First Premier Interaction
Jul 13, 2018, 12:37 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: BA Gold; Surrey CCC
Posts: 97
First Premier Interaction
On the flight back from Mumbai yesterday, I briefly interacted with the BA black card holder (Premier). I recognised him immediately, he is the CEO of a very well-known corporate here in the UK. There was a bit of a wait for boarding so we struck up a conversation - he was very friendly - we spoke about the football (great ice-breaker!) and how we dealt with the humid weather in Mumbai. He had some nice luggage tags (much smaller in size than the standard tags, but it had the BA crest and was black and just generally looked to be of high quality), so I figured he was a Premier card holder (and he was, as confirmed by his boarding pass). I know these cards are quite rare (from what I read on FT!), so I briefly asked him about it.
He said that for him, the benefit of the card was all about zipping through Heathrow, New York and a few other major stations in the Far East, as fast as he possibly can. He told me that on a recent flight to HK with bags, he checked in 30mins before departure. Can you believe it? His company book him Club through corporate policy, and he said he was upgraded maybe 30-40% of the time to F. On this particular flight, the inflight customer manager came to see him a couple of times, but he didn't get any extraordinary attention, and no-one was at either gate to bid him a pleasant journey or to welcome him to the UK. Maybe another benefit is the treatment during flight cancellations.
He said that for him, the benefit of the card was all about zipping through Heathrow, New York and a few other major stations in the Far East, as fast as he possibly can. He told me that on a recent flight to HK with bags, he checked in 30mins before departure. Can you believe it? His company book him Club through corporate policy, and he said he was upgraded maybe 30-40% of the time to F. On this particular flight, the inflight customer manager came to see him a couple of times, but he didn't get any extraordinary attention, and no-one was at either gate to bid him a pleasant journey or to welcome him to the UK. Maybe another benefit is the treatment during flight cancellations.
Jul 13, 2018, 12:45 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,140
interesting encounter!
The main benefit is probably not having to endure hundreds of hours in the air to just get to Gold!!
Maybe another benefit is the treatment during flight cancellations.
Jul 13, 2018, 12:53 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: BA Gold; Surrey CCC
Posts: 97
Jul 13, 2018, 2:02 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 561
I'm wondering what is the logistics of this? Would it require a manual intervention (drive the bags out to the plane?) or would the luggage system be able to handle this with a reasonable level of certainty (seems unlikely?).
Jul 13, 2018, 2:15 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: BA Gold; Surrey CCC
Posts: 97
I honestly don't know, but what a perk. He also took his suit carrier on board, which for most people would have been an automatic check-in item. I guess the black card guys really do have some great advantages!
Jul 13, 2018, 2:19 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: UK/France
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold, EY Plat, etc
Posts: 351
If you want to see a culture of indifference to premium customers then take a look at Air France’s Club2000 which is their equivalent. The C2000 card is good for scraping ice from your windscreen on winter mornings but not much more....
Last edited by Robespierre; Jul 14, 2018 at 2:37 am
Jul 13, 2018, 5:32 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,105
I expect the path, at least in T5, for rush baggage on a late connection might well handle a bag checked in 30 mins before departure (perhaps shepherded by a member of staff behind the scenes). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcO7rlWvxE#t=2m10s shows an example where it is asserted (by a HAL or BA staff member) that a connecting bag can be handled in 15 or 16 minutes.
