why I closed my account with BA and reopened and got over 2 years Silver for <520GBP
Jan 14, 2018, 4:12 am
#1
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Silver, Aegan Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 393
why I closed my account with BA and reopened and got over 2 years Silver for <520GBP
I had less than 2000 lifetime tier points. On September 2017 I soft landed to bronze ( Idid gold Run in January 2015 NCL-...HNL for 900GBP)
It was time to renew status to at least silver but option to doing it again next year was not for me
so I decided to do little trick I closed account with BA.
I'm also Latam Platinum(BA Gold) till end of March 2018 thanks for Latam status match (still working but You must have 1 Latam flight in past 12 months, check MAD-FRA route
My plan was to book 3 TLL runs via Oslo using also AMEX offer on free cards in my family (50 GBP off min 200 spent).
I search a lot how to maximise time and found out that You can credit past BA flights six months back but if you wasn't member of Executive Club you can only get 3 month back....
so I had runs to spread during the time and wasn't forced to do it quick ( I had one-world status with Latam)
I book runs for
14/15 October 2017
11/12 November 2017
13/14 January 2017
every run cost me around 220GBP (minus 50GBP amex offer) because I live close to LHR I don't have spend more than London bus ticket to get to Airport
I signed again to Executive Club on 10 January (Tier point collection year ends then on 8 Feb 2019)
I claim back 2 runs to get 400 Tier points
tomorrow I will hit Silver and will have it till 31 March 2020
I think it was one of cheapest way to get silver and still I have opportunity to hit Gold I'm just now 900 Tier short
ps.
I couldn't take more TLL runs to hit Gold because of lack of availability, and little regret what .....
It was time to renew status to at least silver but option to doing it again next year was not for me
so I decided to do little trick I closed account with BA.
I'm also Latam Platinum(BA Gold) till end of March 2018 thanks for Latam status match (still working but You must have 1 Latam flight in past 12 months, check MAD-FRA route
My plan was to book 3 TLL runs via Oslo using also AMEX offer on free cards in my family (50 GBP off min 200 spent).
I search a lot how to maximise time and found out that You can credit past BA flights six months back but if you wasn't member of Executive Club you can only get 3 month back....
so I had runs to spread during the time and wasn't forced to do it quick ( I had one-world status with Latam)
I book runs for
14/15 October 2017
11/12 November 2017
13/14 January 2017
every run cost me around 220GBP (minus 50GBP amex offer) because I live close to LHR I don't have spend more than London bus ticket to get to Airport
I signed again to Executive Club on 10 January (Tier point collection year ends then on 8 Feb 2019)
I claim back 2 runs to get 400 Tier points
tomorrow I will hit Silver and will have it till 31 March 2020
I think it was one of cheapest way to get silver and still I have opportunity to hit Gold I'm just now 900 Tier short
ps.
I couldn't take more TLL runs to hit Gold because of lack of availability, and little regret what .....
Jan 14, 2018, 4:30 am
#4
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL/GFl, HH Diamond, BW Diamond, Virgin Voyages Deep Blue Extra, Blue Peter Badge Holder
Posts: 3,937
Wouldn’t BA be in their rights to terminate your account if they became aware of this with loss of all TPs and Avios so I wouldn’t advertise the fact.
Jan 14, 2018, 4:42 am
#5
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Silver, Aegan Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 393
everybody can close account and reopen later
only lost TP , I trasfered Avios to Iberia/avios.com
Jan 14, 2018, 4:56 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL/GFl, HH Diamond, BW Diamond, Virgin Voyages Deep Blue Extra, Blue Peter Badge Holder
Posts: 3,937
I closed account with BA, had to send email to do it 2 times first they responded that membership is free and don't have to close but I didn't want to breach Terms for having 2 accounts at the same time
everybody can close account and reopen later
only lost TP , I trasfered Avios to Iberia/avios.com
everybody can close account and reopen later
only lost TP , I trasfered Avios to Iberia/avios.com
3.5. Applicants accepted as Members will be given a Membership Number and may be provided with a Card. A Member may not have multiple Memberships. Each Member must maintain only one account. If a Member violates this rule, all Memberships (other than the first Membership approved by British Airways) will be cancelled, as will any Avios points contained in the cancelled accounts.
iI agree it is a bit of a grey area, but I could easily understand if BA would see this as you circumventing the rules in order to gain additional benefits, so personally I wouldn’t do it and certainly advertise the fact that I’d done it
of course yes you can close your BAEC account at any time and reopen it again, whether your allowed to set up a completely new one I’m not sure about.
