Executive Club Changes
Feb 28, 2003, 2:05 pm
#121
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: The OC ca usa
Programs: BA Blue forever!
Posts: 633
BA won't let me log in right now [good news spreads fast]."Try later". Because we only take one trip a year to London or maybe as far as Italy and rarely use a domestic partner we have never gotten above Blue. All the tier rules seem very complicated to me. Most of our miles come from our BA First USA Visa card. We are sitting on approx. 250,000 miles [couldn't get CW last trip so bought]. My question is - how many miles to get an award ticket Los Angeles to London [or Italy-the same number] and back? WT or CW? Do we have to finish the trip before July 1, 2003? Thanks!
Feb 28, 2003, 2:17 pm
#122
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: None any more
Posts: 11,017
If you are an Asian member it seems the tier entry requirements have gone up a bit, but all the miles and awards continue to be done in AsiaMiles. This has always had upgrades on BA, and 100% mileage accrual in YBHKLM classes (handy for things like OneWorldExplorer tickets).
In the past it didn't look so good - but now it might be the best option if you can find an address in Asia.
It isn't clear to me whether an F RT LAX-SYD via LHR on BA would be 180,000 or 210,000 miles. and a J-F RT upgrade would be 80K or 95K. These depend on whether they would take the LAX-SYD direct distance or the route mileage.
But despite all your whinging - to get to OW Emerald flying business class between HKG and London would even now only require just over 6 round trips in business class on BA. To get there (Diamond) in Marco Polo would require 8 round trips.
In a more extreme case, if I were commuting HKG-JKT, which is a little over 2000 miles, then it would still require only 6 round trips in J to get Emerald in BAEC, but well over 20 round trips in J to get Emerald in MarcoPolo.
[This message has been edited by christep (edited 02-28-2003).]
In the past it didn't look so good - but now it might be the best option if you can find an address in Asia.
It isn't clear to me whether an F RT LAX-SYD via LHR on BA would be 180,000 or 210,000 miles. and a J-F RT upgrade would be 80K or 95K. These depend on whether they would take the LAX-SYD direct distance or the route mileage.
But despite all your whinging - to get to OW Emerald flying business class between HKG and London would even now only require just over 6 round trips in business class on BA. To get there (Diamond) in Marco Polo would require 8 round trips.
In a more extreme case, if I were commuting HKG-JKT, which is a little over 2000 miles, then it would still require only 6 round trips in J to get Emerald in BAEC, but well over 20 round trips in J to get Emerald in MarcoPolo.
[This message has been edited by christep (edited 02-28-2003).]
Feb 28, 2003, 2:33 pm
#123
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: SAV/HHH
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold (current GGL), HH Diamond
Posts: 1,293
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by daph:
BA won't let me log in right now [good news spreads fast]."Try later". Because we only take one trip a year to London or maybe as far as Italy and rarely use a domestic partner we have never gotten above Blue. All the tier rules seem very complicated to me. Most of our miles come from our BA First USA Visa card. We are sitting on approx. 250,000 miles [couldn't get CW last trip so bought]. My question is - how many miles to get an award ticket Los Angeles to London [or Italy-the same number] and back? WT or CW? Do we have to finish the trip before July 1, 2003? Thanks!</font>
BA won't let me log in right now [good news spreads fast]."Try later". Because we only take one trip a year to London or maybe as far as Italy and rarely use a domestic partner we have never gotten above Blue. All the tier rules seem very complicated to me. Most of our miles come from our BA First USA Visa card. We are sitting on approx. 250,000 miles [couldn't get CW last trip so bought]. My question is - how many miles to get an award ticket Los Angeles to London [or Italy-the same number] and back? WT or CW? Do we have to finish the trip before July 1, 2003? Thanks!</font>
WT is 40K off-peak/60K peak.
WT+ is 60K off-peak/70K peak.
CW is 80K.
First is 100K.
After July 1:
WT is 50K London/60K Italy.
WT+ is 75K London/90K Italy.
CW is 100K London/120K Italy.
First is 150K London/180K Italy (even though it is only Club Europe on London to Italy)
So basically where the inflation is setting in is in the premium cabins, especially First.
Providing you can find availability, you could book 2 in first now, but after July 1 you'll need more points.
You can book up to close to a year in advance.
(This 1.5x/2x/3x logic sort of made sense in the old UK program as you earned that same multiplier when flying in a premium cabin. But they changed the earning multipliers for them to 1.25x/1.5x/2x.)
Feb 28, 2003, 2:48 pm
#124
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 4,843
Maybe diners club will offer 8 EC miles for 1 DC point this summer.
Feb 28, 2003, 3:02 pm
#125
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 366
What a crap!
Did you notice that one needs to fly at least full economy in order to become a Blue Member? Only then will he/she be allowed to enroll in EC.
