Moderator note

This thread will be moderated like all others. If posts conform to the rules they will be permitted to remain. If not, the moderators will intervene.

golfmad
For the BA Mod Team

Sadly, I think that you are right in this respect, but I truly hope that dynamic pricing is not dumped on top of the other changes that BA have introduced and that breathing space is provided.

If you have digested the changes coming to the BA Club and how these will affect you going forward, we invite you to participate in the poll and share your approval rating of the changes to the EC

I�m neutral (GGL partly through business travel) albeit it�s slightly negative for my immediate family (GCH though leisure travel).

However for many of my colleagues (we often fly last minute long haul flexible fares) these changes will move them up a tier from where they currently are. They aren�t avgeeks of any kind so won�t be aware of the debates, they will simply recover a higher level of service from BA and be happy about it. Seems reasonable that BA values their �50k+ spend more than it values �3k, even though the old tier point model says otherwise.

Gold for Life and 7+ years GGL here. I expect to renew GGL under the new scheme, as I’m a regular corporate traveler in Business, usually to the US. I control my own travel budget which is 6 figures. I have basically assumed that I’m one of BA’s most ‘preferred personas’.

Im ambivalent regarding the new scheme because no new enhancements have been communicated that will (materially) benefit me.

I did complete the survey for top tier customers that BA issued approx 12-18 months ago? Didn’t ever see anything implemented as a result of that.

+1.

An interesting element to this, in my view, is how many of 'those who spend a lot of money on flights' do so from their own personal funds and how many are spending business/corporate money from which they will benefit, but which will not impact on their bank accounts? I would delighted if I was in the latter group, but as I am in the former then forgive me OP if I say that I am not happy.

Yes, this is very much the point for me. I'm one of those people who very much enjoys the fun of status even if, rationally and financially, it doesn't make much sense.

Now you could say I'm exactly the type of person BA doesn't want, but the fact is that because of the status game I spend much more on BA than I otherwise would. I have no real reason to fly BA shorthaul as I can fly almost all my routes much cheaper on another airline, and on longhaul I have a range of options. So all my BA spending is basically discretionary.

I'm hoping there's still some 'fun' to be had in the new regime, but anything spend-based is inherently less exciting than what we had. So that's what makes me not so happy about it, even though I'm not angry like many others more severely affected.

My answer to the question posed in the title is “ALL of BA’s competitors”.

Maybe missing a key bit in the decision tree:

I didn�t make bronze before and I�m unlikely to after the changes. As a BA PP Amex holder I�m slightly closer to bronze, but much further from Silver. Most of my BA flying is CE/CW rewards.

I think Bronze is relatively achievable for anyone with a BA PP Amex. It could be achieved by spending �1000 on SAF, should anyone so wish!
Getting beyond that to Silver will be the challenge for most, especially if you do a lot of partner or economy flying. An EI LHR-ORK will earn ~25 NTPs. That�s 20 return flights to earn the 1000 points to bronze. This earning ratio is very similar to EIs own. Full fare transatlantic/long haul is heavily rewarded, anything else much less so.

Although I don't think anyone really saw this particular news coming there are some of us who put our money where our mouth is and jumped ship a while ago after realising that no matter how much we spent on BA we were simply one of millions and not that important. Well I'm not anyway.

I use BA when I have to but not because I want to. So if I lose silver then so be it. Neither pleased nor ultimately disappointed.

Unpopular opinion:

Tier Point systems that are not based on revenue tend to be good for leisure travellers and some business travellers, but not all.

I am in the situation where i travel around 30-40 flights per year, 70-80% of them for work, in economy, booked last second normally. Furthermore, the flights are short flights within europe.

In non-revenue based Tier systems I would get horrible points for the spend that I have. I might grab a 1-2 hour economy flight last second for 600-700e, and I would get absolutely rubbish tier points.

With revenue based changes I will more easily get status.

There are quite a few business travellers like myself who will benefit from revenue based loyalty programs.

I think that it will mostly be leisure travellers who suffer from these changes, while business travellers doing economy and short flights will heavily benefit. For long distance active business travellers who fly in business class, this change is most likely +- 0.

Great idea for a thread! As someone with no dog in this fight, I'm genuinely curious about the perspectives of those who either welcome the change or are at least neutral toward it. I flew British Airways last year on an AA ticket/code share to Basel connection at LHR. I used the lounge and was quite underwhelmed by the experience�the food was mediocre, lounge was crowded with limited seating, long bathroom lines, and some passengers in front of me waiting for admittance were clearly guesting others. It felt little different from the general departure area. If the changes to BA's loyalty program help reduce the crowding and bring back a more relaxed, less congested lounge environment, I�d certainly welcome that, if I fly BA again in the future.

I�ve been increasingly thinking that I don�t really want (to use) BA anymore � haven�t used them for long-haul since Covid because the service standards and reliability were just going down the plughole.

Now they�ve obviously realised and decided that they don�t want people like me any longer either.

Only really carried on with them for short or because of the status.

Now there�s no chance of chasing that status on purely Euro routes. I shall start shopping around for shorthaul as well � hopefully may be able to use Gatwick a lot more because travel to Heathrow is also sometimes quite frustrating.

Nice thread
I leave aside the disappointment for the way this was handled by the company in terms of (lack of) communication and for the fact that GGLfl is now half a million pounds away rather than 4-5 years away and I state what might be a positive
-As GFL, I will still have access to significant benefits, especially coveted on other OW carriers
-As someone who did average 8-9k TP for family and leisure travel, frequently booking at 15 day window in F or J, requalifying for GGL should not be impossible
-Maybe the Gold and GGL benefits, less diluted, will become more perceivable-maybe
-Once I renew GGL, I will not have such a strong motivation for TP accumulation with a view to GGLFl, and I will happily enjoy my fave F products (AF, EK) and will distribute my funds more evenly across alliances, re-qualifying for their top tiers with less time effort
-having said that, I still don�t know where to put my spend on the bi-monthly transcon US flights as the 210TP with AA F will vanish soon