Lifetime Silver - Will BA ever introduce it?
Feb 7, 2019, 11:27 pm
#33
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Kazakhstan
Programs: BA Gold, AirAstana Silver (much use as chocolate teapot)
Posts: 867
I'm sure I've probably spent that much in a year just to get gold never mind GFL!!
Feb 8, 2019, 12:20 am
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,499
The thing is: GfL (And other similar programmes on other airlines) are not actually intended to reward anything (despite the official framing). They are about incentivising people in earlier parts of their flying lives to fly more with you.
In that sense I very much doubt SfL at 25k would make sense because anyone early on who can conceive reaching 25k at some distant point in the future can also conceive reaching 35k and so from the airline’s point of view it makes more sense to push them there. In a way, by the time anyone consider 25k is within grasp but 35k would be inachievable, they are no longer a major target for ba.
I also suspect that for the airline, paying for the benefits of silver or gold is only a minor difference as lounge costs will be quite similar in most stations, and even for passengers, the two levels are not hugely different with both giving network wide lounge access priority seating access, fast track and some luggage bonus.
In that sense I very much doubt SfL at 25k would make sense because anyone early on who can conceive reaching 25k at some distant point in the future can also conceive reaching 35k and so from the airline’s point of view it makes more sense to push them there. In a way, by the time anyone consider 25k is within grasp but 35k would be inachievable, they are no longer a major target for ba.
I also suspect that for the airline, paying for the benefits of silver or gold is only a minor difference as lounge costs will be quite similar in most stations, and even for passengers, the two levels are not hugely different with both giving network wide lounge access priority seating access, fast track and some luggage bonus.
Feb 8, 2019, 12:39 am
#35
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,806
The thing is: GfL (And other similar programmes on other airlines) are not actually intended to reward anything (despite the official framing). They are about incentivising people in earlier parts of their flying lives to fly more with you.
In that sense I very much doubt SfL at 25k would make sense because anyone early on who can conceive reaching 25k at some distant point in the future can also conceive reaching 35k and so from the airline’s point of view it makes more sense to push them there. In a way, by the time anyone consider 25k is within grasp but 35k would be inachievable, they are no longer a major target for ba.
I also suspect that for the airline, paying for the benefits of silver or gold is only a minor difference as lounge costs will be quite similar in most stations, and even for passengers, the two levels are not hugely different with both giving network wide lounge access priority seating access, fast track and some luggage bonus.
In that sense I very much doubt SfL at 25k would make sense because anyone early on who can conceive reaching 25k at some distant point in the future can also conceive reaching 35k and so from the airline’s point of view it makes more sense to push them there. In a way, by the time anyone consider 25k is within grasp but 35k would be inachievable, they are no longer a major target for ba.
I also suspect that for the airline, paying for the benefits of silver or gold is only a minor difference as lounge costs will be quite similar in most stations, and even for passengers, the two levels are not hugely different with both giving network wide lounge access priority seating access, fast track and some luggage bonus.
Feb 8, 2019, 1:12 am
#36
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Krakow
Programs: BAEC Silver, Miles and More(FTL), IHG(Platinum), Accor, HHonors(Diamond), SPG, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 5,877
if it gets introduced I do not see why it would need to be lifetime points based
There would be nothing to stop BA saying something like :
anyone who has been Bronze or higher for 20 years gets lifetime bronze
anyone who has been silver or higher for 15 years gets lifetime sliver...
There would be nothing to stop BA saying something like :
anyone who has been Bronze or higher for 20 years gets lifetime bronze
anyone who has been silver or higher for 15 years gets lifetime sliver...
Feb 8, 2019, 1:49 am
#37
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: AA EXP/LTP, BA GGL/CCR/GfL, HH D/LTD, SPG/MR Plat/LTP
Posts: 10,075
if it gets introduced I do not see why it would need to be lifetime points based
There would be nothing to stop BA saying something like :
anyone who has been Bronze or higher for 20 years gets lifetime bronze
anyone who has been silver or higher for 15 years gets lifetime sliver...
There would be nothing to stop BA saying something like :
anyone who has been Bronze or higher for 20 years gets lifetime bronze
anyone who has been silver or higher for 15 years gets lifetime sliver...
Feb 8, 2019, 2:50 am
#38
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,499
Also note that 20 years of bare goldness would not get you GfL (20*1500=30,000) so same question about making things - in a way - potentially more gentle for silver to silver for life than gold to gold for life.
