BA Silver moving back to AU

[QPProletarian]

Hi,

I have a friend who is a BA Silver and is moving back to AU after a few years in London, as we all do. Since BA don't specifically offer a program to AU residents, does Qantas offer a match/transfer in these circumstances? If not, you'd have to do the whole two cards, change program in the lounge thing for a year? In which case it'd probably be better to do a AA Challenge or even just switch to that program for the international earn/burn?

Cheers.

 

[RooFlyer]

They can keep their BA program, if they want, as long as they maintain a UK address. I simply use that of a mate in Manchester who I get to open any physical mail and forward anything relevant. I only have it for looking up Award seats.

 

[Mal]

Not all of us have to move back

There are a couple of issues here:
- Using BA Silver (OWS) card in lounges. Yes, it should be ok, even with a bronze QF number (if they want to change schemes). Some lounge dragons may challenge it, but should be simple to deal with.
- Choose where to credit to. I can't answer that question really, it does depend on which scheme is best for them.

 

[katiebell]

I weould check the T&C carefully as, I think, BAEC require the cardholder to be resident in the UK. Whilst we may get away with a mate's address if BA took to enforcing hte rules it could result in cancellation of the BAEC membership with loss of points etc. NAsty yes, but if they do not value the ANZ market and want to cut numbers in lounges...

 

[dajop]

In practice a non-ANZ address suffices. Also note that BA is just not open to residents of Australia/NZ/SWP (it is not just restricted to UK!!). Whilst it remains a risk that they catch you with residency in Australia, I'd say the risk of this would be low, unless you started crediting weekly domestic flights to BA.

If in doubt (and not earning status) find a hotel in Bali to claim residency at .... Close enough and credible enough not to raise flags !!

 

[ogs70]

I weould check the T&C carefully as, I think, BAEC require the cardholder to be resident in the UK. Whilst we may get away with a mate's address if BA took to enforcing hte rules it could result in cancellation of the BAEC membership with loss of points etc. NAsty yes, but if they do not value the ANZ market and want to cut numbers in lounges...

Four BA segment's are still required a year, plus a UK address. I don't see BA pouring resources into this any time soon, it would also be very difficult for them to determine.

It is really a hangover from the JSA days when BA cut back their presence Australia and forced all BAEC members into QFF. Although funnily enough, QF was not bound to reciprocate this.

 

[burmans]

I weould check the T&C carefully as, I think, BAEC require the cardholder to be resident in the UK. Whilst we may get away with a mate's address if BA took to enforcing hte rules it could result in cancellation of the BAEC membership with loss of points etc. NAsty yes, but if they do not value the ANZ market and want to cut numbers in lounges...

Yeah, but let's be realistic here, how would they know you don't "reside" in the UK?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Four BA segment's are still required a year, plus a UK address. I don't see BA pouring resources into this any time soon, it would also be very difficult for them to determine.

It is really a hangover from the JSA days when BA cut back their presence Australia and forced all BAEC members into QFF. Although funnily enough, QF was not bound to reciprocate this.

This is incorrect. As stated above by dajop you do not need to reside in the UK to have a BAEC account. Your residential address must be outside AU/NZ.

 

[ogs70]

This is incorrect. As stated above by dajop you do not need to reside in the UK to have a BAEC account. Your residential address must be outside AU/NZ.

Oops, yes thanks that's correct I mixed that statement up with my own situation.

For the OP, it completely depends on your friends flying patterns.

If your friend is adamant of staying with BAEC then I believe there's been reports of successful delivery of BAEC mail by putting an Australian address in with Austria selected as the country. This is risky though, and I probably wouldn't recommend.

BAEC earn rates will be poor - 25% Avios for most QF flights unless booked in flex Y or above, which in the context of the post-April Avios devaluation would make for a poor choice for a crediting programme.

AA match isn't a bad idea for, but keep in mind they are now enforcing the 4 AA segments.

Other than that, using BAEC Silver for status and QFF for earning should not be a problem, and is not explicitly against any oneworld rules.

 

[andye]

You only need the UK address to get the card. I would ask a friend or relation in the UK (or elsewhere) to forward it. I still have mine at my sister's address

If planning on going back UK regularly and not flying a huge amount domestically, it could be worth staying with BAEC if status important. Wide range of OW airlines (BA, QA, CX, MH) earn full tier points unlike QFF. Threshholds to OWS and OWE are similar to QF and much easier to achieve than CX/AA.

But BA earn/burn only a bit better than QF since devaluation and much worse than AA currently. BAEC does remain reasonable value for short-haul economy redemptions ex-UK intra-US & intra-AU

4 sectors is an issue (also for AA)