For me, this could be the last year of BA Gold for me the rate things are going.

British Airways A380… a reason to retain a BA Gold card with them? Maybe not.

Earlier this year – British Airways earnings chart was depreciated heavily… and for me as an Economy Class Traveller – this was bad news.

I had an inkling how bad it was when I flew Qatar Airways in July and got this result:

But how bad would it be on a BA/AA? The answer… very bad.

Considering:

• I was used to earning 100% Avios with 35TP vs 25% Avios and 20TP on the Transatlantic legs
• I was used to 500 Avios minimum and 10TP  vs 25% Avios and 5TP on short legs.

Look at the below, read and weep.

You are reading those numbers correctly. For long haul segments, BA gave me:

• MAN-ORD 957 Avios + 3,828 Avios Tier Bonus and 20TP.
• BOS-LHR 816 Avios + 3,264 Avios Tier Bonus and 20TP

Short haul:

• ORD-BOS 216 Avios + 864 Avios Tier bonus and 5TP
• LHR-MAN 125 Avios + 500 Avios Tier Bonus and 5TP

The losses?

On the old scheme, I would had been looking at 90TP and bucket load of Avios. Now, 50TP and minimal Avios – only saved by the Tier bonuses

Will I retain BA Gold this year?

In a word.

No

It’s become to expensive to retain and to be honest, I haven’t seen BA and its partners make me feel that special compared to last year.

I’ll be blunt – for my Gold level of loyalty this year I got:

• I was greeted by name once aboard a BA flight this year in Economy
• I got first dibs on food aboard Qatar Airways
• I got a couple of amenity kits out of American Airlines
• A couple of last-minute seats.
• Access to a couple of Admirals Clubs and a very nice JAL First Lounge

Hardly worth me dumping £1500+ in a Tier Point run for the end of the year just to make up the missing points.

Considering one of the reasons I held onto BA Gold was that I could have two pieces of luggage in the hold in Economy – that to me is worth something. But not gold.

Also consider that Oneworld Sapphire allows two bags on international flight segments now… there is honestly little reason to hang onto Gold.

Oneworld Sapphire baggage offering – https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/sapphire-privileges

So Silver is sounding better all the time – and perhaps the best part is – I get Silver as a soft landing privilege.

So yes, it’s probably the last few months I’ll have BA Gold. It’s been nice accessing the BA First Lounge at Heathrow, having the odd glass of bubbles.

But that doesn’t make a flight to me. Right now, I’m seeing a lack in interest in me – and that’s fine. Two can play at that game.

Loyalty is a two-way street. And right now, I’d not be telling the truth if I wasn’t sniffing around other airlines for loyalty matches.

Do you think I can honestly otherwise justify BA Gold? Because right now, I can’t.

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