Excellent!! Many thanks Matt, as with others I have been waiting for your levelheaded response, and I fully confer with your view, especially on BA’s approach to this change. I have been flying with BA for many years and as you point out using them is like being on a rollercoaster. However, I do enjoy the flight experience and generally, the quality of the air crew. Over the past year I have personally experienced a steady decline in the ground crew experience at LHR, together with their customer support function. I have four outstanding complaints, due to faulty flights and ground experiences, which they have received but not responded to. I look forward to hearing who you choose for your future "loyalty" as I am presently researching where I should give mine, as to gain maximum benefit. Happy New Year by the way, I wish you good health and fortune for 2025.
Thanks Howard. Every other OneWorld airline has been recommended as an alternative (except SriLankan!) so its not an obvious decision, I would suggest!
Some probably will - BA is competing primarily on trans-atlantic so takes its cues from that direction. Other airlines may not feel the same imperative
BA has also scaled down the benefits for corporate clients. With us, seats were previously free - even without status. Today came information from Travel Management that BA flights from 15.1.25 can only be booked in justified exceptional cases. And we are not a small company - but a DAX corporation. I can't say how high BA's share of sales is, but I can imagine that other corporate customers will also react.
I always really appreciate your videos. Coming from the United States and having been a Delta Platinum for more than a decade I can tell you there is a silver lining to all this. Once I realized there was little value from the new loyalty program, I finally got off the status treadmill and saved thousands of dollars in the last year between booking the cheapest flights, using miles, and not paying credit card annual fees.
@@da480oh no no no ! I fly 100k plus miles a year. I flew from Bangkok to Newark via Lomé in February. The worst two flights that I have ever had. Filthy planes, terrible food, and not lie flat business class on old planes. It was torture. I’d gladly pay $900 for any other airline on a 25 hour trip. Never again. Good luck. Oh, btw. They just lost last place to Egyptian airlines. The only airline that sucked even more
Just done the same with Virgin. Dropped to Silver from Gold last week and had a panic attack. Now feel nothing but relief I can book the cheapest. Also cancelling credit card. Yep it’s a blessing
I think BAs dial went up to 11 (im sure you'll get that reference). Succinctly put, as always, and I think it's a short-sighted change from BA that is likely to blow up spectacularly in their face - but i have a feeling they don't care, so long as they have plenty of full-fare business customers filling the seats. Loyalty is a two-way street, and i have a feeling they will find that out once these changes take effect.
Thanks - there just aren't as many full fare business customers as they think.... And they're unlikely to flood back to BA with the scheme as it will be....
@@MattsPlanet I left a comment on another channel regarding a lounge user who was fed up with RUclipsrs walking around with go pros and further comment regarding sorting the chaff, I for one would like to say give me self funding chaff to obnoxious corporates in any lounge
@GLAFly, my home airport is also Glasgow. I am looking at booking my next holiday with BA in the Spring out of Gatwick. I have tried all sorts of date combinations and it would seem that BA has removed the business class seats on the Glasgow to Gatwick flights altogether, and then charge a serious amount of money for Economy. Just wondered if you or @MattsPlant had heard about this already? I'm now really worried about pairing back domestic business class.
@SpeedwellTravel-d8e nothing concrete, but there are rumours that they are planning to drop the Gatwick route from Glasgow entirely - and this seems to be following the same approach they have used with other routes (hike up the eco prices months in advance to make it less likely they will have to move any bookings)
@@GLAFly thanks for replying so quickly. It's going to make my BA holidays rather challenging if that happens.Even worse if I choose to through-ticket. I'll keep an eye on it too!
Totally agree with everything, when it was announced I was waiting for your update Matt, Thank you & Happy New Year. Looking forward to hearing your future recommendations, we only use BA for tier points but have been unhappy with their airline particularly this year so we'll be moving to other airlines.
Excellent summary Matt! It will be interesting to see what happens next….. regional travellers switching to low cost airlines as status is out of reach, closure of regional BA lounges due to the decline in passengers, closure of the First Lounge at T5, reduction in size of First Wing etc…I will miss your tier point run videos, but look forward to your analysis of where to credit flights in future
I'm one of the people who were working towards LtG - sitting at 30k TP now - wife at 29k TP. Not a single pure TP run ever - sure some routing over JFK but thats about it. We must have spent close to £500k over the past 25+ years of travel as it included quite a few full fare F tickets, and a Concorde run in there. I'm pretty angry and disappointed over this change. It feels like a complete betrayal from BA - frankly near a bait-and-switch. We are going to use our close to 1m Avios as soon as we can, and then swap to another airline - I don't want to put more money in BA's pockets.
Plenty of people whining but it's a free world so they can do what they want and BA will have to live with the financial consequences of its decisions. Many people will now get better deals with other airlines and wonder why they spent all that time chasing tier status! I also think 'experts' are failing to recognise that BA can still very easily do tier point bonuses if passenger bookings drop too much. It can still dangle a carrot !! As a LtG member myself, I really do understand your frustration and maybe BA will do something for people such as yourself? The problem is that the tier benefits are real time offerings and I am sure that in the small print BA says it can change everything as and when it sees fit. I am not even sure if I will retain my LtG status but if not, I will soon get used to it. Avios are much more important to me as, along with companion vouchers, they get us in premium cabins on board and that's what I value most. In fact being in a premium cabin get's most of what tier status would. We now fly mostly from Gatwick, usually on morning long haul, and these days we get to the airport the evening before, check our bags in, Stay at the Bloc hotel and go through the included premium security line in time for us to go straight to the gate. Zero early morning stress and no traffic worries. Also virtually no use of tier benefits!!
I entirely concur. Cathay Pacific it is for me as I live in East Asia! Enjoyed it while it lasted thanks BA :-) The only bitter taste in my mouth is the infuriating discourse from BA. "Enhancing your experience" "taking into account your feedback" "making it simpler"!!!!! I honestly believe they sit in an office laughing as they write these things.
Like so many others on here I have been awaiting your 'take' on this development. Thank you for your insightful appraisal. Luckily, although I am a BAEC blue member, I decided to go with the Qatar Airways Privilege Club. I am a gold member and have travelled almost exclusively from EDI to BKK. The benefits from QRPC gold are supposed to be equivalent to silver BA but are so much better going via Doha. I recently traveled OSL-DOH-BKK and return. Thanks to you explaining ex-EU flights. Premium travel that way is so much more affordable than from the UK and they still award Qpoints on mileage. Anyway, many thanks for all that you do.
Very comprehensive and professionally done as ever - thank you Matt. The way BA have managed and executed this decision is scandalous and I hope very much that they lose business based on their misguided treatment of loyal patrons. I’d very much like to see a video around status matching from BA to xxx - assuming you don’t mind being asked for video requests that is !! ;)
Thanks - and no problem. People can ask for anything they like - they may not get it!!!! I am expecting some status matching offers to pop up - its very difficult to engineer one without a publicised offer (unless you control a massive spend budget in which case any airline will talk to you!!!). KLM would be the most logical one, although I suspect they may be cautious as they could have (no exaggeration) a hundred thousand match requests....
Bravo Matt! BA might well fall significantly in the airline ranks. As a northerner. We have so many better options to travel the world other than through Heathrow. Although GOLD was fun while it lasted.
@@djlondon7956 He likely gave BA all that money to retain Gold. Now BA has indicated they don't want that sort of money any more. He clearly means that there are better connections through better airports than LHR, or even direct flights! Passengers didn't go through LHR because they particularly liked it. It was for many a necessary evil to fly with BA and collect TP's.
Matt - Great video, sums up how I’m feeling about BA. I am 15 years loyal to BA through business and leisure travel, I don’t partake of Sofia tier point runs etc although The Mrs and I did Book a BA holiday to Gran Canaria and a nice hotel to edge gold for another year. I’m about 10k short of lifetime and this news broke the day before I retired! Achieving LTG on a pension under the new rules just isn’t possible. I can’t help thinking that the proliferation of sites (like yours) that show how easy status is to achieve are part of the problem here. I’ve just matched Gold to FB Platinum, with Flying Blue so that’s where my money will be going now
Cheers for that.... I think channels and sites like mine highlight a problem that's been there for some time.... Before I explained it, it was still possible (and it was a lot cheaper years ago!!!) you just needed to sift through hundreds of pages of flyertalk chat to work it out - that's what I did!!!! I've probably not helped, but the root cause of the issue is how BA designed its program to work.... Wonder how many matches Flying Blue has had!!!
That was a great solid and comprehensive video Matt! The black armband was a nice touch as well ! I think your summation of the impact of the changes is correct. One unanticipated benefit, as you alluded to is that for me, my plan to do a couple of TP runs this year has now morphed into thinking more broadly about RTW tickets instead and maximising my experiences instead, so maybe there is a sliver of a silver lining in amongst the rest of it. But, on the whole, this is just (yet another) textbook examples of: how not to treat your loyal customer base; how to try and sneak things out when people might not notice; and most importantly how to gaslight your customers by suggesting we asked for this. Again, well done with the video.
Thanks for this video Matt. I haven't had a good experience with BA in a number of years, most recently when they refused to upgrade my status after my tier points from a return LHR-TLS-LHR leg weren't added to my account within the collection year, despite the final flight in the leg landing just under 96 hours before my year was due to end. Took me 6 weeks of back and forth with 7 different customer service reps and a threat of legal action before they finally adjusted my status. I personally am going to be very surprised if BA follow through with this change, or at the very least don't adjust the tier point requirements for each tier. I'll personally be taking my business over to Terminal 2, as I already have frequent flier status with Lufthansa, and upgrading it further shouldn't be terribly difficult!
Great video Matt, thank you! I fly the London-Singapore route frequently, and over the last 15 years have chosen BA over Singapore Airlines multiple times even when BA was more expensive, simply to accrue tier points. Gold status was nice while it lasted, but now that I have next to no chance of reaching Gold again, I am freed from that "obligation", and can go back to flying better quality airlines, often for less cost. I have just subscribed to your channel because I am looking forward to more of your future videos, which will no doubt point me towards the loyalty program I should set my sights on next!
Well said Matt. I couldn't wait to hear your take on the changes and thanks for taking the time to upload this video. I have been quite content with silver for the last 5 years as I stopped business commuting to London in 2019 when I had gold. Now I do the odd business flight and top up with BA holidays to retain silver. I don't think I'm going to be able to do that now. 20 years of loyalty will be disappearing. I do agree that the seriously busy lounges are now extremely unpleasant and it is the ground experience that I kept my status for really. Free seat choice at booking too. Really sad that the changes are so severe and not as you rightly said, staged up percentage wise and much more notice given of these changes.
Thanks Matt. Like everyone else, I was waiting for your view on this. I don’t like to think of you as Mr Tier Point run but the voice of reason in this travel, point, and status hobby. I’m BA silver and most likely will not be after several years due to these changes. Often, I achieved this by upgrading economy to Club Europe, now no point, and they have lost that income from me. Like others, I was also waiting for the sale and new year to pass to book another BA holiday, this one to Iceland, in business class. Now going economy with Icelandair for a quarter of the cost. Like you say, it was fun while it lasted, but BA doesn’t want our money anymore.
Great video as always, Matt. My wife and I have silver status which comes from self funded business class flights - usually two returns to North America each year and a return or two in Europe. Silver status mattered to us because of free seat choice - a big saving on business class returns to the US, say….such that we would make sure we kept status and would choose BA over other airlines for that reason. No longer - unlikely (very) we would get to silver through spend so suddenly it’s a whole new ball game! Air Canada or Delta’s gain will be BA’s loss!
Thanks Matt! I was waiting for this from you as soon as BA announced the revisions! I’ve been BA Silver for a while and never chased gold actively as Silver had been the sweet spot for me. But now, there’s no point for me to be loyal to BA (or any other OneWorld member). I think my wife (also BA Silver) and I are also going to hop over to Star Alliance after April. We have some trips booked with BA, but the excitement is no longer there for tier points that I’ll be awarded for those flights.
Great video, well as great as it can be given the circumstances. Your tone of voice was perfected for the situation. For anyone feeling a bit ‘lost’ or just getting started, a relatively easy way to achieve the equivalent of BA silver status is by status matching another airline or hotel alliance via Royal Jordanian’s status match. For US$149 you’ve got silver status perks for just over £120. I’ll be doing the RJ status match if still on offer once my Gold and silver expires in 2026/27. Although I do expect the $149 fee to rise, as the route/ method becomes more popular after the BA changes take place and others lose their BA status.
It's brought me benefits already. My next business class trip LHR to PVG will now be with Emirates. 4 legs on the A380 and 4 lounges with far superior F&B compared with BA. "Free" chauffeur service and it still all costs less than the crummy BA business class (which uses their old cabins). Not long after that will be a business class trip to NZ. I look forward to investigating the non One World carriers to get a better deal. I think we'll soon learn to be glad to be done with them. I've got around 500K Avios, so need to work out the best use of them. I think I'll use them with Qatar perhaps.
Totally agree this is ex ally what i’m going to be doing . their business class is so far behind Emirates it’s embarrassing & im changing my flight options now
Matt. Thanks for such a comprehensive video. I agree with everything you say. Loyalty is two way street and BA has just spat in our faces. I’ve got just short of 300,000 Avios, 620 Tier points but need to take 3 more BA flights before March 31 to (I hope) renew my Silver status for the last time. I’ve self funded over 9000 lifetime tier points and like you cannot contemplate spending £500,000 or more to attain lifetime gold in the mere hope that untrustworthy BA will not change the rules. Living in Glasgow further complicates the issue as BA has a monopoly to LHR. Thanks for everything you’ve done to support those of us in the BAEC and formerly loyal to BA. Best as always.
@@MattsPlanet that’s where my thoughts were leading. I used to live in Boston and would hop to AMS to catch a KLM to BOS. It’s really not much longer than an LHR connection. Will keep my eyes on your videos. All best for 2025.
