whmere

I keep seeing fleeting glimpses of this status. Occasionally mentioned on a lounge access plaque, in a Terms & Conditions document, once I acutally saw one of these rare and mythical beings with Premier luggage tags.

So my question is, what is Premier status? What does it get you that Gold does not? And how do you get it? Noone at BA will give me a straight answer other than its 'by invitation only'. What that means to me is it is unpublished - but there must be a policy somewhere!

Is anyone out there a Premier? Can one of you BA insiders give me the skinny? Now I'm Gold I'm busy accruing miles and status on other OW airlines but maybe if I had a new target (similar to the MM targets on AA etc) I would be even more loyal to BA...

CTEASDEL

That is the million pound question!
When BA tell you it is by invatation only they are correct. I dont think that any they have a threshold to join it so you can't earn enough points. Merry as we know is one as he does a shed load more flying than most of us. My 3000+ points this year will be nowhere near enough to gain the "P" card. I know of two other Prems, they both do some Premium travel but not what I would call a hell of a lot, they both do however have very high positions in a company that spends one hell of a lot of money with BA.
What do Prems get over Gold? Too be honest i don't know. I am sure they will get a seat on a flight in their choice of class. Award availabiliy is probably better?
I am happy at Gold as I have been for a few years, I dont think Prem is something I need to worry about as I get looked after most of the time anyway.

Any Prems want to add some facts to this? I am only guessing at the criteria and benefits. Any way I like the secrecy behind these levels...

christep

A couple of years ago I had a discussion with BA in Hong Kong about this. I was told that a minimum requirement was to be in a job that controlled at least HKD2M (US$250,000) of expenditure on routes that were served by BA (which from HKG means LHR-HKG, so approaching two J RTs per week). And then I would have to demonstrate this by moving a significant amount of business to them over a few months.

And then they might possibly consider inviting me.

I decided it wasn't worth the hassle since at that point as a BA Gold I was getting op-up'd to F well over 50% on LHR-HKG, and I couldn't see what else they could offer me, and frankly I was beginning to realise that I preferred CX anyway.

Now, how to get a lifetime invitation membership on CX is a whole other discussion

[This message has been edited by christep (edited 10-02-2002).]

exBAres

Becoming a 'PREM' means that you need to be putting a LOT of business BA's way. I can't qualify that statement with a figure but we're talking VERY BIG BUCKS here.

As for extra services, I would imagine that you would end up with most BA staff bowing and grovelling around you and being able to get a seat of virtually any flight, despite how busy it is! In airline terms, I suppose it's like having a black AMEX card - very high profile!

Most Prems that I encountered in my day were CEO's of big banks / multinationals and extremely pleasant - (Although the current cardholder list may have shrunk now that big investment banks have deferred to GO for their European flights!). As to how PREM's are selected, I know that Country Sales Managers within BA used to be able arrange cards for special clients.

I remember once when I was still working in the airport and we had a PREM connecting from a worldwide flight onto the shuttle up to Scotland. We had the misfortune of loing his bags in LHR and he was met by the station manager in Edinburgh upon arrrival who was full of apologies. I think that was the only time that our boss ever made it airside that year! Mr PREM was very understanding but that's hardly surprising as he wasn't downstairs in the baggage hall battling with the other 100 people on the flight who were missing baggage!

Perhaps Pucci can recount her inflight experiences of those who have reached the highest echelon of BA's VIP status....?

ScottC

All the above answers are correct, you don't earn Prem as it is invitation only. If I am correct you won't get ever get it off individual travel either, ECCA travel only. If the amount spent under the ECCA is enough then PERHAPS the firm will get one Prem. As for perks, the written perks are all the same as gold, it's the extra attention BA Special Services offers and the fact that they really honor the perks that make the difference.

Prem is one of those things where if you have to ask about it you won't get it...

whmere

From the sounds of it, you're right. Note to self: set-up multinational company build billion dollar sales go public give business to BA in order to get PREM . Well, maybe that's taking status a bit too far. I'll take CTEASDEL's advice and be happy with what I've got. AA EXP here I come!

hfly

I know three of them. All have certain connections and/or importance. I often see Prems that are also wearing a "greyhound" on their lapels (who incidentally are the same guys that planes often get held for). Some of you know who these guys are (wink,wink).

bagold

christep, from what i remember there are life time BA premiers out there. I think Merry is one. It is denoated by one of the digits of your premier number.

whmere, if you do a search here on premier, you will find a lot of discussions about it. merry was a frequent poster on this board and is a premier. He provided some insight into being a premier.

influential

One thing a premier does get is front 2/3 row seats on Concorde. I sat next to a frequent Concorder on row 3 in June who was most peeved to have been outed from his normal row 1 seat by a premier...

db7

row 1 in ce is also held now for prems until 24hrs before departure

ScottC

But not on these routes:

CDG / AMS / LUX / BRU / JER / GCI / DUB / ORK / SNN

And the official policy is that it's for Premier Executive/equivalent oneworld (ie invitation only) Card Holders plus travel companions only.

Gaza

I remember Merry posting that "BA don't like to see Premiers sitting in the back of the bus" !

As well as CEO's and CFO's I believe certain Government ministers and Lords of the Realm are given Premier, especially if their remit concerns Transport, although the current UK Transport Minister seems to prefer BD. I have sat next to him on a few occasions (and spotted him a number of other occasions) on the EDI-LHR route. In fact, most Scottish based MP's and Ministers travel BD. I was sitting next to Tam Dalyell on Saturday. He had been at the "anti-war" demo in London. No surprise there then!

We have a couple of Premier's (that I know of) in the company I work for.

Wingnut

I'll bite. I don't know, but am intrigued. If it's classified ( ) please email me!

Skimo

I seem to have a figure of aprox. <GBP1500000 greaseing BA's palm in my head to be eligble for consideration.

RichardMannion

Well with our �2m+ with BA each year for the UK, I haven't seen any Premiers. What we mor elikely have though is a few individuals at CIP status.

I know we do get Gold EC status given to Exec but that's about it.

But then BA don't like me, as I have a nasty habit of taking flights off them and giving them to VS One conference alone this year was worth over �400k in airfares, of which BA saw very little

Oh and on the comment about it being rare like a black (Centurion) AmEx card, its even rarer. There's approx 10,000 Centurion accounts in the UK, when the Sunday Times talked about BA Premier last year it was said there were less than 1000 Premiers.

Richard

[This message has been edited by RichardMannion (edited 10-03-2002).]