Marco Polo Diamond switching to BAEC
 

Hi All,

I'm a Marco Polo Club Diamond (One World Emerald) member who lives in Hong Kong but as most of my business trips these days are between Hong Kong and London on British Airways, I'm considering switching to the BA Executive Club as it will be much easier for me to maintain my OWE status, as well as the extra benefits BA provides such as extra avios miles bonuses.

I've asked BA to match my status but unfortunately this has been declined but my question is, if I have a ticket on BA business class and use my new BAEC membership number to earn my tier points, am I still able to show my Marco Polo Club Diamond membership card at the First Class lounges to be able to gain access to them? The conditions stipulate that I can enter the first class lounges as long as I'm flying on a One World flight but I wondered if anyone has ever tried this and managed to gain access?

Thanks.

Yes that will work fine :)

Yup, not a problem at all until your MPC membership ends, which by that time you would have surely gained BA gold by then

It will work but it's not as simple as that.

Upon entry to BA and CX lounges, there is the possibility that they may change the FF number in your booking. Therefore make sure after you've been in the lounge that you ask them to check which FF number is against your boarding pass and make sure it is the correct one.

Assuming you are flying BA from T5, after entering the lounge, ask the lounge services desk inside to check the FF number.

If you are departing HKG and flying BA and you enter a CX lounge, showing your CX card for entry should be fine, as CX doesn't have access to change the FF number against your booking.

However if you are flying CX from either HKG or LHR, make sure after entry (usually on your way out or mid visit), that the FF number is correct. The reason I say not to do it during entry is that the attendant will probably get confused what you are asking.

Why not try to get the MPC# added as the FQTS and BAEC# as FQTV?

FQTV - frequent flyer account that the miles should be credited to.
FQTS - frequent flyer account denoting which status benefits to use.
FQTR - frequent flyer account that provided miles for a redemption (can be different to that of the Pax flying).
FQTU - frequent flyer account that provided miles for an upgrade.

Agents don't always do this properly. I wouldn't rely on
(1) an agent knowing what you're talking about
(2) them using the fields properly

everyone talks about this method.
rarely seen anybody do that successfully.
the chances of something going wrong far outweigh doing it manually.

You need the CX number in the booking to choose seats on BA (unless you bought the most expensive booking class), so I think it's best to change it manually at the airport every time, after your lounge admittance is confirmed.

M&M numbers are often "stuck" to bookings on airlines in the LH group; once you add it or even if booking on the LH website when signed in, it is difficult or impossible to get rid of your M&M number

I concur, although I have success in many occasions, but still times, I have experienced in HKG station credited to wrong FF, the second time, even confirmed it has changed to correct FF.
From that on, I will make sure they print the new boarding pass instead of "dont worry, it's in our system".

I was exactly in your situation 2 years ago. I started including my BAEC Blue number in all my bookings and then used my CX Diamond card to get fast track and lounge access. On approx. 20% of the cases the lounge agent would change my frequent flyer number to CX to allow me in, but once in the lounge a quick call to BA call centre (while sipping Champ) always allowed me to put the BAEC number back in the booking.