edi-traveller

After 25 years of Silver I didn't have enough point to requalify this year.

I was therefore shocked when my new Silver card arrived. I was very very grateful to BA for that little bit of leeway.

Now I know why! There isn't a cat in hells chance of requalifying on my current travel patterns ever again. And having blown my Amex vouchers and Avios on some sexy F redemptions this year I think it'll be a long time before I have enough Avios again to use my other voucher before they expire......

Still I'm grateful for the extra year of Silver! ^

MeltingAlf

Just slept on it.

If Swiss, SIA, other *A carriers can offer me to get to London via the Queen's Terminal or via LCY for cheaper, I think that's going to be my default option to London, since I can avoid T5. *A might not have the very best carriers (no CX, JL, MH), but they have a whole lot more of options.

I won't close my BAEC account however. But I'll use my OW spend (esp. on MH) to there not to get status, but to use the Avios to redeem cheap shorthaul tickets when I really need them for Chinese New Year. Or the off-chance of using it on BA Y+ during non-peak periods.

The_Bouncer

Like most people, I have got the hump about these changes.

There is no doubt that, for the vast majority of BA passengers, this is a massive devaluation.

I earn about 50% of my Avios via my Lloyds credit card, which I use for about 5 months of each year, and 50% through flying discount economy (cheapest possible) fares, both short-haul and long-haul.

I am based halfway between BHX and MAN during the winter, and halfway between MUC and ZRH in the summer. I drive between the UK and Germany twice a year, and fly for visits (both ways) in-between times. I also fly long-haul when a good deal pops up.

Predictably the things I have most got the hump about are:

1. Reduction in earning on lower fare classes.

I tend to book the lowest fares, but have in recent times shown a preference for BA due to the 100% mileage credit.

2. Removal of the free domestic connections on RFS awards.

MUC/ZRH-LHR-MAN used to be a good value redemption, but no more. Perhaps FDH-MAN on Monarch could be an alternative?

This will change my flying behaviour slightly, in that I used to show a preference for BA even when the fares were slightly higher, or when the times and routes were slightly less convenient, but I will no longer show this preference. If ZRH-BHX/MAN on LX is a similar price to ZRH-LHR-MAN (or even slightly higher), then I will go with LX. I will also look far more closely at things like ZRH-AMS/CDG-BHX/MAN on KL/AF.

The bottom line is that the benefits of the BAEC used to make it worth paying slightly more to fly BA, or accepting a slightly less convenient routing. That is no longer true.

jacobitetraveller

in my 18 months on FT this is the third thread which has what I would consider an unprecedented number of responses in such a short space of time

the first two were the gold cancellation and changes to award flights. and the GGL qualification changes

there was a lot of talk then of "that's me finished with BA " "goodbye BA " etc etc
did that actually happen or is it happening

we are now hearing the same thing again but this time more from bronze and silver and those who just scrape gold

I am not convinced there will be a mass exodus from BA in general but I can see domestics suffering

maybe the overall plan is to announce in the future that BA long haul CW and F is to become a truly luxury product

flatlander

This very clearly refocuses BA's loyalty programme entirely on people flying premium cabins in high fare classes. That is betting it all on one thing: continued economic success by companies and high-net-worth individuals who buy those tickets.
Loyalty of lower-margin customers has been abandoned, which may be unwise when companies can suffer economic downturns (by industry if not overall, look at oil companies right now) and having counter-cyclic VFR traffic and a mixed demand base would be more resilient.

Personally I always avoided BA's FF programme because it was so biased towards premium cabins - even though I spend most of my long haul time in them these days! I will continue to stick to AA, even if it may undergo bad changes soon. Now the bias is even stronger, I step further away from it.

What is a frequent flyer loyalty programme even for, we may ask?

Avios redemption costs are (almost uniformly) up, while earning rates are either down or not increasing pro-rata-redemption cost. BA have simultaneously devalued the currency for all and decreased the earning rate of many people; only top premium cabin flyers come out even.

If it was focused on loyalty of bums in seats (even only wide seats) instead of being traded as a fungible currency to other merchants (mainly credit card companies) to hand out like candy to sweeten the non-flying purchase, actual flyers would be better off. How wise is it for Avios to be a fungible commodity, instead of a way to tie a customer base to BA's product? I think BA is strategically unwise to use its FF programme currency as simply another fungible commodity, instead of a way to bind customers more tightly to BA.

