ECR

Qantas have recently introduced a couple of limited time promotions to enable Qantas Frequent Flyer members in Australia to earn Status Credits in their scheme (broadly similar to BA Tier Points) for expenditure in Australian BP petrol stations and Woolworths supermarkets. It is very limited in so far as I think the promotion only last for a few months and maximum you can earn is only 50 Status Credits in each (roughly equivalent to 50 BA Tier Points). To reach the maximum Status Credits would require a lot of expenditure, so realistically most people would only manage to get a small number of Status Credits through the promotions

I thought this was quite an ingenious promotion to effectively drive sales of Qantas Points through partners at a time when there is little flying going on and sales of points is no doubt a very useful revenue stream to the airline.

American Airlines also has a promotion to the end of the year by allowing base miles earned on AA branded credit cards to count towards their Million Miler lifetime status. Again this seems to be a clever promotion to bring in cash in the short term through sales of miles.

It could be an opportunity to bring in revenue for IAG by driving sales of Avios to partners through offering some sort of very limited promotion involving a small number BA Tier Points or perhaps even Lifetime Tier Points. Sadly I don't think it would ever happen, but it would be good to have some way of earning a few Tier Points to keep things ticking over whilst grounded.

WickedStepMother

If BA sold tickets for imaginary journeys and awarded tier points for them I am sure that hardened TP runners would pay to sit (suitably socially-distanced) on a grounded plane for a few hours, even if they had to bring their own flask and sandwiches. They would be back-to-back journeys of course. BA could offer tier point bonuses for passengers who gave their row of seats a thorough clean.
(Not my original idea - I give credit to @Fontana who mentioned something similar to me several weeks ago)

ISTFlyer

Similar to their Double Avios promos in the past, they could start something like a Double Tier Point promo for passengers who register to the promo before an x date and purchase their tickets before a y date.

Sailbot3310

Fantastic!
One hopes said imaginary flight is from T3, and lounge access is permitted before departure!

Mountlodge

Maybe it's only a matter of time before you can have your own Virtual helmet where you simulate the whole flying experience; Check-in, Lounge, on-board experience, view out of the window etc and earn TP's and Avios. Don't know BA would price this (or any other airline for that matter) but no issues with Social Distancing nor self sanitising the area around you.
ML

ECR

Qantas in the past have offered Double Status Credit promotions for bookings within a particular short window. It is certainly something that BA could consider replicating with a Double Tier Points offer. It would probably encourage people to book now rather than holding off to see how things develop.

A Double Tier Points promotion would probably be more effective than a Double Avios promotion, but I think of the two a Double Avios promotion is more likely to happen.

subject2load

FT has been awash with speculation and predictions in recent weeks. This is one of the very few I’d be happy to put my money on .......

ECR

Finnair have recently introduced a promotion in their scheme where they will give bonus tier points in their scheme for buying award points. At first glance glance it looks like you can get to Oneworld Ruby without setting foot on a plane, and perhaps even Oneworld Sapphire if you convert some of the purchased award points to tier points. I haven't looked into it in detail though.

https://www.finnair.com/gb/gb/finnair-plus/buy-points

Qantas also seem to have a current promotion where you earn bonus status credits (tier points) in their scheme for transferring credit card points.

I'm sure BA will look at what other oneworld members do with their schemes, although probably unlikely that they will follow suit at this time. If they do need the cash though it would be a good way of selling avios without actually having to give away much, as even if you are flying oneworld status is almost worthless at the moment - many lounges closed, no priority boarding, fast track sometimes closed but even if not airport security in many cases is not busy.

ISTFlyer

Some other carriers such as AA & QR are both offering priority boarding and there are at least some lounges open in some OW destinations around the world.

Also, BA is too big to offer a non-flying way of Tier Points. I wouldn't expect this kind of move from BA, LH, AF/KL, etc...
Qantas is most likely offering something like that as the AU borders would be closed earliest next spring where some speculations indicate Fall 2021 or Winter 2022.

LCY8737

Unfortunately, if you double 0 it is still a fat 0.

I have not earned a single TP since March and I do not foresee for this to substantially change in the coming months.

HarbourGent

A lot of tickets they have sold this year have been for journeys which turned out to be imaginary.

ISTFlyer

Although if you double x where the variable x is greater than 0, you get 2x.
I respect your opinion not flying at the moment, but since when I wrote that post, I have been on 40+ flights.

LCY8737

Out of interest, how do you manage this?

My work travel now is 0 (complete ban on all business travel) whereas my usually extensive leisure travel is near 0 (most trips cancelled, only managed to go once to each Spain and Portugal during the summer).

ISTFlyer

I could say that most of my flights were for pleasure.

Some of them are domestic flights within Turkey
Some of them are self-funded mileage runs ( 23 AA domestic mileage run flights ).
Some of them are flights to the USA ( I already made 2 visits to the USA ) + respective domestic flights during these trips. ( Some were self-funded, some were paid on behalf of me )

Nephoi

if it would only be "not earned a single TP since march"... actually it is "not earned a single TP since march but having cancelled tickets worth 3000+ TP and tried rearranging, rebooking, changing destination etc...."
i still try to throw all my money to BA and AA and all i get is a contant level of disappointment (no offense, just a recap).

i just need a hobby.

thats the upside of not living in the Schengen-Area (which travel ban didnt make sense to me during the summer months, but I think that was a political rather than virulogical/epidemiological decision). i just dont have 4 weeks holiday in a row to spend 14 days in MEX/TRK and then visit the states.

my excel spreadsheet "cancelled flights" now contains 58 flights on 9 tickets worth 135631 Avios and 3320 TP since TP reset (May 8)... did I already mention that i just need a hobby?