Thanks, Matt, for this grim analysis. A point that I *hadn't* realised until you mentioned it, is that the BA TP-heavy flights will be fought over like dogs with a bone. I've had enough of the world's favourite airline (November renewal), and I feel sorry for the many people, like Shane, who will be affected more than I will be. In a way, it's liberating - no more of this "bugger, they're not OW" when I see a bargain.
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we were waiting for this one with baited breadth - thank you so much! Doesn't seem too bad at the moment but if this is the thin end of the wedge and a move toward revenue based tier status then that's pretty catastrophic for a miser like me! Thank you again
Thanks Matt, I recently discovered your channel, must have watched 20+ vids lately, your ITA matrix video was excellent and I share your pain with multi city ! For me it’s a matter of time before BA move to revenue tiering, I can see from an IT perspective why concentrated year ends make sense, allows room for other changes to be made during the year. Travelling March/April/May from 2026 will be expensive, May have to sacrifice a few months Status when planning tier runs.
I'm glad people like you exist. I tend to look at the finer details in life. Especially when companies change their contracts you have with them and you're just expected to conform. I wonder if their servers will deal with such a significant shift!
Thanks - I'm glad I exist too!!! I'm in a debate elsewhere about whether the executive club is actually a contractual relationship or is just something governed by terms and conditions. BA can easily change the rules if the relationship is the latter but is in trouble if its the former.... I'm not a lawyer though so someone else will need to decide!
Thanks Matt for another excellent video! I will be going through it several times to catch all the nuances. You make a great point that it's the company's club not 'mine' or 'ours'. Their call to act corporately. Ours to decide how we make it work for us going forward and your insights will help massively with those decisions.
Been waiting for this video all week, thanks Matt! I imagine I'm one of the few people actually really pleased by this, because I just booked my biggest ever tier point haul in April and then found it'll essentially be at the start of both mine and my wife's status year. What a bonus for us! Can understand plenty of frustration out there though. Thanks for all the great content BTW. Your Matrix ITA and tier point run videos helped me find some cracking tickets going ex-EU in premium cabins for little more than the cost of economy, plus two bonus city breaks! Makes us happy travellers 👌
Thanks Mark - excellent news. Its easy to react negatively to any change, but when you analyse it there are some clear winners! You were lucky to have picked April rather than late March but smile and enjoy the trip!
Hello Matt, Thank you for explaining and bit clarification, it is happening news. My first language it is British sign language, I found confusion for information, you are information so clear. I want see thank you. In future I will look other airlines and other experiences airlines and business class etc. it is for ba club for me but great experience for me. Thank you Matt Matthew
Thanks Matt, I’ve been anxiously waiting for this as soon as I saw that email in my inbox I was filled with dread thankfully I know a man who can break it down & explain the changes into layman’s terms. I’m hoping my November end date will offer me a slightly longer period to retain gold for 2025, will watch the video a few more times for it to hopefully sink in, Thanks Madds.
Hi Matt, Great video as per your usual very high standards. You manage to explain something tricky in such a way even I understand! I take away that BA does what it always does, that is to take their clientèle on a journey they do not want to be on! Hope you are kerping well, Regards Thomas
Thanks Matt! I found that the excel charts really helped me to visualise the impact of the overlap period better that just a written explanation. But maybe thats because I'm a fellow accountant 🤓
Thanks for a great and clear analysis as always Matt. As someone who will be 'affected' negatively what irks is the retrospective nature for my circumstances, however, great to see some very interesting and cheeky status match+ offers from other airlines. Perhaps an own goal by BA.
Thanks. It is hilarious that Virgin has come out with such an attractive offer, indeed suite of offers as there's bonus points available for the booking you need to make to match across.... Don't know if you remember the early 90's and the whole "dirty tricks" kerfuffle but I'm having flashbacks!
Very helpful thanks Matt. AS someone with a November year end ggggrrrrrrr....Perhaps BA have identified that the end of February and March are traditionally quiet so they may welcome an increase in tier point runs during that time...
Hi Matt, Leaving a comment to help promote the video. Legally, I suspect they have something along the line of "we reserve the right to change the terms of this promotion at any time" to coveI r themselves. As an aside. I've worked in tech implementing these kind of changes. It's often when forced to code these systems that tech people understand the full implications and edge cases rather than the product people who design the programes. I think your understanding of how eveyrone could possibliy be effects and ability to explain it would make you an excellent product owner if you chose to pursue that career.
Thanks for that! In a past life I did a few large ERP system implementations, including an abysmal experience with SAP that still makes me twitch 20 years later... So that sort of thing is behind me rather than ahead of me, and probably explains why I have some empathy with the end user in these situations!
Cheers Matt. Most useful as I’m Apr but other half is a different month. Like your Point #5 re effective grace period. Love your XLSX illustration. Fellow XLSX Geek. Way better explanation you’ve done than I could understand at HfP.
Thanks for the kind words.... Excel for the win.... About 10 years back I was really bored so wrote an excel macro that solves sudokus - not by forcing them either, but by finding the solutions logically... It really is amazing what Excel can do! But I digress.....
Hi Matt, Great job on the hair 👍and love the new intro 👏 . BA status increasingly irrelevant . The recent RJ status match to my Emirates Gold account is much easier to achieve
Thanks and thanks. This is testing everyone's loyalty to BA! Good to know there are options, but BA has tied so many people in with the lifetime tier points concept it may be difficult for many!
Thank goodness for your charts!!! lol Another helpful great video. And as you said, I can't fault them for changing things because others have abused the loopholes. Don't think I will be very affected with this though as I have end of year in may. I already have my gold TP for next calendar year and started booking for retaining it in 2026. But have noticed the price increase in the off-peak months when I usually fly, and booked for this april. So hoping that will change for the fall bookings i want to make.
Thanks! A few people have reported fares being high, although whether supply and demand have had the time to react to this is my question.... It may just be that airlines are more optimistic overall of demand behind higher next year
@@MattsPlanet I also noticed and thought it strange that the "lowest fares" (even regular prices) on the routes I searched for stayed the same from now and 11 months forward. I had never seen that before. It usually fluxuates between peak/off peak and current/advanced purchase.
Excellent video as always Matt! We were looking at business flights and using BA hol double tier point offer. The only thing we're not 100% on - the flight out is on 26th March 24, and back for the start of April. Would this mean that the outbound flight TP would be rewarded and accounted for March, and not in April? Therefore missing the new tier point adjustment period? I presume that the double points bonus will come in April, as will the TP from the April return flight, but the outbound in March will be left in March?
Both outbound and return flights should count into your current year, as should the bonus tier points. Anything happening after April 1 will also count into the next year which will overlap with your ongoing year - the degree of overlap depending on when your current year ends...
Great video Matt! We are in the similar position to Shane. Our year ends 8 October. We have RTW tickets (starting 10 October and last leg ending before the end of November 2024) booked completely in our grace period and were smugly planning to renew Gold for a 2 year period, but now that status will end in April 2026. Listening to your advice, do you think we should complain now or after we have completed the travel in November?
My mate Shane has formally written to them about this and I'm sure he'll update as he gets a response.... I'd certainly raise it now, probably in writing as its not an urgent issue.... I suspect that people pre-booking travel that far ahead with status in mind may not have been front of mind when they planned this, so raising awareness of the issue now would be helpful
Matt. very well put across. I'm glad my status changes at the same time as yours, Made things so much easier to follow. I only usually go for Silver status and my trip to SAID Sofia in March will keep me there for now. I will wait and look into what I want to do for the following year. I can just see March and April now at airports. Tier Point runners, Bloggers/Vloggers every where with cameras out and commentary going. 😆 Steve. C. YNWA
Many Thanks for another insightful and informative video. I've had enough of BA at the moment, they sent me an email with a change of seat for a trip in september, looked at my booking and it showed a slightly different flight time but wouldn't let me see the seat until i accepted the change. And that's when i spotted the change in Aircraft and seat type, downgraded from a club world seat on a 777 to a club europe blocked middle seat on an a321 neo. Not best pleased as the price has remained the same. Only booked with BA on this route because of the club world seats and not fussed about old style or not as it was still a lie flat seat on a 5.5 hour flight. we shall see what transpires when I eventually get to speak to someone. Thank goodness Ive only paid a deposit and not the whole whack.
