Swanhunter

Welcome to the profoundly indifferent status - I've noticed precisely no change as a result of being GfL. However my previous benchmark is the earlier years of GGL where I got very well looked after.

It's a nice bauble to have - V class award availbility for ET, OW lounge access, First wing and exit row seating at booking are the big benefits.

Cw novice

Even more impressively would be someone who did this trip in W twice a month would take them just over 8 years. J would be 5 years.

I wonder if anyone has got GGL or indeed GFL having never booked J. Although I would imagine they would get a fair amount of upgrades.

Midships

That's what I am hoping for.

Midships

I really don't know how CIV works, but I am guessing that your recent and future booked spend is probably of the most interest to them is assessing your value today, and how much you're on BA metal, rather than your thirty years of flying.

Howard Long

Pretty sure mine may well be in excess of 30 years, I have about 4 years to go at the current run rate. I concentrated on Virgin, Delta, Emirates and BMI until about 15 years ago, so my BA flying was patchy to say the least, avoiding them due to BA�s behaviour in the Dirty Tricks scandal.

TheRealBabushka

Congratulations! Welcome to the club.

bafan

If I�m lucky (and maintain my current flying pattern), I�ll make it in 20 years - for a total of about 40 years.

Saladman

At my current accrual rate it�s another 44 years to go for me, making a total of 98 years. Hmmm.

In my defence I have spent a lot of time doing staff travel which obviously doesn�t accrue anything.

rapidex

I think its more a looking after grandad syndrome

wuzziduzziman

Interesting thread, I'm not too familiar with BA but they appear to have a quite different and unique LT qualification scheme compared to most ST or *A FFP's

BA or bust

OK, so how different are they?

wuzziduzziman

LT elite qualification period spanning over eternity appears unique to me. In AF/KL Flying Blue for example you need to qualify for Platinum 10 years in a row, without interruption.

NWIFlyer

Many would measure by number of consecutive years at a particular tier - Flying Blue, for example, requires 10 years at Platinum for lifetime.

But the BA method is certainly not unique either - I think Asiania is miles-based, as is United (and for UA, it's their metal that counts).

I took my first BA flight in June 1998 - in Y, to CDG, in order to attend some games at the World Cup that year. I recall a very uncomfortable few hours trying to catch a bit of sleep in the early hours on a seat in probably T4 having travelled from Norfolk at some ungodly hour, followed by a group of Scottish fans emptying the bar's entire collection of miniature bottles of whisky.

At current trajectory, having used pretty much only Skyteam and Star Alliance from then until the takeover of BMI, I should qualify around 2037 - like the OP, hopefully just before retirement.

Robespierre

Iberia's equivalent to GfL is also based on total earning and is branded as a separate tier �Infinita�. AA needs 2 million miles to get Platinum for Life but that is still only OWS. I forget QF�s criteria for lifetime OWE but thought it was a lot harder to obtain than BA GfL. It always struck me as odd that all TPs from oneworld carriers counted towards lifetime status on BA rather than those obtained from BA tickets or BA metal but I assume that oneworld had to validate the rules for these programmes so perhaps that was part of the deal.

Congratulations OP for your persistence over 30 years and your achievement!

Nimrod1965

Congratulations on your achievement!

I have been a sporadic flyer with BA since 1989, was Silver between 2014 and 2019 but now an occasional and reluctant Bronze; I will never be GFL so does that mean that I win a prize?