Brilliant Matt. BA incredibly disrespectful and frankly disgusting changes succinctly summed up. I am glad I am not the only person who is angry. I will go out of my way to not book them whereas in the past I would gladly pay more to fly them. As you say they actually aren't that good. The never ending wait for new club suite seats to be fitted is an example. No doubt the team that dreamed this up had worked for BA for just a short time and will clear off to another company in the near future. Keep up the good work
Thank you very much for another great Video Matt. I was waiting for your analysis and reflections and you have just captured how so many of us feel - especially as in my case… I’m at 31.5k LTP towards GFL which I’ve accumulated over the last 25+ years. Too far of a gap to fill before 31 March…. I prob won’t be able to stick with BA Club… but I look forward to sticking with you on your channel - happy new year despite the terrible news and long life to your channel !
13:18 Time will tell indeed Matt, but this is going to harm them more than they think. BA are going to lose all of my business travel going forward. I make 4 or 5 transatlantic business flights a year, that plus a few of my own trips used to be enough to get gold status, that won't be enough even for silver under the new rules. Without the executive club status BA are just not the best option for me and haven't been for a while. Thank you BA for freeing me from my bonds.
I think your best video yet in terms of laying out your thinking and response so clearly and logically. I'd slightly fear sitting opposite you in a negotiation...would be hard getting round you when you clearly do your homework, besides offering a bribe of a premium spirit or a decent cheese plate.... I wonder if the justification BA refers to of "you requested this" is a code for the senior bods in our large corporate clients, didn't like the mixing of people in the lounges (the wrong sort, not dressed properly etc, videoing or doing a show off pic of their champagne glass etc ) and the congestion at LHR lounges at different times of day. I do agree they might bring in a fee for lounge access to create more revenue. And it would be tied to a specific separate "oiks" lounge repurposed from an existing BA lounge.
Cognac works.... Although I do need a script - I'm not so coherent when ad libbing!!! I wouldn't mind paying for the lounge - £100 a pop rather than £3k for a year makes sense to me....
Your last point about the end of ITA Matrix is a sad one amongst all the frustration surrounding the change. I never did a Tier Point Run, but following your guide I spent a very enjoyable night two years ago optimising a trip to Texas, which gave me Premium Economy seats for less than the direct economy option and earnt me Bronze status when the thresholds were lower during the you-know-what. It also speaks volumes about the quality of your videos that so many were waiting for your take on this - you may no longer be the 'Tier Point Guy' but I think you'll still be the 'Explaining what nonsense BA has got up to this week' guy!
Agreed to almost all of this - I too have benefitted from Matt's videos on ITA Matrix but also enjoy the rest of the travel content so will continue to watch regardless. However I'm not sure why this would be the end for ITA Matrix? Just because the number of people using it will reduce, I doubt Google keeps it running just for BAEC tier point runs. As you point out, there's still value in using it to optimise trips you'd already be taking. The tier point run hobby may be dead, but there's no reason to stop being a savvy traveller...
Thanks Matt, I have been waiting patiently for your words of wisdom rather than the ranting of other RUclipsrs. Since Christmas I have used your ITA Matrix advice to book my first (and now last) tier point run that will give me Gold until April 2026. This is primarily to allow me to burn my stash of Avios before they are devalued. I like you pray they keep the soft landing. Of course BA should have discussed these changes with independents such as yourself, that might have resulted in the removal of the BAH double points and possibly raising the levels you get status, especially Gold but I agree with you that this will lose them a lot of business, especially leisure travel who can now look at the alternatives. Who will continue to fly BA going east when you have the ME three, Singapore, etc. I will watch with interest and look forward to your thoughts on who to move to in the Oneworld group.
Thanks for that. BA doesn't talk to me - I've reached out to their media team three or four times now and they don't even acknowledge my emails, let alone respond to them!!! I think they think I'm the enemy, rather than someone who has an insight that can help them.... The offer is there though, it anyone from BA reads this
@@MattsPlanet I work in the power and Oil & gas industries and it is incredible how often I have to remind colleagues that they have omitted to mention or think of the customer when making changes. Seems the same within BA. Time will tell but I really thought the departure of Alex Cruz would improve things.
I too was waiting for your “take” on these developments and as usual, it was sensible and considered. Thank you. For my part, I was planning a TP run in September 25 AUH - CGK and then visiting Jakarta, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur before finishing up seeing orangutans in Borneo. I had hoped this would renew my silver for another year but luckily, I hadn’t booked anything as the UL sectors hadn’t returned to a reasonable amount! I see this now as an opportunity to not be rigid in “having” to book One World flights. I’m now looking to book and enjoy Starlux and China Airlines flights. I enjoy the benefits of silver but it is what it is. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some roll back however once the breadth of the members’ ire becomes clearer.
Happy New Year Matt! Great video as always. I've been having the same thoughts more or less, being in a similar situation with yours. I do have some personal thought to share though. 1. I was thinking a bit about loyalty in general. I've been averaging 12-15 paid flights/year on BA for the past 5 years, and I believe everyone would agree that's not quite close to frequent flying. In 2017 and 2018 I was averaging on 60-70 paid BA flights/year, and that's the definition of frequent flying. That earned me GGL, rightfully so. Gaming the system with 2x TP's and multiple segments and the like had it's fun, and also awarded me with a pile of avios which I've mostly used by now. So I'm not very much dissapointed on that aspect alone, as I wasn't seeing myself as a very important BA customer by any standards. 2. I am directly affected by the changes, having a BA Holidays TP run planned for April, which (together with positioning flights to/from JER in CE) would net me 1440 TP's. I was planning to do a little something more in early April to secure the TP's, which now makes no sense. I know I will be very close to renewing Gold, but I don't trust BA until there are rules set on paper on how this will work. This is really painful for me and the two buddies we will be doing the run together. I'm still assessing if it's worth doing something before March 31st to secure Gold, I need 1165 TP's, so only with BA Holidays between UK-EU or an ex-EU TP run would do the trick. But still, I'm hesitant if it makes sense to spend money to ensure one year of Gold status. I'm confused. 3. I think it's time for us all in this game to explore other opportunities and perhaps change our travel (flying) mindset for good. As long as Aegean Airlines offers an affordable frequent flyer program, I will always renew my Gold with them and prefer them for many of my trips (after all, I live in Athens). Other programs may be reasonable to look for, and collect miles for redemptions. It's an open game now. Honestly, I feel kinda liberated from the hamster wheel of chasing an elite status that, being honest, didn't very much reflect my travel patterns with OW. Those £3k every 2 years can be spend elsewhere, as you rightly so mentioned. Maybe I'll start paying for premium seats wherever I find them with good value, and focus on the joy of the trip. There will always be some benefit somewhere, a few miles here and there or so, that eventually will give back something. Looking forward to more of your exciting travel videos, and thank you very much fior the great content, and for your thorough and very well articulated first take on this disaster. Cheers!
Thanks mate. "The Joy Of the Trip" is the key phrase here.... I've lost that a little by having to film everything, but being free to fly with whoever I want to will be liberating and may bring back that emotion.... A few comments that Aegean will be the next to substantially reset its scheme - lets hope not!
@@MattsPlanet the rumours I hear about Aegean (don't ask where from) are for a new Platinum tier above Gold, probably with free seat selection and some sort of private transfer or someone waiting for you at the jetway or the steps. Also, same rumours have it that Gold will keep it's perks and will still be Star Alliance Gold. Nobody knows if the thresholds will be adjusted in any way. We all hope it will keep the same rules for distance- and class- based status mileage, which present some great opportunities from time to time.
Nicely summed up Matt. I’m in one of the groups you’ve identified as being most affected. A couple of days before the changes were announced I made some bookings, enough to get me about 2/3rds of the way to gold, or 1/3rd of the way to GGL renewal under the old terms, which was my actual target. I’d planned a couple more trips, with a view to booking them over the New Year holiday but hadn’t actually pulled the trigger and booked them. Now, of course, I have absolutely no chance of renewing GGL, probably won’t make gold either, and the bookings I’ve made are a sunk cost, with the possible exception of one BAH booking on which I’ve only paid a deposit. Am I furious? Too right I am. To be clear, these are all flights I would have taken anyway, but had I known this was coming I could have looked at economy tickets, or an alternative carrier. I’ve taken around 80 flights with BA this year, all in premium cabins, so I’d assumed I was of some value to BA, but it seems not. They’ve lost my loyalty and trust with this move, and I’ve no idea if or how they can ever win it back.
Ouch - really sorry to hear that.... I don't wonder if there is some legal recourse and someone in my WhatsApp group has suggested there may be - if you are GGL its well worth a call I'd suggest - lay out what your expectations are and see what they say
@@MattsPlanet Thanks Matt. To complicate things I'm not yet GGL, but will be before this tier point year ends, always assuming BA don't change the rules of the game again. I'm going to sleep on it for a few more days before deciding on next steps. Best not to do anything while I'm still angry!
Thank you for the comprehensive video, and well worth a read of the many many comments. I am fortunate in the sense that I had reached GFL, and the loyalty scheme “was” working as I (perhaps naively ) thought GGLFL was attainable. Realistically next year will be my last GGL as don’t see getting anywhere near the renewal spend. Best benefit was card nomination and number of lounge guests… so the whole family could be together. Guess going forward will look for OW lounges that allow 3 guests.
The many, many, many comments!!!! This video has been a journey!!! GFL may not end up being a bad place to be if occupancy of the F lounge does indeed thin out - not many will be making gold each year under these changes
My IT department is struggling with all these comments!!!! I'd rather have them than not though - not the same approach BA is taking to its customers!!!
Just came across your channel Matt. Absolutely love it ...... currently lapping up your videos starting with British airways and Aegean, two of my favourite 3 . The other being jet2. P.s i love the videos and the 60 minute ones 😁👌. Keep up the good work 😁👌👍🍻✈️🛩 . Subscribed ! 👍😁
Great video, my 15yrs loyalty to BA is now over. As a leisure flyer I always booked through BA holidays and being a silver suited me very much. I made gold last year and am happy to have had the experience but that's the end now. Binning avios and the amex, dont want to be tied to a company that values me as a POS
Thanks Matt, I was never likely to get anywhere near a high status with flying alone, I've enjoyed Bronze for the last 5 years but that's been more through circumstance than seeking it out. I put most of my and wife's purchases through my BA amex card so I might actually be better of in this scheme, but definiteyl feel BA don't really value "normal" customers which is a shame. Thanks for the content, looking forward to more videos. Hope you're healthy and had a lovely Christmas and New Year.
Great video & 'on target'. I will keep my GfL, but before I read the small print I Was Worried regarding the 'trust factor' you mentioned. I am gutted for the many, but know this is BA's scheme: if only there was honest PR which you addressed in the video. Ive been around. Ive got 'old boy status' and Ive seen BA slide in key areas for decades. I'll fly BA because 'safety is our priority' but I preferred my friends at BCal who always advertised "We Never Forget You have a Choice"! To those affected I say use yours!!
Well done Matt, we were all waiting for the other angle on things that i thought u would bring, just had a horror show rtn trip with ba, both flights delayed over 4 hours, got us in to gatwick at 1.15am this morning then finally delivered the luggage at 3.05am!
Matt, a terrific informative video, as always. Agree with all your observations and thoughts, and certainly echo the same that BA decided to release the news/update as "a good day to bury bad news". My loyalty too has gone, as a current Gold til Jan 2026, the absence of a soft landing will expedite my future bookings with BA. However, you're channel has a great opportunity to focus on the other loyalty programs (Star Alliance & Sky Team) which us 'One Worlders' know very little about. One door closes..............
You have eloquently voiced the frustration that I feel over the cynical spin that BA has put on their changes. A wholesale notification of the scheme changes should be accompanied by a wholesale list of the new rules. But we don’t have them so any attempt to patch up our status plans before the 31st March could be thwarted at the stroke of a BA pen. My brother has written to the MD asking to see the evidence that we Executive Club members “asked for these changes”. I will be interested to see the answer. In the meantime, a personal Thank You for putting ours thoughts into words.
I've been waiting for you to pop up and discuss these changes! I do not understand how BA thought this new implementation would make people think "Oh, I love this, BA really value me". But rather, people appear to be looking to spend money with others. I commented a few months ago that I had left BA and moved onto AF because the BA service was getting worse each year. I'm glad I did, I've already had exceptional service from AirFrance. Happy New Year, Matt!
Hi Matt, agree and thanks. No reason why your tier point hobby (and ours) needs to die. Many airlines such as Air France still do it points based and instead of BA tier you could just focus on other status runs. As a BA gold I will be changing to skyteam and looking forward to the future; although traumatised by this. Cheers.
You're right - a different hobby even if its not completely new.... AF/KLM does feel like a strong candidate for many, especially as KLM serves so many regional airports
Great video Matt and thank you! Sorry to all affected! I will definitely miss lounge hopping in T3 on my long layovers. I've been Gold for a few terms now (RIP) but admittedly I always felt like I was getting away with something being able to use the Cathay business lounge and showers as Silver. I'll miss those big green chairs in the back though. Cheers.
Thanks for the content, Matt. Like many others, I have been waiting for your take on the 'relaunch'. I travel 'medium haul' to the Nordics on my employers dollar (actually Euro) with a couple of business related long hauls a year (cabin limited). Right now I am on the verge of my first Gold status! The announcement leaves me in a bit of a limbo until we find out (1) what the spend requirement on the Amex+ will be, (2) whether we will continue get soft landings, at least for the 26 renewal and (3) how aggressive the other alliances are going to be - for me, principally SkyTeam for SAS and Virgin - at status matching. The last bit of uncertainty is, of course, whether BA will be forced in to any 'corrections' to the new program since it may cause a noticeable hit on their EBIT.....
I think the matching offers will start soon - the other airlines are probably all on holiday too until next Monday.... As for the other points, the fact that they weren't explained leads me to expect them to not be good news when revealed....
I travel to Cyprus monthly as a minimum on business (economy as policy), which is two flights using BA, but now there is no point supporting BA. May as well fly direct on Easjet Full Flexi ticket and Revolut Ultra free Lounge access. Stuff 'em!
Thanks for your analysis! Was checking daily for your take on it all! :) Like you said, BA have sent a clear message to a lot of us they don't care for our custom so time to explore other opportunities with not being tied in! Virgin will be loving this announcement for sure.