Interesting as always Matt👍 For purely comparative purposes, SAA Voyager program worked on this basis since inception. Everybody's year end date for Status is 31 December every year. No grace period. They have also gone the route of actial cash spend to calculate miles earned rather than actual miles flown about 5 years ago. In the end all corporates will do what is best for them and their shareholders😂🇿🇦
I've been getting quite enthusiastic about the BA Exec scheme and OneWorld - but now some of that enthusiasm is starting to wane. My membership year ends Oct 8th and I'm working to achieve Gold Status by around May. So looks like I will still have gold status until Oct 2025, but my soft landing duration will be curtailed to 6 months or so. A bit annoying but I guess I can live with it. I'm more concerned about price based status as I rather like these double TP vacations and will be most upset if they disappear. Excellent video as always and I do welcome an Excel spreadsheet.
Indeed - I think the pluses still greatly outweigh the negatives but the direction things are moving in may not be perfect for us - more reason to take advantage now while you can!
Thanks for taking the time to comment - you're never sure you've explained things right when you're making these - I've watched it perhaps 8 times now and have completely lost any connection with reality doing so!!!
So I need to trigger my Amex tier point bonus after 1/4/24 but before the scheme end date of 21/5/24 so that they will count once in my current year (ends 8/12/24) and again in the transitional period adjustment period of 1/4/24 to 8/12/24. Nice explanation btw.
Cheers Matt for such a great comprehensive explainer (watched the whole thing from end to end 😅). As someone who gave up on the elite status hamster wheel with a Tier Point year end in September I was certainly curious about these changes but I still think I was right to walk away from chasing status with BA. I still have status with ITA Airways as they yet again extended my SkyTeam status for another year 🤣 but the only "status" I have renewed is my easyJet Plus membership as that has been very helpful for me and my travels
Cheers Matt... I noticed another ITA extension for myself too - odd and its got the whiff of error or oversight but I'll take it as long as they give it!
@@MattsPlanet yeh I collect Avios not TPs (don't fly BA enough*) so I've no idea why I'm watching this at all 😂 * I have a BA flight in April for probably first time in 5+ years.
I’m hoping you could help me get my head around a calculation please, Matt: I’m currently in my ‘All of Next Year’ - my year end is 08 Sep, so on 08 Sep 2023 my TPs went to 0, but I’m keeping Silver until 31 Oct 2024, another 7 months or so. If I leverage the double TP offer and renew my Silver between Oct-Dec this year, how long will I keep Silver for? Or is it worth not having status between Oct 2024-Apr 2025 (that’s when it’ll reset for me, right?) Sorry to be a pain, owe you a pint if you could lend a hand. Thank you.
thanks Matt, perfect video as usual. I still can't believe the comms team at BA thought the initial announcement was good enough to communicate the changes. It took the hfp guys questioning them to actually get the answers to the questions people had. Madness. I'm watching this space for £ based status...
Indeed - I meant to email Rob to see if BA had briefed him on this before it was announced, but I suspect they didn't given he had to question it after the announcement.... They often do brief things like this out (not to me though!!!) so if they didn't this time, they must have been concerned about it....
Hi Matt, great explanation of the changes. A while ago you did a great couple of videos on Star Alliance memberships and the reasons why you went with who you did. Any plans on doing the same sort of thing for Sky Team?
Hi there. I actually started gathering the data to create a similar SkyTeam video.... Probably shouldn't have started alphabetically as the first two were Aerolineas Argentinas and Aeromexico and their schemes were both a bit weird and not a lot of it was in English.... So I came to the conclusion that an exact duplicate of the StarAlliance video would be a) very time consuming to make and b) of little value!!! So I have retreated to reconsider how to do it... But I think there is a demand for something like that so I will keep it on the radar
@@MattsPlanet thanks for the reply Matt. I'm gold with Flying Blue through KLM/Air France. Just wondering if there was a better scheme with Sky Team but I'll stick with Flying Blue for now. Stephen
My question has been around the requirement to fly 2 (Silver) or 4 (Gold) BA/IB segments in addition to Tier Points. Will the BA flights I take between April and my member year month (June) also credit to earnings for 25/26 status year? I know the Tier Points will but will credit earned from BA flights also be applied in the same way to that requirement? I have read nothing that deals with this aspect. Thanks for walking us through this rather arcane process, something a few of us back here have been grappling with between consulting various blogs and FlyerTalk.
Thanks David. I would assume that the flight qualification requirement will flow alongside the tier points, as they accrue concurrently with the earning of the tier points.... Which may produce some winners and losers....
Hi Matt, thanks for the video. Well well well. My QY ended 7.2.so I am off to Australia and Bali via Abú Dhabi with Sri Lanka Airways and British airways from Prague... So, I would get 4 flights with BA and Tiers with them and Srí Lanka Airways to Jakarta. This change makes me anxious. On the top off everything, Srí Lanka Airways cancelled 2 flights from my schedule and selected different days! So for everyone stay flexible and let a lot of time - days to connect with Sri Lanka airways flights!!! My flights are connected days apart with BA and Qantas so so far I managed to accommodate these changes. But it meant to get an extra visa for Sri Lanka for a day. Therefore any news like this from BA it makes me nervous as I linked a their point run with further travel and spend extra money and did not take the most obvious route.... Business class Avion ticket with Qatar airways straight to Melbourne.... From Vienna 😊 as originally planned with A350.....Safe travels to all of you. MIRA from Prague.
Thanks. Sri Lankan have some serious maintenance issues so are cancelling a lot of flights right now.... They've also leased in some aircraft to maintain services.... I was lucky that all 4 of my flights went as scheduled but its getting tougher to do that trip without a lot of time padding to accommodate Sri Lanka's hiccups
Very good video Matt. Thank you. Looks like I'm buggered with a tier point renewal in Nov. I am wondering if the extended grace period will be an offset (of sorts) for the status lost period. It's a pity the soft landing goes from gold to silver... It would be nice if us who are GGL had a soft landing to gold, especially as we have contributed highly to reach that status. Thanks again.
Thanks - As I say in the video I'm trying hard to convince myself that the extended grace period balances the shortened status period.... I really hope BA has its tolerant hat on as there'll be lots and lots of weird scenarios where people will be disadvantaged by this, including perhaps yourself
Hi Paul, I'm nor sure Matt has this one right. The GGL team told me on the phone yesterday that if reached my 3K tp by 8th Dec 24. I would maintain my GGL until 30th April 26. They said no one would be worse off. This in line with BA"s text . "Any Tier status you receive during the transition period will expire on 30 April 2026" Also HFP wrote - "Jane Doe has a collection year ending 8th Dec 2024. Jane crosses the 1,500-tier point threshold and qualifies for Gold in late November. Any status earned during the transition period will remain valid until 30th April 2026, regardless of Jane’s collection year." I have just emailed the GGL team to double check
@@SpiderMacKenzie Hi buddy. Many thanks for the heads up. If what you say is correct, that would work fine for me, as I will hit my 3k TP's by May or June. With a current TP year end date of Nov 8th. My only worry is, the thought that BA may at some point will change the goalposts. It would be great if you leave a reply here as & when you hear back from the GGL team. Many thanks.
Hi Paul. Here;'s the reply I received "Regarding the new Tier point collection period. As long as you earn Gold Guest List renewal by the 8th December 2024 so 3000 Tier points and 4 eligible flights you will then be Gold Guest List until the 30th April 2026 (card validity date)" Paul so this is good news however this has raised another head scratcher. Note she wrote "card validity period". My concern is if if I dont earn any TP between my short collection year 9th November 24 to 31st March 25. Then could I be deemed to have fallen short (500tp ish) of the 3K tier points to maintain GGL. In my case I might make 2.5k tp between 1st April 24 to 8th Dec 24. So even though I have GGL "card validity" until 30th April 2026 this is in effect an extended grace period and I'd need to earn 5K TP between 1st April 25 to 31st March 26 to keep GGL come the start of collection period 1st April 26 I have fired off another email @@paulmk5841
"Card validity period". Sounds like typical corporate speak. This is where it will get tricky for GGL members. An exception should be put in place for those members who have flown considerably for the past few yrs. All they appear to be doing, is front loading our memberships until 04/26 (which is all good & well) until people realise that a yr at 3k has been wiped off. hence having to start from scratch at 5k again. I wonder if this would apply to all GGL members or wether some folk get a better deal due to thier current year end date.@@SpiderMacKenzie
Thanks for this Matt. I also earn Gold soon and faced with a Sep year end look like I’ll get a truncated soft landing period. I’ll have to take that up with BA at some point. The Jakarta run could become very popular indeed!
