Some reading and listening suggestions from CNN and Barry!

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• TimM says:

  25 Feb25 February 05:32

  Buckley’s article is indeed excellent and thought-provoking. It makes me wonder 1) why airline alliances are not investing in private terminals rather than mere add-ons (lounges, fast-track etc.) for a thoroughly seamless experience but at a price; and 2) ‘loyalty’ schemes are misdirected – one could be loyal to only one airline but be an infrequent flyer, these customers would never gain ‘status’ nor reward for their loyalty.

  As the article points out, a logical approach is to book the cheapest ticket with the best times. A loyalty scheme is designed to encourage irrational behaviour. It shouldn’t.

  Tesco was the inventor of the modern loyalty scheme in which it gave small rewards in return for collecting a huge amount of customer data. They have never said you must spend £50 000 in a year to get fast-track checkout and a free cup of coffee.

  The act of encouraging spend per period of time I can understand appeals to the accountants locked up deep inside the airlines. However, if anything, it will encourage disloyalty as the benefits are no longer in reach for the vast majority of customers. They will become rational again and get the cheapest ticket with the best times.

  • John says:

    25 Feb25 February 08:50

    If BA’s loyalty scheme was like Tesco you’d earn 1 Avios for spending £1 on a flight and redeem it for 1p off a flight. Occasional promotions such as 2p off flights to [destination which isn’t selling well]. There wouldn’t be any statuses and everyone in a particular cabin would get the same benefits, which some posters on HFP would prefer.

    Even without the existence of status, cheapest ticket with best times is only correct when all airlines are the same.

  • JDB says:

    25 Feb25 February 09:09

    @TimM – the Tesco loyalty scheme used to offer very generous rewards that provided us with Concorde and First flights around the world! It also used to have an upper tier (for higher spenders) offering a third higher Avios conversion which was permanently grandfathered after they removed the tier. Plus of course phenomenal promotions.

• Dominic Barrington says:

  25 Feb25 February 05:40

  I am sure the article is worth reading. But it is behind a paywall.

  • NICHOLAS says:

    25 Feb25 February 06:48

    No it’s not, just click the link

  • The real Swiss Tony says:

    25 Feb25 February 06:57

    Not for me – can you try another device, because it’s well worth a read. And a great advert for taking a look at Flying Blue.

• Andy says:

  25 Feb25 February 06:02

  A good article. Virgin may feel pleased they got away with no mention of their redemption flights changing to dynamic pricing!

• Graham says:

  25 Feb25 February 06:54

  It’s behind a paywall for me too

  • Rob says:

    25 Feb25 February 07:26

    It’s not!

    Try https://edition.cnn.com/travel/airline-loyalty-programs-points-2025-changes/index.html

    Or paste the headline into Google.

    • Graham says:

      25 Feb25 February 13:32

      Sorry but I get “keep reading with a CNN subscription “

    • TimM says:

      25 Feb25 February 17:55

      I never go behind paywalls. It will probably become illegal in the years to come.

• Thywillbedone says:

  25 Feb25 February 07:28

  Article summary: Airlines (with a few exceptions) are increasingly ‘squeezing the pips’ of their customer bases.

  My take: If major airlines continue to collude to make loyalty programmes demonstrably worse, there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do about it. The whole thing appears to be an ongoing test to see how small a sliver of carrot can be used to generate ‘loyalty’.

• Bob says:

  25 Feb25 February 07:33

  Well done Barry! Hero!

• JDB says:

  25 Feb25 February 07:41

  It’s an interesting article and does provide a more in depth view than we have seen hitherto. It would be interesting to read the perspective from an airline that has already gone revenue based. One thing that surprises me is the regular description of these programmes being “loyalty” schemes – I have never thought of them as such, but rather rewards programmes which isn’t the same thing. I haven’t felt loyal to BA for many years but fly with them and more particularly other OW airlines to focus Avios collection, the easiest points to collect as a UK resident.

• daveinitalia says:

  25 Feb25 February 08:22

  I checked my annual spend on BA and it’s a little over £8k (how I did this was use OnBusiness and selected only my trips and then added in the few that were BA Holidays and don’t count on OB) which means I’d get silver in the new scheme of things which is a big drop from GGL.

  Silver means very little to me as I mostly fly shorthaul business class and so it’s things like the first wing that I appreciate most, followed by the Concorde Room. Regular gold gets me the first of these, but silver gets me the same airport benefits as I’d be getting from business class anyway. Plus once I lose GGL I go from ‘just’ £40k needed to re-qualify to £60k needed to qualify first time which means I can definitely rule out hitting GGL again which means if I stick with oneworld I might as well go with a scheme that gets me emerald easier.

  • ADS says:

    25 Feb25 February 11:08

    GGL to Silver is quite a drop!

    I wonder what’s the biggest drop that BA modelled under the changes?

    • Nick says:

      25 Feb25 February 11:53

      Before the segment-based rollback, a few of the high-GGL FTers would have struggled to get beyond Bronze based on spend. But they’re not ‘normal’ and you definitely don’t design a programme around them. One effectively took a year off work to fly an average of more than one flight a day while paying as little as possible.

      Arguably the most significant drop is the large number of currently-Gold who will drop to Blue, but you don’t need a model to see that, and particularly if it’s your aim in the first place.

      • JDB says:

        25 Feb25 February 12:19

        While there’s a lot of noise about BA putting up the threshold for Gold from an effective £3-5k spend to c. £20k, the current level does seem incredibly low to “sell” your top (standard) status.

        When one compares it to the nights/spend required at some hotels chains, the now £15k spend for a 241, £10k for a Barclays voucher, HSBC’s recent increase in Premier to £100k etc. it makes a certain sense to make the status harder to obtain and reserved for those who spend more.

        • Ken says:

          25 Feb25 February 16:55

          This nails it.

          First class Lounges (ok maybe use another one world lounge), seat reservations, luggage & first wing.
          All real guaranteed benefits.

          It’s a fair old commitment if you are based in the UK to hit higher level hotel status (say Platinum Marriott) and it doesn’t guarantee a huge amount.

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