T8191

I also occasionally ask myself "Why BA". As leisure pax we just scrape BAEC Gold annually, but as we always fly J I guess many of those benefits are available with the ticket, rather than the loyalty programme.

But then I look at our 'destinations of choice'. No, QR and many others don't serve them ... but BA does. And some are served by AA, of which we have also made good use. So, overall for us sticking with BA and/or crediting to BAEC makes sense. The 2-4-1 is nice too.

Yes, we would like to try some different airlines. But generally speaking they don't go where we want to go. And why throw away BAEC status benefits?

The bottom line is that it's a strong case of YMMV, according to where you want to go and in which cabin, and how often. If I could persuade the OH to go to KL, I'd use QR as well!

navylad

Flexible preferences

You do seem to see this in very absolutist terms. Former 'apologist', 'never again', not collecting Avios (even if to spend on hotels), 'monkeys', 'not a chance' etc. Your prerogative of course, however you may allow yourself to question how helpful this approach is to you.

47Aitken

try spending 8 early morning hours in the Doha business lounge when you could be in your bed at home : QR have a good service but their UK schedule is limited

rossmacd

This is an interesting debate, but it really does come down to the type of passenger you are, and your subsequent needs and wants from a carrier. I can see the points from the OP, but it is largely tunnel vision from his perspective.

My profile: I am a largely business traveler, not based in London, but in Switzerland, but I typically depart from ZRH or any other continental European city that I may find myself in (I cannot remember the last time I departed longhaul ex-LON). Typically, to "prime" eastern destinations (HKG, SIN, BKK, TYO, PEK, DXB etc etc) I can choose to travel direct, so I am unlikely to use BA but more so the carrier based at the destination or LX. For "non-prime" destinations, of which there are many, I have no option but to connect. This is when other carriers come into the fore, and it comes down to a value/schedule/quality trade-off (typically in that order). QR and CX are my go-to carriers going east, but I will travel EK, SQ and several others as necessary (dependent on the value/schedule/quality equation). Going westwards to North America, I typically will look towards the AA/BA JV as that normally satisfies the value/schedule/quality criterion - AA on a day flight (normally via LHR, to get the best AA TATL J product) and BA on the overnight return (to maximise sleeping opportunity). This is despite my criticism of the current poor offering of the shorthaul BA CE product which I need to get to/from LHR, but it is normally never more than 60-80mins flying time.

I say this as a BA GGL/CCR and M&M *G, so my "loyalty" (read: spend) is divided (I typically avoid ST longhaul, except AF La P as a treat on my own dime), and therefore has no real bearing on my decision making. As primarily a business traveler always in J for longhaul, I am in no sense locked to any specific carrier (thankfully!), but as a responsible employee I will always spend my employer's (and my own) cash in an efficient manner - I have a wide discretion over my own travel plans, budgets, carriers etc so in theory I could always take the "best" product, but I cannot justify the price tag in some scenarios.

For P2P shorthaul in Europe, flying is now just the same as taking a bus, so it is price and schedule driven - carrier is largely irrelevant.

Overall, what I am saying is that yes, QR is a very good carrier and one that I do like personally, but there are so many other factors coming into the decision making that calling someone an "idiot" for flying BA is rather poor form on your part.

Pascoe

Actually you called employees of firms that have a BA travel policy 'corporate monkeys' - that's just straight rude and fwiw I think the 'annoyance directed at myself' comment is merely a spot of backtracking.

And if you're genuinely so non bothered by miles, status etc that you can't even be bothered to post what presumably was a non negligible haul of points etc anywhere (which seems even odder now all your travel has to be self funded) then why pop up on a forum populated almost entirely by people with at least some passing interest in the above to say all this. Seems hardly worth your effort.

I keep wondering about exploring the QR routing to HKG. I always chicken out though. Don't really mind the additional travel time, nor the change of a/c, nor even having to hang about a bit in DOH. But I always worry that one leg will go tech and I'll be stuck, and miss a day of a business trip that would probably have been a pain to construct and get approved etc.

But the change of scene, the price, and actually the double TPs all make it a possibility I keep coming back to.

Still essentially a BA supporter at heart though, and unapologetic for it. And given what I do for a living I am demonstrably not an idiot either. So maybe I just have different priorities in a flight. Who knows...

