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British Airways announced sweeping changes to its loyalty program in late December. This included saying goodbye to its Executive Club and renaming its loyalty program “The British Airways Club” as well as making qualification more difficult and based solely on money spent with the airline to earn Tier Points rather than distance flown as it had been. Members were outraged and much like we saw Delta do when it tried to change too much, British Airways is rolling back some of the planned updates.
Increased Tier Bonus Offer
British Airways is offering a bonus on all flights operated between April 1st (when the new program begins) and December 31st. These increased bonuses include the following:
- Euro Traveller (Economy Class | Short-Haul) increases from 50 to 75 Tier Points
- Club Europe (Business Class | Short-Haul) increases from 100 to 175 Tier Points
- World Traveller (Economy Class | Long-Haul) increases from 70 to 150 Tier Points
- World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy Class | Long-Haul) increases from 140 to 275 Tier Points
- Club World (Business Class | Long-Haul) increases from 210 to 400 Tier Points
- First Class (Long-Haul) increases from 330 to 550 Tier Points
Members must opt in to receive the bonus points. Make sure to register.
The new elite status qualification requirements remain the same as announced initially in December:
- 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)
Qualifying Based On Segments
British Airways used to offer status qualification based on the number of segments (sectors) flown. This was removed with the changes to an all-revenue-based model. It’s coming back for the lower tiers as BA is throwing a bone to these folks who likely would not have qualified given the steep hikes in spend needed. All flights need to be operated by British Airways.
- The British Airways Club Bronze: 25 sectors
- The British Airways Club Silver: 50 sectors
It is not possible to earn Gold or Gold Guest List based on sectors.
Colm Lacy, Chief Commercial Officer at British Airways, said:
Our members have a deep emotional connection with our loyalty scheme and their status means a lot to them – we’re confident the changes we’ve made fairly reward members for their travel with us.”
Anthony’s Take: It was clear that members were upset when BA announced these changes. It’s good to see that the airline is listening and that it at least softened the blow slightly.
(Image Credits: British Airways.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
