Are the BA Exec Club changes a harbinger of things to come?

[Vertigo]

Not seen any discussion of the changes to the BA Exec Club tier point system in here, but I could have missed it.

Firstly, is it just me that feels these changes are fair and actually necessary? It's become far too easy to gain silver or gold status level in recent years, partly as a result of changes and promotions made in the wake of the pandemic to get people back in the air. We (until) now have a situation where Youtubers are promoting "tier runs" and other "hacks" where you can obtain gold status for a relative pittance and with only a few well-chose flights.

The et result of this is that the airport business and first lounges are rammed these days and this is damaging the experience for those who've actually paid for a business or first class seat. These people are the airlines' bread and butter and it feels like BA have realised that they risk alienating them.
If you've paid many thousands for a first class seat and you arrive at the Concorde lounge to find it rammed with economy class passengers who've attained gold status, you're not going to be very impressed. This may sound snobbish but it's just the way of the world. As a disclaimer, I should point out that I've never flown first myself.

Basically it's become far too easy to attain status and it shouldn't be. It should be a reward for those who spend a lot of money and time in the air with an airline and it feels like this is a reasonable adjustment. The only caveat I'd add is that the £20k spend required for gold does feel a little excessive.

I see that Iberia (also part of the oneworld alliance) have implemented the same changes, albeit in Euros rather than Sterling, so the thresholds are slightly lower. I'm forced to wonder if/when the rest of that alliance will follow and then the rest of the carriers?

 

[Vertigo]

If you are gold and flying economy (or any other class than booked first) you can't use the concord lounge, but you can use the first lounge, but your point stands.

Personally i think the changes will be fine for me. I fly for business and a fair bit of longhaul and should easily retain gold. It seems fair that it is linked to what you ultimately spend

Ah ok, thanks for the correction, I didn't realise the Concorde lounge was different.

You sound like exactly the type of customer for whom silver/gold status should be reserved.

This is going to sound incredibly snobbish but I'm getting sick and tired of all the bleating about this on YT and social media, which is almost exclusively from all those who fly economy but have been "gaming" the system until now.
If you want the perks like lounge access, seat selection and baggage allowance, pay for a better seat and stop whining that BA have taken your freebies away.

 

[Vertigo]

Ok so 16k then minus tax that would give each of us the 7.5k tier points, roughly. BA holiday spend counts, so it’s easy to make it up to that number in a couple of trips.

Regardless, I don’t really benefit from status anyway bar the free seat selection, which if paid for now qualifies for TP collection.

Tbh the seat selection can be a big deal. Even bronze level gives you seat selection 7 days before the flight. Without status you're looking at waiting until the day before the flight, when a lot of the best seats will have been taken, or forking out to reserve seats earlier.

When BA want to charge you circa £100 to reserve a seat on a long-haul business flight (so £400-ish return for two people), having at least bronze status can become important.

As I've never chased points and haven't flown for a while, I have no status and thus, for my forthcoming flights to the States, decided to fork out for early seat selection to ensure I got the seats I wanted.

 

[Vertigo]

Absolutely, not much of an issue for me now, but being sandwiched between two people in premium on a 10 hour flight isn't nice. Being able to fix that at the time of booking with Silver is great.

My days of flying long-haul cattle/premium are over. At 5'11" and of not-insignificant-width, I find it far too cramped and that's before the anxiety of the person in front reclining their seat into my personal space.

I prefer to fork out for business on long-haul these days, especially as I don't do it that often. Even so, it can matter where you sit. This time I chose to fork out for window seats in the smaller front CW cabin on the 777-300.

 

[Vertigo]

Yes, sort of. £400 on a 10k holiday is annoying but not a deal breaker. It remains the only real benefit (bar avios multiplier) versus just buying a club world ticket.

Either way the point I was making is that if you are a leisure flyer it’s now different/better than it used to be if you fly in club.

Indeed and it's also the point I was making - that these changes are intended to benefit CW/First customers and all the whining is from butt-hurt economy passengers.

 

[Vertigo]

Now all that's left is for BA to sort their rubbish cabins out and bring them up to the same standard as Emirates . I guess they're saving the best 'till last...

BA aren't competing with the uber-luxury cabins that the middle-east carriers tend to provide, they're competing with Virgin, American etc.