In order to reach silver status with the British Airways Executive Club, you currently need 600 Tier Points. These are not the same as the miles earned when flying on the airline and the amount of point you receive is very much dependant on how much money you spent on the ticket, and of course which cabin you fly in. Last year I flew with British airways a total of 14 long haul legs (all between London and Johannesburg) and the points I received on each flight differed almost every time.

My trips were all in economy and the points I received were – 0, 30, 60 per leg. If you do happen to have a lot of notice on any trips you might be going on, and you do manage to book your flights months in advance, you will more than likely get a really good price on the flight, and either no points of 30 points. You will also notice that if you do manage to get the super cheap tickets, you will also not receive the full miles flown. When comparing the same class of travel (in this case economy) there are 4 different price options for tickets ranging from the early bird tickets which usual give no points and very few miles, right through to the expensive tickets that you can change or cancel without penalties that will give you 60 points per leg and full miles flown.

To make your life easier, BA has an option on their online booking form, that allows you to get the cheapest ticket that still earns you tier points. These however are not necessarily the cheapest tickets you can purchase, they are just the cheapest that earn you Tier points. Now since a lot of my business is done overseas, and I do fly a fair amount, and of course I want to get there the cheapest possible way, I always just get the cheapest ticket I can, and often because of the lateness of my booking (all the cheap seats are gone) it will still result in earning some Tier Points. It’s this reason I was able to reach Silver status.

So what benefits have I received been on Silver with BA?

Firstly, lounge access. This is great if you happen to have a long stop over at an airport and you would like to have a shower and a bite to eat with a couple drinks. However if you are just going through customs and getting onto your plane, I’ve never really had much time to spend in the lounge as I like to walk around duty free and by the time I’m done shopping, boarding has begun, and often don’t even get a chance to see the lounge. The times that I have gone to the lounges, I have been very impressed. There is an open bar (self-service), TV’s to watch sport, news etc, buffet for having something to eat before your flights, comfy couches to relax in, and internet access to catch up on your e-mails and of course showers to freshen up if you have just come off a long flight.

Secondly, using the club and first class line to board the plane. I cannot say a bad thing about this benefit. There is nothing better than just walking straight up to the gate handing over your passport and ticket and walking straight onto the plane. No queues, and for this reason alone the Silver status has been worth it.

Third, as a silver member you receive a bonus 25% of the miles you earn on your flight.

Lastly, and certainly one of the best benefits, is to be able to choose your seat online at the time of booking your ticket. You don’t have to wait till 24 hours before departure to choose your seat at on-line check-in time. I did this many times before, and it always seemed that the person with the fastest internet connection and a little luck got the best seats.

So looking at the benefits and thinking about what you need to achieve them, I have come up with this final thought…
If you happen to travel a fair amount, and you can receive status purely on the amount of flights you do, great! But if you are going out of your way to get the points just for the status, you are probably better off getting the cheaper tickets and spend the money you saved on drinks and food in the duty free hall.

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About 6 years ago I bought myself a new headset for flying and I’ll never need another pair. I spent months looking at all the options, designs, cost etc on which headset would be the most comfortable, and the most practical.

Generally speaking, when flying small aircraft comfort is one of the biggest things to look at. There is nothing worse than taking a flight for a couple hours and getting out the plane with a sore jaw because the headset was too tight. You also want a headset that you don’t have to constantly re-adjust while flying. Weight is another big factor, the lighter the better!

So the most important things for me when looking for a new headset, was something that was comfortable, light weight and of course, good quality!

The next big question when purchasing a headset is, Do you need noise cancellation? This usually comes at a higher cost, but if you can afford it, it’s worth it. Noise cancellation is a technology that allow the microphone on the headset to determine what is background noise, and what is your speech. It is then capable of ‘removing’ the background noise and reducing the overall noise by around 90%. This is great, but if the headset does not fit snugly around your ears, the noise is still able to leak in.

The perfect balance for me was the David Clark H20-10 headset.

It is made from advanced composite materials which make it very light and according to David Clarks website, it has “Patented headpad suspension that touches your head like a soft pillow” and they are not wrong! This headset is without a doubt the most comfortable headset I’ve ever tried. It has gel seals around the ear pieces that literally mould themselves to the contours of your head and cancel a large amount of noise without even turning on the noise cancellation. There is a volume control on the side of the headset for quick adjustments in flight, and the microphone sits perfectly wherever you place it, without needing re-adjustments.

The headset is available with or without noise cancellation. As I’ve mentioned just the gel seals cancel a lot of the background noise, but if you are really looking for the peace and quiet, the ANR (Active noise Reduction) is worth investing in.

They also come with a David Clark 5-year guarantee, which I have not needed to use. David Clark is synonymous with flying and produce very high quality products. Next time you are watching a movie or TV program, and you see someone in an aircraft with a headset on, have a look to see if they are David Clark signature green, 99 times out of a 100 they will be. So that should say something about their reputation and quality.

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