CloudCoder

Sometimes "the top ten customers" is actually "we invited 30 customers and these are the first 10 who RSVP'ed".

Banana4321

May I add that there are far, far, far more inexpensive ways of dining at L'Escargot or the Waterside Inn than by acquiring thousands of TPs. And far better placing to spend it to.

Hamburg1971

Does anyone know how many TPs you have to earn to be in the top 10? Or maybe even top 3? (I tried google to find the answer myself but was unsuccessful.)
And since there are always some estimates floating around about the number of gold card holders, GGL, ...: Does anyone know how many people are GGL for life (less than 10? 10-100? more than 100? more than 1000?).

subject2load

Hamburg1971

No. Of course, not. I was using google for the site flyertalk.com to avoid asking a question that has been asked numerous times in the past.

subject2load

dylanks

Based on previous reports that there are about 5000 total GGL members and only 500 CCR holders, and assuming a theoretical annual maximum of say 50,000 tier points (I've not heard of anyone having more than 30,000), doing some back of the envelope match, I'd be very confident that more than 9,000 tier points would probably put you in the top 50 and 15,000 would put you in the top 10. That's somewhat conservative to get that level of confidence.

Assuming that while you lose 90% of your members between 3000 and 5000 tier points, it is a pretty long tail curve once you get past people pushing to reach 3000 or 5000 TP and on to those who really need to travel nearly every day for work. So it's probably a more gradual drop off between each successive increase of 2000 tier points. So say 200 members with 7000 or more tier points, and maybe 40 members with 9000 or more, 20 members with 11,000, 10 members with 13,000+, etc. as a probably realistic but less certain guess.

GGL for life, there are a handful or less on FT, my guess would be more than 10 and less than 100.

NeverFirst

I've never had time for dinner, to be honest.








(This post may contain elements of exaggeration)

subject2load

“Never had time for dinner”

But plenty of time to post on FT !!

jimlad48

I once worked with someone who said he and his boss got a letter confirming they were BA's highest traveller that year for TP accrual due to the very specific job they did, which involved an insane amount of long haul travel in J. The figure was huge, but I've forgotten what it was (I think it was north of 30k TP).

xenole

I'm ashamed to say that it's a bit of a sad life having people getting these 5 figured TP earnings.
​​​​​​I serious can't think what would be so important to have someone flying back and forth repeatedly.

It couldn't, or hopefully, be anything too medical. I wouldn't want my life to be in the hands of someone who jumps between say LHR and JFK twice a week as fatigue etc. kicks in.
Also, is it the case that there's no-one else on the planet who could possibly do the same job in say London whilst the other person remains in New York? Or don't phones, video conferencing work at all?

I find after a spate of flying, I'm slightly tired sitting around, things catch up on me, and I'm glad to be home rather than wanting to pop to some dinner etc.

subject2load

@ xenole : I suspect you speak for many of us.

It’s one thing to do a lot of travel for the pleasure of seeing the world, and at one’s own pace. But to be forced to spend day after day in a pressurised metal tube, only to then have to work at the other end ........ well, that’s quite another.

And ......if that wasn’t enough ....... imagine if a fair chunk of that travel took place within the luxurious surrounds (ahem) of a CE cabin on BA ......... “Will you be having the panini (again) Sir ........?”

xenole

Already been a few here saying that very thing!
Sure the same menu day in day out really is the icing on the cake.

I got GGL the first time without too much bother but the novelty wore off after a while especially on the shorter flights where I spent more time sitting at the gate or taxiing than flying.
Only so many CCR or QF F meals I could eat in a month or so and even the novelty of LPGS wore off after the first couple of visits.

dylanks

I'm happy that I've not crossed the 6000 tier point mark to date. The few people I know of who fly this much have very specialized skills (negotiators, translation skills, highly in demand conference speaker, etc.).

That said, there was a year where I had a very challenging customer and ended up flying 45 return trips between SFO and JFK. This was before you could credit AA flights to BA unfortunately, and I think before I had flown a single flight on BA, but in today's tier points that alone would have been 12600 tier points.

Tobias-UK

That's probably down to the type of flying an individual does. If you're cramming in hundreds of TPs in a single trip and are simply getting off one plane to get on to another and not making time to have proper rest or a bed then it's no surprise jet lag will hit you at some point.

The seasoned business traveller will not usually be affected by jet lag. Those who do fly regularly week in, week out become disciplined in their travel. They will know the best times to get their head down on a particular flight, they know when to wake themselves up, they know which flights best suit their work commitments and body clock, they know to avoid alcohol and not to over do it with the food, they know the best time to go to bed and to wake up.They are not getting off one aircraft just to get on to another one, and another one, and another one ...

Jet lag is not something that affects me. Doing two return TATLs in a week is manageable, and without experiencing fatigue or jet lag, I've done it regularly. Even a trip down to SYD and back isn't too taxing if you sleep and wake at the right times. I've just completed 3 quick returns to SIN over a three week period with 18-20 short haul in between. At no point during this period have I felt jet lagged. My wife joined me on the last trip, it has taken her 3-4 days to recover from the jet lag where I was straight back to work.I remained disciplined, she on the other hand slpet when she was tired, woke up when she woke up and enjoyed a few drinks.

I have my wings clipped somewhat at the moment, and I am travelling much less than normal but I am not at surprised at the TP earnings being quoted above. There are quite a number on here who regularly accumulate five-figure TP totals in a Membership Year from purely routine business (and leisure) travel.