BA Gold Status Q&A | Interesting Executive Club Questions Answered

[@DPWestMids-u3c]

Hi Phil would love some more on the mechanics of a Gold Tier run probably an East one using Qatar. Your spreadsheet examples in a previous video I found most useful but I need more confidence before pressing that “book” button. Best of luck in meeting the monetised target, you deserve it.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your comment, its appreciated. With the USA and west bound tier point runs offering poor value when I look at them runs to the east sound like a great idea. They can be pricey (even more than USA ones) but I will take a look and hopefully make a video soon. Thanks Phil

[@davej.7814]

Thank you again for a very informative video Phil! Having status is certainly helpful and I think in mid 24 I'll do a tier point run for status. Looking forward to your next video and keep up the great work. Cheers!

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comments, it is much appreciated. Good luck on your next tier point run, let me know how you get on

[@samwilsonpercussion]

You’re posting some of the best content I’ve seen on these issues. Love the style, stories, presentation and research. Subbed and will up the watch time to help in a small way to get you to the monetising goal and hopefully lead to more great videos. Salute!

[@mygreygapyear]

Well thank you so much, I'm really glad you're enjoying it, you are very kind. Thank you for your sub, I've just made 1000 subs, so thank you for your help in reaching that goal, I really appreciate it. Thank you Phil

[@conkgord]

any video you provide is helpful.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you so much for your kind comments, what a great way for me yo wake up.

[@Crazy_Charo]

Great video. Looking forward to that Avios video. Keep up the good work.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment, Avios video is imminent 😊

[@itsjoel]

Congrats on 1k - enjoy the sweet sweet ad revenue 😉

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you so much, your support is amazing.

[@jamesellis258]

Hi Phil, I've really enjoyed watching your videos the past few days. Thanks for all the great information. Also, congratulations on 1k subscribers! No doubt you'll hit the next milestone soon!

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks, for your kind comment and support, it's been a very exciting few days watching the subscriber count tick up.

[@HannahMannah]

Keep up the great work and hopefully monetising soon

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for the support, I've got my fingers crossed

[@TitusAndronicus]

Excellent and informative video, thank you so much. I am following you and also Matt's World already to guide me on my way to One World status ;-)

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment, I'm also a big fan of Matt, his videos are excellent.

[@timlewistcf]

I've subscribed from 3 of my KZbin accounts. I've actually just done a DUB-LHR-JFK-SNA trip and will probably make a video on this channel about it soon (though actually travelling tomorrow - first economy trip on BA Silver Status). There's actually quite a few good fares around for ex-EU in February and I doing one then that is VCE-LHR-BOS-LAX. Never been to Venice so taking that option. 1900 euros which is about £1600. If I didn't need specific dates for a conference I was going to could see some from £1350 up, strangely mostly from Barcelona. Every time I've looked at the 80 point euro routes they haven't been that cheap but I guess that's where 6 months is probably needed.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your comment and your super level of support, much appreciated. I'll keep an eye out for the video. Coming out of Barcelona is interesting, I haven't looked at that previously, and runs offering about £2 per point are promising. Thanks again, Phil

[@HyperDaveUK]

Great video! I've never tried to earn Avios before this and it seems like lot of to do.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment, your support is appreciated. The Avios video is incoming, earning Avios is much easier than getting tier points 😊

[@georgeheal2153]

Tbf on gold seat blocking. I have had the seat blocked next to me as sliver, according to expectflyer. Even in an exit row seat.

[@mygreygapyear]

That is awesome, getting an empty middle seat on a flight makes such a difference, in an exit row is the icing on the cake.

[@roybackhouse117]

I did a west coast TP run in August. MAN LHR LAX LAS and back. Great fun. You should join Matts group and come with us all to Prague in December.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your comment, it's appreciated. I'm looking to requalify in July/August 2024 and I would like to get a US run just to "do it" as much as anything. I am a massive fan of Matts Planet, but I'm away until just before Christmas unfortunately. I hope you all have a great time, I'm looking forward to the video 😊 Thanks Phil

[@njtalbot]

Thanks Phil, another great video. Would you have any suggestions flying London to Wellington NZ?