As always, a wonderful video with balanced sensible reaction. As I have qualified for Gold within this membership year I will have Gold into 2026 but like you I am now actively looking at other alliances given how BA blatantly doesn't value my loyalty. Virgin Flying Club does seem to be a strong option given the ease of status matching and the fact that KLM/Air France serve just about every regional UK airport. I think SkyTeam will be the big winner from this certainly for UK based BA loyalists. The main question I'd love to see answered by BA management is why change things? It must be financial rather than just reducing the Gold and Silver numbers. I can't help thinking that the amount of people who will now choose flights based on price rather than loyalty to BA will cause a huge dent in bookings. As you mention, there's easier ways to thin out the top tiers. I look forward to following your journey through investigating other loyalty schemes and also finding the cheapest non loyal fares and hidden perks.
Great video Matt and well explained. My plan is burn through my saved avios before these get devalued then book with the carrier that offers the best deal and experience, this still might be BA. I achieved Bronze this year but once that expires it is very unlikely I will ever achieve future status.
After a little looking around I’m thinking I may credit my upcoming BA flights to Finnair, it does look like it will be easier to get gold (equivalent to BA Silver) with them. If you’re short points when it comes to renewing you can also use some of your Avios which I think is really useful!
Thank you for the update. Current Silver member here. Obtained by a lot of work travel and a little personal travel and did everything I could to gain this status. I’m already looking for an alternative airline for all my work travel going forward because I’ve had enough of BA!
Why do you care? Status only really benefits you if you’re taking the flights to earn status then taking many more lower tier flights where you can use the perks.
These changes make me very sad. I’ve been BA Silver/Gold for most of the last decade. As an American, my BA status was the last refuge for mileage runs and savy traveling, and helped me stay loyal to BA and AA. Looks like I’m a free agent now. 😢
Just switch to QA. Still one world and you get all the benefits. That’s what I’m doing as I fly with them a lot anyways. I just use BA because my main business is based in London.
Incredibly balanced, rational video given the impact. I have an absurd amount of Avios which I’d like to spend effectively- not always flying premium for sake of it. Qatar Economy isn’t exactly roughing it. I’m also quite enjoying buying BA Club flights short haul (CDG), as I like having early morning shower at T5 and nice breakfast, and lounge at end of weekend. Huge fan of your videos - long may they continue. I’ll search out your Aeroplan videos.
Outstanding Matt. Well researched and thoughtfully presented. As a silver card holder I feel badly let down by BA. I’ll enjoy it until next April then it’s back to flying the cheapest carrier I can find. BA will suffer badly.
Another great article Matt and thought provoking for us using other non-BA OW schemes. QF are rumoured to be considering adopting this model especially since Board Member Doug Parker oversaw AA’s introduction of the same. In a completely self-interest mode I too hope the BA scheme fails as a discouragement to others (especially QF)!
@ it makes sense for BA … until it doesn’t. It will be interesting to see what these changes have (if any) on loyal customers’ spend with BA - if that is a sufficient mover then, as you highlight, there could well be revisions. Would be interesting to see if BA also claim these are as a “result of feedback” should they occur.
I'm selfishly looking forward to a lot more *A content from you now Matt. Love your style and although I watched all your BAEC vids, none of them applied to me as a M&M member and someone who travels so little that achieving status in two alliances would be impossible.
Great vid as always Matt. I liked your comment on being the “BA tier points run guy” as I actively searched for your channel the moment I read the news about the club changing. your riposte was right on the money and very well delivered. Whatever your new travel hack hobby will be I’m sure all your subscribers along with me will join you on the ride.
Great video as always. Thanks Matt. Trying to reflect on these changes positively (!), I guess there’s something about this which means that a higher fare business or first fare will reward greater points than the lowest fare version etc…. (Which however I think could have been achieved in other ways !) I like the TP earning via BA holidays (ie. On hotel, car, transfer, etc) - so this may help lessen the impact. But overall it just feels like a massive change to me, and not for the better !! (And £20k of spend for gold feels excessive !)
Many thanks for another excellent video Matt, tough topic for those of us who have been very loyal to BA and played the game to attain status. Appreciate how well you articulate things and absolutely agree with the sentiments you express.
A very good summary. Like a toxic marriage, it's time to move on. Spend all that extra money on a decent restaurant and hotel, fly direct, fly often. While we still can. Matt made a very good point about the bad premium cabin BA flights - you endure it for the TPs. No longer. I shall not miss Terminal 2 at FRA! Happy New year, Matt.
Last summer, I booked two British Airways (BA) business class tickets with cash for my wife and me from Ibiza to London Heathrow (LHR). We planned a 4-hour layover at LHR before continuing in first class to Atlanta, Georgia, using Avios. On the day of travel, a baggage handler in Ibiza damaged the aircraft with a baggage loader, causing a 4-hour delay. As a result, we missed our connection in LHR. Despite my efforts to combine the two separate reservations ahead of time (a request BA refused), the airline refused to assist us after we missed our flight. We were stranded in LHR overnight with no hotel, no transportation, and no support from BA. To get home, I had to book last-minute economy tickets for my wife and me on a different airline at an enormous cost. When I later submitted a compensation claim, BA rejected it, claiming the baggage handlers were a third party and not their responsibility. That was my final straw for BA. It was a horrendous experience.
Thanks for making this video and giving your heart felt views - we have all been on a great ride but alas the big dipper is coming in for the last time. My thank to you and Rob Burgess over the years - but we all live to fight another day ❤
Hi Matt, i was wondering its my 2nd time doing a flight from MNL to Europe in QR business class return which is 540 old TP so nearly BA Silverand costs me around £1600 for the ticket. Now its going to be impossible for me to gain any sort of status with BA. I booked this exact trip a month ago and for June and was wondering who to credit the flights to. Was looking at QR but i don't think I'd even get OneWorld Ruby status with those flights. I'm devastated as I'm a young casual traveller and wanted to experience status for the first time. Any thoughts?
Its a real shame.... No obvious successor to BA has emerged which tells me they all offer a significant step up in difficulty to achieve status.... I'm inclining to Qatar as they'll probably best accommodate my future travel needs but just about every other OneWorld program has been recommended... Qatar is still in the avios universe too... I don't have to make a decision for over a year so a deep dive hasn't been a priority, plus I'm on a trip right now, but there is no obvious answer
Been silver for a few years now (missed out on Gold at the end of 2022, thanks to the Covid threshold drop, as I had to miss that trip) and have been able renewed it year on year with my frequent UK > CA trips out of LHR in premium cabins, and flying Alaska (and sometimes AA generally) when in the PNW to add extra Tier Points. I liked fast track in GLA, lounge access in the UK and US for showering and free seat selections. I guess now I can look at SkyTeam or Star Alliance given how easy it is to self transfer it LHR from Glasgow or even somewhere in Europe... found BA a decent enough airline but this has left a soul taste in my mouth. I get the idea of changing it up to entice people to spend more money to retain their status, but for leisure travellers (like me) it really isn't feasible anymore to retain even siler without spending (to me) a fortune.
Thanks Matt. Great video as always. This absolutely ruined my New Year, thanks BA. I’m wondering how crediting tier points from other Oneworld flights is going to work? I fly a lot on Finnair to Sweden as I love the A350 short haul experience. Might look into jumping ship to them. Waiting on tenterhooks for your Oneworld scheme insights when you find that headspace. Black armband will be worn on my last booked BA flights till April. Sad day… thanks for everything you do for the community!!
I fall into the second of the affected groups. My new position and associated travel, with prem economy flights, using Avios to upgrade 1 leg, would have netted me lifetime gold if I stick it out for 5+ years… I had been doing the sums and was aware of your previous warning about this being their scheme, not ours, and subject to change. The projected expenditure will see me reach gold each year but the 5-6 year lifetime projection is now way over the horizon. With 300k Avios I’m going to start burning them before focussing on alternatives.
@@MattsPlanet having done my sums I will probably just be gold over the next few years, but definitely a solid silver. With 25 years silver behind me I would be OK if a lifetime silver would be awarded. The lifetime gold was a target as it would have been a wee retirement bonus. Living north of the border, Heathrow is the most efficient airport for international connections and BA provides optionality. I’ve not given up on BA because I can’t.
Well done BA! It would be wonderful if all airlines would take their frequent flyer programs back to where they began in the Good Old Days, i.e. restrict the benefits and privileges to genuine high-yield frequent flyers. In other words, the people who fly very often in J and F, and bring in the money. That would clear the lounges of all those people who want to milk their status for what it is worth, and then some. It would also shorten the priority boarding queues, hopefully to the point where priority starts to mean something again. And so forth. FF programs have become profit centers focused on deceiving the gullible, yet at the same time encouraging cheapskates and travel hackers to game the system. It's time to focus on the passengers who truly matter, and give them benefits commensurate with the $$$ they spend. The rest can just suck it up, or walk to their destination.
Your wish has come true! Not a popular view in these parts but pretty much a quote from the BA playbook. What about those who've earnestly credited to BA over decades with the goal of lifetime status? Who never gamed anything and foolishly believed BA's promises? Who paid BA 10s of thousands of pounds over the years and will now get nothing??? Tough!!!! But at least you won't have to ever queue to get in a lounge
Good analysis as per usual. As a Gold member who travels extensively for work but can only push for PE on long haul and whose tickets are bought in another currency, this is disastrous news. My interest in status is mostly about choosing seats (I have restless leg syndrome so choosing my seat is crucial), fast track, baggage allowance, and extra support if facing issues. This means a lot more discomfort in future travel and makes me angry I spent so many years being loyal to BA. 😔
I would have thought travelling “extensively” for work, even in PE. Would likely have you spending more than the typical member and these changes would benefit you?
HI Matt. A very well structured video that clearly communicates your disgust (which is echoed by me and many, many others) at the dreadful treatment by BA of its loyal customers in these changes. I will continue to use my Avios with BA (and other Oneworld partners) while I have Avios and 2-4-1 vouchers to spend, but after that I will explore other airlines to use once my current Gold status expires in April 2026. Please do continue to produce your highly informative videos, including alternative FF schemes, that disgruntled and previously loyal customers to BA, can consider instead of BA. It would be good to think that BA takes note of the backlash and reconsiders aspects of the changes, but I’m not holding my breath! Dave.
I can kind of see the rationale in a way - Back in the day, Gold status was a pretty exclusive thing, reserved only for the most frequent travellers. With more and more people achieving the status, it becomes devalued (although I still think it's a sh*t idea!). The "main" benefit (other than being more likely to be upgraded) is the free use of the lounge, when flying in a non-premium cabin. From now on, upgrades will still be assigned based on status (but will extend into silver/bronze categories to fill the gaps), but the pesky "freeloading" lounge rats :D will have to queue for the Priority Pass lounges, only to be turned away when they're "Full" and have to slum it with the rest of us plebs. Don't forget - when you're in Biz, you can still go in the lounge, regardless of status.
I agree that it was too easy to get status - although BA designed the scheme so they need to take the blame for it, not the people with the time, money and motivation to take advantage of BA's design laxness!!!! So the rationale is absolutely clear, and its absolutely needed.... But you don't need a sledgehammer to open a nut....
Agree with all this. I was in the lounge at Heathrow T5 recently and it was awful. I actually left it because it was so busy. Status is overrated unless you travel economy/premium and want the perks.
The algorithm is (very cruelly) suggesting I watch your tier point related videos! Gaining BA Silver (after that time we were all stuck indoors) has gotten me 3 other gold memberships in other schemes (I plan to maintain TK gold.) I feel for the people most affected and those who will never know the enjoyment of a tier point run. One or two last trips to the Concorde Room using my hard earned points and then I’m probably done with BA. There’s value to be had elsewhere for those looking for it. Thanks again, Matt, your channel was the first thing that sprung to mind when I saw the email.
Long live the algorithm.... The classic tier point run from DUB to (eg) SFO earns quite nicely into the Qatar scheme so perhaps they're not completely dead!
Edited to say thanks for all your efforts and wisdom. Gold for life was near for me - 33000 tier points gained from 25 years of flying BA - with work. Was going to make GfL it next year. Now I guess I need to spend £50k😢 to make it which is unlikely because it don’t trust them now. £10s of thousands spent on BA under false promises.
Ouch - that's really tough.... I've had a private comment from a lawyer indicating that there may be something here under the law of tort - I'll publicise any progress that we make
The key takeaway for me from your excellent video is ‘lost trust’. I just don’t trust them to even keep GfL let alone keep to £550k spend limit. I might just about earn 1000 tps before April. I hope someone will hold BA to account where sales were made under false pretences. Thanks for the great work.
@ Yes - agreed I’m trying to figure out if I can move some work trips from late spring to early spring. I’ve never done any tier point runs but I guess this may be my first last and only chance. I just “rewarded” BA with a £650 at airport upgrade for myself to club world.
Fair play on keeping up and replying to all comments! Personally I have never been able to fly enough to even consider some sort of loyalty status with any airline (family member BA staff travel almost entirely removes any incentive!) although do see the appeal to cost savvy status strategies and the videos that comes with it.
Great, many thanks Matt - appreciate your perspectives! Like most here, I'm genuinely at a loss for words at how poorly handled this was by BA. The abruptness and complete lack of consideration for loyal members are shocking...
As an aside, I suspect the reason for the higher rate for GfL vs the status tiers is that they plan to increase the status tier amounts every year or two to adjust for inflation, whereas the GfL amount will change less often. This is also a side effect, the nice and simple system of distance based points is so elegant, because it never needs to be adjusted for inflation. They'll have the same issue with avios too, since now those are spend based, so either the earn rates will need to be reduced or the redemption rates increased in order to account for inflation, whereas the old distance based system didn't need that, since distances don't change with inflation
Superb point and thanks for making it. Makes excellent sense.... Although it took Amex 20 years (perhaps less....) to shift the trigger for the companion voucher....
Good point, but wasn’t inflation automatically adjusted in the old way without customers witnessing it so obviously? For example, a First flight from LHR to JFK would’ve yielded 210 tier points. Pre inflation or post inflation, the tier points were the same. Meaning the price you pay will always be inflation adjusted, and therefore the status and the executive club also adjusted for inflation.