Good explainer Matt. For something that should be simple its got many in a state of head and chin scratching. Its a change that has come at a terrible time for me. I'm a summer member year similar to yourself, and I'd worked on a 3 year cycle like you brought up so this member year I made use of lots of redemption as I was happy to soft land. Some of these redemptions are in this transitional double counting period. There is no way I would have made them as a redemption if I knew these changes before hand as I could have easily qualified back to gold in March 2025 if they were cash fares ontop of my other spending in what is going to be my "new" year.
Another good video explaining, but I'm still confused how much it'll affect me with a January date and the when I take my flights. I just usually aim for Silver, so I don't think (hope) it'll be too much downside. I will understand it one day
If your travel is reasonably consistent through the year and you don't just scrape into silver, a January year end probably won't make much difference.... Worth working it through though one day when your mind is fresh!
My advice would be to find a quiet 20 minutes and just work it through - the Head for Points article is really helpful as it shows a step by step for each year end. Overlay booked and planned travel and see what the consequences will be for you personally.
This change has already altered my behaviour. I am BA Gold but I don't have any TPs for my current TP year, ending in September. Instead of booking trips this year in February or March, I delayed travel until April, earning 1550 TPs within a week thanks to BA Holidays' double tier points offer. (Thankfully I didn't end up booking any cash trips over last Christmas and New Year, I used Avios instead.) o LHR-DOH-BKK-DOH-LHR on BA-marketed Qatar in J with five nights' hotel (1120TP) and inside that: o Day trip BKK-HKG-BKK on Cathay (80TP) o Evening in Tokyo BKK-HND-BKK on JAL in J/F (350TP). Total 1550TP in six days.
I *think* I’ll benefit in a roundabout way. Previous Gold expired 31st July, so was suffering a year of silver with the intention of going all-in to do 2yrs of gold next time. I can now do this in April rather than waiting until the summer. Win! Kind of.
Like you friend, Shane, I have planned my flights this year (2024) into my year end grace period (9 Oct - 30 Nov) to gain 1500 TPs. If I'm right in my understanding I will retain gold status for the remainder of 2025 and then until 31 March 2026. In effect, I will lose 6-7 months of status from what the existing scheme offers?
That's my understanding.... Those points will now go towards a year ending 31 March 2025 (rather than October) and the status will flow through from that. So as the grace period is now shorter, the status earned from the flights you've booked will run to 30 April 26 instead of the 31 November 2026 you expected. Which I would complain about, loudly and longly.... Shane has written to BA and received a "we're looking into it" response. They actually called him to confirm receipt of his letter, which was unusual... But the more voices complaining, the more significance they should put on resolving it
Hi Matt, hope you’re well sir. Random question if that’s ok? With the changes coming around getting tiers points, when you get points twice does that include the BA holidays double up of tier points? For example, I just returned from a BA holiday and was given 360 points for the flight then 360 again because of the holiday offer. So will I get 360 or the same as I just got ( 720). Hope that makes sense
I think they should count twice. BA is terrible at getting the bonus points into the same period as the original flight, but they should all count twice
Here in the US, we're used to our tracking year being the predictable 01Jan-31Dec at most of the schemes, which makes tier point running toward status at our airlines here a madhouse as there are obviously 2 major travel holidays in November and December. Luckily for me at least, my Royal Jordanian is still on a "set your own year" basis, as is Air Europa (my SkyTeam scheme). - Red
I’ve not looked into it too deeply yet, but one thing I didn’t spot in the HfP article was any implications for Amex twofer earning years. My year starts in Nov currently. There’s no chance of me spending enough between Nov 24 and mar 25 for me to earn a voucher, so what happens to that period’s spend? I suspect I know the answer…
Don't think it will be affected, the Amex year isn't linked to the EC year as each started when you joined the separate scheme (my EC is June and Amex is Nov)
@@ianhares9832 interesting, thanks. My EC account was opened as part of my Amex application, so I probably just assumed they’re more linked than they actually are. Cheers
@ianhares9832 beat me to it but the Amex year is completely unrelated to your BA year. The voucher pops out whenever you earn it. So this change has no impact there.
@@MattsPlanet thanks Matt and Ian. My BAEC was opened when I applied for the Amex as I didn’t actually have an account already. I guess I thought they were a bit more linked than they actually are!
Matt, one aspect you didn't mention is that this change will align BAEC's membership year with that already used by Iberia Plus. Perhaps this is a step on the road to IAG combining all their loyalty programmes into one, rather than just using the same "currency" across them?
Thanks - funnily enough I had something like that in the first draft - a segment about how IAG's accountants will love this as 31 March happens to be their year end.... But I thought it was a bit boring, even for me!
I will re-qualify by June, will keep until March-26 while keeping an eye on further changes mentioned in point #6. If I see predicted negative developments, I will get a status match with Sky or SA and will move my business there. Simple.
I'd never heard of a grace period! It sounds like if you dint accumulate the points required in a year, at present you also get an extra 50ish days? I dont really get why that even exists so why dont they just bin it entirely?
Its a concessionary period after the end of your year, when your old benefits prevail (so you can travel with good or great lounges, extra baggage, seat selection, bonus avios etc) yet tier points earned fall into the new year. Has always been the sweet spot for a renewal
Hi Matt, I'm struggling to find an answer online and wondering if you know. If I book a custom flight+hotel, flights are 16 days apart and booking a hotel for just 5 days inside there, is this eligable for double tps?
Delta is playing games here in the US. Huge push back, so Delta modified it slightly. However, we used to "collect" Million Qualifying Miles (MQMs) and those are no longer part of the scheme - Delta keeps telling us that we will be able to roll those into ongoing status, but the date keeps getting pushed out. Very frustrating as I may or may not be able to keep my current status for 4 more years - depending on if Delta keeps its word, which I no longer have faith in. This was good - sounds like your transition is just as painful.
Thanks.... Sadly airlines like Delta seem to be setting the trend... At least if they make the mistakes, then as and when BA catches up they'll avoid the same mistakes...
Hopefully they'll use my video too!!!! Its tough for us to understand our own single year end puzzle, so it must be impossible for them to understand all 12!
It all depends on your current status and whether you have anything planned... If its no and no, then this is probably will make very little difference to you and could be positive. If its yes and yes, it could be a right pain.
It seems to me that BA have been making more changes than other airlines to their membership, posing whether it’s still the better choice for One World? On another note, now that Turkish Airlines have announced flights to Australia, would Aegean still be the Star Alliance choice?
BA does like to tinker, that's for sure.... Doubt they've finished either.... If you regularly head to Australia then Turkish is now an option for sure... Although they already serve more countries than anyone else so were probably a good bet anyway!
Hello Matt new to your channel, I am trying to find something out with executive club. I am at bronze tier I have 400 tier points. My tier points collection year ends on the 8th February 2025, but go away on the 20th January 2025 and fly back on the 4th February which will give me 200 tier points which will give me 600 tier points to take me to silver will they go on before the 8th February my year end? if not a nd go on after will I still get silver or stay at bronze? It's all a little confusing. Great video thank you.
Hello! Points will be posted to the date the flight takes off, even if it takes a few days for them to show up. So they'll credit into the old year and you should show as silver before the year ends. You'll then reset to 0 on the 9th Feb but the silver will last for that year.
This is a right pain in the neck had all my travel planned to achieve Gold in October so no losing six months of gold status, I think i may do a status match to Virgin.
did not think about the grace period, for me wil be 03.25 to 11.25. currently over 1500 TP now so gold to 11.25. even if I do not make 1500 between 03.24 and 03.25, I will have 7-8 months to obtain 1500 TP?
It is confusing.... You'll kick into the new year as of 1 April and that year will run until March 31st 2015. Tier points earned between those dates count for the new year, even if some of them overlap with the year in progress
Thanks Matt. Unless I missed it, is there any effect on the Companion Voucher with these changes and the period(s) in which the £10k spend is assessed? My current year end is 8th October and I have the voucher for this year (I got the purple unicorn route to Sydney!!!) and wondering how I should target my spending for next year. Many thanks
The Amex programme is unchanged so the voucher will drop into your account as normal. And as using it will produce non-TP earning flights, it's pretty irrelevant to the se membership year changes too
Sorry Matt but I’m still a little confused by this ( not your fault ) but could you hopefully clear something up for me. I achieved gold status last year so I’ve been gold from 8 Nov 23 & up 8 Nov to 31 Dec incl grace period. So am I correct in thinking if I collect 1500 points between 8th Nov 2024 to March 31 2025, I would then get 2 years of gold status or do I have to still earn 1500 from Nov-Dec 2024 ? Thanks, Madds.
