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I think BA business lounges are better than half the other business lounges around the world, and on par with most of rest of business lounges. OK a few are better, but only a few.
It’s BAs so called First lounges that are definitely sub PAR, which is why I use other OW carriers. BA first lounges used to be significantly better than business, but since concorde room, BA just doesn’t care. Hopefully with gold at £20k , numbers will drop and gold will be seen as valuable customers
I wonder what forward bookings in Club Europe are like?
My wife and I spent plenty on BA CE Holidays to get status, handy for our frequent trips to Glasgow, and for seat choice for our two 2-for-1’s each year.
Absolutely no point now, we’ll go economy, then when status runs out, EZY to Malta, Canaries, Greek islands, Glasgow, etc.
With Club Suite, paying BA’s rates for seat choice is crazy, so once the ying-yang are gone we won’t need that either.
Looking around the CE cabin at the other pax, I think maybe the majority are doing the same thing.
It may not look too bad at the moment with temporary new aircraft shortages keeping load factors high, but once they’ve sorted that out it could spell trouble and empty club cabins.These comments are amusing. Someone who takes a few CE flights and redemptions for long haul is more knowledgeable and an expert on aviation economics than all the staff at BA and predicts ‘empty club cabins’.
Based upon your response, do you believe there are no dissenters within BA?
Many senior decisions makers in other organisations have been wrong when implementing changes. Whether BAs decisions makers are right or wrong we probably won’t know for another year or two.
I doubt that more than a few percent of Club Europe/World passengers are in that cabin because they are trying to earn status; most, I believe, are there because they are satisfied with the price/quality trade-off. Once status becomes harder to obtain, I suspect that a desire for lounge access, etc, will encourage enough passengers to upgrade from economy to Club to offset any toys-out-of-pram status-chasers who switch to EasyJet in disgust.
Like @JDB, I think that Club Europe offers good value for money. Compared with first class rail travel, it’s a bargain, and it’s noticeable that first class rail and Club have seen a noticeable shift towards leisure travellers in recent years. I predict that cabins will continue to be full once the changes have bedded down.
I do think the lounges will be quieter in two years, though. The First lounge in T5 is populated entirely by status holders, and, despite being both huge and pretty rubbish, it’s always rammed. Similarly, a large proportion of priority boarding customers head straight for Economy on board so must have status. If just 30% of those status holders were to disappear from the lounges and Club check-in, life would be much more pleasant for those of us who ponied-up for a Club ticket.
I welcome the changes.
I ponied up to travel F to LA; I got barged on boarding by 2 lovely chaps travelling economy. Status doesn’t equal manners…
I, too, welcome the changes.
I ponied up to travel F to LA; I got barged on boarding by 2 lovely chaps travelling economy. Status doesn’t equal manners…
I, too, welcome the changes.
Tbf, spending more cash to sit in First or Business doesn’t necessarily mean those passengers have manners either. We’ve all heard horror stories of obnoxious people in every class of flight.
I’m substantially better off and BA is correctly proportionately rewarding high-fare-paying customers more.
Right on the money, you couldn’t have said it better.
Don’t expect quieter lounges till 2027 at least: all the sparrows pecking away at the buffet and the mighty ostrich inhaling the chicken pies like there is no tomorrow.
The quiet lounges are in private jet/VIP terminals and private homes.
@Mighty-Hunter – are so many people really travelling in CE just for BA status? I don’t think so.
I have to admit, that previously I spent extra money on my (then monthly) commute from Glasgow to London to fly CE in order to get status. With the system changing, now all my flights will be economy instead. As my flight frequency had increased from Monthly to Fortnightly, BA are now losing a fair amount from me for these changes.
I appreciate that I may not be the norm, and my spend is a drop in the ocean to BA.I ponied up to travel F to LA; I got barged on boarding by 2 lovely chaps travelling economy. Status doesn’t equal manners…
I, too, welcome the changes.
Tbf, spending more cash to sit in First or Business doesn’t necessarily mean those passengers have manners either. We’ve all heard horror stories of obnoxious people in every class of flight.
Mel B & Ruby Wax
I don’t like the policy and in my personal case, am much less likely to upgrade to CE or WTP now that Tier point incentive isn’t there, but I’m maybe 2% of the population.
If indeed business travel drives profit, and if indeed some clients are locked in with BA, so BA’s policy with new club is aimed at driving more revenues from business travellers. Business needs to be OPM, ergo, travellers will take the most expensive flight they can to maximize TPs which is good for BA (and for the employer). So I get the logic. I don’t like it though, and I expect employer to wise up quite quickly (“why did you book the £600 LHR-GVA ticket when Swiss was £300) etc. there’s a business waiting to be started to help companies save money on flights…
Let’s see how 0.1% loading difference affects profits, because these changes will affect customer behaviour.
My reasoning is very clear: there’s no point trying to get status as a leisure traveller. To do so, I’d have to travel everywhere in Club anyway, so what am I getting? Yet my loyalty to BA has gone – so I am that extra 0.1% loading factor.
Let’s just boil it down… You sell seats, seat selection, food and drink, bags, Avios, … Only a matter of time before you’re selling TP, lounge access, VIP cockpit tours and beds in the crew cabins. Sooner or later the airplanes are an ancillary business 😏
I’m substantially better off and BA is correctly proportionately rewarding high-fare-paying customers more.