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your question, but it's a tricky one without knowing a little more context. Are you looking to maximise your tier points? Or make best use of your status? Or are you looking to use Avios on this route? I'm more that happy to help if you let me know which angle your coming from? Thanks Phil

[@njtalbot]

@@mygreygapyearThank you for your reply Phil. I was looking to maximise the number of Tier points to achieve silver status. Any suggestions that you have would be appreciated.

[@mygreygapyear]

From the point of view of tier points it is going to be difficult to get good point to pound value, this value usually comes from finding business routes that offer good points for lower fares, which I doubt you'll get flying into New Zealand. If you fly Malaysia airlines into Auckland you'll pay about £5000 and receive 560 TP round trip (the same as Abu Dhabi to Jakarta which costs about £850). So you may as well save your money and take some different business travel. The only way I can think of to "maximise" your points would be to go via the USA. If you start in Dublin and try to build a fare that takes you to something like DUB-LHR-JFK-SFO-LAX and then you get a separate ticket and try to build a fare from LA to New Zealand (possibly via Australia?) or just complete the journey as cheaply as possible. Building these complicated West Cost USA trips is something that I haven't done before but Matt from Matt's planet has. Look for his ITA Matrix video and look at his tier point running video which has a lot of information on it. Once you've watched those the flyer talk forum should have some helpful information, or you could post a question on the forum. Good luck and let me know how you get on, Phil

[@mygreygapyear]

I have had another thought about your travels to NZ. You could look at something like, AMS/LHR-AUH-JAK-TPE... then look to find something for onward to New Zealand, perhaps via Manilla in the Philippines? I'm heading back to Australia in July next year and I'm looking at a similar routing to get me to Melbourne and I thought of you. 😊 It won't be under £2 per TP but if you take off the cost of getting to Wellington (which presumably you would have spent anyway) then that should make it a worthwhile adventure. Good luck with it, let me know how you get on, Phil

[@njtalbot]

@@mygreygapyearThank you for sharing and thinking of me. What an interesting and inspiring suggestion. I have already checked and Air NZ flies direct between TPE and AKL. Having said this, I have been asked by my customer to extend my contract. So, I am going to have to wait a bit longer before flying to NZ. The silver lining is that I can save more Avios points.😀

[@TravelSignal]

Nice explainer 👍 btw I'm sure I spotted you, or maybe a doppelganger 😂, at Stratford Westfield on a Wednesday a few weeks ago.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment and continued support. Definitely wasn't me in Stratford I'm afraid. I don't know what my ego would be like if someone actually recognised me from KZbin, my head wouldn't fit through the door 😂. There was a really nice fellow passenger on a flight who filmed me filming the flight and sent it to his girlfriend to tell her he was on a flight with a youtuber. I wasn't sure how to manage that, I went bright red. Thanks again, Phil

[@TravelSignal]

@@mygreygapyear no worries! It must have been a long lost twin of yours then 😜

[@johncolclough625]

when you mentioned how many avios do you get , u said 140 tier points, where does it say how many tier poimts you getting i have lhr to jnb, with CV and avios plus cash is there a calculator or somewhere is shows if or not get tier points and how many

[@mygreygapyear]

Hi John, I think you're question relates to tier point earning, if it does then you earn 140 tier points on all flights over 2000 miles, however on Avios Plus Cash (reward flight where you pay some money to reduce the Avios you need) you won't earn tier points. So the "do I get tier points" part is rule based, with BA, cash fares get tier points, you can reduce the cash part with Avios and still get them but that's it. On the chart side of things, you tend to get to know about the good routes, but there isn't a complete chart for every destination to every other destination. There is under 2000 miles (short haul, 40 Tier Points), then there is short haul plus (generally still under 2000 miles but on the short haul plus list, for 80 tier points) and long haul. Head for points have a list of direct British Airways flights, www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/24/how-many-tier-points-does-each-british-airways-flight-earn/ but this misses routes like Madrid to Cairo, Kuala Lumpur to Taipei and Abu Dhabi to Jakarta.