@@justbunz1826 Yes, which was my point, the old system was elegant because it never needed to be adjusted. The new system BA will have to constantly adjust the thresholds, which a) is less transparent (you don't know when and by how much they'll change each year, so harder to plan around it), and b) allows them to increase the thresholds above inflation if they choose to, stealthily making status harder to achieve to cull numbers
Another great video Matt, I was waiting for this one from you!. I for one agree with some of the changes. When I flew for work I would easily make Gold in the new scheme as most of my flights where last min first or CW. Your mate Steve and I were in the same situation. Lots of flights but hard to get Gold. The other issue I had with BA was the poor experience because of the sheer number of Golds, GF at LHR has always been packed, First wing busy all the time and group one boarding a joke. My last flight in First from LHR to MIA there were 63 people in Group 1 show me he that’s a premium experience. I for one support the changes but not the way BA have gone about it. Also I think the demographic of your WhatsApp group isn’t representative of the typical BA customer. This change affects the enthusiast flyer and tier point runner who are a good portion of your audience and group is imagine. I for one gave up my GGL a while ago, I found it liberating to be free to try other airlines when I fancy it and if you fly premium cabins having status just doesn’t mean much anyway. At the end of the day I think airline status isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
@ I was surprised, I asked the gate agent had I missed the group 1 call and he said no, there was 63 people in group 1. Only 14 of that were first passengers so I’m assuming the rest must be Golds. On a flight back from Toronto the “first/gold” area of the lounge was full being there is no first cabin on that flight it meant at least 19 of those were gold or GGL. BA had to do something I really don’t blame them as the value of having gold status or even GGL when I had it was severely diminished. I just enjoy picking any airline now, have done for the last 12months. Like you I will still use BA and it’s mostly for redemption flights in business/first so status doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t worry about the tier point videos, although they were interesting it’s a tiny demographic (the same demographic that’s making all the noise now). Your video on Saudi was great btw
Thanks Matt. I got the email and have watched a few other videos but Ive been waiting for yours. The best on this subject and I wish you the best for the channel in the future. I had BA Silver for many years whilst working and defaulted to BA for leisure travel. Im long retired but kept plugging away over misguided loyalty to BA and mainly manage to retain the Silver card, not any more loyalty gone. I live near Glasgow and as such unless traveling just to London, I have to connect, BA was good for this but a bus gate from T5 to Terminal 3 sort of spoils that. Glasgow offers many other opportunities such as KLM via Amsterdam, Air France via Paris, Icelandic, Air Transat you get the idea, bye bye BA. How about a video on how to use up Avios so I can really cut the cord? Thanks again, keep up the good work.
I've been anticipating your video since I saw the announcement, I was just about to start attempting to get status with BA, but think I might give Qatar's scheme a try as Im based up in Edinburgh. Great Video Matt, I look forward to learning about the opportunities freedom brings, Happy Flying!
Excellent video Matt. As a long-term Silver status member, I find this elimination of BA's loyalty program to a spend benefit structure to be discouraging. As I'm a leisure traveler living in Canada flying YYZ to LHR and MAN, achieving Silver status for my wife and I already required a significant annual financial investment. As it will be impossible for us to retain Silver status under the new scheme, we must investigate new options. Time for me to learn about Aeroplan. I do appreciate all of your efforts, you've been a wonderful source of knowledge and I look forward to your future videos.
Thanks - big fan of Aeroplan for redemptions but not sure how good they are for earning status.... Thanks for the kind words and good luck! Every challenge is an opportunity somewhere else....
Great video. I never could see the logic of Tier point runs in an era of emissions awareness, and my experience of BA lounges are they are always crowded. Some retuning was obviously necessary, but they've gone too far and have strangled the golden goose.They should have thought about this more carefully and introduced a system that kept people interested.
I have been gold for past 5 years but the BA experience got worst and worst. Just had a frozen starter in business to Dubai. Time to move to Sky team. With 13000 lifetime tier points, there is no way to become lifetime gold. Reward flights availability is rubbish so no incentive anymore. Website and app are rubbish and crash half the time. BA thinks of themselves way too highly and want to be exclusive in access but not in the quality delivered. As you said, I hope it bites them. Thanks for the video.
Personally I'm a Finnair fan boy now. They also do status through revenue tier points but interestingly you can buy your way to a good status by using Avios to buy tier points. That's how I plan to stay as a status holder with Oneworld and have the same to similar benefits to allow me to have those tasty pies in T5 Heathrow lounges.
Hi Matt, thank you for your video. I fly BA usually from London to HK and China, and I've managed to get 880 TP. Now I have a following holiday to Bucharest, flying from Manchester to get 480 TP to get gold, along with two Club Europe return trips. I've always chosen BA over China Eastern, and I saw this Loyalty Program change on my flight from Shanghai to London on a BA flight 😅. Really disappointed, moving on to other airlines soon. Cathay would be a great choice for me. I love your videos!
I think this is your finest ever video Matt; certainly one of the most memorable! Perhaps 500 comments / 7500 views in around 5 hours suggests that I am not alone in thinking this way. Historians in decades to come will rank it with “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”, and "We who are about to die salute you."! If you can muster the enthusiasm, I quick review of how this week's announcement will impact the transition arrangements towards everyone's year end date being 1st April (how appropriate!) would be welcome. I confess I still struggle to understand all the wrinkles, even with the help of the video you made on the subject. I have a vague recollection that with my current year end date being 8th March, will any flights/holidays I take between 9th and 31st March 25 still be counted twice? A final opportunity to game the system and retain Silver Status for the maximum length of time, and thereby be a burden on BA's lounges for as long as possible! Although having queued for over 45 minutes at T5 check in at 7 o'clock in the morning last August because BA chose to man only a third of the available desks; I admit I was doing a Mr Bean and refusing to use bag drop when holding BAEC Silver, I agree with you that the writing has been on the wall for some time. That's before moaning about BA last year cancelling two flights on the morning of the flight, not fully crediting double TPs on a multi-flight holiday, and lost baggage on another flight to Pisa. Should we open a book on the One World partner you eventually decide to credit your Tier Points to (and how many TPs will it be?). May I be the first to suggest Royal Jordanian?! Delighted to hear you say that I should have a t least a couple of months under the current arrangements to decide when and where to blow the 500k Avios that I have been assiduously collecting via Barclays and some flights over the last 3 years.
Cheers! With an 8 Mar year end you'll get an 11.3 month double count and the 23 days until the end of the next year will only count once.... Not a lot of opportunity to game it... Good luck predicting which one I end up with!!!
Thanks Matt. You express the anger in the way BA have done this perfectly. Clearly BA have no regard for long term loyalty below GFL. I shall now run down my avios before moving my European leisure travel to a closer airfield where the LCC operates a much newer fleet and with an exemplary on time record.
I. Am. Shook. Just as I reach a point in life where TP running was going to be “a thing” and 2026 especially will provide an opportunity to rack up points, BA stabs me in the back. Oh well, Avios redemptions is my sole future with our flag carrier now, I too have zero loyalty to them. Thank you for this video Matt, as one of the many that pestered you for it. I’ve watched a few on the topic that have been a bit grey-rock focusing on the minutiae. Callum expressed disappointment very well (a watch recommendation for anyone reading this comment see Callum Elsdon’s channel), but I knew that you would be one to convey with degrees of passion the near anger and find the details of additional impacts. My sympathies to anyone in the two groups you described, that would be gutting. Here’s to wheels up with airlines that don’t have a wafting union flag on their aircrafts’ tails in 2025! Cheers! 🥂
Indeed - well said! I suspect another airline will emerge that we'll all become obsessed about achieving status with... Saw something yesterday suggesting Oman Air may be a dark horse... When they join OneWorld next year, of course....
I have approx. 250,000 Avios. I have held them for a long time but I think I will use them sooner rather than later now. Although I was always more likely to redeem them on partner airlines to avoid large taxes when flying direct from the UK I think that BA is going to do something that will significantly reduce their overall value regardless of where you use them. Tier points changes I think are just "Part 1" of the bitter pill.
Hi Matt, I want to thank you for your channel helping me over the last 12 months to gather to last 900 LtTP to get GfL. GfL was my career goal when I worked but covid and retirement meant it was never going to happen but thanks to your channel, I learnt enough to achieve it. I know I am (now) in a tremendously privileged position - thanks again.
I do think that BA really devalued their loyalty scheme. The lounge full of gold members at times was busier than the actual terminal really did take away from the premium feel when flying in a premium cabin. There might have been a happy medium here.
I understand the frustration, however as a less frequent traveller, however travelling in business class, when travelling, got me into lounges filled up to capacity. Reducing the possibility to achieve status will hopefully reduce the lounge fill levels. I fully agree that BA will loose business, as their hard product in many airplanes needs a lot of polishing. When I shop for business class flights, BA many times falls short to their competition, so I would not book BA. Having said all of the above, I can understand that airlines will define loyalty by the amount spent with them. It will eventually be implemented by all airlines. Will it hurt their business? Time will tell. I doubt it though.
Your username is very appropriate - this was certainly informed!!! I agree with everything - although the fact that the lounges are rammed is more down to BA's double tier point extensions than it is to tier point runners, but this will certainly clear them out!
Let's be honest - Tier Point runs was a game. Travellers spent extra money on positioning flights, or negligibly better premium cabins just to get points and therefore status. The main thing they were after was lounge access. If the same travellers simply chose the best option (regardless of airline) and had a priority pass, they'd be much better off. Extra 23kg bag? Early seat selection? Who cares. Now just fly Easyjet from eg London to Edinburgh. And if you do want a lounge (if you do indeed have time to go to a lounge), you'll spend 17 quid (Priority Pass price). I like BA, but SAS is now better value for me. At Christmas, I paid EUR 15 for an extra cabin bag, and checked luggage. Would that have been included in a Silver BA fare - yes, but how much would I have spent (wasted, actually) on the premium fares to get that Silver status.
In essence, you're correct... But there's quite a lot more to status.... And an overcrowded PP lounge (that you might not be allowed in anyway without paying more to prebook) is no comparison to the Pier First Lounge or the Helsinki Premium lounge....
Matt your mood and thoughts are echoed by many. The executive Club drove people to the airline not the other way round. My personal feeling is one of freedom to look at other options. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your personal way forward!
Excellent!! Many thanks Matt, as with others I have been waiting for your levelheaded response, and I fully confer with your view, especially on BA’s approach to this change. I have been flying with BA for many years and as you point out using them is like being on a rollercoaster. However, I do enjoy the flight experience and generally, the quality of the air crew. Over the past year I have personally experienced a steady decline in the ground crew experience at LHR, together with their customer support function. I have four outstanding complaints, due to faulty flights and ground experiences, which they have received but not responded to. I look forward to hearing who you choose for your future "loyalty" as I am presently researching where I should give mine, as to gain maximum benefit. Happy New Year by the way, I wish you good health and fortune for 2025.
Thanks Howard. Every other OneWorld airline has been recommended as an alternative (except SriLankan!) so its not an obvious decision, I would suggest!
Hi Matt, do you think other OW airlines will not follow BA’s new requirements soon?
Some probably will - BA is competing primarily on trans-atlantic so takes its cues from that direction. Other airlines may not feel the same imperative
BA has also scaled down the benefits for corporate clients. With us, seats were previously free - even without status. Today came information from Travel Management that BA flights from 15.1.25 can only be booked in justified exceptional cases. And we are not a small company - but a DAX corporation. I can't say how high BA's share of sales is, but I can imagine that other corporate customers will also react.
Thanks for sharing that - very interesting. This is already penal for a lot of corporates but if they do that as well....
I always really appreciate your videos. Coming from the United States and having been a Delta Platinum for more than a decade I can tell you there is a silver lining to all this. Once I realized there was little value from the new loyalty program, I finally got off the status treadmill and saved thousands of dollars in the last year between booking the cheapest flights, using miles, and not paying credit card annual fees.
Wise words. Perhaps this is a blessing.... Perhaps not for my channel though!!!
Yeah, thought about it today when booking a flight with Ethiopian instead of Qatar. Whopping £900 saved 😊
I did the same with United. I’ve had so many other great flights since then.
@@da480oh no no no ! I fly 100k plus miles a year. I flew from Bangkok to Newark via Lomé in February. The worst two flights that I have ever had. Filthy planes, terrible food, and not lie flat business class on old planes. It was torture. I’d gladly pay $900 for any other airline on a 25 hour trip. Never again. Good luck. Oh, btw. They just lost last place to Egyptian airlines. The only airline that sucked even more
Just done the same with Virgin. Dropped to Silver from Gold last week and had a panic attack. Now feel nothing but relief I can book the cheapest. Also cancelling credit card. Yep it’s a blessing
I think BAs dial went up to 11 (im sure you'll get that reference). Succinctly put, as always, and I think it's a short-sighted change from BA that is likely to blow up spectacularly in their face - but i have a feeling they don't care, so long as they have plenty of full-fare business customers filling the seats. Loyalty is a two-way street, and i have a feeling they will find that out once these changes take effect.
Thanks - there just aren't as many full fare business customers as they think.... And they're unlikely to flood back to BA with the scheme as it will be....
@@MattsPlanet I left a comment on another channel regarding a lounge user who was fed up with RUclipsrs walking around with go pros and further comment regarding sorting the chaff, I for one would like to say give me self funding chaff to obnoxious corporates in any lounge
@GLAFly, my home airport is also Glasgow. I am looking at booking my next holiday with BA in the Spring out of Gatwick. I have tried all sorts of date combinations and it would seem that BA has removed the business class seats on the Glasgow to Gatwick flights altogether, and then charge a serious amount of money for Economy. Just wondered if you or @MattsPlant had heard about this already? I'm now really worried about pairing back domestic business class.
@SpeedwellTravel-d8e nothing concrete, but there are rumours that they are planning to drop the Gatwick route from Glasgow entirely - and this seems to be following the same approach they have used with other routes (hike up the eco prices months in advance to make it less likely they will have to move any bookings)
@@GLAFly thanks for replying so quickly. It's going to make my BA holidays rather challenging if that happens.Even worse if I choose to through-ticket. I'll keep an eye on it too!
Totally agree with everything, when it was announced I was waiting for your update Matt, Thank you & Happy New Year. Looking forward to hearing your future recommendations, we only use BA for tier points but have been unhappy with their airline particularly this year so we'll be moving to other airlines.
