British Airways will shift to a revenue-based program for earning Tier Points in 2025, thereby tying elite status to spending. The status qualification changes to the British Airways Executive Club have certainly stoked a wide range of emotions, from those upset that their relatively easy path to Gold status will be disrupted to those gleefully mocking those who are upset and celebrating the changes. But both sides really miss the point: British Airways does not offer a valuable elite program in the first place and there is no indication that the program will meaningfully improve even though the spending required to earn status is going way up.
British Airways Shifts To Revenue-Based Loyalty Model In 2025
Starting on April 1, 2025, British Airways Executive Club will rebrand to British Airways Club and Tier Points will be earned based on spending rather than segments, fare class, and distance traveled.
You’ll collect 1 Tier Point for every £1 of eligible spend with British Airways, which includes:
- flights (government taxes will not earn Tier Points)
- seat selection fees
- excess baggage fees
- sustainable aviation fuel purchases
- British Airways Holidays vacation packages
Later in the year (at an unspecified date), you will have the opportunity to earn Tier Points via co-branded credit card spending, but that will be capped at 2,500 Tier Points per year and limited to the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card.
Elite status will be earned via the following metrics:
| Tier | Tier Point threshold |
|---|---|
| Blue | None |
| Bronze | 3,500 |
| Silver | 7,500 |
| Gold | 20,000 |
Tickets issued on other carriers will earn tier points based on a percentage of miles flown.
In short, you’ll have to spend a whole lot more than before to earn status, particularly Gold status.
British Airways says these program changes are “based on our members’ feedback” which I find, to use a British term, bollocks. It’s a shame BA does not have the honesty to simply say, “We are trying to reduce the number of Silver and Gold members and this is how we are doing it.”
The Value Proposition Of British Airways Drops Further
For purposes of this discussion, I will focus on British Airways Gold Status, but note at the outset that Silver status, beyond oneworld Sapphire status, has little value beyond lounge access.
Let’s review what British Airways Gold status actually gets you:
- No seat fees: Gold members can choose seats for free in all cabins of service and have access to 1A and 1K when traveling in first class
- First class check-in: Gold members have access to first class check-in desks worldwide
- Priority boarding: Gold members get priority boarding regardless of their cabin
- Lounge access: Gold members can access over 600 airport lounges worldwide.
- Cabin upgrades: Gold members receive a voucher for a cabin upgrade for themselves and a companion after earning 2,500 Tier Points. After earning 3,500 Tier Points, they receive two Gold Upgrade for one vouchers.
- Additional reward seats: Gold members receive access to additional Economy Class seats on select flights at standard pricing or can use double the Avios for any seat on any flight, if the booking is made at least 30 days in advance (Gold Priority Reward)
While I don’t dismiss there is some value in these benefits, I also find them lacking…upgrades are rare, standby is not allowed, Gold Priority Rewards require you to book a month in advance, and free seating in business class only showcases BA’s nickel-and-diming (like charging Gold members to cancel standard reward tickets).
The new program changes not only squeeze out leisure travelers, but squeeze out corporate travelers flying in economy class. And that’s the irony: who needs elite status when you have to buy business class or first class fares to get that status? You already have priority boarding, extra baggage, lounge access, and priority boarding.
What moves people to spend thousands in the first place to chase status that is only marginally useful? It’s like fighting over Fools’ Gold (pyrite).
Will the program get better now that it will be so much more difficult to qualify? BA teases “we’re adding some additional milestones between each Tier, starting with bonus Avios,” but bonus miles? Come on, now.
With the high spending requirement (and no option to earn status through credit card spending beyond 2,500 Tier Points at some unspecified future point), free agency will make sense for so many more travelers…and that will impact far more than the “gamers” who earned status for the lowest possible out-of-pocket spending.
I think it makes little sense to reward the corporate traveler buying last-minute business class tickets using other people’s money, but I will shelve the “who is actually loyal” question for another day. I don’t think these changes are squarely to address travelers engaging in “shenanigans to beat a system for the lowest cost, while maximizing every bit of reward at the greatest cost,” but more about squeezing out every penny it can because of the lack of competition in the British market.
