srbrenna

I remember rumours that the Aberdeen flights were rammed with golds in the 90’s

You used to need 1700 points for gold and 1300 to retain. Silver was 700/500. You got no points for economy apart from YBH. WT+ didn’t exist and when it was introduced it was 75 per sector. J was 120 and F was 180. You got no points on AA TATL either and OW was a lot smaller. People did TP runs in the US but you had to get there first. On the upside you did get 180 points for the short fifth freedom flights in F.

Globaliser

Back in the days when Gold was really worth something, oneworld didn't even exist. It only started operating in February 1999. IIRC, WT+ was not introduced until (soon) after that.

Before that, status pretty much had to be earned by flying on BA alone, and only at the top end of economy or in premium cabins.

Arguably, it's easier to get to GGL today than it was to get to Gold back then. That's why BA could really look after Golds then, and why Gold benefits have inevitably had to be reduced.

The Economist's article on The perils of panflation is as relevant today as it was when it was written, a decade ago.

PGberkshire

GGL is the new Gold

stifle

I certainly remember being able to do this a few times when I was gold, though I don't remember the precise details.

AdBoy

doh-bah-doh-bah-doh!

FlightDetective

To one extent or another, I'm sure.

Due to the difficulty of achieving Gold in the past (as outlined above, YBH in Economy only etc etc), my impression is that there is still an awe factor around "Gold Card Holders" delivered in training to the crew. I remember when an ex of mine went from easyJet to Mixed Fleet. The way he spoke about GCH was with a particular reverence as though they were these amazing godlike passengers who could do no wrong, which would have only have been instilled in him during the training.

(as an aside, he took great delight in telling everyone his boyfriend was a GCH which made me cringe, especially because at the time it was a gold card... with Qantas (the equivalent of BA Silver). He never did let facts stand in the way of trying to make himself look important, but he was young!)

As I've said before, I get treated nicer as Gold compared to when I'm Silver and I'm sure it comes from what Gold actually was historically to certain extent.

PGberkshire

Agree, there is a sort of mythical reverence for Gold - which seems legacy, especially in the age of 75% requirements and double TP holidays.

It really means you get 3 things, the F wing, time in gods waiting room (GF) and row 1 or exit seats.

AirbusA350

I personally feel that the number of status holders is still rather small compared to the volume of passengers BA has on a daily basis. Perhaps when you look at it from a status holder’s perspective, you may feel that there’s just “loads of them” as you just look within the limited scope of the lounges or the size of a priority queue. In reality, despite the appearance, the hard numbers probably still overwhelmingly show that the percentage of status holders is still very much a minority. Trouble is forums like this and other frequent flyer blogs (HfP, GTSP, OMAAT etc) are all echo chambers of sorts whereby a significant proportion are indeed status holders chatting amongst themselves which gives a false impression, I believe, of there being “so many”. True it may not be as niche as it used to be in the 80s/90s, however, equally flying in general has exponentially grown and the number of people flying in general is far from comparable to back then. Therefore, I do believe this has proportionately grown the status holders base also, but not to a level where it’s seemingly “so easy” to get status by only flying once, which is the impression quite a few seem to portray here. Far from it. As I mentioned in a previous post, I do believe this will naturally “reset” itself once the status extensions start running out anyway. Similarly I’m sure BA will devalue again at some point whilst potentially tightening requirements too, which I’m sure will generate a different sort of “I’m never flying BA again” arguments here if and when that were to happen!

jeremyBA

I used to work for rbs and goto my team in Scotland once a week - as did half the plane. We were all gold as all it needed was a transatlantic to top off the tier points. That was the only time I was gold. Then I stopped travelling for a year and used the benefits once I think !

srbrenna

Agreed. It’s just that the number of GCHs in a group full of GCHs seems large. Who would also think that the F lounge would be busy too? If it wasn’t then we’d see a few enhancements.

In the real world the thought that you’d TP run or take trips with multiple stopovers seems insane rather than completely normal as it does here.

I also agree that the numbers will reset somewhat if business travel doesn’t pick up. I’d imagine there are a few people out there with multiple vouchers and large Avios balances who will be spending them soon.

AirbusA350

Glad you see what I’m trying to say. It’s akin to say using something like twitter/Facebook, it’ll keep showing you things you’re interested in and will keep showing you stuff that aligns with your thoughts hence giving a false sense of reality.

You’re absolutely right, many of my friends/family think I’m outright crazy doing the TP runs and intentionally booking multi-stop trips for something that can be flown directly. Even the explanation of the benefits it gives in terms of status, more Avios etc doesn’t win them over. The ones that slightly get it only later get put off by the “complexity” of it all. The number of people who can’t even stand the thought of a one stop flight via DXB or DOH with EK/QR but instead want to slum it out in WT with BA is also rather high!

FlightDetective

The one stop thing is a deal breaker for a lot of people. I've had friends fly Ryanair for €480 return direct DUB-MLA when they had the option of Club Europe via London for slightly less... and they elected to book Ryanair. Madness in my book, but there is the time element I suppose

Globaliser

This is undoubtedly true, but doesn't change the position that BA (and other airlines) have had to respond to an increase in the proportion. It's one thing if Golds are (say) 0.25% of your passenger population; it's another thing if Golds become (say) 1.0% of the population. In both cases, both the number and proportion of Golds is still small compare to the total passenger population, but it's obvious that the airline can't do everything for the latter group that they had historically done for the former group.

It's worse if your Golds truly reflect business sent to BA, because there are no alliance partners on which you can earn that status; but then there is that change because much of the status is being earned on other airlines in the alliance.However, the removal of benefits like free cancellations/changes for Gold had nothing to do with the pandemic or its effects. Such things happened a long time ago, reflecting trends that have been well established for many years.

AirbusA350

I think also expectations need to be reset as to “what can the airline do” for that 1%? The numbers of people travelling as a whole are just so high compared to the “olden days” that unless there’s like a ratio of say 1 BA employee dedicated to 20 status holders, it’s just not going to happen. Having said that, it isn’t untrue that BA’s status lines have a much better chance of being connected and more often than not they are usually very good and the experiences can often be far superior to what somebody without status experiences. In fact if anything I’d say the Gold line or the GGL contact etc alone is sort of a benefit in its own right. One has to experience pulling hairs out dealing with IB, QR or majority of AA phone agents to truly appreciate the difference.

Also the alliance partners earning is a “problem” for any airline that’s in an alliance. There is always that risk that there will be a proportion that will earn majority of their status flying elsewhere (I’m certainly one of them as I don’t want to give BA any business, if at all I can avoid it, until they get their act together in the CW cabin and operationally in general), but again the number of status holders who earn it this way is even smaller within that theoretical 1%. Truth is unless one’s Premier or very high CIV GGL, there won’t be the sense of very personalised exclusivity. But what’s wrong with that? Isn’t access to global F/J lounges + 1 guest, free seat selection with potential for a blocked seat next to you, increased earnings/tier bonus + priority phone line amongst other benefits “enough”? It’s certainly far more than what the lady down the road got for her £800 return to the Caribbean in WT where she’d have to shell out another £100 if she wanted to be guaranteed a seat next to her husband.

jerry a. laska

Here is the thread where we discussed the changes to Gold status at the time:
BAEC changes: Gold award change/cancel fees introduced