A few words from the horse's mouth at BA...

[jashermd]

Hello,

I ran into a senior executive at BA at a charity event in London (BA was one of the sponsors), and took the opportunity to ask a few questions which have been burning in the back of my mind for some time -- I thought the answers might be of interest to others at LL.

The one-bag rule is a royal pain in the bum, so I asked whether she knew of any plans to either A) get rid of it (ideally for everyone, but if not at least for business class and first class) or B) extend it to all EU countries (yes, there are scary rumours about this). She said that as far as shew knew, the wretched rule is here to stay, and the likelihood of it creeping out to oppress travellers in other countries looks high as the EU likes to keep things consistent across countries. So those who avoid London and route through Paris, Rome, or Frankfurt to avoid the one-bag rule may find themselves stuck no matter where they go. It looks like this is likely to be standardised either later this year or early next year.

(It was also her opinion, strictly off the record, that the main reason for the rule isn't safety -- it's because BAA (who run the airports) are a lot of cheap b*st*rds and do not want to either hire more staff or invest in better screening equipment. So while they save their bottom line, we're left holding the (single) bag.)

I also asked why it is that BA is the only airline which will not allow transatlantic flights to be credited to FF accounts on its American partner (AA). If you fly transatlantic on BA those miles can only go into a BA account, and the same is true with AA (if you fly transatlantic with them, the miles can only go into an AA account). This silly rule is the main reason I don't fly BA transatlantic -- their own FF programme is notoriously mean, and they won't let you get credit on AA. Seeing as that's basically my only opportunity to earn large chunks of mileage, I'd rather stick with Virgin, whose miles I can combine with Continental.

She didn't really have an answer for this one, and thought it was pretty silly too. I'm going to follow up with her on this -- maybe there's a chance for change.

Cheers,
Julian
Message Edited by jashermd on 02-08-200711:53 AM

[akeithjm3]

Interesting !

[kboojd]

Good to know. I am flying in/out of CDG in May, and I hope I can take more baggage. I hate to check bags when traveling.

[jashermd]

Hello Kboojd,

I hate checking bags too, and I look back with nostalgia for the days when I could take a rollaboard and a laptop and stroll off the plane without ever seeing the inside of a luggage-reclaim hall. Unfortunately, it looks like those days may soon be coming to an end.

I must admit that despite the seriousness of terrorist plots against airports and planes I wonder if some of the rules have a lot more to do with making money than with safety. For instance, do airports really expect us to believe that they screen every bottle of water coming into the airport shops? The 'only liquids after security are allowed' rule seems primarily to be a way to boost the sales of overpriced airside convenience stores. I'd love to see sales figures from those shops before and after this rule was in place -- I know that there are a lot more people buying at Boots (chemist/drugstore) then there were before these rules were instituted. I've also noticed that the prices on the water vending machines have increased since this rule was instituted...

I'll keep the LL community of anything I hear back from the BA exec.


Cheers,
Julian

[tictoc]

{Inappropriate comment removed -keep it courteous please}

Message Edited by LL_moderator_nc on 02-08-2007 07:45 PM

[jashermd]

Hello Tictoc,

Personally I enjoy learning about other people's travel experiences and helping people plan their trips when I can -- I've spent far more time on other boards where there's no such thing as VIP status, just the fun of talking about travel with other intersted folks. The VIP thing is a nice little extra, but no big deal -- I'm from the UK where $500 is not all that much money anyhow.

Cheers,
Julian

[claassenam]

Jasher,

I have to agree with all of your statements regarding posting here. (By the way, wow - you are prolific! I believe you began here a tiny bit after me and have almost double the posts, plus I've found your posts to be quite thorough and helpful - thank you!) The $500 is a great bonus but in the scheme of things when paying for luxury travel it can only go so far, even for those of us using the measly US dollar...I appreciate the fact that Luxury Link gives it out, but I've really found posting here and reading and interacting with others to be the reward. (Not saying I wouldn't take the $500 if rewarded, LL!)

[tictoc]

jashermd wrote:
Hello Tictoc,

Personally I enjoy learning about other people's travel experiences and helping people plan their trips when I can -- I've spent far more time on other boards where there's no such thing as VIP status, just the fun of talking about travel with other intersted folks. The VIP thing is a nice little extra, but no big deal -- I'm from the UK where $500 is not all that much money anyhow.

Cheers,
Julian

{Keep it courteous - please}


Message Edited by LL_moderator_nc on 02-08-2007 07:14 PM

[bdsouza]

I also asked the question about the FF miles to both BA an AA some years ago. The reason for this is related to the conditions attached to the one-world alliance scheme that BA and AA are members of. When they had the negotiations, AA did not want to lose its marketshare on flights going from US to UK. The only way to do this without going into a price war was to refuse the FF mileage on flights that were not codeshare and in 'competitive markets'. This was accepted by many of the other airlines, too. I was Executive Platinum with American for 7 years running, and hit 1m miles after 5 years, which means gold status for life. Even though I can no longer get into the lounges, I do get priority boarding, and I still prefer to use my AA card while travelling in Europe in preference to my BA card which is a blue, even though I have about 500k miles on the account. I agree with jashermd that BAs scheme is quite mean now. Before moving to the USA, I was regularly hitting BA silver, and made gold for 3 years until they changed the scheme because 'too many people were getting into the lounges' (this was stated to me at a BA-sponsored event, tasting wines that would be served on international flights - in those days FF-ers' opinions were valued by BA). BA then changed the manner in which miles were collected, and it is a lot harder to get to elite status if you are not flying on full-fare flights. Before, it was based on the number of flights you actually made rather than the fare-class of the ticket. Additionally, and with many airlines now, you have to fly a certain number of segments to qualify for elite status, and for the very top status you have to be flying around 2000 miles every week (coast to coast for USA, and around 8 transatlantic flights in coach, or at least 5 in Business).
BDS

[jashermd]

Hello BDS,

I wonder how many other people BA's meanness with their FF miles has put off. I rarely ever fly with them unless I absolutely can't avoid it, or when the choice is something even worse (e.g. CSA Czech Airlines...hands-down the worst experience I've ever had in the air). For long-haul I normally use Virgin when I can, or another European airline which is a bit more generous.

I've noticed that attaining elite status has gotten more and more difficult over the years -- as you've noted the biggest impact has probably come from the policy change which has meant that many airlines don't credit mileage on discounted economy flights towards elite standing. Interestingly many airlines will credit flights in any booking class on a partner airline even if they are mean with credit for their own discounted flights...

Cheers,
Julian