British Airways Revamps Its Loyalty Program With a New Name and More Rewards

British Airways announced today that it is saying goodbye to its Executive Club and renaming its loyalty program “The British Airways Club.” One has to wonder how much the airline spent on brainstorming the new name, but with it members will see elite membership granted solely through Tier Points earned through spending, milestone benefits, and more.

Earning Status

The new program will go into effect on April 1st. British Airways has awarded Avios Points (its currency for booking award travel) since 2023 based on spend. Tier Points were not solely revenue based in the past, but this will change with the new program. Tier Points will soon be earned from spend on cobranded credit cards, seats, baggage, and more. Members will earn one Tier Point for every £1 of eligible spending.

The new elite status qualification requirements will be:

• The British Airways Club Bronze: 3,500 Tier Points
• The British Airways Club Silver: 7,500 Tier Points
• The British Airways Club Gold: 20,000 Tier Points
• The British Airways Club Gold Guest List: 65,000 Tier Points (with 52,000 or more earned through British Airways marketed flights, qualifying add-ons, and British Airways Holidays packages). To retain the status, a member must earn 40,000 Tier Points (with 32,000 or more earned through British Airways marketed flights, qualifying add-ons, and British Airways Holiday packages)

In addition to earning £1 per Tier Point for spending on flights (minus government taxes and fees), members can earn Tier Points through the following activities:

• Tier Points on a contribution to Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF): Members will earn Tier Points and collect Avios by purchasing a contribution to SAF, earning up to 1,000 Tier Points per year.
• Limitless Tier Points on British Airways Holidays: Members will earn Tier Points based on the price of the entire package, with no limit in place, making it possible to earn elite status in fewer trips than under today’s offer.
• Tier Points on Credit Card Spend: BA cobranded cardmembers will be able to earn up to 2,500 Tier Points by spending on their card. More details will be announced closer to the launch date later in 2025.

Milestone Benefits

British Airways will introduce more milestone moments between Tiers, members will be able to unlock benefits before reaching their next level. This will start with gifts of 2,500, 4,000, and 5,000 Bonus Avios at milestones within Bronze and Silver. More benefits will be announced in the coming months.

Earning on Partner Airlines

When flying partner airlines, members will earn Tier Points as a percentage of the distance flown and based on the fare class (broken out in the table above).

Colm Lacy, Chief Commercial Officer at British Airways, said:

The changes we have announced today underline our continued investment in our loyalty programme and in our customers. Based on our Members’ feedback, we’ve built on the changes we’ve already made – including how customers collect Avios and their membership year – in a way that we believe better rewards their loyalty and reflects their changing travel needs.

 

While we have announced a number of positive changes today, I particularly wanted to highlight better rewarding our customers who book through British Airways Holidays and making this a permanent part of our proposition, removing the limit on earning. We know that many of our customers make their holiday plans during our annual January sale period, so it’s great to be able to announce this today.”

Anthony’s Take: The new program makes it more costly to earn status with British Airways. This should surprise no one as almost every loyalty program continues to increase requirements annually. American Airlines was the only notable exception this year (for qualifying for 2026 status) with no changes made.

(Image Credits: Nick Fewings and British Airways.)