coveyducks

I have been a member of the Exec Club for many years but have never managed to get anywhere because, like many people, I fly a couple of times a year on holidays.
My wife & I normally go business class so spend quite a lot of money on our flights.
I have a friend who travels a lot on business, always economy, and paid for by his employer but he gets the points and therefore frequently gets an upgrade when he goes on holiday with an economy ticket brought with points.
Now I think good luck to him but I really do think that BA are missing a trick in ignoring the class of passenger who puts his hand in his own pocket to purchase a premium ticket without giving them any reward.

I have just had a timely reminder from James Hillier that I am again being downgraded from Bronze (which really gives me nothing) back to Blue.

My wife & I are currently planning our next holiday and will be booking via one of the Gulf airlines where we can book our seats on booking and get fantastic lounges and much better inflight experiences.

So, thank Mr Hillier for his letter but tell him that it was a waste of time because we will not be using our cards any more.

I write this with great sadness because I would love to be proud of our national airline and support it but there comes a time when you have to accept the truth which is that BA just don't want customers like us!

Mwenenzi

This may sound harsh, but frequent flyers programs are designed for frequent flyers. Its not worth airlines doing much for people that fly 2 or 3 times, even if premium cabins. But more ffp's are tending to be frequent spender programs

jlsw7

What benefits would you like from your membership? If you are paying to fly in business class, you are anyway getting most of the benefits of elite status. Elite status is, generally, of the most benefit to people travelling in economy or economy plus as their tickets do not give them lounge access and other minor perks that you get at the airport with a business class ticket.

If you are looking to earn enough avios to get cheap flights, then it can take a while with a couple of flights per year. You can boost your collection rate by getting the BA credit card and converting Tesco Clubcard points to avios.

Booking with a gulf carrier may be the best way for you. Don't forget that if you go with Qatar, you can earn avios with them too. You should also have a great experience.

corporate-wage-slave

I think it is true to say that BA do focus very heavily on customers that they extract repeat bookings. I don't think they much matter if it is your own money or your employers' funding, from BA's point of view it's just money! It's also true that BA won't work for everyone, it can't do that, and that you may find a Gulf carrier works best for your travel programme. Horses for courses.

I am not sure that Bronze is useless, being able to select seats 1 week before travel isn't bad, I don't always get to choose my seats (if I remember!) that far out since my travel - like that of many business travellers - is often booked less than 1 week ahead. Also with a bit of research on this site you will probably find getting Silver surprisingly easy to achieve.

Furthermore, if your travel plans change, particularly if they become more Europe or North American centred, or you get fed up with another airline, BA will still be there for you. I wish you well, bon voyage!

LOUDNOISES

I'm intrigued as to what sort of reward you think you deserve? That's a serious question btw, I'm not trying to be obtuse.

At the end of the day BAEC is a frequent flyer reward program and by your own admission you are an infrequent flyer. I don't deny for one moment that the Gulf airlines probably provide a 'better' flying experience for leisure travelers.

The 'don't want customers like us' line is a bit dramatic. As a member of BAEC you are afforded the same benefits as any other member of your level. Can't really see what 'tricks' BA are missing out on tbh.

coveyducks

Ah yes I should not forget that Bronze let me book my seats a week before the flight, Oh and that would be after the Silver & Gold cards had taken the best seats.

I prefer the first come first served method.

I am about to book flights to Sri Lanka in Feb.

With all the Gulf airlines I can book my seat on booking at no cost!

coveyducks

It's way above my pay grade to decide what it should be, I am just making a comment on how I feel

My biggest bug bear is that you can't book your seat when you book and pay for your flight well in advance.

Surely it's not beyond the wit of man to sort that one out!

nux

You need to separate "Frequent Flyer Program" with "Airline of choice". They don't need to be the same.

If you don't fly enough to earn status with BAEC then you are unlikely to earn status in any other frequent flyer program. You should perhaps also separate status with mileage earn/burn.

It may make sense for you to continue to earn avios through credit card spend and any oneworld flights to spend on shorthaul BA/oneworld flights, BA upgrades, etc, and for longhaul look for the best option available.

