JohnK said:
Well there you have it folks. It is not the first time in my life I am wrong and more than likely it will not be the last.
Am I correct in saying that top status in BAEC is hard to attain? If not, then I am wrong again!
In some ways it is easier and in others harder than QF since points earnings are different
On BA, only HBY economy classes earn Tier Points
For points earning for UK travel , Eurotraveler and Club Europe
20 points economy
40 points club europe
UK - Australia
110 points Economy
135 points World Traveller Plus
220 points Business Class
330 points First
Other BA Flights
60 points Economy
75 points World Traveller Plus
120 points Business Class
180 points First
If having an address in Continental Europe
Points required for Silver Status (Continental Europe) - 400 otherwise 600
Points required for Gold Status - (Continental Europe) - 800 otherwise 1200
Depending on travel , BA can be much easier than QF to attain status.
e.g. Using a Qantas World Discovery type ticket booked in H class, on BA it will earn full TPs for the whole trip whilst on QF it earns discount economy except for AU domestics
There are also some great BA codeshares that rake in the points. if flying on BA from Amsterdam to Melbourne in Club World via LHR , SIN and SYD connecting on the BA codeshare to MEL, the earning would be 40+120+120+120 = 400 one way , so a return of 800 which can be enough to renew Gold Status ( AMS-Oz is ime around AUD5600 )
If travelling in WT+ for the same route , would earn 40+75+75+60 = 250 *2 = 500 so another easy requalify for silver for someone in Europe and nearly done for a UK person
If travelling in H, would earn 20+60+60+60= 200*2 = 400 so quite a nice renewal for a Continental Europe person, not as nice as an AA Platinum Challenge but this can be done every year
Other delights are of course 91 miles flight BAH-DOH in F earning 180TPs each way and is pretty cheap
Fly MEL-SYD for example on a BA codeshare in business class and earn 120TPs each way
If however a person travels primarily on cheap discounted tickets, then the BAEC is not that generous since no TP earning occurs. I wouldn't be too upset if QF removed SC earning on low classes but increased them on the higher classes a la BA particularly for international travel
One noticeable difference is that with BA , on attaining status the membership year is immediately reset and a new year starts at the new level so to attain Gold, it is necessary to acquire the points for Silver and then you have a new year in order to attain the points for Gold , so initially it requires 400+800 or 600+1200
I would say that for a fair number of people BA status can be easier to attain than QF
Do note however that BA has no lifetime status but if earning (iirc) 2200TPs in a year as gold awards a voucher giving a systemwide upgrade for 2 people
Dave