I have all of my family back in Europe and always fly discount economy. According to new rules it would take me over 20! round trips to earn free ticket. (that translates to about 10 years in my case).
I will miss you Executive Club. I liked the design of your credit card,the DC promo but it's time for me to move on.
Hello Good Old Lufthansa...
Did you notice that one needs to fly at least full economy in order to become a Blue Member? Only then will he/she be allowed to enroll in EC.
I have all of my family back in Europe and always fly discount economy. According to new rules it would take me over 20! round trips to earn free ticket. (that translates to about 10 years in my case).
I will miss you Executive Club. I liked the design of your credit card,the DC promo but it's time for me to move on.
Hello Good Old Lufthansa...
Feb 28, 2003, 3:21 pm
#126
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Don't know....
Programs: BA LTG, SQ TPPS, CX DMP, AA EXP, Bonvoy LTT, ALL PLT, Hilton DM
Posts: 4,011
Wow... already 4 pages on this topic today! I'm okay with most of the changes EXCEPT for the first class redepemtion awards!
I am waiting to see what the partner awards look like. I cannot believe that it is now 360,000 miles for a F ticket from U.S. to Asia.
Okay, lets compare AA FF program. It still has the 120k / 140k award on CX F to Asia. How will BA explain to the U.S. memebers 360k?
Even UA is 120k to Asia, and 200k anytime award to Asia (that means no inventory restriction).
Unless they exchange our current Executive Miles for BA Miles at a rate or 1 to 3, I will personally lose out a lot! I've saved 1.2 million EC miles for around 8-10 F tickets (depending on CX or BA). Now with 1.2 million, that is only at most 3 1/2 F tickets!
I am waiting to see what the partner awards look like. I cannot believe that it is now 360,000 miles for a F ticket from U.S. to Asia.
Okay, lets compare AA FF program. It still has the 120k / 140k award on CX F to Asia. How will BA explain to the U.S. memebers 360k?
Even UA is 120k to Asia, and 200k anytime award to Asia (that means no inventory restriction).
Unless they exchange our current Executive Miles for BA Miles at a rate or 1 to 3, I will personally lose out a lot! I've saved 1.2 million EC miles for around 8-10 F tickets (depending on CX or BA). Now with 1.2 million, that is only at most 3 1/2 F tickets!
Feb 28, 2003, 3:36 pm
#127
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 4,843
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
The new "contact us" feature:
[email protected] (CEO)
[email protected] (Director of customer services)
The won't read or answer them but you can be sure they will be forwarded to the correct people
</font>
The new "contact us" feature:
[email protected] (CEO)
[email protected] (Director of customer services)
The won't read or answer them but you can be sure they will be forwarded to the correct people
</font>
Feb 28, 2003, 3:45 pm
#128
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Don't know....
Programs: BA LTG, SQ TPPS, CX DMP, AA EXP, Bonvoy LTT, ALL PLT, Hilton DM
Posts: 4,011
Okay, so I found the partner award redemption table.
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...club/_uf/en_us
Click on the link to pop up the table.
So U.S. to Asia on CX/AA/JL is 50,000 economy, which I assume means 150,000 first class. Not too bad in that case!
U.S. to Australia is 80,000 economy, which I assume means 240,000 in first class.
I also just called the BA Gold member services desk and she said that it is what it is. Just seemed like she didn't care what the member thought. It was justified but I asked her to explain how it is justified and she could not answer!
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...club/_uf/en_us
Click on the link to pop up the table.
So U.S. to Asia on CX/AA/JL is 50,000 economy, which I assume means 150,000 first class. Not too bad in that case!
U.S. to Australia is 80,000 economy, which I assume means 240,000 in first class.
I also just called the BA Gold member services desk and she said that it is what it is. Just seemed like she didn't care what the member thought. It was justified but I asked her to explain how it is justified and she could not answer!
Feb 28, 2003, 3:48 pm
#129
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: The OC ca usa
Programs: BA Blue forever!
Posts: 633
Thanks so much to Skippy for the fare chart.
But one question - after July 1 is peak and off peak the same?
But one question - after July 1 is peak and off peak the same?
Feb 28, 2003, 3:51 pm
#130
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 15,354
Being probably the only person on FT with both DL and BA top tier, I can say that the changes evidenced here are MUCH different. DL's redemption levels stayed the same, and recently with the introduction of the Skyteam chart gave some good new options), for many fliers like myself getting top tier has gotten easier.
The UA people had no real change. An originally unpublished benefit (SWU's) had their fare classes adjusted. The comparison between what UA did and what BA is doing is like comparing the power of a parking ticket vs. that of a nuclear bomb.
BA's is murdering the airline. I have personally made sure (mostly via e-mail) that 32 Gold members know about these changes. 19 have e-mailed me back that they are livid and will be changing carriers (three calling me in disbelief), the others haven't replied. Not too bad for a Friday afternoon/evening.