This has been discussed umpteen times. If you have status it is a great benefit as it means that even booking close to departure there are usually still good seats available. If you don't have status you have the choice to pay or not.

You just need to factor in the cost of paying for seat selection if you want so desire. If the seat selection cost is £100 and BA is more than £100 cheaper than other airlines, would you not choose BA? And if you did choose BA, would you then pay the £100 or save it and wait for OLCI to select from the remaining seats for free?

coveyducks

Oh, so while I am on my soap box, am I to understand that BAEC is only for Frequent Flyers and that I should not bother signing up in the first place because, as a leisure flyer, I am treated as a second class citizen by BA.

Well that's actually what it feels like to me!

EDI_Martin

Frequent flyers always get the best from the programme's, that's what they are designed for. I too only fly for leisure and fly 2 or 3 long hauls a year with connections along with 2 or 3 domestic to London, I wouldn't ever consider myself a frequent flyer. I don't buy into this not being able to pick your seast, you can pick your seat way in advance if you pay for it and if you are travelling for leisure im sure you are going as cheap as you can seen as it's out your own pocket so it is likely to be a fair comment that BA always tick most of the following

1 - Cheapest
2 - Good flight times
3 - To location of your choice
4 - From the airport of your choice

If you choose to fly with another carrier that fits your needs better then you should do, especially if you pay out your own pocket.

jlsw7

Lots of people feel strongly about that. But it is an issue with BA, not BAEC. If particular seats are important to you (and they are to me), then you need to add the seat reservation fee to the cost of the ticket and see whether, overall, you still want that BA flight. If the gulf carriers are cheaper and otherwise better, it's a no brainer. But look at Qatar first because you can still earn avios with them.

Aadvantage may be better for you than BAEC if you want cheaper redemptions. You can earn Aadvantage miles with Qatar and Etihad.

irishguy28

Oh dear! You board a plane and the plane doesn't go anywhere?

When you buy a premium ticket, you get a greater number of Avios and Tier Points - plus the additional aspects (lounge access/greater flexibility/increased luggage allowance etc) AND you get a better product!

BA "rewards" all passengers equally on the basis of the class flown.

The irony is that, living in the UK (as I assume you do), you can literally earn Avios every day in ways that are not possible for most other people. Which you either do not know about, or just don't wish to do.

shorthauldad

From http://www.britishairways.com/travel...w/public/en_gb

kered

"Mrs Kered" & I are just like the OP, leisure travelers, paid from our pocket, traveling once, twice, sometimes three times a year, pretty much always booked in CW, with the odd foray into the depths of WTP

We've been members of the BAEC for a good number of years now & have steadily been building up a healthy stock of Avios. We can only earn Avios from flying, as being based in Ireland, we don't have access to a BA CC, nor can we convert Tesco points. Only recently, due to BA reinstating the DUB-LHR, have we been able to earn TP's on our feeder flights to & from LHR. But nonetheless over the years, we've been able to reach Silver a number of times & on a number of occasions, this year being one, able to retain Silver.

But more importantly, over the years, we've been able to use our Avios, to book a F redemption to MIA & back, along with a number of WTP to CW upgrades using Avios, all of which makes our membership of BAEC very worthwhile indeed.

Granted, it took a number of years of flying to build enough of a stock of Avios to allow us to start reaping the benefits, but once we got ourselves a healthy Avios balance, with careful management, we've been able to spend them as we wish.

Likewise with status, if you are to be flexible enough with your travel dates & are clever with your membership year, you can, with only a handful of trips achieve Silver & in some cases retain it. This gets you over the annoyance & extra cost of assigning seats when booking.

So I wouldn't quite give up on BAEC just yet, take a look at your travel patterns & see if you can juggle things around to suit.

nux

BAEC, just as most other airline programs, has status levels reached through a measure of flying activity.
BAEC, just as most other airline programs, has a mileage currency earnt through both flying and non flying activity.

You can be a BAEC member and never fly BA, earn avios through spend and travel on BA partner airlines, and spend avios on BA partner airline awards.
Likewise, you can always fly BA and credit to another airline program.

It seems like you are focusing on the status element of BAEC and what that means for travel on BA, but from your travel patterns it is unlikely you would earn status with any other airline program.