matinicus rock

Hello BAEC Gurus,

I’m a recently minted EXP on AA, and will have that status until 2/2024 thanks to the inclusion of credit card spend in earning LP’s.

Just landed a job in RUH this fall, which will involve 3 RT’s from LAX in Business on QR. Using the tier points calculator on the BAEC page, I see these 2 leg RT flights earn me 160 (LAX-DOH) and 90 (DOH-RUH) in each direction, for a total of 250x6=1500… right?

my question to you experts is, should I use my BAEC number for these flights, which would, correct me if I’m wrong, earn me Gold status by year’s end? I do have two other BA flights to LHR from ORD and BOS this fall to put me over if my above calculations are wrong.

I guess my question is, with OWE already earned via AA EXP, do I gain anything more by being BA Gold? I will fly BA several times in 2023 within Europe and back and forth between USA and UK, but as soon as January 2023 rolls around I’ll once again refocus on earning AA LP’s.

I do see this opportunity as outlined above though… is it worth it? Do I gain anything? Or should I just stick to earning LPs and miles with AA?

thanks!

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Just to be aware that you will also need 4 flights on BA metal or booked with a BA flight number to get Gold in addition to the 1500 Tier points ( maybe the reduced 1125 tier points if you can earn all of them prior to end- Dec 2022)

BA Gold would give you AA & Alaska lounge access when flying in the US

Regards

TBS

guv1976

OP: If lounge access is important to you when flying domestically, you would only need oneworld Sapphire -- not Emerald -- in a foreign FFP to get that access. Both BA Silver (OWS) and BA Gold (OWE) require four qualifying BA flights (as outlined in the preceding post by TBS). But the Iberia Plus FFP does not require any flights on Iberia to attain status. So if you want domestic lounge access, I would credit just enough of your QR flights to IB Plus to attain Iberia Plus Oro (OWS), and then credit the rest to AAdvantage. When it comes to upgrades on AA, AAdvantage EXPs with more Loyalty Points are given a higher priority than EXPs with fewer Loyalty Points.

Two Business Class roundtrips to RUH on QR would get you Iberia Plus Oro status. But note that the earning period for Iberia Plus runs from April 1 to March 31, so your two roundtrips would have to occur within that period.

More information about crediting QR flights to IB Plus can be found in this "Inside Flyer" article from a few years ago:

https://insideflyer.co.uk/2019/03/qa...f-iberia-plus/

("WHY QATAR AIRWAYS BUSINESS CLASS REGULARS MIGHT BE BETTER OFF WITH IBERIA PLUS")

craigthemif

Doha to RIyadh is way too short of a flight to be earning 90TPs each way in any class.

It should be 40 TPs in J.


You will earn SUBSTANTIALLY more redeemable miles on AAdvantage when flying Qatar J long-haul with elite status. I would stick with AA, especially with the ability to top up LPs / status with credit card spend.

matinicus rock

I guess I should have mentioned that I already have domestic lounge access with the AAdvantage Executive Card. Sounds like I should stick with earning LP’s on AA. Thanks!

flyingnomad

DOH-RUH will be regional F on a 2-class aircraft (narrow-body or wide-body) and will earn 60 TP.

On QR, any long-haul J fare booked with a regional DOH-XXX short-haul connection books into A/F inventory on that short-haul leg, even though the cabin/seat is the same one sold as J class on long-haul flights.

flyingnomad

I assume you mean the Citi credit card? Worth noting that will only give you access to AA Admirals Clubs - you wouldn’t have access to Alaska lounges (and AA Flagship lounges either?), whereas as a non-AA Oneworld Emerald you would have access to both of those.

Edit: of course, depending on which US airports you frequent most, the above may or may not be of value.

guv1976

That's not necessarily the end of the inquiry. If you could obtain lounge access with Iberia Plus elite status, would you ditch the Executive card (and its $450 annual fee), in favor of the $99-annual-fee Citi AAdvantage Platinum card? The latter card offers double redeemable miles on restaurant and gas station charges; offers a 60,000-mile sign-up bonus; and waives the first-year annual fee.

Do you have any use for Avios for redemption travel? In some cases, Avios will result in a cheaper redemption than AAdvantage miles -- particularly for intra-European travel on BA/IB.

JP Flyer

Are you Platinum with AAdvantage, because if you are not then the only real advantage would be to get Flagship Lounge access when traveling domestically.

matinicus rock

I have the BA Visa card that I earn Avios on, and between that and the AA Executive Card I feel like I got it covered with award travel ( and yes BA is great for inter-Europe award travel and AA better for transatlantic award travel). I'm EXP with AA. I don't really see needing access to any lounges other than AC stateside (I also have Priority Pass) - biggest perk always seems to be Galleries access in UK having >OW Sapphire. I get gas and restaurant bonuses thru promotions with AA Exec card too.

ghsbass0406

Inasmuch as I am both EXP with AA and Gold with BAEC, I can safely say that there are major benefits in having BAEC Gold (or Silver for that matter) for access to the Flagship Lounge domestically for you and a guest. I'm DFW based so every domestic flight now begins with a trip to the DFW FL. There are many ways in which you can take advantage of BAEC's TP metrics to easily procure 450TPs to make you Silver, and therefore eligible for FL access, before the end of the year.

matinicus rock

Interesting - you're talking about the FL as opposed to the regular AC. I would definitely make BAEC Silver by year's end. The only thing is - if I wanted to access the FL would I need to have my AA stock recorded with my BAEC number? Because after the first of the year I'd go back to using my AAdvantage number to re-accrue for EXP or PP status again.

guv1976, with regards to Iberia, do they work in Avois like QR so I can transfer Avios to BA? If so, interesting...

Thank again for all the help everyone - really appreciate it!

guv1976

When the transfer mechanism is working properly, you should be able to freely transfer Avios between IB+ and BAEC (in either direction) as long as both accounts have been open for at least 90 days, and each is funded with at least one earned Avios.

I agree that redeeming Avios from a BAEC account is usually better than redeeming them from an IB+ account. The only exception would be if you wanted to redeem for travel on an IB+ partner that is not also a BAEC partner (like Vueling, e.g.)

ghsbass0406

I usually will book the ticket on my AA FF number, fly on my AA FF number to get the LPs and/or for the complimentary upgrade eligibility, but immediately after scanning my BP upon entry to the FL, I show the agent my BAEC card. The FL agent then records the BAEC number and then grants me access even though I'll ultimately credit the flight to AA.

If I'm flying on AA but want the BA TPs instead of AA LPs, I'll credit to BAEC, but I still have to show the agent my BAEC card since their system (according to the FL agents) doesn't show what level (Emerald/ Sapphire vs. Bronze) in One World the flyer is, just that they're a member of BAEC.

nk15

I am going to guess this is “grey area”…