G'day Madds. So you've got gold until 31 Dec 24? That should show up in your account.... If you got 1500 points between 1 Apr 24 and 31 Mar 25 (so 9 months of the previous year double counted plus 3 "new" months) then you'll stay gold until 30 April 2026... It still 1500 tier points in a 12 month period but there'll be a double counting period - your's will be April 1 to November 8. If I've understood you correctly...
I don’t understand any of this hahahaha! I am Supposed to reset in May 8th and I’m Silver and will get my 600 TP by this time. But I have no idea what’s happening with mine
For years in progress, there's no change. You'll get silver until June 30 2025 as you expected. The year after that is when it gets a bit complicated as it will start on 1 April 2024 and so will overlap with your current year. Any TPs you get in that overlap period will count twice so could be valuable....
I've heard reports that they do poll GGL members - they spot when they're in the CCR and invite themselves in for a quick chat... Doesn't sound like they do it for Goldies....
Soft landing changes not confirmed I think. Elders on flyertalk seem to think that BA will honour the current soft landings. (Different to what HFP seem to be leaning to)
Thanks - as I say in the video the implication is that the soft landing will be abbreviated but a wall of complaint will hopefully change BA's minds! I tend to err towards the HfP team versus the flyertalk elders too!
I am MY ending 8 July 2024. I would requalify regardless through until end of August 31 2025 (old terms). I may book extra travel in May/June this year which would now count because of the adjustment period) and secure Silver until 31 March 2026. By then, we should see where the spend tier point spend per £ comes. Looking at Aegean now…
Well yes, I may just stand still and see what happens. Thankfully, my employer pays on average 30-50% of my tier points a year. 210/450 I currently have are from my employer. the remainer were earned in economy or premium economy; so silver does have benefits for me. The Avios to £ change was a bit of a pain; espeiclaly as it was quickly epxanded out to iberia and american; but tier points per £ would be crippling and definitetly force me out of the scheme - as intended. @@MattsPlanet
In order to progress from bronze I need 300 tier points and 2 eligible flights. I’m new to this so any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you
You need 600 for silver, 300 on top of what you needed for Bronze... That's a slightly annoying amount as one long haul return in business gives you 280.... Just repeat whatever you did that got you to Bronze?
Can anyone help me with a question? I am looking to book flights from London to Madrid on BA, the price for 1 ticket is £218 but the price for two is £585, same flights and I am very confused, does anyone know what might be happening? Thanks for any replies
If there's only 1 seat available for £218 in the cheapest fare bucket, you'll see that when you query 1 seat. If the next bucket up costs £292.50 and has 9 available seats, a search for 2 seats will show £585 for the pair even though 1 could be bought for less. So buying 1 seat at £218 and 1 for £292 produces the cheapest overall outcome, even if you end up with two bookings
Hitting GGL is always good! The pain is that you need the 3000 tier points to renew each and every membership year and get no advantage from grace periods...
I'd certainly look to start accumulating from April 1 if you're in control of it. Your year is set by when you take your first flight so if that's not before March 31st it won't really matter anyway!
You certainly can - the card issuers don't know what else you have! And if you can get £50k a year through get the 3 yourself and get an Amex and a Barclaycard for the other half too to get 5 vouchers a year!
I'm a February guy, and, afaics, I'm not overwhelmingly impacted by this change. What concerns me more is that I'm on a 7 year plan to achieve GfL and messing with status acquisition is most likely to scupper that after a substantial investment.
Thanks Ian. I'd hope that this doesn't impact your GfL ambitions too much - the basis on which tier points are earned hasn't changed and the threshold for GfL hasn't changed?
@@MattsPlanet No, they haven't /for the moment/. But if the intention is to head towards spend-based status that could easily happen before I get GfL. And who knows what will happen to my accumulated TPs, or possibility to complete acquisition!
Thanks Matt - super helpful. I'm a 08-July Y/End, so I suppose I earn tier points from 1-April, counting towards 2025 membership year. My main big flight is once a year, maybe twice, if I use Barclays on top of AmEx, both giving lounge access. Realistically, I might only two or three max additional trips to Europe at the moment + 1 Economy to Pakistan. So although, I spend much time planning status(!) I may not actually need it! Or, do I?! I suspect I do want Silver at some point just to have it! To be part of the upper echelons of society! *Joking/not joking.
I feel very lucky I just made Gold for life so this will affect me less, which is lucky with my November renewal. But due to a bit of a heavy planned year I will probably make GGL this period, and with a lot of the travel after May I hope the double counted tier points will mean I won't only have it until March 2025 or I would be miffed.
Hair & Makeup had little time to prepare for this emergency video, but they rose to the challenge!
Thanks! You should see me without make-up!
Thanks, Matt, for this grim analysis.
A point that I *hadn't* realised until you mentioned it, is that the BA TP-heavy flights will be fought over like dogs with a bone.
I've had enough of the world's favourite airline (November renewal), and I feel sorry for the many people, like Shane, who will be affected more than I will be.
In a way, it's liberating - no more of this "bugger, they're not OW" when I see a bargain.
Cheers Peter and thanks for watching anyway! April is going to be bonkers, certainly in 2026....
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we were waiting for this one with baited breadth - thank you so much! Doesn't seem too bad at the moment but if this is the thin end of the wedge and a move toward revenue based tier status then that's pretty catastrophic for a miser like me! Thank you again
Thanks mate. This is manageable for many of us even if it does take a bit of working out!
Thanks Matt, I recently discovered your channel, must have watched 20+ vids lately, your ITA matrix video was excellent and I share your pain with multi city !
For me it’s a matter of time before BA move to revenue tiering, I can see from an IT perspective why concentrated year ends make sense, allows room for other changes to be made during the year.
Travelling March/April/May from 2026 will be expensive, May have to sacrifice a few months Status when planning tier runs.
Thanks Allan and thanks for watching! Matrix is a gem, isn't it??? I agree with everything you say, I just hope it takes them decades to get there!
I'm glad people like you exist. I tend to look at the finer details in life. Especially when companies change their contracts you have with them and you're just expected to conform. I wonder if their servers will deal with such a significant shift!
Thanks - I'm glad I exist too!!! I'm in a debate elsewhere about whether the executive club is actually a contractual relationship or is just something governed by terms and conditions. BA can easily change the rules if the relationship is the latter but is in trouble if its the former.... I'm not a lawyer though so someone else will need to decide!
Precise and detailed. You must sleep well after working that out.
My head hurts. Well, it is Friday😃
Thanks Doddy - as I said, I don't much enjoy making these as accuracy is job one, but I do sleep quite well once they're released!
Thanks Matt for another excellent video! I will be going through it several times to catch all the nuances. You make a great point that it's the company's club not 'mine' or 'ours'. Their call to act corporately. Ours to decide how we make it work for us going forward and your insights will help massively with those decisions.
Thanks for the kind words... Make the best of what we can!
Been waiting for this video all week, thanks Matt! I imagine I'm one of the few people actually really pleased by this, because I just booked my biggest ever tier point haul in April and then found it'll essentially be at the start of both mine and my wife's status year. What a bonus for us! Can understand plenty of frustration out there though.
Thanks for all the great content BTW. Your Matrix ITA and tier point run videos helped me find some cracking tickets going ex-EU in premium cabins for little more than the cost of economy, plus two bonus city breaks! Makes us happy travellers 👌
Thanks Mark - excellent news. Its easy to react negatively to any change, but when you analyse it there are some clear winners! You were lucky to have picked April rather than late March but smile and enjoy the trip!
@@MattsPlanet Our April date was picked by the solar eclipse, so I guess you could say the stars really are aligning for us on this trip! (Boom boom!)
