My GGL membership coming to an end.
Apr 20, 2019, 2:18 am
#17
Join Date: May 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, AF/KL Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 830
I recently dropped down to Silver after a year in Gold. Have to admit Gold has the way better check-in and nicer lounge, but Silver is not so bad and I am quite happy with it. BA should really introduce a Silver for life scheme..
Apr 20, 2019, 2:41 am
#18
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 21
I went there once. I left feeling more stressed than when I had entered. I'm debating whether to soft land to Silver this year.
Selecting 1A and 64K, and the Avios Bonus are really the treats for me (+Galleries First ofcourse and QF First LAX!)
Selecting 1A and 64K, and the Avios Bonus are really the treats for me (+Galleries First ofcourse and QF First LAX!)
Apr 20, 2019, 2:46 am
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,520
Congratulations on your son, that actually is a wonderful reason to drop status!
I have not experienced this yet - or rather, so far, I have only ever dropped status on one airline because I had decided to refocus on another one on which my status improved. However, I have often braced myself to the thought that one day such a tier demotion could happen and how it must feel and I imagine that I would feel a bit of a sense of loss whilst being mad at myself for feeling that about something as silly as an FFP tier. Sometimes, our brain wishes we were more detached from non-essential things than our heart is willing to accept.
Because I still keep flying on many different airlines, there are for instance regularly times towards the start of my TP year when I wonder if I will not fly enough to renew my CCR card this year. One day I probably will and it will feel weird and a bit sad.
Admittedly, this is probably part of the reason why I have also kept an eye on lifetime status. I'm FB Plat for life and BA GfL so in a way, so long as airlines play fair and don't decide to renege on existing benefits, I have hedged to some extent. However, I do appreciate some of the benefits of GGL and my CCR access and I know that GGLfL is not a realistic target for me at any rate for many years.
Again, however, in your case, I'm really glad that the change has come for very good reasons!
I have not experienced this yet - or rather, so far, I have only ever dropped status on one airline because I had decided to refocus on another one on which my status improved. However, I have often braced myself to the thought that one day such a tier demotion could happen and how it must feel and I imagine that I would feel a bit of a sense of loss whilst being mad at myself for feeling that about something as silly as an FFP tier. Sometimes, our brain wishes we were more detached from non-essential things than our heart is willing to accept.
Because I still keep flying on many different airlines, there are for instance regularly times towards the start of my TP year when I wonder if I will not fly enough to renew my CCR card this year. One day I probably will and it will feel weird and a bit sad.
Admittedly, this is probably part of the reason why I have also kept an eye on lifetime status. I'm FB Plat for life and BA GfL so in a way, so long as airlines play fair and don't decide to renege on existing benefits, I have hedged to some extent. However, I do appreciate some of the benefits of GGL and my CCR access and I know that GGLfL is not a realistic target for me at any rate for many years.
Again, however, in your case, I'm really glad that the change has come for very good reasons!
Apr 20, 2019, 2:47 am
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,520
Welcome to Flyertalk and the BA forum ConcordeLuvr! It's great to see you join our community and I hope you'll find it a comfortable and stimulating place. If your handle is anything to go by, I'm sure you'll have a lovely time here! Welcome again!
Apr 20, 2019, 5:14 am
#22
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London, Sth Africa or LAS
Programs: VS Silver, BA Blue - finally; but hotels.com Gold :)
Posts: 1,858
The drop from GGL
@ OP. Good post.
I recently dropped from GGL myself. All's still fine
.
The simple fact of the matter is I'm doing a lot less flying and overall that nets out to a good thing; I do not need the GGL trimmings and baubles anywhere near as much as when they smoothed the travel experiences these last 6 years.
The facts: No GGL line, no Jokers, no Partner Cards, no Hilton Diamond … these are noticeable losses simply as I had taken them for granted.
The pains: Loss of free cancellations (those £25/£30 add-up!) ; No One World Emerald lounge access (hits me at LHR T3, LAX and JFK) … but for these I'm just working around it and really its no big deal and just needs me to re-focus. I spent £25 the other day for a decent meal in T3 for example, who knew!
The benefits (so far): I really really value the treats still available as a BA Silver / OWS. In the round, they are more than I need. I find VS/Delta and AA MCE increasingly attractive.