Since they can't easily remove the deals with Tesco, credit cards, etc, the way to focus the FF programme back onto bums on BA seats would be to raise the Avios earning for all flying and for all redemption, devaluing Avios only when obtained by non-flying means.

Fungible commodities can easily be replaced. Watch out, BA, that credit card companies don't replace avios and remove your main FF programme revenue. You'll need them more than they need you, and then they'll take advantage of you.

Oh, and do sort out the premium product delivery before it goes completely round the bend and down the toilet. If I'm paying 6 grand for a short-notice TATL ticket I expect staff that give me decent service.

dylanks

The only thing worse than finally getting this email about 8 hours after this thread emerged: getting it 3 more times a few hours later for our children

I also had an email from BA asking me to fill out a survey. I had some fun responding to that after this announcement, especially with questions asking if I feel BA is loyal to me, if the BA offering feels customized to me, etc.

Yes, it could be worse, but I'll probably not accelerate my flying before April 8th to reach 5000 TP, and I might just scale back my travels in general instead of being willing to do more than my share of flying for work. Or maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and be happy that it's not as bad as United, Air Canada, or Lufthansa, and that they haven't yet cut tier points earned for flying partners.

Sisyphus1carus

Yep, its not going to be fun is it. Sitting up every night for two weeks trying to get those two coveted seats each night until you have to give up as your time frame for the holiday has passed :-(

airb330

This sounds like those with very high incomes in the US who scream for a "fairer" tax code where they just happen to pay the same percentage as someone earning minimum wage (ie a flat tax).

Let's face it, those who can afford to buy full-fare F all the time are quite wealthy by any US or UK standards and probably could care less if they earn 200% or 300% avios.

Dave Noble

They are also the ones that make the most margin for BA and logically deserve to be rewarded a lot more than people on cheap economy fares

For those that BA's scheme is no longer the best value for them , move to another scheme

Those that saying that will just take the best value flight should be happy that BA has assisted in helping make sensible choices

Once the shouting and stomping around and screaming dies down, I suspect that the number who will actually leave BA will be low and those will be the ones that BA is least concerned about

uk1

This can be read one of two ways. I presume that the extra availability arrives after 28th April. It is less than 6% increase in extra seats if my sums are right.

I am sure the next step will be to make it more "expensive" to acquire miles through other non-flying methods. I don't use Tesco, but I'm sure we'll see changes to those other acquisition methods.

As a person whose priority is to mostrly use miles for LH F redemptions for 3 returns a year - 2 using 241s - then whilst irritating I'm hoping that extra availability add to fewer people earning enough to redeem LH F, may give me a better chance to get flights and if I stick to off-peak it isn't that bad a change.

seattle29

Some of these changes are grotesquely unfair. Better solutions would be as follows:

1) Stop the abuse of people nesting domestic connections for free flights at a much later date, and have a new rule saying free UK domestic connections must be within 24 hours of the onward flight. Or even extend it further and say free domestic flights must connect to the first available onward flight.

2) Reduce mileage earning on LCY-JFK to 250% to still reflect it representing a product better than standard J.

3) Keep all partner redemptions as off-peak instead of increasing the number of Avios by such a huge amount. Possibly increase the taxes taken instead, but at least keep the number of Avios the same.

4) Have minimum 50% mileage earning on the cheapest economy tickets. After reducing to 25%, what's coming next? Some fare buckets earn zero miles?!

edi-traveller

I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies. Until 2003ish no economy fares other than full Y earned tier points or miles - though this might be a step back in that direction as the ultimate destination.

airb330

They already have been rewarded more with a large bonus anyways. Someone making millions a year does not care about a 200% vs a 300% bonus. They book based on schedule or comfort. This is BA's way of saying WT customers aren't important. Maybe they aren't. If they can still fill WT then good for BA. Clearly BA thinks it can. I completely get what you're saying Dave, but in a way it does feel, as someone else said in this thread, 'rich get richer, poor get poorer.'

Dave Noble

That did depend on region though; for those based in UK only full economy and above was eligible for earning though those in Australia, for example, received full miles on all economy classes

Even when discount economy earning was introduced in UK, iirc, < H class was at 25% so this is still higher than then

Jordan D

Don't give them ideas.

Despite being a business traveller, I've schlepped up and down to ZRH in Y, due to company policy. We book into the lowest available booking class when booking - so whilst I'll still get the miles for the occasional jaunt to ORD or the rare trip to TYO, for me, despite having raced through from Blue to Gold this year (first time ever), I am acutely aware of the negative impact of these changes.