They don't want you so go elsewhere! Simple really. Thanks for watching
Excellent summary Matt! It will be interesting to see what happens next….. regional travellers switching to low cost airlines as status is out of reach, closure of regional BA lounges due to the decline in passengers, closure of the First Lounge at T5, reduction in size of First Wing etc…I will miss your tier point run videos, but look forward to your analysis of where to credit flights in future
I hope to still make interesting videos!
I'm one of the people who were working towards LtG - sitting at 30k TP now - wife at 29k TP. Not a single pure TP run ever - sure some routing over JFK but thats about it. We must have spent close to £500k over the past 25+ years of travel as it included quite a few full fare F tickets, and a Concorde run in there. I'm pretty angry and disappointed over this change. It feels like a complete betrayal from BA - frankly near a bait-and-switch. We are going to use our close to 1m Avios as soon as we can, and then swap to another airline - I don't want to put more money in BA's pockets.
I'm increasingly confident there's a legal angle here.... Something to do with tort....
Get those avios spent on reward flights, it would be horrendous to see you loose value on them as well as your LtG.
Plenty of people whining but it's a free world so they can do what they want and BA will have to live with the financial consequences of its decisions. Many people will now get better deals with other airlines and wonder why they spent all that time chasing tier status! I also think 'experts' are failing to recognise that BA can still very easily do tier point bonuses if passenger bookings drop too much. It can still dangle a carrot !!
As a LtG member myself, I really do understand your frustration and maybe BA will do something for people such as yourself? The problem is that the tier benefits are real time offerings and I am sure that in the small print BA says it can change everything as and when it sees fit. I am not even sure if I will retain my LtG status but if not, I will soon get used to it.
Avios are much more important to me as, along with companion vouchers, they get us in premium cabins on board and that's what I value most. In fact being in a premium cabin get's most of what tier status would. We now fly mostly from Gatwick, usually on morning long haul, and these days we get to the airport the evening before, check our bags in, Stay at the Bloc hotel and go through the included premium security line in time for us to go straight to the gate. Zero early morning stress and no traffic worries. Also virtually no use of tier benefits!!
Didn't I read somewhere that you could use BA avios on other OW partners like Finnair for example?
You can spend them on all OneWorld partners so there are lots of options out there
I entirely concur. Cathay Pacific it is for me as I live in East Asia! Enjoyed it while it lasted thanks BA :-) The only bitter taste in my mouth is the infuriating discourse from BA. "Enhancing your experience" "taking into account your feedback" "making it simpler"!!!!! I honestly believe they sit in an office laughing as they write these things.
They're not in their offices laughing, they're all on holiday laughing. Leaving the front line staff to handle the consequences
I calculated my past year with CX, with BA I get around 1700 TP, CX only 635 TP out of 1200. It has been so easy to get OWE with BA
Like so many others on here I have been awaiting your 'take' on this development. Thank you for your insightful appraisal. Luckily, although I am a BAEC blue member, I decided to go with the Qatar Airways Privilege Club. I am a gold member and have travelled almost exclusively from EDI to BKK. The benefits from QRPC gold are supposed to be equivalent to silver BA but are so much better going via Doha. I recently traveled OSL-DOH-BKK and return. Thanks to you explaining ex-EU flights. Premium travel that way is so much more affordable than from the UK and they still award Qpoints on mileage. Anyway, many thanks for all that you do.
Sounds like its something worth looking at....
Very comprehensive and professionally done as ever - thank you Matt.
The way BA have managed and executed this decision is scandalous and I hope very much that they lose business based on their misguided treatment of loyal patrons.
I’d very much like to see a video around status matching from BA to xxx - assuming you don’t mind being asked for video requests that is !! ;)
Thanks - and no problem. People can ask for anything they like - they may not get it!!!! I am expecting some status matching offers to pop up - its very difficult to engineer one without a publicised offer (unless you control a massive spend budget in which case any airline will talk to you!!!). KLM would be the most logical one, although I suspect they may be cautious as they could have (no exaggeration) a hundred thousand match requests....
Bravo Matt! BA might well fall significantly in the airline ranks.
As a northerner. We have so many better options to travel the world other than through Heathrow. Although GOLD was fun while it lasted.
"While it lasted" indeed.... Thanks Roy
If you had better options I'm surprised you weren't already using them...
@@djlondon7956 He likely gave BA all that money to retain Gold. Now BA has indicated they don't want that sort of money any more. He clearly means that there are better connections through better airports than LHR, or even direct flights! Passengers didn't go through LHR because they particularly liked it. It was for many a necessary evil to fly with BA and collect TP's.
@@djlondon7956loyalty. Enjoying the status chasing game.
Matt - Great video, sums up how I’m feeling about BA. I am 15 years loyal to BA through business and leisure travel, I don’t partake of Sofia tier point runs etc although The Mrs and I did Book a BA holiday to Gran Canaria and a nice hotel to edge gold for another year. I’m about 10k short of lifetime and this news broke the day before I retired! Achieving LTG on a pension under the new rules just isn’t possible.
I can’t help thinking that the proliferation of sites (like yours) that show how easy status is to achieve are part of the problem here. I’ve just matched Gold to FB Platinum, with Flying Blue so that’s where my money will be going now
Cheers for that.... I think channels and sites like mine highlight a problem that's been there for some time.... Before I explained it, it was still possible (and it was a lot cheaper years ago!!!) you just needed to sift through hundreds of pages of flyertalk chat to work it out - that's what I did!!!! I've probably not helped, but the root cause of the issue is how BA designed its program to work.... Wonder how many matches Flying Blue has had!!!
That was a great solid and comprehensive video Matt! The black armband was a nice touch as well ! I think your summation of the impact of the changes is correct. One unanticipated benefit, as you alluded to is that for me, my plan to do a couple of TP runs this year has now morphed into thinking more broadly about RTW tickets instead and maximising my experiences instead, so maybe there is a sliver of a silver lining in amongst the rest of it. But, on the whole, this is just (yet another) textbook examples of: how not to treat your loyal customer base; how to try and sneak things out when people might not notice; and most importantly how to gaslight your customers by suggesting we asked for this. Again, well done with the video.
Thanks - I hope this video will "help" but I'm not sure how!!!
Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Thanks for this video Matt. I haven't had a good experience with BA in a number of years, most recently when they refused to upgrade my status after my tier points from a return LHR-TLS-LHR leg weren't added to my account within the collection year, despite the final flight in the leg landing just under 96 hours before my year was due to end. Took me 6 weeks of back and forth with 7 different customer service reps and a threat of legal action before they finally adjusted my status. I personally am going to be very surprised if BA follow through with this change, or at the very least don't adjust the tier point requirements for each tier. I'll personally be taking my business over to Terminal 2, as I already have frequent flier status with Lufthansa, and upgrading it further shouldn't be terribly difficult!
T2 wlll be the place to be!
@@unfusible I think they will go ahead, but they might tweak parts of it
Great video Matt, thank you! I fly the London-Singapore route frequently, and over the last 15 years have chosen BA over Singapore Airlines multiple times even when BA was more expensive, simply to accrue tier points. Gold status was nice while it lasted, but now that I have next to no chance of reaching Gold again, I am freed from that "obligation", and can go back to flying better quality airlines, often for less cost.
I have just subscribed to your channel because I am looking forward to more of your future videos, which will no doubt point me towards the loyalty program I should set my sights on next!
Thanks - not sure I love Singapore's long haul seat but there are lots of options when you're unshackled from BA..... Thanks for the sub
Well said Matt. I couldn't wait to hear your take on the changes and thanks for taking the time to upload this video. I have been quite content with silver for the last 5 years as I stopped business commuting to London in 2019 when I had gold. Now I do the odd business flight and top up with BA holidays to retain silver. I don't think I'm going to be able to do that now. 20 years of loyalty will be disappearing. I do agree that the seriously busy lounges are now extremely unpleasant and it is the ground experience that I kept my status for really. Free seat choice at booking too. Really sad that the changes are so severe and not as you rightly said, staged up percentage wise and much more notice given of these changes.
A big bang approach, and it looks like there will be some blowback onto BA's p&l....
Thanks
Thanks so much! Very kind
@@MattsPlanetYou're most welcome; a small token of my appreciation for all you've done to date 👍🏿
Thanks Matt. Like everyone else, I was waiting for your view on this. I don’t like to think of you as Mr Tier Point run but the voice of reason in this travel, point, and status hobby. I’m BA silver and most likely will not be after several years due to these changes. Often, I achieved this by upgrading economy to Club Europe, now no point, and they have lost that income from me. Like others, I was also waiting for the sale and new year to pass to book another BA holiday, this one to Iceland, in business class. Now going economy with Icelandair for a quarter of the cost. Like you say, it was fun while it lasted, but BA doesn’t want our money anymore.
I did get a BA sale email this morning - didn't even open it! Thanks
Thanks for the Excellent Video Matt! you make a very valid point that BA cannot be trusted any more! Well said and echoed by many.
Thanks again Paul!!
Great video as always, Matt.
My wife and I have silver status which comes from self funded business class flights - usually two returns to North America each year and a return or two in Europe. Silver status mattered to us because of free seat choice - a big saving on business class returns to the US, say….such that we would make sure we kept status and would choose BA over other airlines for that reason.
No longer - unlikely (very) we would get to silver through spend so suddenly it’s a whole new ball game! Air Canada or Delta’s gain will be BA’s loss!
Indeed - and BA doesn't seem to care... Perhaps 200 comments now along these lines....
Thanks Matt! I was waiting for this from you as soon as BA announced the revisions! I’ve been BA Silver for a while and never chased gold actively as Silver had been the sweet spot for me. But now, there’s no point for me to be loyal to BA (or any other OneWorld member). I think my wife (also BA Silver) and I are also going to hop over to Star Alliance after April. We have some trips booked with BA, but the excitement is no longer there for tier points that I’ll be awarded for those flights.
BA is going to lose a lot of business here....
Great video, well as great as it can be given the circumstances. Your tone of voice was perfected for the situation.
For anyone feeling a bit ‘lost’ or just getting started, a relatively easy way to achieve the equivalent of BA silver status is by status matching another airline or hotel alliance via Royal Jordanian’s status match. For US$149 you’ve got silver status perks for just over £120.
I’ll be doing the RJ status match if still on offer once my Gold and silver expires in 2026/27. Although I do expect the $149 fee to rise, as the route/ method becomes more popular after the BA changes take place and others lose their BA status.
The domino effect will be interesting to watch, as BA has a lot of low tier members who will be looking elsewhere now!
It's brought me benefits already. My next business class trip LHR to PVG will now be with Emirates. 4 legs on the A380 and 4 lounges with far superior F&B compared with BA. "Free" chauffeur service and it still all costs less than the crummy BA business class (which uses their old cabins). Not long after that will be a business class trip to NZ. I look forward to investigating the non One World carriers to get a better deal. I think we'll soon learn to be glad to be done with them. I've got around 500K Avios, so need to work out the best use of them. I think I'll use them with Qatar perhaps.
That's the spirit!
Totally agree this is ex ally what i’m going to be doing . their business class is so far behind Emirates it’s embarrassing & im changing my flight options now
Matt. Thanks for such a comprehensive video. I agree with everything you say. Loyalty is two way street and BA has just spat in our faces. I’ve got just short of 300,000 Avios, 620 Tier points but need to take 3 more BA flights before March 31 to (I hope) renew my Silver status for the last time. I’ve self funded over 9000 lifetime tier points and like you cannot contemplate spending £500,000 or more to attain lifetime gold in the mere hope that untrustworthy BA will not change the rules. Living in Glasgow further complicates the issue as BA has a monopoly to LHR.
Thanks for everything you’ve done to support those of us in the BAEC and formerly loyal to BA. Best as always.
Hello KLM I would suggest!!!
@@MattsPlanet that’s where my thoughts were leading. I used to live in Boston and would hop to AMS to catch a KLM to BOS. It’s really not much longer than an LHR connection.
Will keep my eyes on your videos. All best for 2025.
Brilliant Matt. BA incredibly disrespectful and frankly disgusting changes succinctly summed up. I am glad I am not the only person who is angry. I will go out of my way to not book them whereas in the past I would gladly pay more to fly them. As you say they actually aren't that good. The never ending wait for new club suite seats to be fitted is an example. No doubt the team that dreamed this up had worked for BA for just a short time and will clear off to another company in the near future.
Keep up the good work
The team that dreamed this up is allegedly McKinsey's, cutting and pasting suggestions they previously sold to US airlines.... Allegedly!
That doesn't surprise me! See you on Patreon have just joined 😊
Thank you very much for another great Video Matt.
I was waiting for your analysis and reflections and you have just captured how so many of us feel - especially as in my case… I’m at 31.5k LTP towards GFL which I’ve accumulated over the last 25+ years. Too far of a gap to fill before 31 March….
I prob won’t be able to stick with BA Club… but I look forward to sticking with you on your channel - happy new year despite the terrible news and long life to your channel !
That's a really painful place to be - I feel your pain....
13:18 Time will tell indeed Matt, but this is going to harm them more than they think. BA are going to lose all of my business travel going forward.
I make 4 or 5 transatlantic business flights a year, that plus a few of my own trips used to be enough to get gold status, that won't be enough even for silver under the new rules.
Without the executive club status BA are just not the best option for me and haven't been for a while. Thank you BA for freeing me from my bonds.
It really is a case study in how loyalty programs can compensate for underlying poor quality.... It will be fascinating to see what happens....
I think your best video yet in terms of laying out your thinking and response so clearly and logically. I'd slightly fear sitting opposite you in a negotiation...would be hard getting round you when you clearly do your homework, besides offering a bribe of a premium spirit or a decent cheese plate....
I wonder if the justification BA refers to of "you requested this" is a code for the senior bods in our large corporate clients, didn't like the mixing of people in the lounges (the wrong sort, not dressed properly etc, videoing or doing a show off pic of their champagne glass etc ) and the congestion at LHR lounges at different times of day.
I do agree they might bring in a fee for lounge access to create more revenue. And it would be tied to a specific separate "oiks" lounge repurposed from an existing BA lounge.