[@thomaswilks9293]

So I am a little late to this but I have a question about an oddity I experienced on "pay with cash upgrade with avios ticket". I booked PE and upgraded with avios to Club World, outbound I earned tier points and avios for PE (as expected), however for the return I ended up needing to extend my stay and called BA to change the ticket. I paid the 100GBP (or it could have been USD can't remember) change fee for the flight and I was rebooked. On that return flight I then earned the full 140 TP and avios you would expect for a Club World flight. Is this normal or did I just get lucky with a systems glitch? Route was booked LHR-IAD return, I was Bronze at the time

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your question and welcome to the community. If I've understood this correctly, you paid to upgrade from PE to CW on your outbound and then paid a change fee on your return but returned in the booked class PE. The oddity being you received 140 TP for each leg? If I've got that right then I think it has to be a computer glitch, outside of that I don't the first clue why you would be awarded additional tier points Sorry I can't shed any light on this, I wouldn't ask too many question. Phil

[@skymanste7630]

Thanks Phil. Can I just clarify that on a MAN-LHR-ATH-LHR-MAN; you would get double tier points on each segment, if a 5 night hotel stay was included?

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your question and your support. The short answer is yes it would and you would get 480 tier points for the trip. According to the conversation I had with the Gold helpdesk, clause 1F does not exclude flights from regional airlines like the Manchester to Athens holiday you're describing. Be aware that Athens flights have got in late in the past and the automatic booking engine might book you 4 nights accommodation by default (I know because it happened to me). DISCLAIMER: There are terms and conditions set out by BA that are reasonably self explanatory, for example you can't add the hotel later you must book it all together, so make sure your holiday meets these and call BA if you have queries. Thanks Phil

[@RichW3440]

Very informative video and a good question regarding cash vs avios for TP. I don't suppose you know if BA/Oneworld status gives you anything with Aer Lingus? I've looked but can't find anything unless I've missed it? Such a shame BA doesn't fly from Birmingham and all other oneworld options are limited in terms of destinations.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment and a great question. I haven't flown with Aer Lingus and so I don't know first hand. I've just searched and it doesn't look like you'll get the usual oneworld benefits like additional luggage, fast track security and so on but I have found an article on Head for Points, www.headforpoints.com/2023/08/23/can-you-access-aer-lingus-airport-lounges-with-british-airways-executive-club-status/

[@RichW3440]

@@mygreygapyear Thank you for the link. The general consensus I get is if you want to make use of your BA status, fly with BA. 🤦

[@richardmccarthy9580]

Hi great video…..first things first I am an very (nervous) flyer…..that said I had the very good fortune of travelling round the world 7 times in the past as well as multiple business trips/commutes to Western Europe so for a number of years I was Air France Gold and BA Silver. Query I have is I distinctly recall the “grade” of flight you got had an impact on number of miles and tier points (not dissimilar to paying peak or off peak fares on a train). Is this still the case ?

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment and question. I'm glad you've managed to keep travelling regardless. Tier points are based on the cabin you fly in and the distance you travel. Economy has sub categories where hand baggage only fares will get you 5 tier points and a fully flexible fare will get you 20 points on short haul, but if you're flying for status then you need to think about premium cabins which get you better tier point to pounds spent ratios. There's no change to the tier points earned based on the fare paid or peak or off peak, if you take a look at the first status video at time stamp 13:00 then this talks about the different tier points earning rates, kzbin.info/www/bejne/oF6bY2uGp6uXbck If you're familiar with the Executive Club then the next video in the list might be better for you, kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpCokKCYlMZqias and tier points are talked about from 46 seconds in Please do ask any questions you may have, more than happy to help out, Thank you Phil

