Some reading and listening suggestions from CNN and Barry!

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• Gordon says:

  25 Feb25 February 08:42

  I read this a couple of days ago, when @NorthernLass posted a link to it on the daily chat, an interesting read.

• RobH not Rob says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:12

  The CNN article is excellent, it seems to sum up the mood music in the room at the moment.

• Bob says:

  25 Feb25 February 09:41

  Arguably, if as many people start refusing to fly with BA, this will help with Avios availability for those of us who dont care about status and havent been chasing it. You get lounge access with a Club ticket anyway.

• vlcnc says:

  25 Feb25 February 11:06

  I do think Ben Lipsey of Flying Blue really gives the sense he really understands loyalty and the mindset people have one actively engaging with them. He’s absolute right that “You don’t put a price on loyalty” and that the schemes rely on gamification opportunities. It’s the thrill of feeling like you are getting something more or special than you would just buying a straightforward ticket. As he says “A rational consumer would take the cheapest flight at the best time. From a psychology perspective, [loyalty programs] are about trying to stimulate irrational behavior.” Harsh revenue based models like BA have adopted remove that. He also says “BA has basically said ‘Gold is worth £20,000’ so now as a customer you start saying, ‘Am I getting £20,000 worth of value?’ If it’s purely revenue-based, that’s the risk. And I think it removes the irrational behavior that is key to loyalty programs.” – I think I as others seem to mostly agree, not sure that risk will pay off for BA, precisely because they have overvalued their product and brand which has been diminished already in customers minds for some years and the loyalty scheme was pretty much holding them to BA.

  • MC says:

    25 Feb25 February 11:18

    +1

• OnTheRun says:

  25 Feb25 February 11:20

  What I have noticed: a lot of communication has come from SkyTeam regarding status matches, directly targeting BA’s rejected, dejected and ejected, but *A has remained really quiet throughout this situation (we’re nearly in March now) which suggests Star Alliance doesn’t want BA’s rejects/ejects either.

  • Rob says:

    25 Feb25 February 11:44

    Funny you should say that …. 🙂

    • OnTheRun says:

      25 Feb25 February 11:49

      Haha I have just read the newly published Miles & More devaluation article!!

      I will see if I can use my psychic powers to predict other airline program issues (among other things) 😄

      • Rob says:

        25 Feb25 February 11:53

        That’s not what I meant ….

        • vlcnc says:

          25 Feb25 February 12:39

          Rob being a tease again… 👀

        • JDB says:

          25 Feb25 February 14:05

          So @Rob this must be why LH is still restricting the number of reward seats, even on dynamic pricing! They need to leave capacity for all the status match refugees it sounds as though they are going to be courting.

          On a separate note, in that CNN article Ben Lipsey is quoted as saying “We hope to achieve between €20-30m in incremental customer value from these customers who matched” do we know over what time period he is expecting this, or is it annually?

        • Rob says:

          25 Feb25 February 14:06

          No idea

• astra19 says:

  25 Feb25 February 11:30

  I do enjoy BA’s response: “A large number of our customers will benefit from these changes and we’re confident that this is a better way of truly rewarding their loyalty.”

  If it were a majority, they would say a majority would benefit. But obviously that’s not true, a small minority will be better off. So therefore they’re acknowledging that a majority will be worse off.

• Clive says:

  25 Feb25 February 13:55

  The article is well worth reading, especially the comments from Flying Blue.

  The new system starts in only 5 weeks; we still have no idea how the Tier Points available from an AMEX card will work. I have previously commented on one of the many weaknesses in the new system, the complete inability to plan ahead with any precision, given the inability to know in advance how much of a fare will count towards Tier Points. The fact that we still don’t know what we can earn through AMEX is little short of insulting.

  It’s good to see JDB in this discussion. In another discussion he commented a couple of days ago that it’s easy to understand what BA is trying to achieve by these changes. I’m obviously very stupid, but I still can’t fathom how they hope that this will help BA’s business. I asked JDB twice to explain, as it’s so easy, but he hasn’t responded.

  • JDB says:

    25 Feb25 February 14:43

    @Clive – I’m afraid I haven’t answered (and am conscious of that) a) because your questions feels slightly pharisaical and b) because it’s been slightly done to death here.

  • Nick says:

    25 Feb25 February 14:43

    He’s right. Take away anger, indignation and rose-tinted views of how it used to be, it’s easy to see why they’re doing it – even if you/we don’t like it.

    BA believes the ‘wrong’ people are being rewarded. Corporate customers who spend high but not often are sent to GC rather than GF, while an increasing number of TP runners get benefits. It’s the same across the business, even for example onboard meals – crew usually make sure a Gold gets their first choice but often don’t bother beyond that. So they want a reset.

    It also continues the trend of unbundling and commodification started by LCCs and amplified by the ‘consultancy mindset’ rampant across listed companies. Want lounge access? Extra bag? Great, pay for it. Much easier to assess the ‘value’ of things if you can put numbers on them.

    This is the big gamble though… BA believes enough customers will still book because of network, frequency and price, regardless of baubles or ability to game the system. Time will tell whether they’re right.

• flyforfun says:

  25 Feb25 February 13:58

  The article sums it up quite nicely. It’s game over for a lot of people when it comes to frequent flyer relationships. First it will be us “avgeeks” that will tweak what we do. I’ve been less loyal to oneworld post pandemic as the flights and deals weren’t there. I’ve discovered “new” airlines like China Airlines for my trips to Australia and even done one with Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. My next trip in a few months is with SIA, partly because of frequency and partly because of aircraft. A350’s all the way.

  I think the general public who’ve enrolled in these schemes will take a little longer to become disillusioned with the changes. Status was something that they might not have understood fully. They were probably all about the points and redeeming them.

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