Hello Matt,
Thank you for explaining and bit clarification, it is happening news. My first language it is British sign language, I found confusion for information, you are information so clear. I want see thank you. In future I will look other airlines and other experiences airlines and business class etc. it is for ba club for me but great experience for me. Thank you Matt
Matthew
A video about the latest changes will be out tomorrow
Thanks Matt you certainly made it more clear......Just happy that renewing our Silver status will be easier now with the dates being the same......
Everyone's reaction is "No!!!!" but when you work it through, the impact to many will be net neutral to positive
Thanks Matt,
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this as soon as I saw that email in my inbox I was filled with dread thankfully I know a man who can break it down & explain the changes into layman’s terms.
I’m hoping my November end date will offer me a slightly longer period to retain gold for 2025, will watch the video a few more times for it to hopefully sink in,
Thanks Madds.
Thanks for the view(s)!! November loses a chunk of soft landing time but you have a longer time to prepare for it!
Hi Matt,
Great video as per your usual very high standards. You manage to explain something tricky in such a way even I understand! I take away that BA does what it always does, that is to take their clientèle on a journey they do not want to be on!
Hope you are kerping well,
Regards
Thomas
Thanks Thomas. Doing well here - videos like this take my mind off other things very effectively!!!
Thanks Matt! I found that the excel charts really helped me to visualise the impact of the overlap period better that just a written explanation. But maybe thats because I'm a fellow accountant 🤓
There's always time for a chart.... I'll come up with a way of getting a waterfall chart in a video one day...
Thanks for a great and clear analysis as always Matt. As someone who will be 'affected' negatively what irks is the retrospective nature for my circumstances, however, great to see some very interesting and cheeky status match+ offers from other airlines. Perhaps an own goal by BA.
Thanks. It is hilarious that Virgin has come out with such an attractive offer, indeed suite of offers as there's bonus points available for the booking you need to make to match across.... Don't know if you remember the early 90's and the whole "dirty tricks" kerfuffle but I'm having flashbacks!
Very helpful thanks Matt. AS someone with a November year end ggggrrrrrrr....Perhaps BA have identified that the end of February and March are traditionally quiet so they may welcome an increase in tier point runs during that time...
If you're right, BA may not realise what they've unleashed into March and April!
Hi Matt,
Leaving a comment to help promote the video. Legally, I suspect they have something along the line of "we reserve the right to change the terms of this promotion at any time" to coveI r themselves.
As an aside. I've worked in tech implementing these kind of changes. It's often when forced to code these systems that tech people understand the full implications and edge cases rather than the product people who design the programes.
I think your understanding of how eveyrone could possibliy be effects and ability to explain it would make you an excellent product owner if you chose to pursue that career.
Thanks for that! In a past life I did a few large ERP system implementations, including an abysmal experience with SAP that still makes me twitch 20 years later... So that sort of thing is behind me rather than ahead of me, and probably explains why I have some empathy with the end user in these situations!
@@MattsPlanet that makes a lot sense
I’ve been waiting all week for this video, thanks Matt
I hope it delivered!
Thank you for clarifying. Thankfully, my year renews on 8th April anyway, so I don't think it will change things too much.
As close to no impact as anyone will experience!
Cheers Matt. Most useful as I’m Apr but other half is a different month. Like your Point #5 re effective grace period. Love your XLSX illustration. Fellow XLSX Geek.
Way better explanation you’ve done than I could understand at HfP.
Thanks for the kind words.... Excel for the win.... About 10 years back I was really bored so wrote an excel macro that solves sudokus - not by forcing them either, but by finding the solutions logically... It really is amazing what Excel can do! But I digress.....
Hi Matt, Great job on the hair 👍and love the new intro 👏 . BA status increasingly irrelevant . The recent RJ status match to my Emirates Gold account is much easier to achieve
Thanks and thanks. This is testing everyone's loyalty to BA! Good to know there are options, but BA has tied so many people in with the lifetime tier points concept it may be difficult for many!
Thank goodness for your charts!!! lol Another helpful great video. And as you said, I can't fault them for changing things because others have abused the loopholes. Don't think I will be very affected with this though as I have end of year in may. I already have my gold TP for next calendar year and started booking for retaining it in 2026. But have noticed the price increase in the off-peak months when I usually fly, and booked for this april. So hoping that will change for the fall bookings i want to make.
Thanks! A few people have reported fares being high, although whether supply and demand have had the time to react to this is my question.... It may just be that airlines are more optimistic overall of demand behind higher next year
@@MattsPlanet I also noticed and thought it strange that the "lowest fares" (even regular prices) on the routes I searched for stayed the same from now and 11 months forward. I had never seen that before. It usually fluxuates between peak/off peak and current/advanced purchase.
excellent video! thank you for explaining in such simple terms
Thanks - I hope it helped. Not the most fun video I've ever filmed!!!
Matt, are you going to do a update with the new BA changes ? thanks
It's out at 2pm today (Thursday)
Excellent video as always Matt! We were looking at business flights and using BA hol double tier point offer. The only thing we're not 100% on - the flight out is on 26th March 24, and back for the start of April. Would this mean that the outbound flight TP would be rewarded and accounted for March, and not in April? Therefore missing the new tier point adjustment period? I presume that the double points bonus will come in April, as will the TP from the April return flight, but the outbound in March will be left in March?
Both outbound and return flights should count into your current year, as should the bonus tier points. Anything happening after April 1 will also count into the next year which will overlap with your ongoing year - the degree of overlap depending on when your current year ends...
Great video Matt! We are in the similar position to Shane. Our year ends 8 October. We have RTW tickets (starting 10 October and last leg ending before the end of November 2024) booked completely in our grace period and were smugly planning to renew Gold for a 2 year period, but now that status will end in April 2026. Listening to your advice, do you think we should complain now or after we have completed the travel in November?
My mate Shane has formally written to them about this and I'm sure he'll update as he gets a response.... I'd certainly raise it now, probably in writing as its not an urgent issue.... I suspect that people pre-booking travel that far ahead with status in mind may not have been front of mind when they planned this, so raising awareness of the issue now would be helpful
Matt. very well put across. I'm glad my status changes at the same time as yours, Made things so much easier to follow. I only usually go for Silver status and my trip to SAID Sofia in March will keep me there for now. I will wait and look into what I want to do for the following year.
I can just see March and April now at airports. Tier Point runners, Bloggers/Vloggers every where with cameras out and commentary going. 😆
Steve. C. YNWA
Cheers Steve - I think we can swerve the April chaos in 2025 but there might not be much choice in 2026....
Many Thanks for another insightful and informative video. I've had enough of BA at the moment, they sent me an email with a change of seat for a trip in september, looked at my booking and it showed a slightly different flight time but wouldn't let me see the seat until i accepted the change. And that's when i spotted the change in Aircraft and seat type, downgraded from a club world seat on a 777 to a club europe blocked middle seat on an a321 neo. Not best pleased as the price has remained the same. Only booked with BA on this route because of the club world seats and not fussed about old style or not as it was still a lie flat seat on a 5.5 hour flight. we shall see what transpires when I eventually get to speak to someone. Thank goodness Ive only paid a deposit and not the whole whack.
BA seems to have decided to give that route to ElAl and Virgin by downgrading it to an A320... With a stop in Cyprus...
Fantastic help, thanks Matt!
Thanks for watching
Thanks Matt, I knew I'd understand your analysis more easily
Thanks - that means a lot!
Interesting as always Matt👍 For purely comparative purposes, SAA Voyager program worked on this basis since inception. Everybody's year end date for Status is 31 December every year. No grace period. They have also gone the route of actial cash spend to calculate miles earned rather than actual miles flown about 5 years ago. In the end all corporates will do what is best for them and their shareholders😂🇿🇦
Must have been really tough to maintain status when SAA wasn't actually flying anywhere!
@@MattsPlanet They were actually very generous and extended Status through the "You know what" as well as their challenges. More than fair👌🇿🇦
Great explainer video Matt! Love a good Excel chart
Excel for the win!
Excellent, thank you
Thanks
Another great and informative video Matt.
Thanks - was nervous about this one as I don't like making these things quickly!
Thank you for the update and explanation
Thanks for watching!
I've been getting quite enthusiastic about the BA Exec scheme and OneWorld - but now some of that enthusiasm is starting to wane. My membership year ends Oct 8th and I'm working to achieve Gold Status by around May. So looks like I will still have gold status until Oct 2025, but my soft landing duration will be curtailed to 6 months or so. A bit annoying but I guess I can live with it. I'm more concerned about price based status as I rather like these double TP vacations and will be most upset if they disappear. Excellent video as always and I do welcome an Excel spreadsheet.