Feb 8, 2019, 3:01 am
#39
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Krakow
Programs: BAEC Silver, Miles and More(FTL), IHG(Platinum), Accor, HHonors(Diamond), SPG, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 5,877
Maybe I’m missing something obvious but why would you require more years of constant bronze to be bronze than years of constant silver to be silver?
Also note that 20 years of bare goldness would not get you GfL (20*1500=30,000) so same question about making things - in a way - potentially more gentle for silver to silver for life than gold to gold for life.
The actual figures are just examples so someone so 20 years of bear goldness would not get you to GFL by the time you got to SFL, so what. You get the reward for SFL, keep flying and eventually get to GFL.
But anyway, my thinking in terms of bronze taking more years than silver was to reward more frequent flyers earlier. You could say I shou use the same logig with GFL. Ok so
GFL - 23.x years of at least Gold, SFL at 25 years of at least silver and BFL at 30 years at least bronze
Does that look better for you?
Feb 8, 2019, 3:12 am
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,499
It was an general idea, I don't know why people get so hung up on the detail behind the idea.
The actual figures are just examples so someone so 20 years of bear goldness would not get you to GFL by the time you got to SFL, so what. You get the reward for SFL, keep flying and eventually get to GFL.
But anyway, my thinking in terms of bronze taking more years than silver was to reward more frequent flyers earlier. You could say I shou use the same logig with GFL. Ok so
GFL - 23.x years of at least Gold, SFL at 25 years of at least silver and BFL at 30 years at least bronze
Does that look better for you?
The actual figures are just examples so someone so 20 years of bear goldness would not get you to GFL by the time you got to SFL, so what. You get the reward for SFL, keep flying and eventually get to GFL.
But anyway, my thinking in terms of bronze taking more years than silver was to reward more frequent flyers earlier. You could say I shou use the same logig with GFL. Ok so
GFL - 23.x years of at least Gold, SFL at 25 years of at least silver and BFL at 30 years at least bronze
Does that look better for you?
In in terms of the proposed solution, I’m still not convinced for the reason I mentioned earlier (ie for life programmes are not about rewarding people who do a certain thing but about incentivising people at earlier stages to fly you more than they would otherwise, and it doesn’t really achieve that) but to the extent that your logic would probably mean getting GGLfL after 15 years or so, that would certainly be in my interest!
More seriously, to be honest I’m not aware of any airline with two different for life schemes with different bases of calculation (though many may of course exist). I think what would make a lot more sense to me with your numbers of years logic might be to say something like every time you achieve 10 years of consecutive silver you get bonus avios or a guf1 (then click restarts at 0) and every time you achieve 10 cobsevutive years of gold more bonus avios or a guf2 (and then you give something bigger and better to 10 consecutive years of GGL). Again restart that bonus clock at 0 afterwards or make it every additional 5 years. As incentivisation i think it would likely work better.
Last edited by orbitmic; Feb 8, 2019 at 3:19 am
Feb 8, 2019, 3:29 am
#41
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: Mucci, BAEC Silver, IHG Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,037
I think it would - just at a lower threshold then those targeted by GFL. It may well encourage many leisure travelers to fly BA instead of U2 or other carriers. It could also encourage them to buy more into premium travel. CE instead of ET for example in order to build their TP quicker. The point being for lower frequency travelers GFL can and I imagine does feel like a irrelevance, where as a lower target level for a SFL could be seen as possible by altering their current travel habits (and probably pay a bit more then they otherwise would).
Feb 8, 2019, 3:47 am
#42
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Krakow
Programs: BAEC Silver, Miles and More(FTL), IHG(Platinum), Accor, HHonors(Diamond), SPG, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 5,877
<snip> … I think what would make a lot more sense to me with your numbers of years logic might be to say something like every time you achieve 10 years of consecutive silver you get bonus avios or a guf1 (then click restarts at 0) and every time you achieve 10 cobsevutive years of gold more bonus avios or a guf2 (and then you give something bigger and better to 10 consecutive years of GGL). Again restart that bonus clock at 0 afterwards or make it every additional 5 years. As incentivisation i think it would likely work better.
I think there are many creative ways that BA (and other airlines) could use their FF program to incentivise people to fly more. For example something like the IHG accelerate program, meet these challenges over the next 6 months get X extra avios….