The result: most consumers lose, but perhaps some will find liberation in stepping off the status hamster wheel for benefits that were not worth the cost in the first place.
CONCLUSION
I’m not crying and I’m not rejoicing about these changes. Instead, I’m pointing out that chasing British Airways Gold Status is like chasing Fool’s Gold…it’s simply not worthwhile going forward if you are spending your own money. If British Airways wants people to spend a whole lot more to earn elite status, it should reward those who do meet those spending thresholds with more than extra economy class seats and one upgrade per year…your move BA.
Agree wholeheartedly. Now that they have basically started rewarding people who only buy premium cabins who don’t need status for any of the benefits and screw the relatively loyal UK crowd who has remained loyal to BA despite routine delays, horrible service at executive club for problems, and being nickel and dimed, the betrayal is complete. Sure they will lose the gamers who got gold for 3k and that’s probably a good thing but there are a ton of loyal UK peeps who care about their national airline and have gone out of their way to choose them when better options (albeit with a connection) are available. That is a recipe for disaster for Ba and IAG
Good reasoning except when you write : “… better options (albeit with a connection ) are available” .
I don’t see how a connection can be a “better option” when I need to check my bag directly to LHR . If my bag misses the connection , I’m done for .
Glad I abandoned BAEC before covid and have not looked back.
What’s interesting is that KLM flies out of UK airports more than BA and a lot of people I’ve run into who are from outside of London mention they have status with FB as it’s more convenient to connect at AMS than take one or two trains to LHR and catch their flight.
You are correct that many uk peeps are waking up to the benefits of flying blue even with a connection as being superior to BA
Connections with checked nags are never “superior” . BA is reliable with non-stop bag check-in .
I haven’t checked a bag in 11 years in over 400 trips so I may be the wrong person to ask on that but flying blue is a better program than BA or alternatively people can still fly Ba but just credit to Alaska instead
Lucky you to not worry about checked bag . The biggest advantage of non-stop flights is checking the bag direct .
If it is loaded on departure , it will be unleaded on arrival . Cheers .
The idea that checked luggage doesn’t fail to arrive with the flight on non-stop itineraries is one built on a lack of experience.
I have repeatedly had checked-in bags go (temporarily) missing that were checked on non—stop trips. And BA has been one of the worst in that regard for me.
Connections definitely do increase the chances of bags misconnecting, but checked bags on some connections increase the chances that I as a passenger make the connecting flight. That said, KLM@AMS has repeatedly spared me from having to transport my cumbersome checked-in luggage via public ground transport and on foot and paid for a chunk of my clothes due to delayed bags.
BA lost my bag between LHR and DEL on a directflight, they had baggage issues, it never got loaded so don’t kid yourself at all.
KLM’s product is awful, but if I was living in Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, or Edinburgh, I’d almost certainly fly KLM to Amsterdam and then onwards. KLM has had strong U.K. service going back 20 years or more through its regional Cityhopper service. I think in some cases, KLM is or has been the online airline at some of these secondary U.K. airports.
The Lufthansa Group also has a strong UK network, even if they don’t fly absolutely everywhere in the country like KLM. BHX and MAN, in particular, see a huge amount of flights to FRA/MUC/BRU/ZRH/VIE, and that’s on top of all the other *A airlines (A3, TK, TP, ET, MS).
On the other hand, oneworld has no European flights whatsoever into BHX, while Manchester residents who can’t connect via LHR (e.g. because of the BA split hub operation) can choose from a non-daily service on Iberia Express and an 3-hour Embraer (no blocked seats in C) ride to HEL.
LHR isn’t really connected to the national rail infrastructure, anyone going there from outside London needs to either risk traffic delays or change trains/tubes at least once (typically twice).
Anyone acting rationally would go for a connection every single time. However, there were people who would drive there and stay overnight in a hotel just because they were tied to the BAEC ecosystem, BA will likely lose their custom as a result of these changes.
Yes and if you are travelling long-haul the QR and EK are both superior offerings out of MAN heading East.
