hmv

As a result of the recent announced changes at the AAdvantage program and the lowered covid-limits at BAEC, I am seriously considering to transition to BAEC. At the moment I am AA Plat, while located in The Netherlands with status till the end of March 2022 at AA.
At this moment I have a AMS-LHR-ORD roundtrip planned in J in 3 weeks, which would give me 360 tier points.
I I am correct it will make me BA Bronze (225 TP) and only 90 TP short of BA Silver or does the amount of tier points go back to 0 after reaching the first stage (so 135 TP towards the next goal of 450 TP for Silver)?

Could I also still use my AA status benefits while crediting to BAEC during the period till I reach BA Silver?

jerry a. laska

Tier points do not reset after you attain status with BAEC (many many years ago they did). See the Guide at the top of the forum thread listing.

Yes, you can. You just need to be careful to change your number to your BAEC number before your flight.

NA-Flyer

One thing I learned from my travel experience: Always aim to gain status with the airline you are flying the most to access all the possible benefits.

If you fly BA most of the time, aim to their GC.

hsumh316

What does One World Sapphire provide on top of flying J? If there isn't much of an added benefit for the OP, OP should just credit to BAEC.

Flyertalker001342

(1) A better phone number to call BA with, that gets answered before your green bananas turn brown;

(2) Seat selection at the time of booking; you do not get this with a J fare and without any status you have to wait to check-in, which can be deadly with the older (non-suite) CW product;

(3) Mileage/Avios bonuses.

If you fly exclusively in First in long haul, then the seat selection issue goes away.

SeattleDavid

I am in the same boat (plane?) - living in UK and EXP until March 2022. I was planning on switching to BAEC in 2020, but COVID put paid to that. Now, with the AA changes I think I have to switch since 30 segments is going to be feasible.

One thing to pay attention to is the need for 2 (Bronze) or 4 (Silver) BA flight segments (coded or operated).

Tier points are a bit annoying as flying LHR-LAX earns half what LHR-JFK-LAX earns, but I think one might just have to live with that, though flying JFK-LAX in economy doesn't earn many tier points either (unless in a higher fare).

The main benefit for me will be lounge access on domestic flights when I am in the US – though that won't be that many times per year in fact.

The other BA advantage is that (at the current time) BAEC still does soft landings – so if I can do 1125 Tier points by the end of June next year I will be OWE until December 2023 and Silver through to the end of 2024, even if I earn no more tier points.

alex67500

BA Silver provides lounge access on US domestic flights, which AA Plat or a J/F ticket don't.

hmv

I am not flying J frequently (mix of premium economy on long haul and economy on short haul depending of the destination), AMS-LHR roundtrips normally in Economy so lounge access and seat selection is an importing item for me.
Soft landing as SeattleDavid pointed out is also a good reason to switch since AA has a hard landing policy and I might even go for Gold before June 22 because it is still within reach with a QR roundtrip in J to Asia (and still affordable) plus another ytd destination, to make sure I have a minimum of BA Silver till december 2024.

hsumh316

I was just referring to your upcoming trip with my comment and whether or not it was necessary to have your AA status and then switch to BAEC on the J ticket or to just put your BAEC number on there. The early free seat selection is probably the most helpful to have your AA status on there for. You already get lounge access with the J ticket and since you have an international flight, you will get lounge access on a domestic flight that connects to the international itinerary.

southlondonphil

If you can possibly work in a minimum 5 night Flight+Hotel or Flight+Car package booking with BA Holidays before the end of March 2022 you will get Double Tier Points which could be helpful if you do decide to go all-out (all in?) for Gold straight away.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...le-tier-points

Reetmafreen

Can switching FF account numbers be done part way through a trip? I’m EXP and will switch to BAEC next year after the AA changes.

I have a LAX-MAD-ALC-MAD-LHR-SAN trip crediting to AA with the first 4 legs on IB metal and the last one on BA. Only the BA flight requires that I have status to reserve a seat, so I can’t do anything prior to that flight as I currently am only at BAEC blue. Is it possible at check in at the FW at LHR, to have the agent flip the FF# to my BAEC number? (I believe I would still have access to GF using my AA EXP card)

GBOAC

Just looked at what AA have done.
If BA did something similar (e.g. 120k avios to reach Gold) it would close to DOUBLE the amount of flights or spend needed to get to Silver or Gold (assuming flying WTP or CW). Hope they don't plan similar changes.

I can see why you might want to move to BAEC now.

hmv

AAdvantage has basically become a credit card loyalty program: based on your credit card spend you can reach the top tier without flying. I think a lot of AA flyers, especially the European based ones will now be contemplating the same switch.

Flyertalker001342

The TP system BA uses does require you to actually fly BA in order to ascend the tiers. On the other hand, BA flight award availability sucks, especially if you want to fly up front. So you can rise in tiers relatively easily, but in order to preserve the tier (unless you fly a LOT) plus the absence of up front award seating availability makes it hard to use your Avios points for anything resembling what they are supposedly worth. You can't have everything :-)

Geordie405

As someone who lives in the USA and who would never have been able to make EXP based on the EQD requirement I wouldn't be touching the reincarnated AAdvantage program with a bargepole!

The one major drawback to having status with BA as opposed to AA would be the loss of upgrades on domestic flights - although given that the upgrade lists on my two AA flights at the weekend were both 20+ and no one cleared it may be a moot point. The major benefit to having status with BA would be the ability to use the lounges while flying on domestic US itineraries - but the Flagship Lounges remain closed in DFW, ORD and LAX which means the only offering would be the Admirals Club.

Regarding the comment above about reward flight availability, BA does make a certain number of reward seats available on every flight (just not in the First cabin) but you need to plan ahead - by booking at T-355 days when the seats are released - to secure them. More recently I have tended to use my Avios for flights within the USA where the nominal taxes make them very good value. The alternative is for last-minute reservations where the cash price for the same ticket would be significant.

One recent change is that EXP fliers with AA all get to board as Group 1 whereas BA Gold would board as Group 2. Previously it was only passengers flying First who would would be Group 1. At the end of the day it's not really a big difference as there's always still plenty of overhead bin space available.