There might be plenty of worth to having airline elite standing, although it goes with out saying that not all elite ranges are created equal. On this put up I needed to take a more in-depth take a look at British Airways Govt Membership Gold Visitor Checklist standing.
I’ve written about Air France-KLM Flying Blue Final standing and Lufthansa Miles & Extra HON Circle standing, and on this put up needed to check out the comparable standing provided by British Airways. In contrast to on the different airways, Gold Visitor Checklist isn’t technically a completely separate elite tier, however slightly is a particular tier inside Gold standing. It affords a number of invaluable elite perks, and it’s not straightforward to earn.
How do you earn British Airways Gold Visitor Checklist?
British Airways Govt Membership awards elite standing based mostly on incomes a sure variety of Tier Factors per membership 12 months. On prime of that, to qualify for British Airways Govt Membership standing, you should fly at the very least two or 4 income segments on British Airways or Iberia per membership 12 months.
British Airways Gold standing requires incomes 1,500 Tier Factors per 12 months. In the meantime Gold Visitor Checklist has considerably greater necessities:
- To qualify for Gold Visitor Checklist, you should earn 5,000 Tier Factors in a membership 12 months
- To requalify for Gold Visitor Checklist, you “solely” must earn 3,000 Tier Factors in a membership 12 months
- To qualify for lifetime Gold Visitor Checklist, you should earn 100,000 Tier Factors over the course of your account
As you may see, it’s actually arduous to qualify for Gold Visitor Checklist the primary time round, as you want greater than thrice the exercise required for Gold standing. Nonetheless, requalifying solely requires double the exercise of Gold standing.
It’s additionally value noting that you might qualify for this standing primarily by way of journey on accomplice airways, so long as you full at the very least 4 segments per 12 months on British Airways.
How arduous are Tier Factors to earn? Whereas British Airways doesn’t publish a Tier Factors earnings chart, you earn them per phase. You’ll be able to count on {that a} enterprise class flight protecting a distance of below 2,000 miles will usually earn you 40 Tier Factors, whereas a flight of over 2,000 miles will usually earn you 140 Tier Factors.
What are the perks of British Airways Gold Visitor Checklist?
What advantages do you obtain for having British Airways Govt Membership Gold Visitor Checklist standing, above and past the advantages of Gold standing (which will get you oneworld Emerald perks)?
- A British Airways Concorde Room card, that means you may entry British Airways’ greatest lounges, together with the British Airways Concorde Room London, the Chelsea Lounge New York, and many others.
- The power to ask another visitor into lounges than you’d in any other case be capable of; this implies you may visitor two folks into the Concorde Room when touring in first-class, or one particular person into the Concorde Room when not touring in first-class
- The power to have entry to extra Avios award seats twice per 12 months, for as much as 5 vacationers every time; so long as fare lessons A (first-class), D (enterprise class), T (premium economic system), or B (economic system) can be found if reserving with money, you may redeem Avios for these flights at normal prices
- The power to present British Airways Gold standing (oneworld Emerald) to a accomplice, plus the power to present British Airways Silver standing (oneworld Sapphire) to 2 others
- Precedence boarding on all British Airways flights, with Group 0 (forward of all different passengers)
- A devoted telephone line that’s supposed to supply an much more elevated degree of service
- Hilton Honors Diamond standing for so long as you’re a member
- Whereas not printed, Gold Visitor Checklist members may count on a lot better “gentle” therapy from employees throughout the board
- Whereas additionally not printed, there are some stories of Gold Visitor Checklist flyers typically getting Concierge Key therapy on American flights within the occasion of irregular operations, however this isn’t constant
I’ve gotta say, the perks of British Airways Gold Visitor Checklist standing are actually fairly strong. I believe three advantages stand out most:
- Having the ability to open up award seats is probably massively invaluable; for instance, having the ability to snag as much as 5 first-class award seats on a flight so long as the “A” fare class is accessible might save some huge cash
- Gaining access to British Airways’ prime lounges can also be good; whereas they’re not my favourite lounges on the planet, they’re nonetheless method higher than what you’d in any other case have entry to
- Having the ability to present oneworld Emerald to at least one particular person and oneworld Sapphire to 2 folks can also be cool
How does this standing evaluate to Air France-KLM & Lufthansa?
Between British Airways Gold Visitor Checklist, Air France-KLM Final, and Lufthansa HON Circle, I’d argue that the British Airways standing would possibly simply characterize the all-around greatest worth. Now, that claims nothing of which airline group I’d favor to fly, however I believe there are a number of issues that make this standing stand out:
- Whereas Air France-KLM and Lufthansa primarily make you fly their “group” airways to earn that standing, you may earn Gold Visitor Checklist largely by way of journey on accomplice airways, offering plenty of flexibility
- If in case you have Gold Visitor Checklist, you may present standing to 3 completely different folks, which family and friends will admire
- In contrast to with Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, British Airways provides considerably expanded award availability to Gold Visitor Checklist members (although in equity, with excessive surcharges, in some instances)
- I’d argue the improved lounge profit isn’t pretty much as good as what you’re getting with Lufthansa (since Lufthansa First Lounges and SWISS First Lounges are higher than the Concorde Room), nevertheless it’s higher than what you get with Air France
What’s British Airways Premier standing?
It’s value noting that Gold Visitor Checklist isn’t even British Airways’ highest standing, as there’s additionally Premier standing. Nonetheless, that is actually, actually unique, way more so than simply about some other elite standing on the market (together with invitation solely elite standing with different applications).
That is typically solely awarded to those that management big company journey accounts value hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, so it’s not one thing to realistically intention for by way of impartial journey.
Backside line
Gold Visitor Checklist is a particular degree of British Airways Gold standing, for individuals who over qualify. The necessities are very excessive to qualify within the first place, and are a bit decrease to requalify. There’s a variety of worth to this standing, from entry to extra award seats, to Concorde Room entry, to the power to present standing to others, to Hilton Honors Diamond standing, and extra.
In all honesty, it’s a reasonably compelling elite tier in the event you do fly British Airways incessantly. Having to primarily double qualify for Gold standing to get all these perks isn’t a nasty worth.
Are any OMAAT readers Gold Visitor Checklist members? If that’s the case, what has your expertise been with the standing?