I was BA Gold on occasion because flying OW airlines was part of travel that made sense for me. But I didn’t chase this status. Most of my business went to other airlines. BA miles where worth less to me as they have insanely high fees. It’s an o.k. airline to fly in business but not great.
It’s clear that BA management are salivating at US airline programs and their spending requirements. Trouble is BA has a much smaller market and far more competition within Europe and to the rest of the world. And frankly I think BA flyers are just not as captive as a Delta, American or UA seem to have on their frequent flyers.
This will be an epic fail and I won’t be flying them again unless they change back to tiers that actually make sense. Any revenue based component is an instant no thanks for me. I was a United 1K for more than a decade and haven’t missed that airline either. Too many other great airlines and choices where I can get a good seat, meal and redeem my miles with. This is a gift to SAS, AF, KLM, Virgin, TAP, etc. For those BA flyers that didn’t know they will soon discover this.
I would like to know how the average U.K. businessman flying British Airways will rack up top-tier status under the new program if they’re only flying intra-Britain or within Europe. You would need quarterly or more long-haul trips in first-class or business-class to come anywhere close to the spending requirements.
Bizarrely, BA seems to think its customers have no other choice and will keep flying them. Yet, in reality, London is one of the most competitive markets in the world for air travel.
The only possible explanation is that they don’t want them to go beyond silver, which does provide lounge access…to the same lounge that they’d get into with their business class tickets. Genius!
Part of the prequel to get rid of Galleries First or otherwise consolidate lounge facilities and perhaps make it sold space instead — particularly at LHR. They also seem unhappy about the extent of expense on CR use there, and this change will cut down on that cost too.
The news is it was a Muslim terrorist who killed and maimed the innocent people just celebrating New Years in NOLA. Once again showing it’s a cult of jealousy and hatred of Americans.
For all of you who support them living here, you are contributing to the animals actions. Even worse is those of you who “visit” the wastelands of humanity they come from. You are funding their terrorist goals. Keep saying it’s only a “few”, it’s not, it’s imbedded in their religion. And too many have forgotten 9/11, they would do it again if they could.
The anger average Americans are going to have against them in the coming days is well deserved. F you Mr Jabbar! RIP innocent victims.
But yea, BA’s loyalty program sucks.
@Dave … We have been warned about them for many years , after the Europeans discovered the problem under their noses .
And still , the UK and USA haven’t got the message .
If only you had this much outrage when a Christian of European origins goes on a rampage in the US.
You mean life the Pittsburgh synagogue scum? Or Dylan Roof? Thankfully Senile Joe had enough brain cells left to not spare them like he did the other murderous bastards. I look forward to the day they are dead and no longer rotting in prison. Scum is scum.
Or the average school shooter even. But we all know you aren’t ever going to do that on here, and we all know why.
Are you kidding me? Nikolas Cruz got a break by not being sentenced to death and a rare occasion Florida messed up. I hope he is being raped daily in prison (assuming he doesn’t enjoy it) and is eventually shanked in a painful method before dying. No “upbringing” excuses with me.
Those who abuse the rights we are giving with firearms lose their right to live when they murder others. I’m the biggest death penalty advocate you will find.
Not sure why you would think I would defend school shooters.
Because the only time you seem to outraged by them is when people call you out for not being outraged on them in the past (how convenient), and yet, you seem to be outraged far too often by people of certain demographics. Interesting but not unsurprising.
Hey Angry Man,
The terrorist is an American-born military veteran who is the descendant of slaves kept by European-Americans in the South. He’s one of your peeps and a product of the racism you’ve long supported.
I wonder if the BAEC change is in large part to reduce BA lounge crowding, which has gotten ridiculous at LHR T5. And at least BA has more upgrade and saver award space than the US carriers TATL, albeit with the high fees.
I’m sure I have said that in a previous comment, but I was flying Iberia out of T5 back in the summer of ’23 and they sold me a business class upgrade for £40, so I am struggling to see how they could’ve been worried about lounge overcrowding- the lounge was very busy and rather filthy.