Indeed - I think the pluses still greatly outweigh the negatives but the direction things are moving in may not be perfect for us - more reason to take advantage now while you can!
Great video Matt! Explains the wider impacts of the changes really clearly.
Thanks for taking the time to comment - you're never sure you've explained things right when you're making these - I've watched it perhaps 8 times now and have completely lost any connection with reality doing so!!!
Thanks for taking the time to comment... I can never be sure I've explained things clearly when I'm making them!!!
thanks for the breakdown ... as i was bambolzzed by it all
Hopefully you're less bamboozled having watched the video!
i,am now thanks how are you i hope you are well@@MattsPlanet
So I need to trigger my Amex tier point bonus after 1/4/24 but before the scheme end date of 21/5/24 so that they will count once in my current year (ends 8/12/24) and again in the transitional period adjustment period of 1/4/24 to 8/12/24. Nice explanation btw.
Indeed - timing those points smartly could make all the difference
Cheers Matt for such a great comprehensive explainer (watched the whole thing from end to end 😅). As someone who gave up on the elite status hamster wheel with a Tier Point year end in September I was certainly curious about these changes but I still think I was right to walk away from chasing status with BA. I still have status with ITA Airways as they yet again extended my SkyTeam status for another year 🤣 but the only "status" I have renewed is my easyJet Plus membership as that has been very helpful for me and my travels
Cheers Matt... I noticed another ITA extension for myself too - odd and its got the whiff of error or oversight but I'll take it as long as they give it!
Funny I saw an email from BA that said year end or something and deleted it without reading. So this is what that was about. Thanks.
Ha ha! That may not have been the best one to delete.... But their 300 words turned into a 17 minute video!
@@MattsPlanet yeh I collect Avios not TPs (don't fly BA enough*) so I've no idea why I'm watching this at all 😂
* I have a BA flight in April for probably first time in 5+ years.
Thanks as always Matt ✨
Thanks for watching!
As always, very informative
Thanks. Hope it helped!
Awesome content as usual
Another great update!
Thanks!
Great video 👍
Thanks - hope it helped!
Thanks for the explanation!
Hope it helped
Thank you Matt
Thanks for watching!
I’m hoping you could help me get my head around a calculation please, Matt:
I’m currently in my ‘All of Next Year’ - my year end is 08 Sep, so on 08 Sep 2023 my TPs went to 0, but I’m keeping Silver until 31 Oct 2024, another 7 months or so.
If I leverage the double TP offer and renew my Silver between Oct-Dec this year, how long will I keep Silver for? Or is it worth not having status between Oct 2024-Apr 2025 (that’s when it’ll reset for me, right?)
Sorry to be a pain, owe you a pint if you could lend a hand. Thank you.
thanks Matt, perfect video as usual. I still can't believe the comms team at BA thought the initial announcement was good enough to communicate the changes. It took the hfp guys questioning them to actually get the answers to the questions people had. Madness. I'm watching this space for £ based status...
Indeed - I meant to email Rob to see if BA had briefed him on this before it was announced, but I suspect they didn't given he had to question it after the announcement.... They often do brief things like this out (not to me though!!!) so if they didn't this time, they must have been concerned about it....
Hi Matt, great explanation of the changes. A while ago you did a great couple of videos on Star Alliance memberships and the reasons why you went with who you did. Any plans on doing the same sort of thing for Sky Team?
Hi there. I actually started gathering the data to create a similar SkyTeam video.... Probably shouldn't have started alphabetically as the first two were Aerolineas Argentinas and Aeromexico and their schemes were both a bit weird and not a lot of it was in English.... So I came to the conclusion that an exact duplicate of the StarAlliance video would be a) very time consuming to make and b) of little value!!! So I have retreated to reconsider how to do it... But I think there is a demand for something like that so I will keep it on the radar
@@MattsPlanet thanks for the reply Matt. I'm gold with Flying Blue through KLM/Air France. Just wondering if there was a better scheme with Sky Team but I'll stick with Flying Blue for now. Stephen
My question has been around the requirement to fly 2 (Silver) or 4 (Gold) BA/IB segments in addition to Tier Points. Will the BA flights I take between April and my member year month (June) also credit to earnings for 25/26 status year? I know the Tier Points will but will credit earned from BA flights also be applied in the same way to that requirement? I have read nothing that deals with this aspect. Thanks for walking us through this rather arcane process, something a few of us back here have been grappling with between consulting various blogs and FlyerTalk.
Thanks David. I would assume that the flight qualification requirement will flow alongside the tier points, as they accrue concurrently with the earning of the tier points.... Which may produce some winners and losers....
Well explained, thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Hi Matt, thanks for the video. Well well well. My QY ended 7.2.so I am off to Australia and Bali via Abú Dhabi with Sri Lanka Airways and British airways from Prague... So, I would get 4 flights with BA and Tiers with them and Srí Lanka Airways to Jakarta. This change makes me anxious. On the top off everything, Srí Lanka Airways cancelled 2 flights from my schedule and selected different days! So for everyone stay flexible and let a lot of time - days to connect with Sri Lanka airways flights!!! My flights are connected days apart with BA and Qantas so so far I managed to accommodate these changes. But it meant to get an extra visa for Sri Lanka for a day. Therefore any news like this from BA it makes me nervous as I linked a their point run with further travel and spend extra money and did not take the most obvious route.... Business class Avion ticket with Qatar airways straight to Melbourne.... From Vienna 😊 as originally planned with A350.....Safe travels to all of you. MIRA from Prague.
Thanks. Sri Lankan have some serious maintenance issues so are cancelling a lot of flights right now.... They've also leased in some aircraft to maintain services.... I was lucky that all 4 of my flights went as scheduled but its getting tougher to do that trip without a lot of time padding to accommodate Sri Lanka's hiccups
Very good video Matt. Thank you. Looks like I'm buggered with a tier point renewal in Nov. I am wondering if the extended grace period will be an offset (of sorts) for the status lost period. It's a pity the soft landing goes from gold to silver... It would be nice if us who are GGL had a soft landing to gold, especially as we have contributed highly to reach that status. Thanks again.
Thanks - As I say in the video I'm trying hard to convince myself that the extended grace period balances the shortened status period.... I really hope BA has its tolerant hat on as there'll be lots and lots of weird scenarios where people will be disadvantaged by this, including perhaps yourself
Hi Paul, I'm nor sure Matt has this one right. The GGL team told me on the phone yesterday that if reached my 3K tp by 8th Dec 24. I would maintain my GGL until 30th April 26. They said no one would be worse off. This in line with BA"s text . "Any Tier status you receive during the transition period will expire on 30 April 2026"
Also HFP wrote - "Jane Doe has a collection year ending 8th Dec 2024. Jane crosses the 1,500-tier point threshold and qualifies for Gold in late November. Any status earned during the transition period will remain valid until 30th April 2026, regardless of Jane’s collection year."
I have just emailed the GGL team to double check
@@SpiderMacKenzie Hi buddy. Many thanks for the heads up. If what you say is correct, that would work fine for me, as I will hit my 3k TP's by May or June. With a current TP year end date of Nov 8th. My only worry is, the thought that BA may at some point will change the goalposts. It would be great if you leave a reply here as & when you hear back from the GGL team. Many thanks.
Hi Paul. Here;'s the reply I received "Regarding the new Tier point collection period.
As long as you earn Gold Guest List renewal by the 8th December 2024 so 3000 Tier points and 4 eligible flights you will then be Gold Guest List until the 30th April 2026 (card validity date)"
Paul so this is good news however this has raised another head scratcher.
Note she wrote "card validity period".
My concern is if if I dont earn any TP between my short collection year 9th November 24 to 31st March 25. Then could I be deemed to have fallen short (500tp ish) of the 3K tier points to maintain GGL. In my case I might make 2.5k tp between 1st April 24 to 8th Dec 24.
