If the points post and your status changes prior to 31/3 then you may have a chance to use the jokers but as noted above the GGL agents will need to wait for the excel sheet to be updated and this is a manual process. If the points post after 31/3 then I’m afraid you have no chance.

To retain GGL, 40,000 TPs are required, at least 32,000 TPs should be earned through British Airways-marketed flights.
I can earn 2,500 TPs by BA Amex spending.
It left only 5,500 TPs for me to earn through travelling with other non-BA marketed flights.

I usally travel the LHR-HND route. I found that for the JAL operated flight with BA-marketed (BA coded) are much more expensive than the JAL operated flight without BA-marketed (only JAL coded). I don't think I will pay the extra money to earn extra TPs. What I can think is that, I will make the future booking by BA Holiday, so the tax and charges will be counted. Do you all have any more ideas to maximize TPs? Thank you.

Yes, BA Holidays will work well in this regard, buy an expensive suite at a hotel (if BAH actually offer one) and you hardly have to do any flying. This was almost certainly their intention. Other things to do are obviously to maximise the price of tickets- avoid Saturday night stays, tick the box for flexible conditions. TP running has certainly turned upside down!

Thank you very much for your reply.
I have the Marriott Ambassador Elite status. If I book the hotel in BAH package, it will be up to the hotel to recognize the membership benefits, which will be most likely not. In the new regime, is the 5 nights requirement been removed? I want to add a dummy hotel to the BAH package, so the tax and charges can be counted. I would like to know more about "tick the box for flexible conditions". What does it mean?

Thank you again for your help.

I'm still GGL until 04/26. Last year, I did more than 8k tier points.

Is my understanding correct that I got two "jokers" upon requalification last time? Plus one GUF2. I requalified already (my year would have normally ended in June). Am about to be at 3,500 tier points, and I think I will stop there (so two GUF1 incoming at 3,500 tiere opints).

So I guess I will get two more "jokers" in April? But do I need to use the two previous jokers before 04/25? I think they expire, right? They are not shown in the account.

After many months, BA finally responded to me when I asked to be offered to select something at 7k and 8k last year.

I'm sitting on roughly 1.5 million household Avios.

What should I select? Two more "jokers"? But then I would have 4 now, plus 2 more after April? Or should I select two more GUF2?

I am mostly done with BA. Am GfL and have no interest in spending another 900k GBP to reach GGL for Life. Will focus on just requalifying for HON every year.

I just want to burn the 1.5m Avios (family of four), probably for some roundtrip in F from the US to the Maldives via London or something.

Any advice on what to pick as the 7k/8k benefits? Thank you.

Edit: Or is there something else that is useful that I could/should transfer the Avios into?

It sounds like you, very reasonably, want to maximise your ability to spend Avios. Your current Jokers will expire in April and you get 2 new ones. If you book flights using the ones you have at the moment then you can change those flights in the future and keep the Jokers although the person/people travelling have to remain the same.

My feeling on extra awards was that the GUFs were the best use of them, particularly if travelling F as the fare bucket is the same as a Joker (A) without having to use a Joker. Having said that I have ended up with loads of unused ones over the past couple of years although now in the situation where I doubt I will ever get another x2 GUF1s again. If you are going to be able to burn through Avios then perhaps 50k would be useful?

Unfortunately you certainly wouldn't earn any nights from your Marriott status although they may give you certain benefits; in my experience with Hilton these do not extend to room upgrades or free breakfast. Effectively the hotel see your booking as being equivalent to a bargain-basement Expedia style reservation so any recognition of status is entirely voluntary. There is no 5 night requirement for stay anymore (that was only for double TPs). When you are booking under travel class there is a tick box for "Flexible Conditions". It will substantially increase the cost of the holiday and so increase the number of TPs.

Even with GUF vouchers, 1.5m Avios doesn't go far for a family of 4. So do your sums and work out what is best, but personally I'd be taking the GUF vouchers.

I've cleared out my Avios balance in much the same way since the changes were announced. An F return and a CW return for 4 of us cleared out something like 800k Avios and that was with 4 x 241 vouchers and 8 GUFs.