Jan 14, 2018, 5:04 am
#7
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Silver, Aegan Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 393
Dear xxx
Thank you for contacting us about your Executive Club membership.
I am sorry you still wish to close your account but understand the reason for your request.
I have now terminated your account. However, as our mailings are selected up to six weeks before we send them, I'm afraid you may receive some for a short time. If this does happen, please accept my apologies.
If you do change your mind, you can always rejoin the Executive Club anytime online at ba.com.
Thank you again for letting us know and I wish you well for the future.
I hope you find this helpful
Thank you for contacting us about your Executive Club membership.
I am sorry you still wish to close your account but understand the reason for your request.
I have now terminated your account. However, as our mailings are selected up to six weeks before we send them, I'm afraid you may receive some for a short time. If this does happen, please accept my apologies.
If you do change your mind, you can always rejoin the Executive Club anytime online at ba.com.
Thank you again for letting us know and I wish you well for the future.
I hope you find this helpful
Jan 14, 2018, 5:15 am
#8
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: HKG
Programs: BA(GGL) QF LTS CX AM, Hilton Diamond, PPL(A)
Posts: 1,654
Dont think there is a rule to close an account and open a new account again
cant see how it is prohibited by the terms as the OP only has 1 account at any 1 time.
cant see how it is prohibited by the terms as the OP only has 1 account at any 1 time.
Last edited by ermen; Jan 14, 2018 at 6:28 am
Jan 14, 2018, 5:24 am
#9
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Ipswich
Posts: 7,543
i didn't know you could reopen a closed account - I thought that was a definite no-no. Do you have any more info on this? It could be of interest to a friend.
Jan 14, 2018, 7:12 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
The closure letter/email from BAEC says nothing about reopening a closed account, only joining again. I'm not sure what navylad is trying to get at.
I did it, and so have a number of my acquaintances, no problems.
Jan 14, 2018, 7:51 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,047
I don't see what the OP has gained apart from a few extra months as Silver, in exchange for earning no tier bonus for those TLL flights.
Instead of wasting weekends TP running to TLL, he could have timed the LATAM status match better in order to have Oneworld Emerald until August 2018. (instead of overlapping with the existing BA Silver) Then you pick the best ex-EU QR or RJ J offer and book it for August / September 2018, when you're into your new TP year under the existing account. Probably a bit more £££ depending on what fare sales come along, but surely more interesting than sitting on a plane during multiple winter weekends.
Silver until September 2020...
P.S. Gold isn't worth £900 and Silver isn't worth £520 unless you actually fly enough to reap the benefits. TP running for Gold and TP running for Silver after several soft landings don't immediately sound like frequent flyer territory to me.
Instead of wasting weekends TP running to TLL, he could have timed the LATAM status match better in order to have Oneworld Emerald until August 2018. (instead of overlapping with the existing BA Silver) Then you pick the best ex-EU QR or RJ J offer and book it for August / September 2018, when you're into your new TP year under the existing account. Probably a bit more £££ depending on what fare sales come along, but surely more interesting than sitting on a plane during multiple winter weekends.
Silver until September 2020...
P.S. Gold isn't worth £900 and Silver isn't worth £520 unless you actually fly enough to reap the benefits. TP running for Gold and TP running for Silver after several soft landings don't immediately sound like frequent flyer territory to me.
Jul 1, 2018, 5:46 pm
#13
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Programs: BA Gold, KL Gold, LH FTL, IHG Plat Amb, HH Diamond, Accor Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 118
I closed account with BA, had to send email to do it 2 times first they responded that membership is free and don't have to close but I didn't want to breach Terms for having 2 accounts at the same time
everybody can close account and reopen later
only lost TP , I trasfered Avios to Iberia/avios.com
everybody can close account and reopen later
only lost TP , I trasfered Avios to Iberia/avios.com
Also how much time did it take from first contact to actually terminating the membership?
Jul 2, 2018, 12:15 am
#14
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: 30,531
It is with threads like this one that I feel/know that I'm an alien in these parts, but to me the notion of spending £600 on three trips that I do not need/want to take to get status feels wholly surreal and I can never imagine myself doing it. Not judging, not criticising, not disapproving, just saying that this is a concept I can't relate to personally. Glad for the op if he is satisfied with the outcome though.