It’s no secret that British Airways gutted their beloved Executive Club frequent flyer programme. This caused people to actively seek out and join other airlines schemes and to switch their flying to different carriers.
Qualification by segments was brought back a month or so later, but that was not useful for most. The whole debacle upset a good number of people who were loyal ambassadors of the brand, so where did they go?
People decided to join…
Quite a variety of European airline programmes have benefitted from disgruntled former BA frequent flyers. First up, the Air France/KLM Flying Blue scheme in SkyTeam has attracted a lot of people. That makes a lot of sense, as KLM in particular connects a lot of secondary UK cities to their Amsterdam hub, making it a convenient transfer point for people who would have had to transfer via London anyway.
What does all of this really mean?
Ultimately what has happened here is that a lot of people are no longer flying British Airways. People have been flying Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, SWISS, Aegean and others for their points. From all reports, many people have found things a lot to love about their new airlines, with similar or better experiences in a lot of areas.
What did I do?
I jumped off the bandwagon and decided to join Aegean’s Miles+Bonus programme for Star Alliance earning. I’ve already taken flights with Ethiopian Airlines, which has given two thirds the amount of points I need for Gold with Aegean. A trip in November will get me the segments I need for Silver and another in March will push me over to Gold. From there it’s simple to retain.
Overall Thoughts
It’s remarkable to see that many of British Airways highest level frequent flyers, the Gold Guest List and Gold people, have switched away completely. The changes made them join another programme and start flying with other airlines, when they would have been considered “welded on” to BA.
I’m sure it doesn’t worry the BA bean counters one bit, because the airline continues to make profits hand over fist. However, perhaps it will be a lesson in how not to treat the people who advocate for your brand. Some assumptions have been turned on their head around consumer loyalty on this one.
Are you still with BA yourself or have you made a move and if so, to where? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Aaron Davis on Instagram via Wikimedia Commons.
Aegean seats via One Mile At A Time.
Icelandair by MarcelX42 via Wikimedia Commons.
I have miles and more and flying blue and I must say air France was really good service. Living next to Heathrow means it’s still better with BA, but I won’t be flying with them as much and have practically given us on keeping or acquiring status.
Yes, pretty similar here really! Time to go with the flow.
You state ‘a lot’ of BA tier fliers have switched their loyalty to Flying Blue. ‘A lot’ means what % of BA tier earning fliers? 1%? 10%? 50%?
‘Some’ might be about all we can accurately say without data.
Could also be few, but online chatter gives me the impression of a lot. But you make a good point, my lot and your lot could be quite different. Nobody would have the figures apart from the other airlines that had new signups during the period and none of those would give out such commercially sensitive information.