themax

On this board there will ALWAYS be those that are for and against this issue, but the only thing that really matters is what BA thinks: Their program, their rules.

The fact that you only need to take 4 sectors on BA each year as part of your requirement to achieve Gold (and it is technically impossible to achieve Gold with only 4 sectors even at maximum long-haul TPs in F) very plainly suggests BA doesn't really care that much HOW you earn your TP's (whether ex-EU or not) as long as at least 4 of your flights each year are on BA or IB.

Calchas

There is a small smattering of excellent fares filed for short periods of time that generate a lot of excitement in frequent flier programmes. “I’m going to be Gold! I can drink as much bulk-bought champagne as I like! What a bargain!” Then there is a regular set of cheap but not amazing J fares out of places where oneworld is not a dominant carrier like AMS and BRU, and places where J travel is uncommon since the oil price decline like OSL and STO. Then mysteriously the best fares show up during the time when almost no business travel takes place (valid say 25 Dec – 02 Jan) but late enough in the year that anyone with a family will have made commitments already. By the way all of these deals are carefully capacity restricted, but you don’t mind that six hour connection if you can get the one J seat left under this deal. Over time you get used to travelling in J and now when you need to travel at short notice you find yourself looking at fares that would have seemed unconscionably expensive before you started this hobby but are really only Ł600 more than what you would pay normally ... Meanwhile the rest of your travels you think you are getting a stand out deal looking at that dummy next to you holding a full J ticket ... until you learn what kind of discount someone buying a hundred TATL J seats a day can negotiate.

The bean counters know exactly what they are doing.

HIDDY

Yes we tend to take it all far too seriously on here.

People I know in real life who either fly regularly or travel by air once a year on holiday tend to give me a strange look when I ask them how their flight experience was. Most are really only interested in arriving at their destination on time along with their baggage.

florens

Don‘t forget that at least some of us probably earned their status not from exEU or indeed exUK but from exLHR Tallinn runs..!

PUCCI GALORE

I think that in the old days when you could be Gold for a fraction of the tier points that you needed if you were based in the UK, then I think that there was some resentment. Quite justifiably as well, I think. That anomaly has now gone.

Other than that, you do not make the rules, but you play by them so good luck to you.

However looking to the future, how leaving the EU might impact on cross-border ticketing is unclear, so we will have to see.

dougzz

PUCCI GALORE

PUCCI GALORE

Who cares what anyone else thinks?

binman

If anyone is concerned about gold gained by flying BA ex EU I wonder what they feel about gaining gold and not actually ever getting on a BA plane! You can not only fly ex EU but using codeshares flight numbers can get you the 4 metal requirement.

what does BA think? ....... we may be about to find out when the BAEC changes are confirmed when BA get their IT fixed.

till then fill your boots

Lucanesque

What changes? Didn't know the IT was broke?

amt

I would have much less of an attitude with cheap ex-EU passengers if they stopped trotting out those tired excuses of the €1200 price BA sold them their ticket for as justification for why CW is so sub-par and below market standards for a business class product and service.

Globaliser

One of the most entertaining things about the BA board is to remember how long QR has been around. Yet it was barely recognised on here until there was a prospect of it joining oneworld, and then all of a sudden it seemed like everyone and his dog could never contemplate flying anyone else.

Which is not to say that the QR product is not a pleaser. But it just goes to show how product quality is very very far from being the only show in town so far as attracting business is concerned.From occasional dribbles and hints, think 75% or thereabouts for a good customer.

As in 75% off.

simons1

Entertaining, yes, but is it that surprising. We know that many on here fly BA/OneWorld because (among other things) of Avios/TP/status addiction.

Then along comes QR, offering a superior proposition, but in a way that still enables travellers to collect TPs and Avios and maintain status. And now, even better, BA and QR enter into a JVA which enables people to collect and maintain without even setting foot on a BA aircraft.

Clearly it doesn't work for everyone but you can see why for people who travel to certain parts of the world it's a win/win.

That's incredible. But on that basis you can see why people who come on here talking about BA planes being full are missing the point. Full of corporate travellers, cheap upgrades, ex-EUs, reward flights, staff travel etc maybe. And of course a GCSE student could fill BA planes at the right price....

Globaliser

Of course. But it gives the lie to those who are forever going on about how BA's business will soon collapse because its product is such rubbish. Even those who harp on about how good QR is wouldn't generally have even given QR a thought despite the quality of its product, if it had not been for a completely different factor in their purchasing decisions. Yet they often seem to be reluctant to acknowledge just how important frequent flyer earning is to those decisions, and how it would actually trump QR's product quality if (for example) QR were suddenly to leave oneworld.

It is also not difficult to be suspicious about some FTers who are forever trumpeting how good X, Y and Z airline is when compared to BA, and yet then ask questions or express surprise about certain things in a way that shows that they actually have very little experience of flying other airlines or using other airlines' websites and so on.

A P Yu

I'm not sure staff look down on it - Staff take advantage of it too