T8191

<How did that duplicate my previous post #31 ?>

Dave Noble

As yiu just mentioned, you normally fly business class - thee are not that many status benefits of real value to worry about surely?

vintagepilot

Same as uncle T here - it is the most convenient and it is relatively easily attainable. We don't fly enough to maintain status in more than one programme and OW suits us well. We have done QR to NZ and it was fab - so much so that we are doing QR again to Oz, but still crediting to BAEC as that overall gives us the best return.

vintagepilot

There are some that are status-dependent - free seat selection, access to some front row seats, First Wing check and Fist lounges for Gold - so worth the status I feel.

thebigben

- Gold phone line
- First class lounges / First Wing
- Group 1 on long haul
- 100% bonus avios
- Additional redemption space in Y, or for double the Avios
- Row 1 seats
- 1 additional piece of luggage in J

If you're traveling in J and you're going to get close to gold, might as well give it a push to get the avios and a few decent benefits.

simons1

BAEC is a really good programme.

That to me is the win/win...to fly other airlines, use codeshares and Comair for qualifying flights, and credit BAEC for status. Also gives lounge access and priority boarding for the occasional BA trips.

AnaTravel

WeLeaseBwian, I understand your irritation with British Airways and agree that Qatar Airways are better in some key ways. It was nice of you to offer an apology based on a moment of fleeting frustration.

Choice of airline is based on so many factors. We all have individual requirements and airline preferences. On the bright side, you have discovered a product you like very much. It's good to try the latest products. I'd suggest not throwing the baby out with the bath water regarding using reward programmes.

One thing QR is less good at than BA is on reservations and related customer services (including QRPC queries, as detailed above). Both airlines have given me wrong information in the past but BA is easier to reach and resolve issues with. In terms of flagship lounges, Al Safwa beats the CCR, for me. I like the cosiness of the CCR but prefer the sharp, modern cleanliness of AS. The sleeping rooms are vastly better than BA's tatty cabanas. The food is mediocre in both lounges but there is a wider choice of beverages and food in AS. There is no perfect airline. I'd like to see British Airways deliver better service and comfort in every category. In F and CW, they have a long way to go. I hope they can invest profits to take on rivals in future.

msm2000uk

I've bolded above, and agree entirely. However, it was done overnight, with no prior warning.

When BA have made amendments to BAEC, they have always notified customers in advance of the changes - the most recent, which affected me, was the GGL threshold change. BA gave ample notice of this, and I would imagine that as/when changes come, they will continue to notify customers in advance.

Most of my connections average less than 90 minutes on the ground at DOH, and usually far less - so hardly half the night. That being said, I do appreciate that if you are flying somewhere with a 'one flight a day' service, you may have a longer wait than I have experienced.

Don't like the seat? Then you'll be delighted with the rumoured news that BA are installing it as their new CW product. Presumably you'll have to stop flying BA.

I'd counter, by saying:

7 flights to Heathrow, 2 to Gatwick, 3 to Manchester, 1 to Edinburgh, as well as Cardiff and Birmingham - with a couple of UK destinations to be announced in the near future too.

I've bolded above - I completely agree, and it's why I credit to it myself.

QR is a decent airline, but their loyalty program is currently in a rather poor state of affairs. As for the Direct / StopOver discussion, that has been done to death, and ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

The BA v QR discussion has also been had multiple times, and I dare say Search King Jerry would be able to find multiple similar threads. However, this thread should really be about the OP ditching BAEC, opposed to why QR is better/worse than BA.

One thing for sure, is that BAEC is a better programme than QRPC.

M

TWCLAM

Like @uncleT Mrs Clam and I are, more or less, exclusively leisure travellers ( although with the amount we fly you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise at times). BA are a no brainer for us with the only realistic alternative for most of our travel being EZY. QR are of course a better product than BA just as eg EK beats AA. All the middle eastern airlines spend( see also: loose) vast amounts on their hard & soft products it's how they managed to make such an impact in the industry. If you can't see that then that's for you.

With our travel being a 80-20 split SH-LH BA are the only airline that offer us the ability to reach status and get some reasonable benefits for our money. We also made the move at a time when the product was/ is bad so that we would appreciate the difference when it all comes together. Food has taken it's time but we've, hopefully, turned a corner. Bedding is sorted( although pjs would be nice) and the new seat is due next year. Don't get me wrong i've watched plenty of trip reports and salivated over the hard product and service QR can offer but i've seen plenty where it's all gone wrong and pax are left abandoned and struggling to find out how they get themselves out the mess QR left them in. ALL airlines have their good and bad points & BA definitely needs to continue raising it's game to get back too being able to legitimately class itself as the airline it once was but that could be said of plenty of carriers.

We can all vote with our wallets but to call people names and comment on their intelligence because of who they choose to fly with ( later backtracking aside) just because you happened to have one good flight with one other carrier imho respectfully says more about yourself than it does others.