The world I've left behind: I will fondly remember my 18 months of CCR days, the incredible consistency of theoretical seating on my EU shorthauls, the arrivals lounges at LHR when in WT+. The ability to choose Row 1 CE and Row 1 747. Treating the Amex 2f1 as a sure thing.
Funnily enough, in real terms, I fly much less but find I have much more choice now. I am able to find good priced deals more often now via VS/Delta; and AA and even DY are in scope. As I fly less, then a good economy seat on a 787 or A350/A380 really can do the job 50% of the time and save me £££s. I do have to put all the clever routings knowledge built up to use still, just in a different way … as many here, I suspect, I enjoy that aspect.
Put another way, I have no desire at all to more than triple my current flying and begin to flirt with 3,000 TPs again (or indeed imagine 5,000+)
I recently dropped from GGL myself. All's still fine
.The simple fact of the matter is I'm doing a lot less flying and overall that nets out to a good thing; I do not need the GGL trimmings and baubles anywhere near as much as when they smoothed the travel experiences these last 6 years.
The facts: No GGL line, no Jokers, no Partner Cards, no Hilton Diamond … these are noticeable losses simply as I had taken them for granted.
The pains: Loss of free cancellations (those £25/£30 add-up!) ; No One World Emerald lounge access (hits me at LHR T3, LAX and JFK) … but for these I'm just working around it and really its no big deal and just needs me to re-focus. I spent £25 the other day for a decent meal in T3 for example, who knew!
The benefits (so far): I really really value the treats still available as a BA Silver / OWS. In the round, they are more than I need. I find VS/Delta and AA MCE increasingly attractive.
The world I've left behind: I will fondly remember my 18 months of CCR days, the incredible consistency of theoretical seating on my EU shorthauls, the arrivals lounges at LHR when in WT+. The ability to choose Row 1 CE and Row 1 747. Treating the Amex 2f1 as a sure thing.
Funnily enough, in real terms, I fly much less but find I have much more choice now. I am able to find good priced deals more often now via VS/Delta; and AA and even DY are in scope. As I fly less, then a good economy seat on a 787 or A350/A380 really can do the job 50% of the time and save me £££s. I do have to put all the clever routings knowledge built up to use still, just in a different way … as many here, I suspect, I enjoy that aspect.
Put another way, I have no desire at all to more than triple my current flying and begin to flirt with 3,000 TPs again (or indeed imagine 5,000+)
Apr 20, 2019, 10:47 am
#23
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Seniors Bus Pass
Posts: 5,529
I have just dropped to Silver for the first time in the many years since I started flying. Reduced travel has been more pleasant last year, and as I can get access to the only lounge in BHD, ABZ and EDI I expect it will have little effect. I have not yet hit LHR this month (reduced flights have some benefits!) and will therefore have to forego FW and GF speedy access at some point next month.
Apr 20, 2019, 3:43 pm
#24
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Mexico
Programs: BAEC Gold / Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,543
I'm on way up to gold knowing I could easily be back to silver following year as not on global projects for now. I guess it's about managing expectations, my own of course. Status is temporary in most cases, so I go to gold knowing it won't be for ever. I'll let you know how my expectation management worked in 15 months time.
Apr 21, 2019, 5:13 am
#25
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Madrid
Programs: BA GfL
Posts: 157
tenrohle, it may not be as traumatic as you think!
I retired in 2016, and my flying reduced greatly. I maintained GGL for most of that year, then dropped back to Gold, but at the same time I achieved Gold for Life.
GGL certainly has some nice additional benefits, but:
Loss of the GGL line. Yes they did answer very quickly and were very knowledgeable and helpful, but I use the Gold line in Spain and have never waited more than a minute and their responsiveness and efficiency is very good.
Loss of Jokers. Yes, nice, but with less flying it's less important.
Loss of partner cards: When my husband travels with me, he is eligible for my Gold benefits and when he travels on business, he is in Business, so no real loss.
Fewer upgrades. I reckon as GGL I was hitting about a 40% complimentary upgrade rate from CW to F. But as I now fly much less, it's no big deal to lose out on this.
