British Airways will extend elite member status for 1-year and offer lower requirement for requalificiation

When it comes to status, British Airways has been one of the airlines which has not done much for their members so far. They continued to wait and watch, but not react to the stop on travel that was put out due to the CoronaVirus.

Now, British Airways has taken a call on the situation. British Airways will be extending the current status of all Executive Club members by 12 months. British Airways will also reduce the (re)qualification threshold for the following 12 months by 25%.

The extra year of status has been rolled out to BA Executive Club members today and will be added when membership renewals happen at the Bronze, Silver and Gold status levels. The tier requalification dates should be between July 2020 and June 2021 to get this extra year of status. This extension is valid for Bronze, Silver and Gold tier members only.

a child touching a hat to a man

Six months have been added to the expiry date of all Gold Upgrade Vouchers, Companion Vouchers and Travel Together Tickets earned via any British Airways credit card.

To further stimulate travel amongst their members, British Airways is offering a 25% reduced requirement to retain the current tier or step up a level:

  • BAEC Bronze, which usually requires 300 Tier Points, will require 225 Tier Points or 18 eligible flights
  • BAEC Silver, which usually requires 600 Tier Points, will require 450 Tier Points or 37 eligible flights
  • BAEC Gold, which usually requires 1500 Tier Points, will require 1125 Tier Points

Also, members will need to have flown a minimum number of British Airways or Iberia flights to qualify for the 25% Tier threshold reduction to upgrade, or subsequently renew their membership for the following year. This is 2 for Bronze membership, and 4 for Silver and Gold membership.

For instance, my status which would have expired in December 2020 will now be extended till December 2021, and I would have to earn only 1125 points to retain that status.

Bottomline

This is excellent news for British Airways customers around the world, who perhaps have been waiting for a long time to hear what would adequately move the needle for the airline to offer them a longer rope for their hard-earned status. Overall, this gives a two-year leeway to members, one year of added extra status, and another year with reduced requirements to win back status again.

What do you think of the move by British Airways to extend Executive Club status?


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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. Wow. Silver was going to expire this September & had planned a few flights to use with one world partner JAL but cancelled now. Thank you
    Looking forward to flying again

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