Didn't use any jokers though as the GUF vouchers opened the class we needed.

I'll mop up the rest as I go through 2025 and then I'm probably coming to join you in HON from late 2026.

Are other GGLs finding very slow email response times? I emailed the priority GGL team back on Jan 8 and followed up with more information on Jan 15, but have had zero response.

If I call them are they able to look up my email and see what, if anything, has happened?

With the TP economics changing for GFL I was scrolling through past flights and found a segment in BA F that got Avios but 0 TPs. Unfortunately it is pretty old (2019) so I suspect it will be hard to get back, but I still expect a response. Even if it is simply a no or better, we are looking into it.

I would just call them and it won't hurt to get an answer via a live person immediately or if they can answer your questions about past communications. I called yesterday and only took a couple minutes to reach an agent.

I've submitted an email yesterday too, and obtained a reply in less than 24 hours related to a reservation, but it wasn't Avios/TP related.

So, I've browsed thru the thread, though not every post and wanted to see the rules for the GGL joker. It talks about a return flight, does that mean it is valid for a maximum of two legs?

For context, I will make GGL for the first and last time in about a month (I won't survive the subsequent cull as my earning is 90% on partners). I live in Asia (HKG), and family group of 3 will also end up with about 6xGUF2 and 4xGUF1 by 1 April, to which I'd add 3 jokers (plus another 2 after April). You can tell I've not been doing a great job of spending avios, I've been using cash as I've got about 1.5m Avios to burn.

I seem to recall the GUFs are valid for up to 4 legs. From reading the thread I'm starting to feel the jokers aren't as valuable to me really as all those GUFs could do the same to get me space in A class.

My ambition is probably to book something like KUL/SIN-LHR, then on to the USA in First during the early summer. If it gets us more I could probably throw a few days in the middle east there too (e.g. Nested returns of SIN-LHR-BAH // BAH-LHR-ORD)

Any thoughts, it seems I may as well book now, as I don't need the jokers? Or do they give me something else extra? Maybe I throw in my parents too so we use 5 rather than 3 seats (if I can find that many A seats), making the jokers useful again?
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Appreciate your thoughts.

What you need to be aware of is the new membership year. If you earned GGL for the first time on the 20th February, for example, you'd get two Jokers. However, these will expire at the end of your membership year (March 31st) and you'll get two new ones on April 1st. Use them or lose them.

As for legs, it's a return booking. So HKG-LHR-LAX-LHR-HKG would be fine, for example. If you want to stop in LHR in either direction, then stopovers are limited to 14 days, or it's classed as a new trip and you'd need to use another Joker.

If you're looking to fly in First then yes the GUF vouchers would open A class so you wouldn't need the Jokers. However, if you want to fly CW then the GUF only opens I class, whereas the Joker will open all classes up to and including D class - giving you much more flexibility when flying Club.

For me, Jokers are valuable for European trips. Trying to get to Geneva during February half term? Can be north of Ł1k return in Economy for a 1hr flight, or a joker and a hand full of Avios.

But yes, for you being Asia based you won't benefit from that one.

Anyone else having fun and games with partner card gifting at the moment?

My Gold nomination has been stuck in the system for over a month - telling me I need to change the email address of the recipient (as apparently it's already registered??!! Of course it is as it's her correct email address!!).

And one of my silver nominations is being told to check his profile details on ba.com but it isn't letting him past that screen, although all is confirmed as OK... It's such a mess.

when I have struggles online before, I have spoken or emailed the GGL team who can sort it out by contacting the relevant team and getting it done manually. Occasionally you will get GGL agents saying they can’t do anything, but that’s rubbish.

Thanks. It's so embarrassing when I'm trying to do a nice thing and the recipient ends up being frustrated or even doesn't know they have been nominated!

So I did call - the lady on the GGL line did say that it has to be done manually by another team. it seems that ba.com is trying to do the right thing but its UI ends up getting stuck in a loop. Lack of testing yet again.