Honestly I don't care about status anymore. Timetable and price it is for me...

I wouldn't call them "status chasers". BA incentivised booking BA Holidays to earn status faster. For many leisure travellers, it was an easy path to get Silver/Gold. You could get Silver in 2-3 short European breaks in Club, which would give you free seat selection on your work travel in Y. Pure TP-runners are irrelevant to BA, there's not enough of them to make an impact on their sales. But annoying the whole premium leisure market? That's another story.

I agree with the general optimism / pessimism in this thread around BA profits, IAG, and the demise of the Exec Club as we know it. I probably spend upwards of 5 grand a year for voluntary upgrades from PE to Biz which usually keeps me silver and paying cash for three flights from LHR to YYZ a year (plus avois flights)
I think the key issue for me is one of loyalty. Fortunately for BA, Air Canada is so bad across the piece - reliability, lounges (bar the signature lounges which are WOW!), onboard food being awful and menus changed infrequently, dated cabins, senior crew to/from London being so it and miss. (Way worse than BA mixed fleet crew) etc etc It meant loyalty to my home national airline (BA) and a service which whilst definitely better since the Cruz days, remained the better choice and was an easy decision to take.
A lot of us stuck with BA through the Cruz days hoping it would get better, (and it did) and we came back after COVID past loyalty = one of the core reasons for BA's profits in 2024. The he loyal fan base (however myopic we were about BA) who hung around and sure - played the TP game (the rules of which BA created) played some role in 2024 being a good year for BA. It has allowed them the space and risk taking, to devalue and perhaps worry less about the consequences when flying high. If the pessimistic effect and impacts of a trade war come true, and the bottom falls out of BA's N American network, and profits slide - will we still be around to provide that loyalty in the future?
Even in the lows of the Cruz days, when the second meal / snack coming west was a fun size mars bar in WT / WTP - with the instruction "Sir, I'm afraid its one each only" or the eastbound "muffin or nuffin" breakfast I hung around on the basis he'd be gone sometime soon. (and he was)
With looming trade wars, conflicts around the world and an record high backlog of new aircraft deliveries against a backdrop of an aging fleet, volatile (sic) fuel costs etc etc, costs in keeping fleets operational for longer, or the need to bring the 787's, A380s and the Gatwick fleets up to scratch in Biz (albeit at a painfully slow pace) engine issues, delays to 737s and 777-9/10 doesn't suggest an easy time in the years ahead. (look at the hit Lufthansa is taking with the 747s, A340-300 and 600s fleets now looks dated, and expensive on fuel along with 24-26 years old aircraft or 27 yo A319s (D-AILK).
Or compare the new well thought out Premium Economy Cabin by Emirates, showing that in that lower classes, BA may have been one of the first, but its no longer leading the pack!

My point being that loyalty is forward looking as well as around historical patronage. You should be rewarding loyalty in advance - reward us for using BA, but ALSO keep us sweet for the next downturn (which may be sooner rather than later)

When BA next hit turbulence on the PL sheet, don't come running to Exec Club members - most of us have a long memory!

I won't be anti BA - if the fare and times are the most convenient, I'd fly BA. Staying with BA through the hard times when better options exist? Nah!

Oh well no change in booking patterns? Then how do they explain the sudden second sale when the last one ended less than a month ago? Come on.

Because when you look at what is really on sale you'll most likely discover it's either not where you want to go or when you want to go.

As is the case with most sales anyway, I agree with you. They would never or rarely discount peak destinations at peak times. But that does not mean two sales in a month is meaningless - it's unusual in any business.

Considering that the debt gearing is going down, that money is going towards investment in the airline.

To put it simply, I don�t think either Mr Doyle�s or Mr Daniel�s comments above are committing to any precise and credible reality and I would not draw any specific conclusion from either of them on the basis of such purposefully vague statements that cannot be held against them.

If they were confident in what they were saying, they would provide figures which would be incredibly easy to do.

If it ends up being the case in due time, very happy for them, but I�ll personally just wait for such figures to come.

My own view is that in most real world cases, problems are not so much single issues as how they combine either to protect you or on the contrary to start perfect storms.

Are you accusing Sean Doyle and Adam Daniels of investment fraud?

On what basis do you reach that conclusion on?

Less than two months after a major change there won't be the data to discern changes in trends anyway. It really doesn't matter what Doyle or Daniels say at this point, they're supporting the strategy, and the second question reflects poorly on the questioner. You can ask if there is an effect on bookings without making snide comments about influential blogs. Given the importance of blogs in driving traffic to the partners, it's arguably a very unwise thing to do.

Really you have to segment the bookings anyway. As was mentioned, bookings are certainly coming in to support status retention, but the period for April 25 on are more important than those up to that point. The external evidence is that one sale has swiftly followed a preceding one, so let's see how it plays out as we get beyond the final year retention. Holidays - particularly chunky ones - are booked quite far out; I will certainly be cancelling the one I'd booked, so as Daniels himself says "it's early days".

Did anyone ask about the detail of how other earning opportunities would work?

I think Sean Doyle�s comments are clear enough - even without precise numbers - the stakes are too high and it would be career ending to engage in market manipulation with criminal, regulatory and civil implications.

The changes won�t move BAs numbers.

IAGs 2025 guidance is even better than 2024. Do you think they make that guidance out of thin air? They have booking numbers all the way through to 2026 Q1 not only forward bookings but they will see inquiry in-flows, customers who are checking flights but not necessarily purchasing yet but check regularly, those numbers will be tracking similar to 2024 for example

you hate to see it but BA is solid and clearly will be solid for a long time.

The real highest yield customers are not chasing status. The customers BA are making money from are flying club or first regardless so this change makes little difference to their lives.

they�re probably tracking just as well if not better than 2024 for that guidance.

BA has just built a war chest on the North Atlantic and that�s the most lucrative route network. It�s a bit of luck and a bit of strategy.

any idea how much is going into reducing debt ... and how much into share buyback ?