golfmad

Just to add, I can prove that my nominees had status and partner cards in June 2019 with individual expiration dates of November 2019. I am looking at my wife's account and specifically at a flight she took May 5th 2019. It is showing on her statement as earning Avios points with a Cabin Bonus and a Tier Bonus. If she wasn't Gold in May she would not have earned the Tier Bonus. Given that her membership collection year ends November 2019 - and based on your information above - it should not have been possible for me to have nominated her in June yet BA are saying that their current status is due to the partner cards I allocated to them in June 2019. It doesn't make sense to me.

GinFizz

This is indeed all very strange, even more so as my reading of your subsequent post is that you have you been gifting status to these three people every year for several years ("They have all had their partner cards and status year after year"). That in itself shouldn't be possible for the same reason (that you can only gift status once their level has dropped back to a lower level).

Did you allocate the partner cards by calling up the GGL line? Maybe you were unlucky to get someone with particularly expert knowledge of the IT system who was able to override the usual controls and just extend the expiry date of your giftees cards by one year? (just clutching at straws here I should add).

In any case this (below) is how it should work for you to optimize the allocations. Note that starting from the 3rd renewal it is only possible to gift the status to A,B,C every other year - as their status is still valid until after the start of the GGL's next BAEC year - so in those years you can gift the cards to another three people (though you will need to juggle the F&F list a bit to get past the maximum five people limit).

Assume:
(1) golfmad: BAEC year ends 08Jun;
(2) A,B,C: BAEC year ends 08Nov - all initially have no or lower than gifted status;
(3) goflmad flies around the world year after year leaving a trail of destruction in bars and lounges around the globe.

Timeline:
09Jun2018 golfmad renews GGL
10Jun2018 golfmad gifts A,B,C status (valid until 31Dec2019 = remainder of year + 1 year + ~2 months)
09Jun2019 golfmad renews GGL
(A,B,C status still valid until 31Dec2019)
.
.
01Jan2020 golfmad gifts A,B,C status (valid until 31Dec2021 = remainder of year + 1 year + ~2 months)
.
.
09Jun2020 golfmad renews GGL
(A,B,C status still valid until 31Dec2021)
.
.
09Jun2021 golfmad renews GGL
(A,B,C status still valid until 31Dec2021)
.
.
01Jan2022 golfmad gifts A,B,C status (valid until 31Dec2023 = remainder of year + 1 year + ~2 months)
.
.
09Jun2022 golfmad renews GGL
(A,B,C status still valid until 31Dec2023)
.
.
09Jun2023 golfmad renews GGL
(A,B,C status still valid until 31Dec2023)
.
.
01Jan2024 golfmad gifts A,B,C status (valid until 31Dec2025 = remainder of year + 1 year + ~2 months)

etc.

golfmad

Thanks for the detailed response GinFizz. Sadly it doesn't tally with my experience. All I have ever done to nominate people is wait until I receive the email from BA which is usually about a week after my membership year ends. It's the one that has this text:

"As part of your membership, you are able to share your benefits with family and friends using your Executive Club partner cards.You can nominate one person to receive Gold membership of the Executive Club and two people to receive Silver membership. Nominees can then enjoy the respective Tier benefits that come with being a Gold or Silver Executive Club Member, such as lounge access and 100% bonus Avios on flights. All you need to do is decide who you wish to share these benefits with, add them to either your family and friends list or household account (if they live with you), once added, you can then nominate them to receive an Executive Club partner card."

There's a link in there. When I click on that link now it shows that I nominated three people on 16th June 2019. These people definitely already held status at that date and I can prove that from their tier bonuses on their account statements from flights in the months prior to June 2019! From what you're saying and BA is saying, that should not have been possible. I am still confused.

golfmad

Just a short note to add that the GGL team have now offered to look into this further with me so I'll report back once I have more information.

GinFizz

Good to read that there is some progress here with the GGL team at least acknowledging that there is something to look into. Very much hope they can sort it out for you, as in effect you have lost the use of some partner cards over the last few years (every other year as in my example timetable above) as a result of applying the partner card gift to people already with status.

FlyingGames

As a heads up - the partner card nomination system seems to currently be broken online, you just need to give them a quick call and they'll process it for you.

Filthy Monkey

Minor governance point - there is no need to add fact as an assumption

Filthy Monkey

Adding to the above comments, you can definitely only nominate 'up' while an existing card is still active. e.g. you can nominate from Blue / Bronze to Silver and from Silver to Gold, but to renew existing status, e.g. re-assign Gold to somebody who is already Gold, you must wait until their current status drops, which will be around 7 weeks after their membership year ends. There is definitely something fishy going on with your account! Hopefully the GGL team can sort it out for you, Golfmad.

golfmad

Thanks. I've agreed with the GGL team over the weekend that we'll leave it for a few days as they seem to have their hands full at the moment!! I'll certainly report back though once we get to the bottom of it.

golfmad

Hey, I'll have you know I've been called a pillar of the community. Well, I'm sure it was a word starting with a 'p' anyway.

mmxbreaks

Is there not a restriction to joker use based on fare codes? For example I have a possible flight coming up in economy that books into S, with WTP only showing as W - which is the highest bracket. Would this still be eligible for joker use or not? I'll avoid booking if not...

Thanks!

Lefly

From Gold Guest List beginner's guide
So, I guess W is excluded, sorry.

mmxbreaks

Where it gets frustrating/complicated, however, is in how that fare code is defined.

For example: if I buy Sun-Sun there's T class. If I buy Sun-Thur it's all W, thus locking me out from an upgrade, despite it being the very same aircraft and route.

crazyanglaisy

Does anyone know if the "priority" GGL BA email address is still up and running? Every time I contact them through the webform they encourage me to use this email address for a more immediate response. The last two times I've tried to do just that this month, I've had no response at all.

skippythelizard

You may be overthinking this.

There may not be a commercial T class fare that you can presently buy for this combination of flights, because of minimum stay requirements (and maybe advance purchase restrictions). But, it sounds like T class is technically available, so you should be able to upgrade. You want to check a resource like ExpertFlyer (make sure to set point of sale to the UK) to check the individual flights. There is not a requirement that a commercial T class fare be available for the combination of flights.