GGL Experiences

[TonyHancock]

Now that a few members are moving in the general direction of BA and seeking GFL I thought it might be appropriate to start a GGL thread. Whilst it is easy to see how this might become a bit of a challenge to the wonderfully comical QF Platinum One thread I hope we can avoid the whole "a crew member once spoke to me therefore QF P1 is fantastic" approach.

So a couple of recent experiences for me. First up it seems to me that AA flights through major hubs, read CLT and ORD, lead to Concierge Key treatment including meet and greet and pre-boarding. I find the latter a touch embarrassing if I am honest.

The GGL phone line is beyond brilliant. Today they fixed up a QF failure without even questioning it. They are able to go straight into bookings and sort things out without going back to others in the chain. This to me is the biggest benefit.

Last week I just could not face Club World on LHR-SIN so called the GL line applied a joker and used points for the confirmed F upgrade. I'll have three of those jokers for next year.

I know it is easy to poke fun at the Qantas Frequent Flyer Stockholm Syndrome posters here, but this is not what this thread is about. Let's focus on the positives and negatives about being a BA GGL.

 

[levelnine]

What, exactly, are the negatives? It looks only positive, when viewed from the perspective of QF P1.

 

[TonyHancock]

What, exactly, are the negatives?

To maximise the benefits it does mean flying BA a fair bit, and that is never great if it involves anything less than F. I think QF does more complimentary upgrades, or did in my days as a P1.

Overall though I have had overwhelmingly positive experiences.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Folks which have GGL have a lot of good things to say about the status tier.

Has being GGL changed your flying/spend/Avios earning behaviour?

If QF Plat is 5/10....what would you rate GGL?

 

[TonyHancock]

Folks which have GGL have a lot of good things to say about the status tier.

Has being GGL changed your flying/spend/Avios earning behaviour?

If QF Plat is 5/10....what would you rate GGL?

I certainly have a strong preference for BA metal these days. My spend has increased, but in reality my travel patterns have changed too and that has had a greater impact. The ability at booking to upgrade using jokers or GUF's is an incredibly good incentive.

I put GGL at 8.5 to Platimum One's 5. personally I don't even rate P1 as high as 5. BA can still be inconsistent, in many ways no different to QF.It is the certainty of the defined benefits and the utterly brilliant GGL phone line I like.

 

[TonyHancock]

I had a great experience yesterday when making a back to back to OSL. I had one of the more experienced pursers and he recognized me from previous trips. He arranged for me to stay on board and had the gate team come aboard to check passport and boarding pass. When i boarded at LHR he immediately came to me prior to take off to make sure I would get my meal selection. He made a point of greeting all emeralds in J too - all before departure He never seemed rushed and it was a full flight with 7 rows of J up to OSL.

BA, like QF, is inconsistent with it's treatment of GGL pax, and part of the issue is poor CSM's. BA has failed to select and train good CSM's who can manage the cabin with ease, adding personal touches without impacting overall service. I never understand it in the service industry when a companies most important assets are its customer facing employees.

Today i am in LHR T3 receiving the full GGL/CCR holder experience. I used the CCR dining room which appears to be open to all these days and was begrudgingly offered the a la carte menu and pointed in the general direction of the coffee and tea making facilities.

So in many respects there are a lot of similarities with QF.....but GGL has tangible, clearly defined, easy to use benefits.

 

[drron]

Missed you by a day.We were in the CCR dining room 24 hours ago.So you are right they do let just anyone in.

 

[Matt_01]

Missed you by a day.We were in the CCR dining room 24 hours ago.So you are right they do let just anyone in.

Looking at this post we both missed him at the SYD F lounge a week or so back. The view from my “office”

@TonyHancock would appear that you were in the lounge at the same time as @drron, @mrs.dr.ron and myself but at the other end.

We will have to wait to early next year to see if the CCR let in the “riff raff” when I show up. I have only visited the SIN CCC thanks to @JessicaTam.

 

[TonyHancock]

Missed you by a day.We were in the CCR dining room 24 hours ago.So you are right they do let just anyone in.

I was in the CCR yesterday, early though I was heading to OSL for a back to back.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I will be lurking on this thread with interest .....

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Yep I'll give this a subscribe as well.

 

[La Mouette]

The only outed GGL here appears to be TonyHancock, so it must be an exclusive club! I'm tentatively contemplating GGL. I've had to procure a UK credit card, and there were no options that credit to QF, so I signed up to BAEC.

I've had one trip to America on BA metal, which was quite OK and took me halfway to gold. I'm due to start my first LHR flight this week. That trip will take me to gold. If it's OK, then I'll seriously consider GGL. I need one more flight to maintain P1 for another 18 months, but if I credited all the others to BA in my remaining BA year, I should reach GGL.

The main attraction of BA for me (assuming I survive this next flight) is that it appears to be significantly less expensive (~£1000 for J) to fly to Australia from many EU countries via LHR than to depart from LHR directly. I stay near a regional airport that's a couple of hours drive to LHR. But assuming I can get the connecting flights to work, it won't take me significantly longer to fly to say DUB and then LHR and wouldn't cost much more than the petrol to drive to LHR.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

The main attraction of BA for me (assuming I survive this next flight) is that it appears to be significantly less expensive (~£1000 for J) to fly to Australia from many EU countries via LHR than to depart from LHR directly. I stay near a regional airport that's a couple of hours drive to LHR. But assuming I can get the connecting flights to work, it won't take me significantly longer to fly to say DUB and then LHR and wouldn't cost much more than the petrol to drive to LHR.