Special Services, yes a nice touch, but no real pain. (Except fast track Immigration on entering Dubai, but I hear the SS is reduced now at DXB.)
Hilton Diamond. It was good to have access to the Executive lounges, but as I now travel much less, no loss.
GGL = very nice. No GGL = less travel, breathe a bit more!
I retired in 2016, and my flying reduced greatly. I maintained GGL for most of that year, then dropped back to Gold, but at the same time I achieved Gold for Life.
GGL certainly has some nice additional benefits, but:
Loss of the GGL line. Yes they did answer very quickly and were very knowledgeable and helpful, but I use the Gold line in Spain and have never waited more than a minute and their responsiveness and efficiency is very good.
Loss of Jokers. Yes, nice, but with less flying it's less important.
Loss of partner cards: When my husband travels with me, he is eligible for my Gold benefits and when he travels on business, he is in Business, so no real loss.
Fewer upgrades. I reckon as GGL I was hitting about a 40% complimentary upgrade rate from CW to F. But as I now fly much less, it's no big deal to lose out on this.
Special Services, yes a nice touch, but no real pain. (Except fast track Immigration on entering Dubai, but I hear the SS is reduced now at DXB.)
Hilton Diamond. It was good to have access to the Executive lounges, but as I now travel much less, no loss.
GGL = very nice. No GGL = less travel, breathe a bit more!
Apr 21, 2019, 5:26 am
#26
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Battleaxe Alliance
Posts: 22,127
But on the flip side, if you do not tend to fly Y or Y plus, you might not really notice much when you fly without status... until you gave a lot of luggage, that is
But really, life without too much flying would not be a bad thing!
Apr 25, 2019, 3:41 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Programs: BA GGL, EK Gold.
Posts: 13
Apr 25, 2019, 11:00 pm
#28
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
Posts: 3,578
Thankfully this year is back to the normal flying pattern - so won't need to repeat this.
Apr 26, 2019, 2:28 am
#29
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle
Programs: BA GGL & LTG, EK Silver, HHonors Lifetime Diamond; Proudly Mucci Free - total nonsense
Posts: 862
tenrohle, it may not be as traumatic as you think!
I retired in 2016, and my flying reduced greatly. I maintained GGL for most of that year, then dropped back to Gold, but at the same time I achieved Gold for Life.
GGL certainly has some nice additional benefits, but:
Loss of the GGL line. Yes they did answer very quickly and were very knowledgeable and helpful, but I use the Gold line in Spain and have never waited more than a minute and their responsiveness and efficiency is very good.
Loss of Jokers. Yes, nice, but with less flying it's less important.
Loss of partner cards: When my husband travels with me, he is eligible for my Gold benefits and when he travels on business, he is in Business, so no real loss.
Fewer upgrades. I reckon as GGL I was hitting about a 40% complimentary upgrade rate from CW to F. But as I now fly much less, it's no big deal to lose out on this.
Special Services, yes a nice touch, but no real pain. (Except fast track Immigration on entering Dubai, but I hear the SS is reduced now at DXB.)
Hilton Diamond. It was good to have access to the Executive lounges, but as I now travel much less, no loss.
GGL = very nice. No GGL = less travel, breathe a bit more!
I retired in 2016, and my flying reduced greatly. I maintained GGL for most of that year, then dropped back to Gold, but at the same time I achieved Gold for Life.
GGL certainly has some nice additional benefits, but:
Loss of the GGL line. Yes they did answer very quickly and were very knowledgeable and helpful, but I use the Gold line in Spain and have never waited more than a minute and their responsiveness and efficiency is very good.
Loss of Jokers. Yes, nice, but with less flying it's less important.
Loss of partner cards: When my husband travels with me, he is eligible for my Gold benefits and when he travels on business, he is in Business, so no real loss.
Fewer upgrades. I reckon as GGL I was hitting about a 40% complimentary upgrade rate from CW to F. But as I now fly much less, it's no big deal to lose out on this.
Special Services, yes a nice touch, but no real pain. (Except fast track Immigration on entering Dubai, but I hear the SS is reduced now at DXB.)
Hilton Diamond. It was good to have access to the Executive lounges, but as I now travel much less, no loss.
GGL = very nice. No GGL = less travel, breathe a bit more!