As the e-mail is supposed to supposedly go out this weekend, it is imperative that the press gets hold of this NOW so that it makes it into all of the relevent travel sections this week. British publications are paramount at first because of the "billboard near your bosses house principle". Does anyone have contacts at the FT, Telegraph, Times, Tabloids, etc??
The more I read the PDF the more pissed I get. I do not believe that any program has ever done so much to cheapen a programme at once.
I have e-mailed Randy to get his input as well.
The UA people had no real change. An originally unpublished benefit (SWU's) had their fare classes adjusted. The comparison between what UA did and what BA is doing is like comparing the power of a parking ticket vs. that of a nuclear bomb.
BA's is murdering the airline. I have personally made sure (mostly via e-mail) that 32 Gold members know about these changes. 19 have e-mailed me back that they are livid and will be changing carriers (three calling me in disbelief), the others haven't replied. Not too bad for a Friday afternoon/evening.
As the e-mail is supposed to supposedly go out this weekend, it is imperative that the press gets hold of this NOW so that it makes it into all of the relevent travel sections this week. British publications are paramount at first because of the "billboard near your bosses house principle". Does anyone have contacts at the FT, Telegraph, Times, Tabloids, etc??
The more I read the PDF the more pissed I get. I do not believe that any program has ever done so much to cheapen a programme at once.
I have e-mailed Randy to get his input as well.
Feb 28, 2003, 4:07 pm
#131
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New York, NY
Programs: BAEC Gold, Delta Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, AMEX Platinum (US)
Posts: 18,487
Have just browsed through some of it.
Isn't this a little cheeky. You pay probably six times the price for a Club World ticket and get 50% miles than in World Traveller! .
I do believe that the new version does bias towards the Golds (as it rightly should). You can now get 4.5 times BA miles for Concorde.
It just means frequent leisure traveller Blues like me have to work that little harder for our free flights!
Isn't this a little cheeky. You pay probably six times the price for a Club World ticket and get 50% miles than in World Traveller! .
I do believe that the new version does bias towards the Golds (as it rightly should). You can now get 4.5 times BA miles for Concorde.
It just means frequent leisure traveller Blues like me have to work that little harder for our free flights!
Feb 28, 2003, 4:11 pm
#132
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: An aerobatics box above the noise haters
Posts: 92
This just further alienates the el-cheapo traveller, but BA are already the worlds best airline at that
For the premium traveller based in North America, they have made themselves totally uncompetitive. I guess it all depends on whether you believe FF programs work. If you do believe they work, then BA have really screwed up. I suspect they will be forced to have special deals to attract/keep premium customers.
I guess I'd better start spending those hundreds of thousands of miles I earned before their "customer service" pissed me off for the final time.
For the premium traveller based in North America, they have made themselves totally uncompetitive. I guess it all depends on whether you believe FF programs work. If you do believe they work, then BA have really screwed up. I suspect they will be forced to have special deals to attract/keep premium customers.
I guess I'd better start spending those hundreds of thousands of miles I earned before their "customer service" pissed me off for the final time.
Feb 28, 2003, 4:11 pm
#133
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Don't know....
Programs: BA LTG, SQ TPPS, CX DMP, AA EXP, Bonvoy LTT, ALL PLT, Hilton DM
Posts: 4,011
There is a link on the page to take a survey. In addition to all your e-mails, please take that survey and let BA know what you think of the changes!
Feb 28, 2003, 4:13 pm
#134
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
I wouldn't expect vast help/backing from Randy. When BAEC members were asked to review the program on this board some months ago prior to a printed review in InsideFlyer, a strong majority of respondents gave it a "D" or "F" grade. Yet InsideFlyer gave BAEC an overall 8.2 rating and a generally positive writeup. Likewise, when the DL SkyMiles changes were turning the Delta board white-hot, InsideFlyer ran a mild piece complimenting DL on communicating the changes so well and insisting that most SlyMiles members wouldn't notice the difference.
But I digress. In my "feedback" note to BA today I said the airline had done more to destroy brand loyalty in one day than United Airlines, an inherently anti-customer organization, had managed in the past 15 years.
I do think we are seeing a sort of history being made here: this is, I think, the greatest single narrowing of an FF program, and revocation of benefits, in the 22-year history of the game.
But I digress. In my "feedback" note to BA today I said the airline had done more to destroy brand loyalty in one day than United Airlines, an inherently anti-customer organization, had managed in the past 15 years.
I do think we are seeing a sort of history being made here: this is, I think, the greatest single narrowing of an FF program, and revocation of benefits, in the 22-year history of the game.
Feb 28, 2003, 4:17 pm
#135
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Davis, California
Posts: 253
Did some of the partner-only awards disappear, too? If only the partners listed in parentheses shown in the table can be flown, then the US to Mexico awards on Alaska and America West seem to be gone (only AA is listed).