Cognac works.... Although I do need a script - I'm not so coherent when ad libbing!!! I wouldn't mind paying for the lounge - £100 a pop rather than £3k for a year makes sense to me....
I reckon you’ve hit the nail on the head there!
Your last point about the end of ITA Matrix is a sad one amongst all the frustration surrounding the change. I never did a Tier Point Run, but following your guide I spent a very enjoyable night two years ago optimising a trip to Texas, which gave me Premium Economy seats for less than the direct economy option and earnt me Bronze status when the thresholds were lower during the you-know-what. It also speaks volumes about the quality of your videos that so many were waiting for your take on this - you may no longer be the 'Tier Point Guy' but I think you'll still be the 'Explaining what nonsense BA has got up to this week' guy!
+1. Well put 👍🏿
Thanks so much - I'm quite touched!
Agreed to almost all of this - I too have benefitted from Matt's videos on ITA Matrix but also enjoy the rest of the travel content so will continue to watch regardless. However I'm not sure why this would be the end for ITA Matrix? Just because the number of people using it will reduce, I doubt Google keeps it running just for BAEC tier point runs. As you point out, there's still value in using it to optimise trips you'd already be taking. The tier point run hobby may be dead, but there's no reason to stop being a savvy traveller...
I think Matrix will continue, just with a lot less traffic from the likes of us!
Thanks Matt, I have been waiting patiently for your words of wisdom rather than the ranting of other RUclipsrs. Since Christmas I have used your ITA Matrix advice to book my first (and now last) tier point run that will give me Gold until April 2026. This is primarily to allow me to burn my stash of Avios before they are devalued. I like you pray they keep the soft landing. Of course BA should have discussed these changes with independents such as yourself, that might have resulted in the removal of the BAH double points and possibly raising the levels you get status, especially Gold but I agree with you that this will lose them a lot of business, especially leisure travel who can now look at the alternatives. Who will continue to fly BA going east when you have the ME three, Singapore, etc. I will watch with interest and look forward to your thoughts on who to move to in the Oneworld group.
Thanks for that. BA doesn't talk to me - I've reached out to their media team three or four times now and they don't even acknowledge my emails, let alone respond to them!!! I think they think I'm the enemy, rather than someone who has an insight that can help them.... The offer is there though, it anyone from BA reads this
@@MattsPlanet I work in the power and Oil & gas industries and it is incredible how often I have to remind colleagues that they have omitted to mention or think of the customer when making changes. Seems the same within BA. Time will tell but I really thought the departure of Alex Cruz would improve things.
I too was waiting for your “take” on these developments and as usual, it was sensible and considered. Thank you. For my part, I was planning a TP run in September 25 AUH - CGK and then visiting Jakarta, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur before finishing up seeing orangutans in Borneo. I had hoped this would renew my silver for another year but luckily, I hadn’t booked anything as the UL sectors hadn’t returned to a reasonable amount!
I see this now as an opportunity to not be rigid in “having” to book One World flights. I’m now looking to book and enjoy Starlux and China Airlines flights.
I enjoy the benefits of silver but it is what it is. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some roll back however once the breadth of the members’ ire becomes clearer.
Thanks - sounds like a narrow escape! Starlux is good, and may be in OneWorld one day too!
Happy New Year Matt! Great video as always. I've been having the same thoughts more or less, being in a similar situation with yours. I do have some personal thought to share though.
1. I was thinking a bit about loyalty in general. I've been averaging 12-15 paid flights/year on BA for the past 5 years, and I believe everyone would agree that's not quite close to frequent flying. In 2017 and 2018 I was averaging on 60-70 paid BA flights/year, and that's the definition of frequent flying. That earned me GGL, rightfully so. Gaming the system with 2x TP's and multiple segments and the like had it's fun, and also awarded me with a pile of avios which I've mostly used by now. So I'm not very much dissapointed on that aspect alone, as I wasn't seeing myself as a very important BA customer by any standards.
2. I am directly affected by the changes, having a BA Holidays TP run planned for April, which (together with positioning flights to/from JER in CE) would net me 1440 TP's. I was planning to do a little something more in early April to secure the TP's, which now makes no sense. I know I will be very close to renewing Gold, but I don't trust BA until there are rules set on paper on how this will work. This is really painful for me and the two buddies we will be doing the run together. I'm still assessing if it's worth doing something before March 31st to secure Gold, I need 1165 TP's, so only with BA Holidays between UK-EU or an ex-EU TP run would do the trick. But still, I'm hesitant if it makes sense to spend money to ensure one year of Gold status. I'm confused.
3. I think it's time for us all in this game to explore other opportunities and perhaps change our travel (flying) mindset for good. As long as Aegean Airlines offers an affordable frequent flyer program, I will always renew my Gold with them and prefer them for many of my trips (after all, I live in Athens). Other programs may be reasonable to look for, and collect miles for redemptions. It's an open game now.
Honestly, I feel kinda liberated from the hamster wheel of chasing an elite status that, being honest, didn't very much reflect my travel patterns with OW. Those £3k every 2 years can be spend elsewhere, as you rightly so mentioned. Maybe I'll start paying for premium seats wherever I find them with good value, and focus on the joy of the trip. There will always be some benefit somewhere, a few miles here and there or so, that eventually will give back something.
Looking forward to more of your exciting travel videos, and thank you very much fior the great content, and for your thorough and very well articulated first take on this disaster. Cheers!
Thanks mate. "The Joy Of the Trip" is the key phrase here.... I've lost that a little by having to film everything, but being free to fly with whoever I want to will be liberating and may bring back that emotion.... A few comments that Aegean will be the next to substantially reset its scheme - lets hope not!
@@MattsPlanet the rumours I hear about Aegean (don't ask where from) are for a new Platinum tier above Gold, probably with free seat selection and some sort of private transfer or someone waiting for you at the jetway or the steps. Also, same rumours have it that Gold will keep it's perks and will still be Star Alliance Gold. Nobody knows if the thresholds will be adjusted in any way. We all hope it will keep the same rules for distance- and class- based status mileage, which present some great opportunities from time to time.
Nicely summed up Matt.
I’m in one of the groups you’ve identified as being most affected.
A couple of days before the changes were announced I made some bookings, enough to get me about 2/3rds of the way to gold, or 1/3rd of the way to GGL renewal under the old terms, which was my actual target.
I’d planned a couple more trips, with a view to booking them over the New Year holiday but hadn’t actually pulled the trigger and booked them.
Now, of course, I have absolutely no chance of renewing GGL, probably won’t make gold either, and the bookings I’ve made are a sunk cost, with the possible exception of one BAH booking on which I’ve only paid a deposit.
Am I furious? Too right I am.
To be clear, these are all flights I would have taken anyway, but had I known this was coming I could have looked at economy tickets, or an alternative carrier. I’ve taken around 80 flights with BA this year, all in premium cabins, so I’d assumed I was of some value to BA, but it seems not.
They’ve lost my loyalty and trust with this move, and I’ve no idea if or how they can ever win it back.
Ouch - really sorry to hear that.... I don't wonder if there is some legal recourse and someone in my WhatsApp group has suggested there may be - if you are GGL its well worth a call I'd suggest - lay out what your expectations are and see what they say
@@MattsPlanet Thanks Matt. To complicate things I'm not yet GGL, but will be before this tier point year ends, always assuming BA don't change the rules of the game again. I'm going to sleep on it for a few more days before deciding on next steps. Best not to do anything while I'm still angry!
Excellent video, I saw that email from B.A. I knew it was coming. We will adapt..kind regards and Happy New Year Matt.
Thanks. The black armband is starting to chafe a little.....
@@MattsPlanet You are right ITA Matrix will love this.
Thank you for the comprehensive video, and well worth a read of the many many comments.
I am fortunate in the sense that I had reached GFL, and the loyalty scheme “was” working as I (perhaps naively ) thought GGLFL was attainable.
Realistically next year will be my last GGL as don’t see getting anywhere near the renewal spend. Best benefit was card nomination and number of lounge guests… so the whole family could be together. Guess going forward will look for OW lounges that allow 3 guests.
The many, many, many comments!!!! This video has been a journey!!! GFL may not end up being a bad place to be if occupancy of the F lounge does indeed thin out - not many will be making gold each year under these changes
I'm not sure how BA's IT department will cope with this!
My IT department is struggling with all these comments!!!! I'd rather have them than not though - not the same approach BA is taking to its customers!!!
@@steve-marsh BA haven't had an IT dept for almost a decade now. It was outsourced to the cheapest provider...
Maybe these changes are designed to cut back their customer base sufficiently that their egregious IT system can finally cope with demand?
Airlines are being HACKED CONSTANTLY there's more than one WAR going on...
@@journeyingjohn3275obviously
Just came across your channel Matt. Absolutely love it ...... currently lapping up your videos starting with British airways and Aegean, two of my favourite 3 . The other being jet2. P.s i love the videos and the 60 minute ones 😁👌. Keep up the good work 😁👌👍🍻✈️🛩 . Subscribed ! 👍😁
Thanks and welcome!
Great video, my 15yrs loyalty to BA is now over. As a leisure flyer I always booked through BA holidays and being a silver suited me very much. I made gold last year and am happy to have had the experience but that's the end now. Binning avios and the amex, dont want to be tied to a company that values me as a POS
I still think there's an opportunity to get some moral victories over BA through redemptions, but I can't argue with your approach!
Thanks Matt, I was never likely to get anywhere near a high status with flying alone, I've enjoyed Bronze for the last 5 years but that's been more through circumstance than seeking it out. I put most of my and wife's purchases through my BA amex card so I might actually be better of in this scheme, but definiteyl feel BA don't really value "normal" customers which is a shame. Thanks for the content, looking forward to more videos. Hope you're healthy and had a lovely Christmas and New Year.
Thanks Richard - all good here. It is all a shame....
Great video & 'on target'.
I will keep my GfL, but before I read the small print I Was Worried regarding the 'trust factor' you mentioned.
I am gutted for the many, but know this is BA's scheme: if only there was honest PR which you addressed in the video.
Ive been around. Ive got 'old boy status' and Ive seen BA slide in key areas for decades.
I'll fly BA because 'safety is our priority' but I preferred my friends at BCal who always advertised "We Never Forget You have a Choice"! To those affected I say use yours!!
I'd imagine you know more than most about all of this! Not a great day but good on you for having GFL in the back pocket
Well done Matt, we were all waiting for the other angle on things that i thought u would bring, just had a horror show rtn trip with ba, both flights delayed over 4 hours, got us in to gatwick at 1.15am this morning then finally delivered the luggage at 3.05am!
Think of the compensation....
Matt, a terrific informative video, as always. Agree with all your observations and thoughts, and certainly echo the same that BA decided to release the news/update as "a good day to bury bad news". My loyalty too has gone, as a current Gold til Jan 2026, the absence of a soft landing will expedite my future bookings with BA. However, you're channel has a great opportunity to focus on the other loyalty programs (Star Alliance & Sky Team) which us 'One Worlders' know very little about. One door closes..............
Challenge accepted!
+1 👍🏿
"Turkeys wanting to be warm"🤣🤣🤣🤣. Thanks for the great analysis Matt, always an edifying watch!
That was my favourite line!
@@MattsPlanet 🦃 A brilliant line and all too true.
You have eloquently voiced the frustration that I feel over the cynical spin that BA has put on their changes. A wholesale notification of the scheme changes should be accompanied by a wholesale list of the new rules. But we don’t have them so any attempt to patch up our status plans before the 31st March could be thwarted at the stroke of a BA pen.
My brother has written to the MD asking to see the evidence that we Executive Club members “asked for these changes”. I will be interested to see the answer.
In the meantime, a personal Thank You for putting ours thoughts into words.
Thanks for watching - responses like this make it all worthwhile! Fascinated to hear if BA's boss responds....
I've been waiting for you to pop up and discuss these changes! I do not understand how BA thought this new implementation would make people think "Oh, I love this, BA really value me". But rather, people appear to be looking to spend money with others. I commented a few months ago that I had left BA and moved onto AF because the BA service was getting worse each year. I'm glad I did, I've already had exceptional service from AirFrance. Happy New Year, Matt!
Good for you - a fair few heading your way too!
Hi Matt, agree and thanks. No reason why your tier point hobby (and ours) needs to die. Many airlines such as Air France still do it points based and instead of BA tier you could just focus on other status runs. As a BA gold I will be changing to skyteam and looking forward to the future; although traumatised by this. Cheers.
You're right - a different hobby even if its not completely new.... AF/KLM does feel like a strong candidate for many, especially as KLM serves so many regional airports
Great video Matt and thank you! Sorry to all affected! I will definitely miss lounge hopping in T3 on my long layovers. I've been Gold for a few terms now (RIP) but admittedly I always felt like I was getting away with something being able to use the Cathay business lounge and showers as Silver. I'll miss those big green chairs in the back though. Cheers.
I'm in T3 in a couple of days... No more plans to travel through sadly so there will be a tear in my eye as I move around the lounges....
Thanks for the content, Matt. Like many others, I have been waiting for your take on the 'relaunch'. I travel 'medium haul' to the Nordics on my employers dollar (actually Euro) with a couple of business related long hauls a year (cabin limited). Right now I am on the verge of my first Gold status! The announcement leaves me in a bit of a limbo until we find out (1) what the spend requirement on the Amex+ will be, (2) whether we will continue get soft landings, at least for the 26 renewal and (3) how aggressive the other alliances are going to be - for me, principally SkyTeam for SAS and Virgin - at status matching. The last bit of uncertainty is, of course, whether BA will be forced in to any 'corrections' to the new program since it may cause a noticeable hit on their EBIT.....
I think the matching offers will start soon - the other airlines are probably all on holiday too until next Monday.... As for the other points, the fact that they weren't explained leads me to expect them to not be good news when revealed....
I travel to Cyprus monthly as a minimum on business (economy as policy), which is two flights using BA, but now there is no point supporting BA. May as well fly direct on Easjet Full Flexi ticket and Revolut Ultra free Lounge access. Stuff 'em!
Why is there no point
If BA doesn't want you, Easyjet will!
