BA Exec club

[pvr]

Interesting, one of my gripes was that when you drop below the tier levels, you lose your status straight away even though you have been Gold status for say 10 years in a row. I gave that as a negative comment on each comment section they asked me about in the past.

Seems they have listened with the introduction of this then:

>>


A new way to recognise our Members

We’re now giving Tier Points earned in the past, real value in the present. So in addition to annual Tier Points, we’re going to recognise and reward Members for their entire membership with Lifetime Tier Points – that’s all the Tier Points earned from the very first day of membership.

Members will be able to see their Lifetime Tier Points balance whenever they log in to their accounts or receive emails from us.

Recognising Lifetime Tier Points like this lets us show all our Members how much we value their entire membership – past, present and future.

It also gives every Member of the Club the chance to accumulate enough Lifetime Tier Points to achieve the new rewards we’ll be introducing in the future – starting with the launch of Gold membership for life.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds good, but isn't the point of such schemes to keep you flying each year?

We've got the Virgin equivalent and although the points don't run out unless you don't earn any for 3 years, the different status levels of membership require a set number of trips a year (I think).

Not really suitable for an annual holiday.

 

[Stuart Truman]

Have you seen the amount of points needed to gain lifetime gold?

 

[pvr]

35000

Bit more than I expected as with 15 years of Gold, I am still not a life member :x

 

[Stuart Truman]

I travel a lot, but my business buys the cheapest possible flights so I'll be lucky to maintain silver.

 

[pvr]

Flew EasyJet last week, for a tenner I had Speedy Boarding - Fast Track in Gatwick and the front row all to myself. All that for a tenner

 

[ab7]

I'm BA Silver atm, the lifetime status was announced a while ago but the truth is you've got to be doing some serious flying to rack up the numbers required.

Regarding losing status, BA do soft landings but I think that's for those above Gold (GGL etc.)

On another note I quite like the new avios for cash/discount option they've bought in on short haul.

 

[z4_top_down]

I travel a lot, but my business buys the cheapest possible flights so I'll be lucky to maintain silver.

+1 10hrs to the US in a couple of weeks folded in an economy seat

 

[teamemmenracing]

I use KLM - I have platinum memebership
Requirement is 60 flights a year, any extra are carried over to next year.
With in excess of 100 flights a year, Im looking at Platinum for life very soon.
KLM's service seems to be one of the best.

 

[StevenH72]

I use KLM - I have platinum memebership
Requirement is 60 flights a year, any extra are carried over to next year.
With in excess of 100 flights a year, Im looking at Platinum for life very soon.
KLM's service seems to be one of the best.

This is the one thing that frustrates me about BA, excess tire points are lost rather than carried over.

That said I used 130,000 avios recently for a hotel in NYC and saved $1500 in the process.

 

[ab7]

I use KLM - I have platinum memebership
Requirement is 60 flights a year, any extra are carried over to next year.
With in excess of 100 flights a year, Im looking at Platinum for life very soon.
KLM's service seems to be one of the best.

This is the one thing that frustrates me about BA, excess tire points are lost rather than carried over.

That said I used 130,000 avios recently for a hotel in NYC and saved $1500 in the process.

As a points expert, I'd tell you that's terrible use of avios!

 

[Stuart Truman]

Actually hotel use and flight upgrades are two of the better uses. Buying flights outright with avios is well known to be a crap use of them as the tax is frequently more that half the cost of the flight.

 

[ab7]

Actually hotel use and flight upgrades are two of the better uses. Buying flights outright with avios is well known to be a crap use of them as the tax is frequently more that half the cost of the flight.

Flight upgrades certainly... but that particular example for a hotel isn't a great redemption rate. Flight upgrades (or even full outright flight) could get a lot more than $1500 worth out of 120k... I'd quite happily buy 120k avios off someone for $1500 (if it were possible!).

 

[StevenH72]

Actually hotel use and flight upgrades are two of the better uses. Buying flights outright with avios is well known to be a crap use of them as the tax is frequently more that half the cost of the flight.

Flight upgrades certainly... but that particular example for a hotel isn't a great redemption rate. Flight upgrades (or even full outright flight) could get a lot more than $1500 worth out of 120k... I'd quite happily buy 120k avios off someone for $1500 (if it were possible!).

Well I needed a hotel, I didn't need to travel business class. So still saved me money overall.

i.e. flights + cheap hotel vs flights (with upgrade) v full price hotel.

But thanks for the constructive advice....

 

[StevenH72]

Actually hotel use and flight upgrades are two of the better uses. Buying flights outright with avios is well known to be a crap use of them as the tax is frequently more that half the cost of the flight.

this:

I was going to buy the flights outright using my avios:

Full cost: £440

Cost using 40,000 avios: £360

So 120,000 avios would have saved me £240, whereas it saved me £1000 with the hotel...I wouldn't call that terrible use.

I guess it depends whether you want avios to "save" money or "upgrade" a holiday.

upgrading a holiday will obviously create better savings, but I was on a budget and any money I saved from the booking (flights/ hotel) meant I had more money to spend in NYC.

For what I wanted, I used avios in the best way for me.

 

[ab7]

Well I needed a hotel, I didn't need to travel business class. So still saved me money overall.

i.e. flights + cheap hotel vs flights (with upgrade) v full price hotel.

But thanks for the constructive advice....

Lol rest assured I will always argue cash in your pocket is worth more than points in a FF account.

The major issue with the whole points and miles game is that the top redemption rates people aspire to achieve involve a comparison to full fare prices which most would never pay in the first place. I'll quite happily fly CW or First on miles... but it's meaningless to say I've saved several £k when I would never have spent my own money on that in the first place. Likewise I burnt a load of Hilton points in the US back in the summer (before the big devaluation), if I wasn't staying on points would I have paid $500/night? - of course not!

Anyway enough about points and miles... that's what my other forum's for