For the next year-and-a-half, they kept offering huge incentives for leisure travellers to buy packages with BA Holidays. Then they decided to get rid of actual frequent flyers without even offering any additional benefits. I’m obviously not clever enough to work for McKinsey’s, but I cannot see any logic in their approach.
A lower proportion of Silvers/Golds in economy class means lower lounge costs for such customers and more people to pay for baggage fees, seat fees and maybe even paid lounge access.
But that won’t help the bottom line if those people stop paying a premium to fly BA and they then have to dump fares in both Y and European C.
Making those drastic changes to elite qualification without much notice and without offering any additional benefits (and there are lots of simple/cheap things they could copy from other airlines, such as a few lounge vouchers for Bronze pax, a few short haul upgrade vouchers for Golds or additional baggage on the cheapest fares) doesn’t look like a clever strategy.
BA seems to want to play from the Delta SkyMiles playbook, but BA doesn’t have the benefit of being Delta and in Delta’s position.
Even with this trashing of the BA loyalty program, I am not sure it’s going to do all that much to hurt BA’s finances — especially since they probably want to cut more into their lounge costs and want to hike up fee revenue from a higher proportion of economy class and maybe even business class customers.
BA will possibly pull a Delta and “give back” a little with a slight easing of the status earning/retention requirements so as to pretend to care about upset customers, but it won’t be a lot given back. The writing is on the wall with what BA did for GGL status requirements (with a masssive BA-marketed flight £ percentage spend requirement). BA wants more of us to be “you are your fare”.
A lot of things changing over the years. BA have still time to withdraw the changes or at least TP collecting one, you never know.
There is a two things that I do not like. First, the timeframe. Three months ahead, while they could informed about it a year ahead when annonced changing the status period. Second, non equal treatment of members who already purchased ticket(s) up to one year ahead with other oneworld member airlines, giving the preference to IB and AA. Those two along with BA got current TPs calulator, all other percentage of the miles flown. In business class with discounted fare from 12,5% to 25%´.
This is the right time for AirFrance-KLM to offer a status match to BA elites, particularly those in Europe. I expect that FlyingBlue will shortly be out with a status match/fast track offer for BA elites.
By the way, I am not BadNewsFairy; and I am not Jetsetpensioner. For those who think that those are my posts on FT. 😉
BadNewsFairy is a secondary account for a well-informed FTer who knew about the Phoenix project 2024 and 2025 deliverables and kindly shared the info in a visible place:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2173655-tps-become-spend-based-april-2025-unsubstantiated-time.html
The moderators there shut the thread down very quickly on the September 2024 day when that was posted.
When I am flying from the US/Canada/Schengen countries/Singapore to Scotland or any other UK place beside London, it’s much nicer to connect at AMS than to connect at LHR. BA and LHR can go pound sand as far as I am concerned — as I only use BA when going to/from London or if going via LHR provides me a considerable financial savings in some form or another.
KLM (and LX/LH plus their new friend AZ) also fly to LCY, and it’s probably quicker and less stressful to fly there with a connection than to take a direct flight to Heathrow. I can’t really see any reason to use LHR. with the possible exception of having lots of time to kill (e.g. due to a combination of a meeting finishing early, an evening departure and lousy weather in the afternoon) and the ability to lounge hop in T2 or T3.
The Virgin Atlantic and Gulf Air lounges are nice. Definitely nicer than Air France at CDG or KLM at AMS. The KLM lounges are awful and the on-board food and wine are even worse.
If you have to pay an extra £1500-20,000 to get BA elite status for a year and are doing so, you are likely wasting your money. Better off investing that “Gold” status money into some major index investment fund or spend a bit on NFLX and just gamble all the rest on NFLX hitting £1000 per share within a year or two.
Agreed.
The thing that I’m reminded of is Britain (especially outside London) is poorer than the USA. If the UK was a state, it would be poorer than Mississippi. Airfares are a lot cheaper in the UK, thanks to Easy Jet, Ryan Air, etc. And, of course, the UK and Europe, more broadly speaking, are much smaller. People don’t fly as much or as far as Americans do. BA expecting their top-tiers to spend more money than top-tiers on US airlines is crazy.