@@IWTBF because BA economy is the same seats as easyJet who are often a lot cheaper
@ but much better clients on BA than EJ. Terrible difference. No usbs on EJ. Chalk and cheese the difference between the two imo
@@IWTBFbecause on number of flights I could retain status .. now no chance.
Thanks for your analysis! Was checking daily for your take on it all! :) Like you said, BA have sent a clear message to a lot of us they don't care for our custom so time to explore other opportunities with not being tied in! Virgin will be loving this announcement for sure.
Virgin is certainly a competitor Westbound.... But BA has a huge Euro business and a reasonable Eastbound business so who will win those customers???
As always, a wonderful video with balanced sensible reaction. As I have qualified for Gold within this membership year I will have Gold into 2026 but like you I am now actively looking at other alliances given how BA blatantly doesn't value my loyalty. Virgin Flying Club does seem to be a strong option given the ease of status matching and the fact that KLM/Air France serve just about every regional UK airport. I think SkyTeam will be the big winner from this certainly for UK based BA loyalists.
The main question I'd love to see answered by BA management is why change things? It must be financial rather than just reducing the Gold and Silver numbers. I can't help thinking that the amount of people who will now choose flights based on price rather than loyalty to BA will cause a huge dent in bookings. As you mention, there's easier ways to thin out the top tiers.
I look forward to following your journey through investigating other loyalty schemes and also finding the cheapest non loyal fares and hidden perks.
I'm sure its financial, although based on a number of very dodgy assumptions....
Great video Matt and well explained. My plan is burn through my saved avios before these get devalued then book with the carrier that offers the best deal and experience, this still might be BA. I achieved Bronze this year but once that expires it is very unlikely I will ever achieve future status.
Sensible approach
After a little looking around I’m thinking I may credit my upcoming BA flights to Finnair, it does look like it will be easier to get gold (equivalent to BA Silver) with them. If you’re short points when it comes to renewing you can also use some of your Avios which I think is really useful!
Topping up with avios is certainly a useful detail....
Thank you for the update. Current Silver member here. Obtained by a lot of work travel and a little personal travel and did everything I could to gain this status. I’m already looking for an alternative airline for all my work travel going forward because I’ve had enough of BA!
Why do you care? Status only really benefits you if you’re taking the flights to earn status then taking many more lower tier flights where you can use the perks.
Avois seats are more important
Thanks - status is a complex relationship and losing it is a wrench....
These changes make me very sad. I’ve been BA Silver/Gold for most of the last decade. As an American, my BA status was the last refuge for mileage runs and savy traveling, and helped me stay loyal to BA and AA. Looks like I’m a free agent now. 😢
Enjoy your freedom!
Just switch to QA. Still one world and you get all the benefits. That’s what I’m doing as I fly with them a lot anyways. I just use BA because my main business is based in London.
Incredibly balanced, rational video given the impact. I have an absurd amount of Avios which I’d like to spend effectively- not always flying premium for sake of it. Qatar Economy isn’t exactly roughing it. I’m also quite enjoying buying BA Club flights short haul (CDG), as I like having early morning shower at T5 and nice breakfast, and lounge at end of weekend. Huge fan of your videos - long may they continue. I’ll search out your Aeroplan videos.
Thanks - I always advise people not to carry huge points balances (avios or otherwise) in case of devaluations, but also don't spend them frivolously!
Outstanding Matt. Well researched and thoughtfully presented. As a silver card holder I feel badly let down by BA. I’ll enjoy it until next April then it’s back to flying the cheapest carrier I can find. BA will suffer badly.
Thanks - I fear they will...
Another great article Matt and thought provoking for us using other non-BA OW schemes. QF are rumoured to be considering adopting this model especially since Board Member Doug Parker oversaw AA’s introduction of the same. In a completely self-interest mode I too hope the BA scheme fails as a discouragement to others (especially QF)!
Revenue based makes sense - nectar rewards you on spend not on items purchased.... Its just how BA chose to do it that grates....
@ it makes sense for BA … until it doesn’t. It will be interesting to see what these changes have (if any) on loyal customers’ spend with BA - if that is a sufficient mover then, as you highlight, there could well be revisions. Would be interesting to see if BA also claim these are as a “result of feedback” should they occur.
I'm selfishly looking forward to a lot more *A content from you now Matt. Love your style and although I watched all your BAEC vids, none of them applied to me as a M&M member and someone who travels so little that achieving status in two alliances would be impossible.
Some fun *A flights next week actually....
Great vid as always Matt. I liked your comment on being the “BA tier points run guy” as I actively searched for your channel the moment I read the news about the club changing. your riposte was right on the money and very well delivered. Whatever your new travel hack hobby will be I’m sure all your subscribers along with me will join you on the ride.
My new hobby seems to be "which OneWorld scheme is the next best to credit to"!!!!
Great video as always. Thanks Matt.
Trying to reflect on these changes positively (!), I guess there’s something about this which means that a higher fare business or first fare will reward greater points than the lowest fare version etc….
(Which however I think could have been achieved in other ways !)
I like the TP earning via BA holidays (ie. On hotel, car, transfer, etc) - so this may help lessen the impact.
But overall it just feels like a massive change to me, and not for the better !! (And £20k of spend for gold feels excessive !)
They went from 1 to 10 (or perhaps 13) when 4, 5 or 6 would probably have been fair...
Many thanks for another excellent video Matt, tough topic for those of us who have been very loyal to BA and played the game to attain status. Appreciate how well you articulate things and absolutely agree with the sentiments you express.
Thanks
A very good summary.
Like a toxic marriage, it's time to move on. Spend all that extra money on a decent restaurant and hotel, fly direct, fly often. While we still can.
Matt made a very good point about the bad premium cabin BA flights - you endure it for the TPs. No longer.
I shall not miss Terminal 2 at FRA!
Happy New year, Matt.
Thanks mate... A few things I won't miss!!!
Last summer, I booked two British Airways (BA) business class tickets with cash for my wife and me from Ibiza to London Heathrow (LHR). We planned a 4-hour layover at LHR before continuing in first class to Atlanta, Georgia, using Avios.
On the day of travel, a baggage handler in Ibiza damaged the aircraft with a baggage loader, causing a 4-hour delay. As a result, we missed our connection in LHR. Despite my efforts to combine the two separate reservations ahead of time (a request BA refused), the airline refused to assist us after we missed our flight.
We were stranded in LHR overnight with no hotel, no transportation, and no support from BA. To get home, I had to book last-minute economy tickets for my wife and me on a different airline at an enormous cost. When I later submitted a compensation claim, BA rejected it, claiming the baggage handlers were a third party and not their responsibility. That was my final straw for BA. It was a horrendous experience.
That's a terrible story - perhaps these changes will save people from having similar experiences
A classic example of when BA get it wrong, they do so big time and lose any goodwill
Thanks for making this video and giving your heart felt views - we have all been on a great ride but alas the big dipper is coming in for the last time. My thank to you and Rob Burgess over the years - but we all live to fight another day ❤
As they say in Thailand, same same but different!
+1
Hi Matt, i was wondering its my 2nd time doing a flight from MNL to Europe in QR business class return which is 540 old TP so nearly BA Silverand costs me around £1600 for the ticket. Now its going to be impossible for me to gain any sort of status with BA. I booked this exact trip a month ago and for June and was wondering who to credit the flights to. Was looking at QR but i don't think I'd even get OneWorld Ruby status with those flights. I'm devastated as I'm a young casual traveller and wanted to experience status for the first time. Any thoughts?
Its a real shame.... No obvious successor to BA has emerged which tells me they all offer a significant step up in difficulty to achieve status.... I'm inclining to Qatar as they'll probably best accommodate my future travel needs but just about every other OneWorld program has been recommended... Qatar is still in the avios universe too... I don't have to make a decision for over a year so a deep dive hasn't been a priority, plus I'm on a trip right now, but there is no obvious answer
Been silver for a few years now (missed out on Gold at the end of 2022, thanks to the Covid threshold drop, as I had to miss that trip) and have been able renewed it year on year with my frequent UK > CA trips out of LHR in premium cabins, and flying Alaska (and sometimes AA generally) when in the PNW to add extra Tier Points. I liked fast track in GLA, lounge access in the UK and US for showering and free seat selections. I guess now I can look at SkyTeam or Star Alliance given how easy it is to self transfer it LHR from Glasgow or even somewhere in Europe... found BA a decent enough airline but this has left a soul taste in my mouth. I get the idea of changing it up to entice people to spend more money to retain their status, but for leisure travellers (like me) it really isn't feasible anymore to retain even siler without spending (to me) a fortune.
LHR or AMS makes little difference if you're based in Glasgow....
My thinking exactly….
Thanks Matt. Great video as always. This absolutely ruined my New Year, thanks BA. I’m wondering how crediting tier points from other Oneworld flights is going to work? I fly a lot on Finnair to Sweden as I love the A350 short haul experience. Might look into jumping ship to them. Waiting on tenterhooks for your Oneworld scheme insights when you find that headspace. Black armband will be worn on my last booked BA flights till April. Sad day… thanks for everything you do for the community!!
My New Year wasn't brilliant either!!! Finnair has had a fair few votes...
I fall into the second of the affected groups.
My new position and associated travel, with prem economy flights, using Avios to upgrade 1 leg, would have netted me lifetime gold if I stick it out for 5+ years…
I had been doing the sums and was aware of your previous warning about this being their scheme, not ours, and subject to change.
The projected expenditure will see me reach gold each year but the 5-6 year lifetime projection is now way over the horizon.
With 300k Avios I’m going to start burning them before focussing on alternatives.
Mixed opinions so far on whether people like yourself have recourse to BA....
@@MattsPlanet having done my sums I will probably just be gold over the next few years, but definitely a solid silver.
With 25 years silver behind me I would be OK if a lifetime silver would be awarded.
The lifetime gold was a target as it would have been a wee retirement bonus. Living north of the border, Heathrow is the most efficient airport for international connections and BA provides optionality.
I’ve not given up on BA because I can’t.
Well done BA! It would be wonderful if all airlines would take their frequent flyer programs back to where they began in the Good Old Days, i.e. restrict the benefits and privileges to genuine high-yield frequent flyers. In other words, the people who fly very often in J and F, and bring in the money. That would clear the lounges of all those people who want to milk their status for what it is worth, and then some. It would also shorten the priority boarding queues, hopefully to the point where priority starts to mean something again. And so forth. FF programs have become profit centers focused on deceiving the gullible, yet at the same time encouraging cheapskates and travel hackers to game the system. It's time to focus on the passengers who truly matter, and give them benefits commensurate with the $$$ they spend. The rest can just suck it up, or walk to their destination.
Your wish has come true! Not a popular view in these parts but pretty much a quote from the BA playbook. What about those who've earnestly credited to BA over decades with the goal of lifetime status? Who never gamed anything and foolishly believed BA's promises? Who paid BA 10s of thousands of pounds over the years and will now get nothing??? Tough!!!! But at least you won't have to ever queue to get in a lounge
Good analysis as per usual. As a Gold member who travels extensively for work but can only push for PE on long haul and whose tickets are bought in another currency, this is disastrous news. My interest in status is mostly about choosing seats (I have restless leg syndrome so choosing my seat is crucial), fast track, baggage allowance, and extra support if facing issues. This means a lot more discomfort in future travel and makes me angry I spent so many years being loyal to BA. 😔
You're in the majority!
I would have thought travelling “extensively” for work, even in PE. Would likely have you spending more than the typical member and these changes would benefit you?
£20k is still a lot, but quite a few last minute travellers may benefit
@@MrMalagat Not really as 20K plus would be hard to achieve frankly... Not even sure I'll stay silver post gold at this rate, sadly.
HI Matt. A very well structured video that clearly communicates your disgust (which is echoed by me and many, many others) at the dreadful treatment by BA of its loyal customers in these changes. I will continue to use my Avios with BA (and other Oneworld partners) while I have Avios and 2-4-1 vouchers to spend, but after that I will explore other airlines to use once my current Gold status expires in April 2026. Please do continue to produce your highly informative videos, including alternative FF schemes, that disgruntled and previously loyal customers to BA, can consider instead of BA. It would be good to think that BA takes note of the backlash and reconsiders aspects of the changes, but I’m not holding my breath! Dave.
Thanks - I'll carry on regardless!
@@MattsPlanet Look forward to your updates on this BA shambles.
I can kind of see the rationale in a way - Back in the day, Gold status was a pretty exclusive thing, reserved only for the most frequent travellers. With more and more people achieving the status, it becomes devalued (although I still think it's a sh*t idea!).
The "main" benefit (other than being more likely to be upgraded) is the free use of the lounge, when flying in a non-premium cabin. From now on, upgrades will still be assigned based on status (but will extend into silver/bronze categories to fill the gaps), but the pesky "freeloading" lounge rats :D will have to queue for the Priority Pass lounges, only to be turned away when they're "Full" and have to slum it with the rest of us plebs.
Don't forget - when you're in Biz, you can still go in the lounge, regardless of status.
I agree that it was too easy to get status - although BA designed the scheme so they need to take the blame for it, not the people with the time, money and motivation to take advantage of BA's design laxness!!!! So the rationale is absolutely clear, and its absolutely needed.... But you don't need a sledgehammer to open a nut....
Agree with all this. I was in the lounge at Heathrow T5 recently and it was awful. I actually left it because it was so busy. Status is overrated unless you travel economy/premium and want the perks.
Not in the states. Flying domestic first over there does not entitle you to airline lounge access. You need status for that.
The algorithm is (very cruelly) suggesting I watch your tier point related videos! Gaining BA Silver (after that time we were all stuck indoors) has gotten me 3 other gold memberships in other schemes (I plan to maintain TK gold.) I feel for the people most affected and those who will never know the enjoyment of a tier point run. One or two last trips to the Concorde Room using my hard earned points and then I’m probably done with BA. There’s value to be had elsewhere for those looking for it. Thanks again, Matt, your channel was the first thing that sprung to mind when I saw the email.
Long live the algorithm.... The classic tier point run from DUB to (eg) SFO earns quite nicely into the Qatar scheme so perhaps they're not completely dead!