With the new Club World seats coming online an ex-EU round trip to Australia in BA J becomes a significantly better proposition.

 

[kermatu]

Subscribed with great envy...

Has a joker ever been denied in a situation where you know courtesy of EF that there's at least one seat available?

 

[TonyHancock]

Subscribed with great envy...

Has a joker ever been denied in a situation where you know courtesy of EF that there's at least one seat available?

I haven’t experienced it, but it can happen if another GGL has ‘played’ a joker on the same flight. I am not sure if say the GGL has taken four seats you may still be able to take one.

Personally I have never had a joker declined and I have used 11 in total over almost five years.

 

[La Mouette]

This thread has gone quiet ... but I remain an aspirational GGL.

I'm nearing the halfway point and the first joker. I'm still crediting QF metal flights to QF to retain P1, but new flights I've booked on BA metal. I haven't noticed any difference in experience yet in my journey from Blue, Bronze, and Silver to Gold. Others will disagree, but BA F is actually OK. I'm writing this using my free Wi-Fi, a feat that QF has not managed in this day and age. And the CCR is quite nice - real food as opposed to green leaves.

I do admit to continuing to maximise all my P1 privileges in Singapore where I know most of the QF team rather than facing the BA lounge there. And I miss the QF Chauffeur Drive, porters, and spa treatments in Sydney.

I feel like I'm cheating on QF, which the logical side of my brain tells me is a ridiculous thought!

 

[TonyHancock]

Others will disagree, but BA F is actually OK. I'm writing this using my free Wi-Fi, a feat that QF has not managed in this day and age. And the CCR is quite nice - real food as opposed to green leaves.

You'll get no argument from me. I have flown 21 long haul F segments with BA this year and it is just fine.

 

[madrooster]

And I miss the QF Chauffeur Drive, porters, and spa treatments in Sydney.

BA offers chauffeur drive for F commercial pax in SYD up to a 50km radius in a Jaguar if available. You'd miss the porters. BA is potentially in some ways better than QF for spa treatments, because you can get them in SYD anyway (just with no prioritisation) and you can also get them at LHR. QF F pax don't get spa treatments at LHR.

I am also a BA GGL so TonyHancock isn't the only one here. I also still maintain QF platinum as well as BA GGL.

I credit QF coded flights to QF and everything else to BA. The exception to this is MH I class which only credits to QF or MH - those go to QF.

As a GGL, the benefits that have been most useful to me are:

1. Jokers - whilst I haven't yet used one on long haul, I have deployed them on EU short hauls to create award space where the cash asking price for a ticket has been steep. I'm aware that's a wasteful use of them, but it's use it or lose it.

2. The GGL team in MAN (as long as you don't call between midnight and 7am UK time when it goes to DEL) is fantastic. I also deal with the P1 SST (not as a P1 myself, but on behalf of P1s) and the GGL team are far better at what they do. They proactively suggest solutions/workarounds where it makes sense to and they also remind you of your benefits where warranted. I've never seen that from the P1 SST.

3. Opups - I have had 3 opups on BA in < 3 months. On more than one occasion I've received more than one opup in the one trip. Eg. I recently received an opup on SYD-SIN + LHR-BUD both in the same trip. I see a lower rate of opups amongst the P1s that I know.

4. The ability to give out 1 gold/emerald and 2 silver/sapphire cards each year. If you have your ducks in a line and are very organised, you can maintain status for 6 people (2 emeralds, 4 sapphires) in total not counting yourself. P1 in comparison gives you one platinum/emerald to give out.

5. GGLs are exempt from paying change/cancel fees on awards if > 24 hours before departure. It's well known that avios are great value when used on short haul flights - I have had say a QF SYD-BNE booked in Y using avios and then when J availability become available closer to departure I changed to J with no change fee. Or I've changed dates, times, you name it.

6. As mentioned by TonyHancock, AA extends their five star service to BA GGLs where possible (that is, when they aren't fully utilised/busy with AA CKs). It's not guaranteed either, so it's really a best effort basis. This usually includes being collected from your inbound gate, or the lounge and being driven to your next gate via the tarmac in a Cadillac/inside the terminal in a buggy. The AA staff then wait with you until boarding commences at which time they stop the boarding process to let you board, or they pre-board you before anyone else.

7. GGLs are given Hilton diamond status gratis.

8. Not strictly a GGL benefit, but GUFs being instantly confirmable is better than QF's upgrade lottery. You can even directly ticket into the upgraded class via a TA bypassing the chance that the upgrade availability disappears. Using 4 GUFs this year I've extracted > $10k AUD in value/savings.

9. Not strictly a GGL benefit, but BA has more carriers with elite bonuses (BA/AA/JL/IB) with a far wider spanning network amongst those carriers and so you earn avios at a faster rate than you would earn QF points. QF only has QF/AA.

 

[levelnine]

Wow. That list of benefits puts QF P1 to shame.

 

[TonyHancock]

........ You can even directly ticket into the upgraded class via a TA bypassing the chance that the upgrade availability disappears.

This has been extended to the BA phone staff so the GGL team can do this now. No need for a travel agent any more.

JessicaTam is also a GGL so we are a growing band on AFF.

Over the last 12 months I have used 8 upgrade for one vouchers and an upgrade for 2 voucher. I have four upgrade for one vouchers to start my new year in January.

I am hopeful of earning GGL next year to see me through 2021 but then I will be falling back on GFL.