So even though I have GGL "card validity" until 30th April 2026 this is in effect an extended grace period and I'd need to earn 5K TP between 1st April 25 to 31st March 26 to keep GGL come the start of collection period 1st April 26
I have fired off another email
@@paulmk5841
"Card validity period". Sounds like typical corporate speak. This is where it will get tricky for GGL members. An exception should be put in place for those members who have flown considerably for the past few yrs. All they appear to be doing, is front loading our memberships until 04/26 (which is all good & well) until people realise that a yr at 3k has been wiped off. hence having to start from scratch at 5k again. I wonder if this would apply to all GGL members or wether some folk get a better deal due to thier current year end date.@@SpiderMacKenzie
Thanks for this Matt. I also earn Gold soon and faced with a Sep year end look like I’ll get a truncated soft landing period. I’ll have to take that up with BA at some point. The Jakarta run could become very popular indeed!
Sri Lankan won't know what's hit them come April!!! If BA yields on extending that soft landing in the third year, let me know!
Great explainer!
Thanks!
Hey Matt have you seen the announcement from British Airways about improving their IT?
I did see something.... I laughed for quite some time that it took them so long to recognise how terrible it was!
Lets hope they recognise all the issues and sort them.@@MattsPlanet
Lets see how things improve @@MattsPlanet
Lets hope they create a website we need@@MattsPlanet
I'm spending my Saturday night watching spreadsheets
You know it makes sense!!!!
Good explainer Matt. For something that should be simple its got many in a state of head and chin scratching.
Its a change that has come at a terrible time for me. I'm a summer member year similar to yourself, and I'd worked on a 3 year cycle like you brought up so this member year I made use of lots of redemption as I was happy to soft land. Some of these redemptions are in this transitional double counting period. There is no way I would have made them as a redemption if I knew these changes before hand as I could have easily qualified back to gold in March 2025 if they were cash fares ontop of my other spending in what is going to be my "new" year.
Another good video explaining, but I'm still confused how much it'll affect me with a January date and the when I take my flights. I just usually aim for Silver, so I don't think (hope) it'll be too much downside. I will understand it one day
If your travel is reasonably consistent through the year and you don't just scrape into silver, a January year end probably won't make much difference.... Worth working it through though one day when your mind is fresh!
Thanks Matt... I'm still a little confused however I'm sure it will sink in eventually..
My advice would be to find a quiet 20 minutes and just work it through - the Head for Points article is really helpful as it shows a step by step for each year end. Overlay booked and planned travel and see what the consequences will be for you personally.
Thank you Matt! Another wonderful video! And top marks for use of Excel. Did you use any formulas? 😂
Thanks Matt!
You're welcome!
This change has already altered my behaviour. I am BA Gold but I don't have any TPs for my current TP year, ending in September.
Instead of booking trips this year in February or March, I delayed travel until April, earning 1550 TPs within a week thanks to BA Holidays' double tier points offer.
(Thankfully I didn't end up booking any cash trips over last Christmas and New Year, I used Avios instead.)
o LHR-DOH-BKK-DOH-LHR on BA-marketed Qatar in J with five nights' hotel (1120TP)
and inside that:
o Day trip BKK-HKG-BKK on Cathay (80TP)
o Evening in Tokyo BKK-HND-BKK on JAL in J/F (350TP).
Total 1550TP in six days.
Smart with a side of luck! That probably comes with a decent price tag, but if you value your time highly that may not be a problem. Fun too....
I *think* I’ll benefit in a roundabout way. Previous Gold expired 31st July, so was suffering a year of silver with the intention of going all-in to do 2yrs of gold next time. I can now do this in April rather than waiting until the summer. Win! Kind of.
It's handy to have a wider window, even if it starts sooner than you might want
Like you friend, Shane, I have planned my flights this year (2024) into my year end grace period (9 Oct - 30 Nov) to gain 1500 TPs. If I'm right in my understanding I will retain gold status for the remainder of 2025 and then until 31 March 2026. In effect, I will lose 6-7 months of status from what the existing scheme offers?
That's my understanding.... Those points will now go towards a year ending 31 March 2025 (rather than October) and the status will flow through from that. So as the grace period is now shorter, the status earned from the flights you've booked will run to 30 April 26 instead of the 31 November 2026 you expected. Which I would complain about, loudly and longly.... Shane has written to BA and received a "we're looking into it" response. They actually called him to confirm receipt of his letter, which was unusual... But the more voices complaining, the more significance they should put on resolving it
Hi Matt, hope you’re well sir. Random question if that’s ok? With the changes coming around getting tiers points, when you get points twice does that include the BA holidays double up of tier points? For example, I just returned from a BA holiday and was given 360 points for the flight then 360 again because of the holiday offer. So will I get 360 or the same as I just got ( 720). Hope that makes sense
I think they should count twice. BA is terrible at getting the bonus points into the same period as the original flight, but they should all count twice
@@MattsPlanet lovely, cheers Matt
Here in the US, we're used to our tracking year being the predictable 01Jan-31Dec at most of the schemes, which makes tier point running toward status at our airlines here a madhouse as there are obviously 2 major travel holidays in November and December. Luckily for me at least, my Royal Jordanian is still on a "set your own year" basis, as is Air Europa (my SkyTeam scheme).
- Red
Just booked a reward flight on Royal Jordanian actually! Sticking with BA despite all this for a little while yet I think.....
I’ve not looked into it too deeply yet, but one thing I didn’t spot in the HfP article was any implications for Amex twofer earning years. My year starts in Nov currently. There’s no chance of me spending enough between Nov 24 and mar 25 for me to earn a voucher, so what happens to that period’s spend? I suspect I know the answer…
Don't think it will be affected, the Amex year isn't linked to the EC year as each started when you joined the separate scheme (my EC is June and Amex is Nov)
@@ianhares9832 interesting, thanks. My EC account was opened as part of my Amex application, so I probably just assumed they’re more linked than they actually are. Cheers
@ianhares9832 beat me to it but the Amex year is completely unrelated to your BA year. The voucher pops out whenever you earn it. So this change has no impact there.
@@MattsPlanet thanks Matt and Ian. My BAEC was opened when I applied for the Amex as I didn’t actually have an account already. I guess I thought they were a bit more linked than they actually are!
Matt, one aspect you didn't mention is that this change will align BAEC's membership year with that already used by Iberia Plus. Perhaps this is a step on the road to IAG combining all their loyalty programmes into one, rather than just using the same "currency" across them?
Thanks - funnily enough I had something like that in the first draft - a segment about how IAG's accountants will love this as 31 March happens to be their year end.... But I thought it was a bit boring, even for me!
Cheers Matt
Thanks for watching!
I will re-qualify by June, will keep until March-26 while keeping an eye on further changes mentioned in point #6. If I see predicted negative developments, I will get a status match with Sky or SA and will move my business there. Simple.
Thanks - knowledge is power!
I'd never heard of a grace period! It sounds like if you dint accumulate the points required in a year, at present you also get an extra 50ish days? I dont really get why that even exists so why dont they just bin it entirely?
Its a concessionary period after the end of your year, when your old benefits prevail (so you can travel with good or great lounges, extra baggage, seat selection, bonus avios etc) yet tier points earned fall into the new year. Has always been the sweet spot for a renewal
Hi Matt, I'm struggling to find an answer online and wondering if you know. If I book a custom flight+hotel, flights are 16 days apart and booking a hotel for just 5 days inside there, is this eligable for double tps?
It would be. A minimum of 5 within the broader dates
Delta is playing games here in the US. Huge push back, so Delta modified it slightly. However, we used to "collect" Million Qualifying Miles (MQMs) and those are no longer part of the scheme - Delta keeps telling us that we will be able to roll those into ongoing status, but the date keeps getting pushed out. Very frustrating as I may or may not be able to keep my current status for 4 more years - depending on if Delta keeps its word, which I no longer have faith in. This was good - sounds like your transition is just as painful.
Thanks.... Sadly airlines like Delta seem to be setting the trend... At least if they make the mistakes, then as and when BA catches up they'll avoid the same mistakes...
Just spoke to a poor girl at BAEC and she was struggling too! Even BA are using the head for points website!
Hopefully they'll use my video too!!!! Its tough for us to understand our own single year end puzzle, so it must be impossible for them to understand all 12!
Hi Matt, hope you are well. Can you, or anybody tell me, am I better or worse off with my membership ending in November?
It all depends on your current status and whether you have anything planned... If its no and no, then this is probably will make very little difference to you and could be positive. If its yes and yes, it could be a right pain.
It seems to me that BA have been making more changes than other airlines to their membership, posing whether it’s still the better choice for One World?
On another note, now that Turkish Airlines have announced flights to Australia, would Aegean still be the Star Alliance choice?
