BusinessOnly

I am like SavvyTravel and Spike..

Tier Point Collection 8th May 2022, Card Expiry 30th June 2022. I did receive the e-mail in December 2021 saying it would be updated but it hasn't been so far..

I've not flown for 2 years and have already dropped from Gold to Silver (Just the way the various extensions / dates hit).. If i could at least keep Silver until June 2023 i have very good chance to get back to gold (even with full points requirement) the following year..

It would be super helpful if you could report back on how you get on Spike.. I'll then have to also chase myself!

Thanks

Wozza2404

I'll be interested to see how this goes. I'm August renewal and whilst my travel is still a fraction of what it was pre pandemic, I will requalify for GGL at the reduced thresholds quite comfortably (assuming travel doesn't change significantly again in that time) - whilst I'd have definitely been in the minority during 2020/21, I wonder how those numbers have changed now parts of the world have reopened for 2021/22.

For clarity that's not me saying BA should or shouldn't extend for Jul/Aug/Sept renewals - more that I'm curious at what point they'll deem numbers of pax requalifying to be high enough and draw a line under the extensions.

zen100

^^^ This.

Sooner or later, BA have to stop automatic extensions. There will always be some customers that feel their travel continues to be impacted by Covid. BA can't keep forever extending just because one route isn't back to pre-Covid levels, or someone's company still hasn't resumed business travel.

Is July too soon to stop automatic extenions - possibly. But the line has to drawn somewhere.

TTmex

Same here. Was just discussing with family today. In my case I'll requal for gold either way and wife will for silver. Our biggest decision is whether to get wife to gold by our August 8th deadline. She'll be about 300 short of the threshold, but we haven't factored in at least one set of return flights in Europe yet, so may well be worth sending her on a TP run for the additional points. I'd not be surprised if BA stopped with the extensions soon. There's got to be a limit at some point.

Wozza2404

Obviously this is complete speculation on my part, but I think that with the bulk of Asia and Australasia still being closed, we'll see extensions (done in 3 month blocks) for years ending through December 2022.

For Jan 2023 onwards I think it very much comes down to how quickly countries open up. But as it stands with travel restrictions easing - for the most part - as the weeks roll on, I can't see any extensions going further than Dec 22 with how things are at the moment.

Of course anything can happen between now and then, but Asia opening up again is going to be key.

drwook

If I was a betting man, this is what I'd put my money on too.

scottishpoet

I can see something like this too, perhaps with the addition that for people who did not manage to retain their status level then their points or 50% of their points roll over into the next year so they have a shorter path to get it back

Hannibal Lecter

Same here, I've called and complained but got a rather clueless response and no help.

dougzz

Not sure about this. The way things have been done by BA to me suggests they have little flexibility in their IT structure for anything beyond blunt expire/extend. I’ve not given it a great deal of thought, I like my status benefits but not essential to me, if they were able to I’d have expected a more nuanced approach previously, but it’s been all of nothing, well in fairness so far it’s been all.

I'm an April YE so was recently extended to ‘23. I’d not expected that, and was at 720TP after a double TP holiday in Florida in December. I’d booked a trip to Nevada/Arizona for January I was in two minds about, timed mostly to land in this status year so get my gold again. Once they extended I took a voucher and will look for something later in the year. I just offer this as an example of the extensions having consequences.

zen100

That is what I suspect will happen as well - along with reduced tier point thresholds extended for another year.

BA will have the data how many have already requalified and/or are likely to do so. If it looks like BA will "lose" more than half the cohort for that quarter, there will be further extensions. But the annoucements may come late, probably less than 3 months.

xenole

I'm still not sure why BA is still doing extensions.
Some of the world is open, especially the US (been open to at least the UK for nearly 3-4 months now), so there's no major reason why people couldnt fly there, to Europe, Mexico etc. and earn TPs if status is important.

I'm betting if i messaged BA and told them "Well, I really want to go to country xxx, but it isn't open to me, so i want an extra year or two of gold", they would happily give it to me when there are many other places I could fly to (non-Asian / Australasia as they seem to be a key areas for some at present)

I, and BA, would expect some people to naturally drop away, others to earn TPs through work and leisure, and some to do the odd run for that last push.

TTmex

I wonder whether another wave of extensions would work but with an incentive for those actually hitting, for example. if you get extended at Gold then you get your normal benefits, but if you hit 1500 they flip you an GUF1 or something for having got there through flying. Perhaps a temporary thing for a year to incentivise people to qualify through flying.?

Globaliser

Your argument works fine for those to whom status is important in itself. Can't earn TPs flying to HKG? Then earn status flying to LAX instead!

But for most status holders (outside FT), status isn't important in itself. Status is something that comes naturally from doing the flying that they would do in any event. Status makes that flying easier, and that is its importance to most status holders. For BA, status is one tool to encourage the status holder to choose BA/OW when doing the flying that they would do anyway.

If a status holder can't currently fly to the places that they would like, keeping status keeps that tool in place for the day when flying becomes possible again. If BA did not keep that tool in place, the status holder would not suddenly fly to all sorts of different places just to keep their status - that's FT behaviour, not real-world behaviour. The status holder would just let their status lapse, and BA would lose that tool for the day that the status holder starts flying again. Would the status holder still choose BA/OW? Maybe, maybe not. But extensions push the balance towards BA's favour, especially given that BA status is already familiar to the status holder.

scottishpoet

I too am an April renewal

Based on the complete lack of OW flights coming to krakow I was sure they would do something, I just was not sure if it was an extension for the full year or not.

I agree extensions have consequences, not extending also has consequences. Many many businesses have not restarted any significant travel. if people do not have their shiny card when they are allowed to travel again then they may be more tempted to look at other possibilities.

xenole

Is it 3750 TP to gain GGL status at present (or up to 3 Aug)?

How much does business travel benefit from a shiny card anyway?
Is it a general thing to be to earn TP / Avios, seat selection, lounge access etc.? Do some companies treat anything earned as their property?
Do people book their own flights and get reimbursed by a company or client, or is most travel through an internal travel agent who might favour or be tied to a specific airline / alliance?