[@msdes82]

Hi Phil, Love watching your videos, hope your channel keeps going from strength to strength, have subscribed and hit like/notifications etc... Can I ask a query. I've booked a couple of BA holidays flying east on my tier point plan outline over next 12m. Most of the flights are operated by Qatar airlines and have both a BA and Qatar flight number listed against them on my booking, they were all booked on BA holidays websites. Do these flights still count as "eligible flights". The BA website just says an eligible flight has to be marketed or operated by BA. Im hoping the fact that the flights have a BA flight number alongside the Qatar number means they count. Can you confirm? Many thanks.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your kind comments and your support, I am so close to the magic 1000 subs now, so it's really appreciated. Whenever I've looked at flights on BA Holidays the flight number offered always starts with "BA" and this is important for your eligible flights and your double tier points, so I would check your itinerary and look for those BAxxxx flight numbers and call BA if you don't have them. This is as I understand it: If you're booked onto a flight with QR numbers then they won't be eligible flights and you won't get your double tier points. If you call BA please let me know how they respond Thanks Phil

[@kuzeyboy]

How. can you find out which airports you get express check in for silver/gold members?

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your question and your support. For check in Silver is allowed to use the business lane and gold is allowed to use either business or first class check in and the availability of these check in desks will depend on the flight and airport. If the flight doesn't have first class then there won't be a first class check in desk (First Wing at Heathrow is always available however). I've always been able to use an express lane of some kind on all the Oneworld flights I've been on as a silver or above, but Ruby members sometimes don't get an express lane and I'm not sure why. Thanks Phil

[@dscott8799]

Recently i spent a great deal of time thinking whether to go for the discounted gold status with cathay. I found CX silver status already worth it (business check in counter, lounge access, etc), but decided to go for the gold anyway. I fly about 4 times per year and can’t wait to see whether it was worth it. My wish list is lots of free upgrades on the HK to London route, which is always very busy. Fingers crossed

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your comment, I haven't even looked at the Cathay scheme, looks good. I'm convinced that upgrades are based on status these days, best of luck, let me know if you get any.

[@dscott8799]

@@mygreygapyearthere’s a ranking system for cathay. Gold members rank really high up the list, but they only offer them when they need to. Luckily i fly the HK-LHR frequently which is always full. I had 2 upgrades last year. Fingers crossed 😅

[@peterbrown6224]

@@dscott8799 Half your luck! The only time I had upgrades on long haul was when I didn't have any status 🙂

[@mygreygapyear]

Ok, so you know from experience that it is worth it, I have been told that airlines keep track of economic benefit too, so if you are spending money with them that should also go in your favour. Perfect

[@mygreygapyear]

😂 Aint it the way, thanks for your comment

[@PAG70]

Hi, I trust your well and thank you for the content on KZbin.. I’m fairly new to BA and Avios with only just over 50,000 at this stage, my question is, I have been receiving emails from BA to sign up to Teir Points as they have a limited offer.. Should I enrol and will I lose my Avios if I do? Thanks in advance..

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your kind comment, it's much appreciated. I'm just on my phone right now but this link should help you www.headforpoints.com/2023/11/21/earn-british-airways-tier-points-with-credit-card-spend/ It's a limited time offer and I can't see a downside to signing up Thanks Phil

[@PAG70]

@@mygreygapyear Thank you! 🙏🏻

[@peterbrown6224]

