Gotta keep on top of it all!
I hope you havenāt added their executive club number to the booking! Someone I work with made that mistake and had their surprise ruined 
Iāll be downgrading ā canāt justify the AF and I feel annoyed if this benefit has indeed been around for ages and they didnāt bother to notify cardholders.
Iād expect a change of benefits to be notified, regardless if itās to the benefit or detriment of the cardholder. People shouldnāt be expected to peruse the Amex pages all the time.
It has been around for ages. The Centurion version also give you access to Bicesterās lounge and private sales rooms at certain brands.
Maybe Bicester would replace Harvey Nichols - either way I hate it.
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Me and my Boyfriend both considered downgrading or just one of us keeping the card. But we decided to keep it as we travel quite a lot. Also we prefer the Centurion Lounges wherever we can use them.
We tend to fly short haul in Europe so no Centurion lounges. The one time we couldāve used one the flights got changed to a different terminal screwing us over. The Eurostar lounge access was what we used most, but no longer live near London so canāt just hop on a train for a weekend getaway.
I would say that if you dont live in a major city then the card is pretty useless!
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Very disappointing ābenefitā. Last time I had the misfortune to go to Bicester Village it seemed like its sole purpose is kettling coachloads of chainsmoking tourists into outlet tat stores.
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Likewise! Iāve upgraded then downgrade and re-upgraded for travel. But itās really not worth it as the offers are poor!
FYI, if you have Amex Platinum and therefore Hilton Honours Gold, you can buy BA Exec Club Bronze equivalent status for about Ā£38.
Youāll get free seat selection 7-days before, priority check-in and priority boarding.
Silver is also available as a status match for a higher fee, plus youāll need to have decent Hotel status.
Thereās a small amount of juggling you need to do with your bookings to make it work, but itās worth it overall.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/08/05/british-airways-status-match-4/comment-page-10/#comments
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Update, I submitted my application yesterday evening and itās already been approved. The email this morning says I should allow 5 business days for the status to show in my Royal Club account.
I have my BA241 return leg from an airport where I could very much do with priority check-in in 4 business days time, so weāll seeā¦
Damn, if only I was flying BA to the USā¦
Anybody having trouble with Amex via gpay in Tesco? Fairly often itās been asking me to insert the card (which I generally donāt have with me). Mostly when itās over Ā£100, but sometimes for lower amounts.
Tesco have a hard limit (I think Ā£100?) for contactless transactions of any sort. You can use the Tesco app to make higher payments (up to Ā£250) in store without a physical card:
How long do you retain the BA status for?
Iād think it would be a year, but it depends on whether RJ do the whole membership year thing too.
It could be longer than a year, but I guess Iāll have a better idea once my status has updated.
For Ā£38, BAEC Bronze is not a bad deal. The free seat selection is the most useful and actual cash saving, as BA can charge anywhere between Ā£10 to Ā£150 depending on route and class.
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I had Bronze for a while when they reduced the requirements during Covid. Seat selection is one of the things I miss most.
On short-haul you can even select the overwing exit row extra legroom seats for free. Very much looking forward to having that perk back.
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Can I ask did you match to BA Bronze/BA Silver?
Also the reasons behind why you chose that specific tier.
The cash value to trade up to BA Silver seems to be reasonable.
I matched to Bronze. I agree too, the value for Silver is there if you already have the required level of status to match. My Hilton Gold is only good enough for BA Bronze though, but seeing as I have lounge access anyway via Amex, Iām not too bothered. Security fast track would have been a nice to have, but I rarely find airport security busy enough to need a fast track anyway.
There is a way to pay and get Silver. If you purchase IHG Ambassador, then you can match that to get Silver, but youāre looking at around $320 for that for the IHG status plus match (I donāt have the exact cost to hand). Thatās not a bad deal if you fly enough to make it worth it, plus you might get a soft landing to Bronze next year with RJ.