Feb 8, 2019, 3:50 am
#43
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Krakow
Programs: BAEC Silver, Miles and More(FTL), IHG(Platinum), Accor, HHonors(Diamond), SPG, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 5,877
I think it would - just at a lower threshold then those targeted by GFL. It may well encourage many leisure travelers to fly BA instead of U2 or other carriers. It could also encourage them to buy more into premium travel. CE instead of ET for example in order to build their TP quicker. The point being for lower frequency travelers GFL can and I imagine does feel like a irrelevance, where as a lower target level for a SFL could be seen as possible by altering their current travel habits (and probably pay a bit more then they otherwise would).
Feb 8, 2019, 5:09 am
#44
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Thames Valley
Programs: BAEC, LHM&M, and even a dusty KLFB!
Posts: 893
I thought I would resurrect this in case anyone (relevant) at BA is following the Board. I have just hit 25k LT points and think this would be a perfect level for LTS 
I think earlier posters maybe miss the main point. It would be to reward people like me who have been loyal BA flyers for many decades, with a relatively even spread of travel - in my case dating back long before TPs had even been introduced. One of my gripes is that I get no recognition for all the Concorde and TATL F trips I did before TPs were even a glimmer in Mr Hillier's eye - or maybe even before Mr Hillier was born
I have made Gold for many, years but even then I am not really that close to LTG. My problem is that retirement looms, and with it the end of the longhaul premium business flights. All I want is some little reward - by way of easy check-in and lounge access - to ease my wearied way through the airport on my ET holiday flights. Its not that much to ask after a lifetime's loyal flying !
So if anyone relevant is reading this, please do give it a thought ....
I think earlier posters maybe miss the main point. It would be to reward people like me who have been loyal BA flyers for many decades, with a relatively even spread of travel - in my case dating back long before TPs had even been introduced. One of my gripes is that I get no recognition for all the Concorde and TATL F trips I did before TPs were even a glimmer in Mr Hillier's eye - or maybe even before Mr Hillier was born
I have made Gold for many, years but even then I am not really that close to LTG. My problem is that retirement looms, and with it the end of the longhaul premium business flights. All I want is some little reward - by way of easy check-in and lounge access - to ease my wearied way through the airport on my ET holiday flights. Its not that much to ask after a lifetime's loyal flying !
So if anyone relevant is reading this, please do give it a thought ....
Feb 8, 2019, 6:07 am
#45
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 68
In in terms of the proposed solution, I’m still not convinced for the reason I mentioned earlier (ie for life programmes are not about rewarding people who do a certain thing but about incentivising people at earlier stages to fly you more than they would otherwise, and it doesn’t really achieve that) but to the extent that your logic would probably mean getting GGLfL after 15 years or so, that would certainly be in my interest!
More seriously, to be honest I’m not aware of any airline with two different for life schemes with different bases of calculation (though many may of course exist). I think what would make a lot more sense to me with your numbers of years logic might be to say something like every time you achieve 10 years of consecutive silver you get bonus avios or a guf1 (then click restarts at 0) and every time you achieve 10 cobsevutive years of gold more bonus avios or a guf2 (and then you give something bigger and better to 10 consecutive years of GGL). Again restart that bonus clock at 0 afterwards or make it every additional 5 years. As incentivisation i think it would likely work better.
More seriously, to be honest I’m not aware of any airline with two different for life schemes with different bases of calculation (though many may of course exist). I think what would make a lot more sense to me with your numbers of years logic might be to say something like every time you achieve 10 years of consecutive silver you get bonus avios or a guf1 (then click restarts at 0) and every time you achieve 10 cobsevutive years of gold more bonus avios or a guf2 (and then you give something bigger and better to 10 consecutive years of GGL). Again restart that bonus clock at 0 afterwards or make it every additional 5 years. As incentivisation i think it would likely work better.
As someone in my early 20s, I stumbled into the FFP world a year or so ago myself and really do think that BAEC is one of the things that BA do very well already in comparison to some of the others that are available. The perks of silver/gold as far as check in/security/lounges/fast track etc all make the experience of flying a bit more comfortable whilst you''re on the ground but I would 100% be more incentivised by suggestions such as yours that would upgrade the experience in air.
That being said, I'd rather BA didn't go tinkling with their various tiers and rewards on offer, given I can only see that going one way..
