AJA_

I guess that works, assuming of course you've got your FF no printed on your BP. I have had it fail to register on IB bookings due to the BA/IB IT incompatability issue and have had to do a retro claim for Avios and TP. Having the physical card is helpful in those situations to gain lounge access.

darrencobb

mrs Cobb had exactly the same, she is a silver and last week received a bronze card and luggage tags, BA could save money by simply not making silly mistakes like that.

RoyalSwazi

Flying Blue also stopped issuing physical cards for their lowest tier years ago. I had my expired gold card (online checkin did not work) for the agent to enter my number, but she refused as the card had expired. This was in Saigon on a Vietnam Airlines flight (SkyTeam member at one of their bases). When travelling through some of the less popular destinations it definitely pays to have something physical due to any number of issues: flat battery, no phone coverage, ignorance, language barriers etc. For those using the eco argument I say stop flying and sell your car if you want to make an impact.

LCY8737

I think one should not generalise from your airport experience to that of the wider population. Not many people have their personal mug in the CCR.

Akoz

For the few times I have paid with Avios for the M&S BoB stuff, I have found it much easier to had the card over then to try and fumble with the phone. Would they accept a printed boarding card for this, in the event of the phone battery running out of juice?

NRGsaver

Not so. Whenever I ask for coffee there, they unfailingly produce it in my favourite white mug and what's more I notice that they do the same for nearly all the regulars (and even the irregulars)...

Confus

Exactly right, they did. Re-read my original statement and you’ll find nothing that contradicts this

TheRealBabushka

About bloody time. The wastage is unreal. Now digitise the CCR card!

wilsnunn

I have never paid for BOB using Avios, but once when the CC thought I wanted to, asked to see my BP to get my BAEC details.

sxc

Received this email today:

You have qualified for Silver membership of the Executive Club. 

As a Silver Member, you can enjoy some great advantages over the next year – including free seat selection at the time of booking and access to worldwide lounges, for you and a guest.

All benefits can be easily accessed via the British Airways app on your mobile device, or on our website – quickly, conveniently and from wherever you are in the world.

Should you wish to receive a physical membership card, one can be requested by logging in to your Executive Club account on ba.com

We hope you enjoy your Silver membership and we look forward to welcoming you on board soon.

With best wishes,
Your Executive Club Team

Fatdickie

Hmmm 🤔

So is it DYKWIA to now own a card and bag tags?

As rather than just using something that you have been sent by BA, anyone in future displaying luggage tags has also had to order them to show off their status.
Why not go the whole way and issue sashes like the bride to be wears on her hen night.

redeyedonkey

I think it's kinda sad.

My 3y/o was super excited to get her bronze luggage tags and immediately put a tag on her hand luggage because it 'goes in Club World'...

I thought it was all kinda cute and little things like that and her saving coins into two separate piggy banks for different things all just makes me think how as humans we really are visual and physical beings and everything becoming 'virtual' takes a sense of realness away from it.

We all miss out even though as cynical adults we pretend we don't care about anything anymore that inner child is in there somewhere still wishing it had a gold card instead of a picture to look at in an app... maybe not all of us but I know there's a little 5% in me still for sure that will be sad when the 'physical world' is more and more abstracted away.

And anyway as people have pointed out this is just cost cutting disguised as environmental - which we all knew would be the case. Half the world dumps plastic in the sea, ours is recycled and disposed of properly, but us using straws and getting a membership card is 100% of the problem in "their" eyes and corporations just love to jump on board.

gustavmahler

Just wait until a lowly Silver tries to gain access. An unmarked buggy turns up and a group of burly Alex troopers carts you off, never to be seen again.

Oaxaca

I’ve never paid for BoB with Avios, but I wonder how it works with the virtual card. Whenever I’ve tapped on the card in the app screen to make it bigger, there is no bar code when in the air and not connected online. I had previously assumed that was a reason for the existence of the barcode on the virtual card Suppose you could do a screenshot before takeoff, but most wouldn’t.

More generally, I would support this (even for GGL, don’t see why it makes a difference apart from CCR cards, and those could be made virtual), though it is true there are places where the card is still “requested” and BA should make an effort to eliminate that (though I suspect this is wishful thinking).

Despite not having my own mug in the CCR, I’ve never needed to show a card to get in the First Wing at LHR, showing the BP is the most that’s ever been required for me.

Perhaps BA will need to compensate FT for loss of revenue, with the impending demise of lengthy “is it ok to display my tags” threads...

Meanwhile, I will be monitoring eBay to see if reduced supply increases the value of the many unused BA baggage tags lying around my house

sxc

I only just remembered.....I actually did receive a Silver card a few weeks ago.