peck

I doubt I’ll ever reach gold again and frankly that doesn’t bother me in the slightest now. I feel I probably caught the last of the ‘good times’ wrt frequent flyer programmes over the past decade and I enjoyed every minute (much of it with BA). But surely that all changes for good now - 2020 is going to be a write off, and maybe we’ll see slow recoveries from there, but it will take years. What BAEC looks like then... who knows?

All that really matters for now is that we all keep safe and well, and I just pray BA treat their staff with respect during this awful time. One can hope...

Mountlodge

Pretty much concur with what you said. Up until C-19 I was about 25 short haul LHR-GLA and LGW-AGP a year so travelling mostly in Y I would never achieve Silver status except for I do one LH trip a year either SE Asia or US. For me the benefits are Seat Selection, 2nd (If i need to) and obviously the lounge. So thinking that the need to do LHR-GLA will become a lot less as likely I will commute up north less but continue AGP (could be LHR if LGW stops) then I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldnt choose another alliance. That said I'm a sucker for Qatar.

ML

Chris_G

Just about sums it up from here on out...it was great while it lasted...!!

Confus

It actually sounds neither of those things, yours was one of the most reasoned and heartfelt posts I’ve ever read on this Forum. Thank you for the remarkable and honest way you put it all in perspective.

carrotjuice

Very sound thinking process.

Although it's somewhat covered by your last point, I'd like to point out more specifically, one non negotiable factor for me:
AND airlines provide reasonably comparable onboard catering as pre pandemic days

For instance, I wouldn't set foot on BA under its current stripped bare onboard offering, instead would switch to another (OW, likely) airline that still retains almost full service.

KeaneJohn

I’m all leisure travel. Got Silver easily with annual holiday in Cancun reaches creatively and bargain BA Club Europe Holidays. Thanks to this forum a bit of juggling, a TLL 200 TP weekend and an ex-eu that got me a 5 day trip to Miami and New York that I otherwise wouldn’t have done and I’ve got 2 years Gold.

The lounges are great. The welcome onboard was nice when it happened, seat assignments, the first wing and group 1 boarding make a Ł75 day trip to Madrid pleasurable. In March as there were more Silvers in my group experienced Galleries Club for the first time in a while. Was perfectly acceptable,

As things stand I’ll drop to Silver unless BA extend. I’m not overly fussed about that with more people losing their jobs and struggling to feed themselves seems very selfish to feel hard done by.

Once travel gets back to the new normal who knows what it’s going to be. I’ll decide then and it might mean chosing by price and what I can get and taking the train to Manchester, Newcastle and Scotland instead of flying as the enjoyment is taken out of such trips without the perks attached to them.

I don’t think anybody could have predicted this after BA cancelled flights to China for a few weeks back in January.

G-ARVE

Nailed it!
Reevaluated travel before Corvid and concluded it wasn't worth the candle.The virus and implications has just served to cement that view. Turns out I wasn't the travel junkie I thought I was. Plan is to instead buy a nice grunty convertible and see the UK. Slowly. When the world reopens of course....

Saint4805

I'm actually starting to wonder if visiting an airport lounge was actually that enjoyable or did it simply take the edge off an onerous process of travelling from A to B via an airport? Was it actually that gratifying to receive complimentary food and drinks or are we programmed to get a kick out of anything that is given to us for free? I can go to M&S buy a nice bottle of something and a variety of snacks and nibbles for less than Ł20 and not have DYKWIAs annoy me with their loud phone calls or bulldoze their way in front of me as I go to the fridge.

subject2load

I can see a revival - or should I say, increase - in the attraction of long-haul travel by rail, especially on some of the more scenic routes. Not the immediate solution perhaps for trips when speed is key .... and certainly not if you need to hop over to, say, New York - but, in other scenarios, undoubtedly more of an all-round adventure / experience than hanging around airports, security queues, noisy lounges, kept waiting on airbridges and (increasingly more often) terminal transfer buses.

Not sure whether merely a coincidence (or maybe the fact that I have been spending more time than usual in front of TV screens) but there seems to have been a plethora of (enjoyable, often alluring) programmes recently depicting various iconic train journeys in different parts of the world, and I suspect they may well be having a subconscious impact in the minds of many of us who normally look no further than the available flight options between two cities ..... with a keen eye also to the TP + Avios calculator chart

PUCCI GALORE

I agree. What is more I got the impression that some people flew in order to do a Grand Tour of Les Salons - Chow Mein in one, Gin in another, Bubbles elsewhere. It was fun but really was that all worth it?

Enrique Ponce

Enjoyed reading threads above.

I work in an acute hospital specialty, completely transformed by Covid-19 workload (now thankfully easing).
Even before that kicked in, the NHS just endured the highest pressure Winter in its history.
The job is always stressful and I’m permanently knackered.
The one thing that keeps me going (after paying mortgage) is international travel. Just reading about destinations and planning trips is keeping me sane.
As soon as restrictions are lifted, I’ll be back in the air - I haven’t run out of world to see yet.

As mentioned above, we’ve all got to die of something sometime. There have always been risks to travelling. We will get over this at some point.

subject2load

Sometimes they weren't even ‘Grand Tours’.

Wasn’t there an FT-er a while back who was keen to maintain Gold primarily so that he and a mate could fly over every month on the morning flight from OSL, spend virtually a whole day feeding themselves in the BA lounges at T5 ..... and then fly back home again later the same day .... ? (and, yes .... we’re talking BA and LHR lounges ..... not even the likes of SYD, HKG, or DXB !!)

I’m all for YMMV and one man’s meat etc ...... but even those mantras have limits, surely .......

VSLover

it is a strange feeling. these 1.5mos are the longest ive gone without being on a plane in 20 years.

for a good ten years i did chase status (on AA) back when it was easy and straightforward to do mileage runs.

then i moved to London, and BA and the combination of longhaul work, family obligations in the US and personal holidays made it very easy to obtain/retain GGL in my first 5 years in the UK.

the last two years i didnt aim for GGL, it just happened because i have 2-3 longhaul biz trips per year but all personal travel, i buy J or F anyhow...but being GGL has been amazing to have thanks to IRROPS or for the dedicated phone and other perks.

now imagining those work trips will be eliminated, im not sure if i will chase GGL as i will continue to pay for J or F...but right now if all was safe to travel again, i know i'd chase it! i love the feeling of flying and everything that comes with it.

but ask me again in 6mons.

lloydah

Not sure if it was iconic but last year Mrs L and I took 10 days travelling round Norway by train. Very scenic and seemed quite easy, very little stress. In fact the most stressful bit was BA cancelling our return flight the morning of departure and the scramble to make to rearranged departure.

allturnleft

I remember chastising the annual bragging thread on here of how many flights FTers had done the previous year

Others also mentioned the thread had become a bit distasteful where global climate related dusters were occuring such as the Australian fires etc

One of the positives of lockdown for me has been the fresh air and nature and peace in central london and the odd light aircrafy flying over doing a survey.

I wonder if global attitudes to aviation will see a real change coming out of this crisis

Maybe we are in a luxury position to say this having done a fair degree of world travel in our lives already but the slow recovery and the price of flights will probably make the whole of aviation re-align