British Airways has announced sweeping changes to its passenger loyalty programme, sparking criticism from some customers who fear they will lose travel perks. The airline, which has been under fire with cancellations and delays having risen since the Covid-19 pandemic, is shaking up its points system in which passengers earn rewards such as free seat selection and access to BA’s lounge. Under the changes, points will be awarded based on the cost of flights or package holiday bookings instead of the class of travel and the length of trips. Some industry figures say the move, which will be introduced from April, will hit leisure travellers, who could previously hunt around for the best deals on flights to earn the rewards. “BA is effectively washing its hands of the leisure market,” said Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website Head for Points. “Realistically, it will now be impossible to earn gold for small business travellers, economy travellers or self-funded leisure travellers.” Flyers can attain bronze, silver or gold status in the airline’s Tier Points programme. One point will be earned for every pound spent, excluding taxes. Bronze will now be awarded at 3,500 points, silver at 7,500 points and gold at 20,000 points in a rebranding of its offering. Gilbert Ott, of frequent flyer website God Save the Points, said the move would “reward overall spend with the brand, rather than incentivising people to take lots of connections to artificially hit status”. BA said the changes, part of a wider £7bn transformation programme, mean there were now “more ways than ever before to earn Tier Points”. It added that aligning points earned with pounds spent will bring BA in line with a “model used by many other airline loyalty programmes across the world”.<br/>
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Japanese investigators have disclosed that a De Havilland Dash 8-300’s departure from Tokyo Haneda was supposed to be threaded between two arriving aircraft, before it entered the runway and was fatally struck by the first of them, a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900. The collision left only one survivor, the captain, from the six occupants of the Dash 8, but all 379 on board the A350 escaped with just five sustaining injuries. Japanese investigation authority JTSB has yet to reach final conclusions on the 2 January 2024 accident, stating in an update that completing the inquiry before the anniversary of the collision will be “difficult”. But it states that the Coast Guard Dash 8’s flight – to take earthquake-relief supplies to Niigata and Komatsu – was delayed for various reasons, including a technical issue with the auxiliary power unit generator. Its crew had discussed whether they would be able to source suitable ground power-supply equipment at the destination. As the Dash 8 travelled along taxiway C, which runs parallel to runway 34R, it was in a queue with several other aircraft heading for the C1 intersection at the end of the runway. The inquiry says that, in order to facilitate operations on 34R, given the Dash 8’s slow speed, controllers in the east tower planned to slot the Dash 8’s departure between the arrival of the A350 and that of another aircraft behind it. Tower control instructed the Dash 8 to exit the queue by taking the turn-off to the C5 intersection, clearing it to the holding point and stating it was “number one” for take-off. But the Dash 8 crew did not stop at the holding point, instead continuing onto the active runway before the A350 had landed. The inquiry has yet to explain the pilots’ failure to stop. It says, however, that a number of factors could have led the crew to perceive that they had clearance to enter the runway.<br/>