NEWS: Gatwick BA short haul cancelled until July, FAQs for BA status extension & Hong Kong reopening plans

Gatwick BA short haul cancelled until July

Yesterday British Airways also announced that they would suspend Gatwick shorthaul until after least 30 June 2021. This means that all Gatwick flights will be transferred to Heathrow. This probably makes sense since even if the government announce that we are finally legally able to travel from 17 May, it will take a while for holiday flights to get going again. Many places in Europe are not yet open to UK visitors or have strict quarantine in place. BA’s schedules until the end of May are sparse with Porto being cancelled until June and Alicante down to two flights a week from 17 May.

The only exception is Glasgow – Gatwick which is due to recommence on the 24 June. However, a lot will depend on the situation with travel into Scotland and the lockdown situation in general by then, so it could be cancelled again. 

FAQs for British Airways status extension

Yesterday BA extended status for those whose tier point year expires between 1 July and 31 December 2021. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions. 

I didn’t get extended – how many tier points do I need to get?

For all Tier Points year ends before July 2022, you only need to get 75% of the usual tier points. If you check in the BA app or your account online it will show the reduced tier point threshold if you are entitled to it. So if your TP year is from 8 July 2022 onwards, you will need to make the full tier points by 8 July 2022. 

• Bronze – 225 tier points

• Silver – 450 tier points 

• Gold 1125 tier points 

I didn’t get extended, will I lose my status?

There are several options if you were not amongst the lucky members that got their status extended. Firstly, if you have had had flights cancelled on BA or oneworld in the current status year, you can apply to BA to keep your status based on the fact that you would have earned all the tier points if you had flown all your booked flights.

Secondly, I would be surprised if BA doesn’t do something for those in the other tier point years. Those with a January expiry will only have just over 6 months to get 9 months (75%) worth of tier points. With many long haul destination closed, it will be pretty much impossible except for a few business travellers that have been allowed to fly during the international travel ban. 

I already have status until 2022 but my tier point year is within July-December, do I get extended to 2023?

No, the extension is only for those whose status expires in 2021, with July to December tier point collection year ends. 

Hong Kong reopening plans

If I had to put money on countries in Asia that will be the most cautious for reopening, Hong Kong would be one of them. They currently have such a strict quarantine that Cathay Pacific has had to drastically cut their already skeleton service due to the demands for cabin crew to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

However, there does at least seem to be an appetite for reopening. Yesterday, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced its plan for the recovery of tourism and international travel. 

There will be two phases. The short-term strategy will focus on encouraging back international visitors to Hong Kong as soon as possible. However, they don’t foresee international travel resuming to Hong Kong until 3-6 months time.

A spokesperson said, 

“We consider it unlikely Hong Kong will see a full resumption of cross-border travel in the next three to six months.

“However, we do expect it to be possible for Hong Kong to welcome tourists from selected markets.”

The issue will be “selected markets”. Initially, I would expect this to be very low-risk countries such as China, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. Given the pace of vaccination in the UK and the declining rates of Covid, I could also see the UK being one of the earlier countries allowed back into Hong Kong.

As yet there is no word on whether exceptions will be made for vaccinated travellers.