BA does like to tinker, that's for sure.... Doubt they've finished either.... If you regularly head to Australia then Turkish is now an option for sure... Although they already serve more countries than anyone else so were probably a good bet anyway!
Hello Matt new to your channel, I am trying to find something out with executive club. I am at bronze tier I have 400 tier points. My tier points collection year ends on the 8th February 2025, but go away on the 20th January 2025 and fly back on the 4th February which will give me 200 tier points which will give me 600 tier points to take me to silver will they go on before the 8th February my year end? if not a nd go on after will I still get silver or stay at bronze? It's all a little confusing. Great video thank you.
Hello! Points will be posted to the date the flight takes off, even if it takes a few days for them to show up. So they'll credit into the old year and you should show as silver before the year ends. You'll then reset to 0 on the 9th Feb but the silver will last for that year.
@@MattsPlanet Thank you so much for your reply, very helpful. Thank you
This is a right pain in the neck had all my travel planned to achieve Gold in October so no losing six months of gold status, I think i may do a status match to Virgin.
Virgin sounds like they'd welcome you with open arms!!!!
did not think about the grace period, for me wil be 03.25 to 11.25. currently over 1500 TP now so gold to 11.25. even if I do not make 1500 between 03.24 and 03.25, I will have 7-8 months to obtain 1500 TP?
It is confusing.... You'll kick into the new year as of 1 April and that year will run until March 31st 2015. Tier points earned between those dates count for the new year, even if some of them overlap with the year in progress
Thanks Matt. Unless I missed it, is there any effect on the Companion Voucher with these changes and the period(s) in which the £10k spend is assessed? My current year end is 8th October and I have the voucher for this year (I got the purple unicorn route to Sydney!!!) and wondering how I should target my spending for next year. Many thanks
The Amex programme is unchanged so the voucher will drop into your account as normal. And as using it will produce non-TP earning flights, it's pretty irrelevant to the se membership year changes too
Thanks Matt
Sorry Matt but I’m still a little confused by this ( not your fault ) but could you hopefully clear something up for me.
I achieved gold status last year so I’ve been gold from 8 Nov 23 & up 8 Nov to 31 Dec incl grace period.
So am I correct in thinking if I collect 1500 points between 8th Nov 2024 to March 31 2025, I would then get 2 years of gold status or do I have to still earn 1500 from Nov-Dec 2024 ?
Thanks,
Madds.
G'day Madds. So you've got gold until 31 Dec 24? That should show up in your account.... If you got 1500 points between 1 Apr 24 and 31 Mar 25 (so 9 months of the previous year double counted plus 3 "new" months) then you'll stay gold until 30 April 2026... It still 1500 tier points in a 12 month period but there'll be a double counting period - your's will be April 1 to November 8. If I've understood you correctly...
I don’t understand any of this hahahaha!
I am
Supposed to reset in May 8th and I’m Silver and will get my 600 TP by this time. But I have no idea what’s happening with mine
For years in progress, there's no change. You'll get silver until June 30 2025 as you expected. The year after that is when it gets a bit complicated as it will start on 1 April 2024 and so will overlap with your current year. Any TPs you get in that overlap period will count twice so could be valuable....
I always wonder if they do a focus group of gold members who fly BA alot....
I've heard reports that they do poll GGL members - they spot when they're in the CCR and invite themselves in for a quick chat... Doesn't sound like they do it for Goldies....
Soft landing changes not confirmed I think. Elders on flyertalk seem to think that BA will honour the current soft landings. (Different to what HFP seem to be leaning to)
Thanks - as I say in the video the implication is that the soft landing will be abbreviated but a wall of complaint will hopefully change BA's minds! I tend to err towards the HfP team versus the flyertalk elders too!
I am MY ending 8 July 2024. I would requalify regardless through until end of August 31 2025 (old terms).
I may book extra travel in May/June this year which would now count because of the adjustment period) and secure Silver until 31 March 2026. By then, we should see where the spend tier point spend per £ comes.
Looking at Aegean now…
I suspect we're not at the end of the changes yet so a "wait and see" approach is very wise...
Well yes, I may just stand still and see what happens. Thankfully, my employer pays on average 30-50% of my tier points a year. 210/450 I currently have are from my employer. the remainer were earned in economy or premium economy; so silver does have benefits for me. The Avios to £ change was a bit of a pain; espeiclaly as it was quickly epxanded out to iberia and american; but tier points per £ would be crippling and definitetly force me out of the scheme - as intended. @@MattsPlanet
In order to progress from bronze I need 300 tier points and 2 eligible flights. I’m new to this so any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you
You need 600 for silver, 300 on top of what you needed for Bronze... That's a slightly annoying amount as one long haul return in business gives you 280.... Just repeat whatever you did that got you to Bronze?
I think the best advice, given yesterday’s announcement, would be to look at a different FFP
Thanks, Matt! I'm a feb end date so i think I have untill 31/03/25 to collect 600 points to retain silver
From 1 April to 31/3/25 would be the new new year
Can anyone help me with a question?
I am looking to book flights from London to Madrid on BA, the price for 1 ticket is £218 but the price for two is £585, same flights and I am very confused, does anyone know what might be happening?
Thanks for any replies
If there's only 1 seat available for £218 in the cheapest fare bucket, you'll see that when you query 1 seat. If the next bucket up costs £292.50 and has 9 available seats, a search for 2 seats will show £585 for the pair even though 1 could be bought for less. So buying 1 seat at £218 and 1 for £292 produces the cheapest overall outcome, even if you end up with two bookings
Legend, thanks for the explanation, makes sense now @@MattsPlanet
I hit GGL next week with my year end October. Is that good or bad for me?
Hitting GGL is always good! The pain is that you need the 3000 tier points to renew each and every membership year and get no advantage from grace periods...
@@MattsPlanet I see - but I won’t be affected by the tier point change ?
For someone who doesn’t already have status, is the optimal time to earn status now April 2024 onwards? (Current year end is 08 Dec)
I'd certainly look to start accumulating from April 1 if you're in control of it. Your year is set by when you take your first flight so if that's not before March 31st it won't really matter anyway!
Matt you’re doing god’s work - thanks for the video - hope you’re doing good :)
Thanks - I'm not sure its quite that good but I'll take the praise!!!
Great video
Thanks
I have to say, your hair looks immaculate ! Well done!
It took me hours! Thanks
Hypothetically if you had an AL spend of £50k or so
Can you hold all the different amex, Barclays and virgin cards ? Resulting into lots of vouchers
You certainly can - the card issuers don't know what else you have! And if you can get £50k a year through get the 3 yourself and get an Amex and a Barclaycard for the other half too to get 5 vouchers a year!
Great Idea for the future I think
Its about finding the opportunities!
Yep I’m December, so a lengthy enough overlap
I'm a February guy, and, afaics, I'm not overwhelmingly impacted by this change. What concerns me more is that I'm on a 7 year plan to achieve GfL and messing with status acquisition is most likely to scupper that after a substantial investment.
Thanks Ian. I'd hope that this doesn't impact your GfL ambitions too much - the basis on which tier points are earned hasn't changed and the threshold for GfL hasn't changed?
@@MattsPlanet No, they haven't /for the moment/. But if the intention is to head towards spend-based status that could easily happen before I get GfL. And who knows what will happen to my accumulated TPs, or possibility to complete acquisition!
Thanks Matt - super helpful. I'm a 08-July Y/End, so I suppose I earn tier points from 1-April, counting towards 2025 membership year.
My main big flight is once a year, maybe twice, if I use Barclays on top of AmEx, both giving lounge access. Realistically, I might only two or three max additional trips to Europe at the moment + 1 Economy to Pakistan. So although, I spend much time planning status(!) I may not actually need it! Or, do I?! I suspect I do want Silver at some point just to have it! To be part of the upper echelons of society! *Joking/not joking.
Cheers - silver does make things nicer!
I feel very lucky I just made Gold for life so this will affect me less, which is lucky with my November renewal. But due to a bit of a heavy planned year I will probably make GGL this period, and with a lot of the travel after May I hope the double counted tier points will mean I won't only have it until March 2025 or I would be miffed.
If its achieved in the current open membership period you should be ok....
so many changes... from buying Boosts, to Avios earned by spending, to £25K=200TP, etc . What next?
I've given up speculating on what's next Jimson!