Edited to say thanks for all your efforts and wisdom. Gold for life was near for me - 33000 tier points gained from 25 years of flying BA - with work. Was going to make GfL it next year. Now I guess I need to spend £50k😢 to make it which is unlikely because it don’t trust them now. £10s of thousands spent on BA under false promises.
Ouch - that's really tough.... I've had a private comment from a lawyer indicating that there may be something here under the law of tort - I'll publicise any progress that we make
The key takeaway for me from your excellent video is ‘lost trust’. I just don’t trust them to even keep GfL let alone keep to £550k spend limit. I might just about earn 1000 tps before April. I hope someone will hold BA to account where sales were made under false pretences. Thanks for the great work.
If you are 2k away then just get a few flights in my the end of March!! Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water!
@ Yes - agreed I’m trying to figure out if I can move some work trips from late spring to early spring. I’ve never done any tier point runs but I guess this may be my first last and only chance. I just “rewarded” BA with a £650 at airport upgrade for myself to club world.
Fair play on keeping up and replying to all comments! Personally I have never been able to fly enough to even consider some sort of loyalty status with any airline (family member BA staff travel almost entirely removes any incentive!) although do see the appeal to cost savvy status strategies and the videos that comes with it.
I've replied to every comment since I started, and I don't want to lose that streak! It is hard work though....
Love the turkey comparison!
Thanks! - I thought we needed a laugh!
Great, many thanks Matt - appreciate your perspectives! Like most here, I'm genuinely at a loss for words at how poorly handled this was by BA. The abruptness and complete lack of consideration for loyal members are shocking...
Join the club!
As an aside, I suspect the reason for the higher rate for GfL vs the status tiers is that they plan to increase the status tier amounts every year or two to adjust for inflation, whereas the GfL amount will change less often. This is also a side effect, the nice and simple system of distance based points is so elegant, because it never needs to be adjusted for inflation. They'll have the same issue with avios too, since now those are spend based, so either the earn rates will need to be reduced or the redemption rates increased in order to account for inflation, whereas the old distance based system didn't need that, since distances don't change with inflation
Superb point and thanks for making it. Makes excellent sense.... Although it took Amex 20 years (perhaps less....) to shift the trigger for the companion voucher....
Good point, but wasn’t inflation automatically adjusted in the old way without customers witnessing it so obviously?
For example, a First flight from LHR to JFK would’ve yielded 210 tier points. Pre inflation or post inflation, the tier points were the same. Meaning the price you pay will always be inflation adjusted, and therefore the status and the executive club also adjusted for inflation.
@@justbunz1826 Yes, which was my point, the old system was elegant because it never needed to be adjusted. The new system BA will have to constantly adjust the thresholds, which a) is less transparent (you don't know when and by how much they'll change each year, so harder to plan around it), and b) allows them to increase the thresholds above inflation if they choose to, stealthily making status harder to achieve to cull numbers
Another great video Matt, I was waiting for this one from you!. I for one agree with some of the changes. When I flew for work I would easily make Gold in the new scheme as most of my flights where last min first or CW. Your mate Steve and I were in the same situation. Lots of flights but hard to get Gold. The other issue I had with BA was the poor experience because of the sheer number of Golds, GF at LHR has always been packed, First wing busy all the time and group one boarding a joke. My last flight in First from LHR to MIA there were 63 people in Group 1 show me he that’s a premium experience. I for one support the changes but not the way BA have gone about it. Also I think the demographic of your WhatsApp group isn’t representative of the typical BA customer. This change affects the enthusiast flyer and tier point runner who are a good portion of your audience and group is imagine.
I for one gave up my GGL a while ago, I found it liberating to be free to try other airlines when I fancy it and if you fly premium cabins having status just doesn’t mean much anyway.
At the end of the day I think airline status isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Hard to argue with any of that, and yes my group is atypical!!!! 63 Group 1s is a lot!
@ I was surprised, I asked the gate agent had I missed the group 1 call and he said no, there was 63 people in group 1. Only 14 of that were first passengers so I’m assuming the rest must be Golds. On a flight back from Toronto the “first/gold” area of the lounge was full being there is no first cabin on that flight it meant at least 19 of those were gold or GGL.
BA had to do something I really don’t blame them as the value of having gold status or even GGL when I had it was severely diminished.
I just enjoy picking any airline now, have done for the last 12months. Like you I will still use BA and it’s mostly for redemption flights in business/first so status doesn’t matter.
I wouldn’t worry about the tier point videos, although they were interesting it’s a tiny demographic (the same demographic that’s making all the noise now). Your video on Saudi was great btw
Thanks Matt. I got the email and have watched a few other videos but Ive been waiting for yours. The best on this subject and I wish you the best for the channel in the future.
I had BA Silver for many years whilst working and defaulted to BA for leisure travel. Im long retired but kept plugging away over misguided loyalty to BA and mainly manage to retain the Silver card, not any more loyalty gone. I live near Glasgow and as such unless traveling just to London, I have to connect, BA was good for this but a bus gate from T5 to Terminal 3 sort of spoils that. Glasgow offers many other opportunities such as KLM via Amsterdam, Air France via Paris, Icelandic, Air Transat you get the idea, bye bye BA.
How about a video on how to use up Avios so I can really cut the cord?
Thanks again, keep up the good work.
Thanks and enjoy your newfound freedom! Not a bad idea for a video actually - thanks!
@ I was just about to book a BA holiday to squeeze back into Silver for 2025. Looks like Jet2 will be getting the business.
I've been anticipating your video since I saw the announcement, I was just about to start attempting to get status with BA, but think I might give Qatar's scheme a try as Im based up in Edinburgh. Great Video Matt, I look forward to learning about the opportunities freedom brings, Happy Flying!
Freedom day - a good way of looking at it!
i've been looking forward to this video!
I hope it lives up to the expectations!
Excellent video Matt. As a long-term Silver status member, I find this elimination of BA's loyalty program to a spend benefit structure to be discouraging.
As I'm a leisure traveler living in Canada flying YYZ to LHR and MAN, achieving Silver status for my wife and I already required a significant annual financial investment.
As it will be impossible for us to retain Silver status under the new scheme, we must investigate new options. Time for me to learn about Aeroplan.
I do appreciate all of your efforts, you've been a wonderful source of knowledge and I look forward to your future videos.
Thanks - big fan of Aeroplan for redemptions but not sure how good they are for earning status.... Thanks for the kind words and good luck! Every challenge is an opportunity somewhere else....
Thanks for doing this, I was waiting to hear your take as you have been my go to guy for all of this for a long time now. Thanks.
Thanks for that - I hope it helped
@MattsPlanet have got two 2 for 1s thanks to your help, I think I'll get them used sharpish! Thanks again
Great video. I never could see the logic of Tier point runs in an era of emissions awareness, and my experience of BA lounges are they are always crowded. Some retuning was obviously necessary, but they've gone too far and have strangled the golden goose.They should have thought about this more carefully and introduced a system that kept people interested.
"Strangled the golden turkey", perhaps?
The turkey analogy 👌
Thanks - took me a few takes to record it without laughing myself....
I have been gold for past 5 years but the BA experience got worst and worst. Just had a frozen starter in business to Dubai. Time to move to Sky team. With 13000 lifetime tier points, there is no way to become lifetime gold. Reward flights availability is rubbish so no incentive anymore. Website and app are rubbish and crash half the time.
BA thinks of themselves way too highly and want to be exclusive in access but not in the quality delivered. As you said, I hope it bites them. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching - your opinion is widely shared!
Personally I'm a Finnair fan boy now. They also do status through revenue tier points but interestingly you can buy your way to a good status by using Avios to buy tier points. That's how I plan to stay as a status holder with Oneworld and have the same to similar benefits to allow me to have those tasty pies in T5 Heathrow lounges.
A few votes for Finnair - flying in their airLounge seat is enough to convince me!
@@MattsPlanet In May and a couple of other months we are away to Asia in those amazing seats. And frankly Helsinki is way better than Heathrow.
@@MattsPlanetcan you do video on alternatives to gain OneWorld Status living in the UK? Please Matt 🙏
Hi Matt, thank you for your video. I fly BA usually from London to HK and China, and I've managed to get 880 TP. Now I have a following holiday to Bucharest, flying from Manchester to get 480 TP to get gold, along with two Club Europe return trips. I've always chosen BA over China Eastern, and I saw this Loyalty Program change on my flight from Shanghai to London on a BA flight 😅. Really disappointed, moving on to other airlines soon. Cathay would be a great choice for me. I love your videos!
Thanks - vote with your wallet and BA will get the idea pretty quickly!
I think this is your finest ever video Matt; certainly one of the most memorable! Perhaps 500 comments / 7500 views in around 5 hours suggests that I am not alone in thinking this way. Historians in decades to come will rank it with “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”, and "We who are about to die salute you."!
If you can muster the enthusiasm, I quick review of how this week's announcement will impact the transition arrangements towards everyone's year end date being 1st April (how appropriate!) would be welcome. I confess I still struggle to understand all the wrinkles, even with the help of the video you made on the subject. I have a vague recollection that with my current year end date being 8th March, will any flights/holidays I take between 9th and 31st March 25 still be counted twice? A final opportunity to game the system and retain Silver Status for the maximum length of time, and thereby be a burden on BA's lounges for as long as possible!
Although having queued for over 45 minutes at T5 check in at 7 o'clock in the morning last August because BA chose to man only a third of the available desks; I admit I was doing a Mr Bean and refusing to use bag drop when holding BAEC Silver, I agree with you that the writing has been on the wall for some time. That's before moaning about BA last year cancelling two flights on the morning of the flight, not fully crediting double TPs on a multi-flight holiday, and lost baggage on another flight to Pisa.
Should we open a book on the One World partner you eventually decide to credit your Tier Points to (and how many TPs will it be?). May I be the first to suggest Royal Jordanian?!
Delighted to hear you say that I should have a t least a couple of months under the current arrangements to decide when and where to blow the 500k Avios that I have been assiduously collecting via Barclays and some flights over the last 3 years.
Cheers! With an 8 Mar year end you'll get an 11.3 month double count and the 23 days until the end of the next year will only count once.... Not a lot of opportunity to game it... Good luck predicting which one I end up with!!!
Thanks Matt. You express the anger in the way BA have done this perfectly. Clearly BA have no regard for long term loyalty below GFL. I shall now run down my avios before moving my European leisure travel to a closer airfield where the LCC operates a much newer fleet and with an exemplary on time record.
You won't be alone!
I. Am. Shook. Just as I reach a point in life where TP running was going to be “a thing” and 2026 especially will provide an opportunity to rack up points, BA stabs me in the back. Oh well, Avios redemptions is my sole future with our flag carrier now, I too have zero loyalty to them.
Thank you for this video Matt, as one of the many that pestered you for it. I’ve watched a few on the topic that have been a bit grey-rock focusing on the minutiae. Callum expressed disappointment very well (a watch recommendation for anyone reading this comment see Callum Elsdon’s channel), but I knew that you would be one to convey with degrees of passion the near anger and find the details of additional impacts. My sympathies to anyone in the two groups you described, that would be gutting.
Here’s to wheels up with airlines that don’t have a wafting union flag on their aircrafts’ tails in 2025! Cheers! 🥂
Indeed - well said! I suspect another airline will emerge that we'll all become obsessed about achieving status with... Saw something yesterday suggesting Oman Air may be a dark horse... When they join OneWorld next year, of course....
I have approx. 250,000 Avios. I have held them for a long time but I think I will use them sooner rather than later now. Although I was always more likely to redeem them on partner airlines to avoid large taxes when flying direct from the UK I think that BA is going to do something that will significantly reduce their overall value regardless of where you use them. Tier points changes I think are just "Part 1" of the bitter pill.
Hi Matt, I want to thank you for your channel helping me over the last 12 months to gather to last 900 LtTP to get GfL. GfL was my career goal when I worked but covid and retirement meant it was never going to happen but thanks to your channel, I learnt enough to achieve it. I know I am (now) in a tremendously privileged position - thanks again.
Well done! A good place to be - you'll be in demand to guest people in now!
I do think that BA really devalued their loyalty scheme. The lounge full of gold members at times was busier than the actual terminal really did take away from the premium feel when flying in a premium cabin. There might have been a happy medium here.
Indeed - I think silver members was the bigger issue although having so many golds didn't help!
I understand the frustration, however as a less frequent traveller, however travelling in business class, when travelling, got me into lounges filled up to capacity. Reducing the possibility to achieve status will hopefully reduce the lounge fill levels. I fully agree that BA will loose business, as their hard product in many airplanes needs a lot of polishing. When I shop for business class flights, BA many times falls short to their competition, so I would not book BA.
Having said all of the above, I can understand that airlines will define loyalty by the amount spent with them. It will eventually be implemented by all airlines. Will it hurt their business? Time will tell. I doubt it though.
Your username is very appropriate - this was certainly informed!!! I agree with everything - although the fact that the lounges are rammed is more down to BA's double tier point extensions than it is to tier point runners, but this will certainly clear them out!
Let's be honest - Tier Point runs was a game. Travellers spent extra money on positioning flights, or negligibly better premium cabins just to get points and therefore status. The main thing they were after was lounge access. If the same travellers simply chose the best option (regardless of airline) and had a priority pass, they'd be much better off. Extra 23kg bag? Early seat selection? Who cares. Now just fly Easyjet from eg London to Edinburgh. And if you do want a lounge (if you do indeed have time to go to a lounge), you'll spend 17 quid (Priority Pass price). I like BA, but SAS is now better value for me. At Christmas, I paid EUR 15 for an extra cabin bag, and checked luggage. Would that have been included in a Silver BA fare - yes, but how much would I have spent (wasted, actually) on the premium fares to get that Silver status.
In essence, you're correct... But there's quite a lot more to status.... And an overcrowded PP lounge (that you might not be allowed in anyway without paying more to prebook) is no comparison to the Pier First Lounge or the Helsinki Premium lounge....
Well said Matt. Level headed and rational analysis. Wonder if this will become a similar PR disaster to United's handling of the broken guitar?
Remember the Hoover promotion of flights to the US?
Matt your mood and thoughts are echoed by many. The executive Club drove people to the airline not the other way round. My personal feeling is one of freedom to look at other options.
Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your personal way forward!
Thanks Mike