Right on the money, you couldn’t have said it better.
Don’t expect quieter lounges till 2027 at least: all the sparrows pecking away at the buffet and the mighty ostrich inhaling the chicken pies like there is no tomorrow.
Won’t a lot of people who got status under old system in in year to April 25 , loose it in year to April 2026, especially with 20k gold requirement. So Won’t May 2026 be the start of less people in first lounge. Soft landing will mean these become silver, so silver may stay full depending upon how many make £7500 cut off
I can see “soft landing” disappearing, especially at Gold where Silver gets you the same thing…. Most people haven’t travelled “Gold” on their own dime. Maybe a 15K renewal.. Obviously BA need to pay their consultants a lot more money to figure this one out…..
The BA reward system isn’t so complex
I’m substantially better off and BA is correctly proportionately rewarding high-fare-paying customers more.
Right on the money, you couldn’t have said it better.
Don’t expect quieter lounges till 2027 at least: all the sparrows pecking away at the buffet and the mighty ostrich inhaling the chicken pies like there is no tomorrow.
Won’t a lot of people who got status under old system in in year to April 25 , loose it in year to April 2026, especially with 20k gold requirement. So Won’t May 2026 be the start of less people in first lounge. Soft landing will mean these become silver, so silver may stay full depending upon how many make £7500 cut off
titaniumostritch was referring to the status match offered by RJ.
All the status matches being offered now , will run out in a year, along with BA status earned to April 25. no guarantee that there will be status matches in 12 months time
There are plenty of people who plan and book their trips well in advance who will earn BA status this year under the old rules from pre-Dec 30th bookings.
The numbers will start to drop next year but as has been suggested the real impact won’t become clear until 2027.
…the real impact won’t become clear until 2027.
Will the arrival of B777x aircraft muddy the water?
I think Im glad I generally dont have much to do with BA/oneworld flights and enjoy the Air France lounge in Paris instead! haha
Totally right that many people previously qualifying for status are often also complaining about the quality of lounge or how busy they are. No real surprise that status etc has switched to more revenue based, Airfrance/flying blue miles were already this, aswell as most airline in USA?Let’s just boil it down… You sell seats, seat selection, food and drink, bags, Avios, … Only a matter of time before you’re selling TP, lounge access, VIP cockpit tours and beds in the crew cabins. Sooner or later the airplanes are an ancillary business 😏
Ryanair have gone down that route. Wish they listened to people on forums, they’d have been profitable by now.
I’m substantially better off and BA is correctly proportionately rewarding high-fare-paying customers more.
Right on the money, you couldn’t have said it better.
Don’t expect quieter lounges till 2027 at least: all the sparrows pecking away at the buffet and the mighty ostrich inhaling the chicken pies like there is no tomorrow.
Won’t a lot of people who got status under old system in in year to April 25 , loose it in year to April 2026, especially with 20k gold requirement. So Won’t May 2026 be the start of less people in first lounge. Soft landing will mean these become silver, so silver may stay full depending upon how many make £7500 cut off
It also depends how many move to other OW FFP’s – my travel patterns mean I would drop to Silver if I stayed with BAC but will remain OWE if I move to AY+. So I’ll be moving programs but will still be hoovering up the chicken pies left behind by the departed metallic fowl.
AY+ also incentivises TP runners, not to the same extent as BAEC did so probably a lot fewer doing this.
I can see “soft landing” disappearing, especially at Gold where Silver gets you the same thing…. Most people haven’t travelled “Gold” on their own dime. Maybe a 15K renewal.. Obviously BA need to pay their consultants a lot more money to figure this one out…..
The BA reward system isn’t so complex
Don’t forget to clean your phone before your trip to the US, if you just sent that link by phone 🙂
I have 6 return trips in CE per annum and won’t make Silver again. The seats are the same at the back, so will book just enough flights in CE to get to Bronze. Book the rest of my trips in Y as BA Holidays (to get free luggage) and with my savings I’ll book a better non BA flight to Asia each year.
Let’s see how 0.1% loading difference affects profits, because these changes will affect customer behaviour.
My reasoning is very clear: there’s no point trying to get status as a leisure traveller. To do so, I’d have to travel everywhere in Club anyway, so what am I getting? Yet my loyalty to BA has gone – so I am that extra 0.1% loading factor.
Let’s just boil it down… You sell seats, seat selection, food and drink, bags, Avios, … Only a matter of time before you’re selling TP, lounge access, VIP cockpit tours and beds in the crew cabins. Sooner or later the airplanes are an ancillary business 😏
Where are the cabin crew when the passengers are being sold the beds in the crew cabins?!?!? Don’t be giving Sir Richard ideas
Where are the cabin crew when the passengers are being sold the beds in the crew cabins?!?!? Don’t be giving Sir Richard ideas
They galleys have been replaced with vending machines – “customers have told us this is what they want”. We call it “on-demand in-flight service.” Just like flying in First, enjoy food and drink at a time that suits you. And earn Avios on your £5 coke – even on the optional ice and slice!
Either that or get a 20% discount on your flight by pushing the cart up and down every 10 mins. (Note: I appreciate that safety is the crew’s primary concern, though life vest and oxygen are available from £20 – dynamic pricing applies, and stocks are limited). 😊
Well according to the article I’ve posted a link to on the daily chat, they might be trialling coke-vending machines in the loos…
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