 4 years while I was crediting my OW flights to QF, so that didn't help loyalty either. Neither is it helping me to stay loyal now - in my first year as BA Gold, I flew Star Alliance enough to get a SEN... because they were quite a bit cheaper than BA at times!

But I am probably a bad example. If someone was keen on an airline status but did not fly enough to keep both OWE/Star Gold for instance, then that person may be more inclined to be loyal.

I don't need to stay loyal to one programme for status, and to be honest, I fly BA because I like flying BA and BA is very convenient for me, not because I am BA GGL, and neither did I fly BA/OW to get the GGL.

skimple

Isn't that the intent of these "lifetime" levels? The airlines want to lock in your business travel revenue now by promising to treat you better in the future.

FenLandK

My lifetime miles/Avios IS shown on my home page.



But only because I have never spent any!

thegoderic

I first earned BA silver status about 20 years ago, and my memory is very hazy, but I can't remember if they had tier points back then.

Does anyone know when they were introduced? If BA don't have the historical records of flights going back to the onset of BAEC, I'm not sure how they can calculate lifetime TPs.

T8191

My thanks for that input, LTN, and my apologies for putting you on the spot.

You do fly a lot, of course, unlike little old me - or indeed many people here. It's interesting to see you choose BA, given your globe-trotting trail of disruption. Should we encourage you to fly with someone else, once the BA LTG kicks in for you?

KenJohn

Thanks to the BA97 calendar, I can track that I will be Gold for only six years from the middle of Feb - and only because I had the sense to put in a remark for this. My excuse is that I only found out about FlyerTalk a couple of years earlier. This forum is a bad influence.

Fruitcake

Sure is... I used to have some money once (not much); but I love it!

IMH

In some cases it could have both effects. As things stand, many of us who only just achieve a particular status level have an incentive to put all our eggs (miles) into one basket (FFP): as soon as a LH itinerary for a particular long haul trip is better (cheaper, more convenient, or both) than the equivalent BA itinerary, for example, I consider whether I will be better off switching more of my travel over and going for *A status. The prospect of lifetime status with BA would give me an additional reason to stick with BA.

A further positive effect of counting total TPs -- which to my mind is the best method for both the airline and its regular passengers -- would be giving us an additional reason to accumulate those incremental TPs that don't bring any immediate benefit. I earned 1,000 TPs last year (over 900 of them on BA) and it's hard not to see the 'surplus' 400 TPs as somehow wasted. Of course I know that it still made sense to continue flying BA: I enjoyed lounge access, additional Avios and a TATL op-up. But it would be easier to swallow the price (losing my final scrap of *A status next month) if I felt those extra TPs were earning me something of value.

PUCCI GALORE

I do not forgive you - I quite agree with you. This is like believing that there is a Valley of the Blue Moon, that my HMV and Jessop gift vouchers will be redeemed elsewhere, or that you can trust men with contraception. Someone else wrote that BMI gave out life status and where are they now. I now understand part of the sourness that one reads in some the posts - personally I thought that we were lucky to transfer all the miles on a one-to-one basis but that's just me.

One thing that I have learnt in my life is that in nothing is for ever, and anyone who swallows this is falling for a long term con. We could all wake up one morning and find that BA is now part of something else and the precious Avios had Vasiod out of the window.

I recall the Delta once had what they called Flying Colonels (HI was one) and it means zilch now. I assume that someone brought this bright idea with them from BMI for all the good that it did there long term.

T8191

Hypothetically, obviously, as I will never achieve such status … but give me LTG on BA. Thank you, much appreciated. ^
No more TP runs, or agonising about renewal. This would, of course, apply with LTS although that's not under discussion and similarly unachievable

I can then, in theory, start looking at other airlines:

• More convenient timings
• Better/cheaper offers
• Variety of experiences
• Better services/facilities
• Peripheral benefits, including their FFP
• Other routes/destinations

If it was an assured BA Status, why wouldn't I start exploring the other side?

Fruitcake

Because you would have the benefits that status brings with BA, not the other side. Therefore, travelling with BA may be more pleasant.

If this kind of deal was available to very frequent flyers who have just retired / reduced their travel, in particular, it might be effective from BA's viewpoint, perhaps?

T8191

Oh, yes, Fruitcake, undoubtedly nice for the old/retired/readjusting. But then are they, like me, big spenders?

The endlessly travelling Exec, however lowly, could hit LTG by ... 25/40? After which that individual would be free to pick and choose other carriers/programmes. Indeed, I've seen some posters here who are Gold/Plat/Uranium/Kryptonite with several carriers. Are they going to stick with BA because they have the LTG ticket? I suggest they'll just travel with whoever suits route/schedule rather that say "Oh, gosh, I am loyal to BA."