Gold's only worth it if you're always using airports with an F lounge - LHR/SYD/HKG/MEL/LAX/JFK. The soft landing to Silver is an added benefit. What I can say is that I got much more attention from the CC when I had Gold, though that's just two data points - let's see what happens next week. The CX J lounge at T3 isn't bad at all. I just finished a 5 night BA Holidays trip to Tirana. That's 80+80, times two - thus 320 TPs with the bonus, and cost £650. About £2 per TP. It may have been cheaper taking a car, but there's no way I'd attempt to drive there. The low cost of living there makes doing four of these trips to (almost) get Gold look plausible.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your comment, its a fair point to make on the lounges. The F lounge in LHR T5 is ok but not like the Concord Room. Silver is an achievable sweet spot and lots of people go with that, and I'm sure that Silver will be where I end up aiming for in the future. I do like Gold Seat Blocking to be honest, I'm a pretty broad and getting and empty seat next to me in Economy is a benefit that I really don't want to give up. The Tirana sounds good, I've just looked for my requalification in July and I think I'll have to push it back a couple of months for it to be affordable for me. Thanks again for your comments, it is appreciated. Phil

[@malcolmmckenzie9027]

Hi Phil. Can you advise how long it has taken for you double Tier points element to be posted yo your BA account. I’ve received the Tier points for my Club Europe flights to Malta but the bonus element for my 5 night hotel stay hasn’t been posted? Thanks Malcolm

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your question, I've heard that is *should* be in your account within 14 days and mine have always landed without issue and I haven't ever really had to think about it. If you've waited two weeks and no points then I would ring up to find out what's going on. This thread on flyertalk might be useful, www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2040950-double-tier-points-british-airways-holidays-bookings-now-inc-usa.html "If not (and 30 days 14 working days (changed Dec 2022) - have elapsed since your return date) send your membership number, date of birth, email address and postcode for each passenger in the reservation to [e-mail] and they will award the Tier Points for you. See this post for more information." Thanks Phil

[@malcolmmckenzie9027]

Thanks for your reply Phil. I’ve never done a BA hotel booking with fights before and was unsure how they would appear on my statement. A couple of days after my flight tier points were posted I phoned BA and asked about the double tier point addition. I think it was an Indian call centre. The lady was very polite but gave conflicting information. Initially saying maybe 7 days then perhaps 14 days. At the close of the conversation she said maybe 28 days. I have BA flights in January to Orlando booked so was keen to benefit from the upgrade to Silver that the hotel tier point doubling would provide. Thankfully the hotel tier points arrived 8 days after my flight so all is well. I really appreciate your channel and it prompted my Glasgow via Gatwick to Malta Club Europe 5 night trip giving me 480 additional Tier points and Silver status. Malta was a great destination with above 20C temperatures in early December and lots of history. My wife and I are really looking forward to enjoying 2024 as we already had lots of BA economy flights booked. All the best for the festive season and for 2024. Malcolm

[@mygreygapyear]

Merry Christmas Malcom, I hope you had a great day, and all the very best for the new year.

[@ianhares9832]

The Gold phone line is another valuable benefit. At least that get answered fairly quickly and it’s a UK call centre.

[@mygreygapyear]

Thank you for your comment, what a great point, I'm there talking about it (and it was answered quickly) but the penny didn't drop. Thank you for pointing that out, much appreciated.

[@andrewwmoore1]

Hi Phil, please could you share the BA gold customer service phone number. Thanks Andrew

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your comment and question, the British Airways Executive Club Gold member telephone number is 0800 123 111. If you are outside the UK, you need to call 0207 949 3066.

[@andrewwmoore1]

@@mygreygapyearmany thanks

[@DeeLee-p8c]

You lucky b......ard😮

[@mygreygapyear]

😂😂😂

[@mbb05jb]

are you now monetised yet?

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for your comment, I am monetised now 😊

[@trimley]

Happy to subscribe and like as I found the information useful @mattsplanet has healthy competition 😂

[@mygreygapyear]

Thanks for the comment and the support, much appreciated. I'm probably Matt's Planet's number 1 fan but I'm no where near as knowledgeable as Matt is and I've pointed to his videos for additional information in the past. I'm hoping that it's more of "a rising tide lifts all boats" situation, if its a direct competition then I'm probably going to lose 😂 Thanks Phil