Last night, British Airways announced a massive change to the loyalty programme for the airline in 2025, one that will change how the airline grants status. Also, the airline will change the name of the loyalty programme, so say bye-bye to the British Airways Executive Club and hello to The British Airways Club.

British Airways will move to a “revenue-based” format of earning status.

British Airways used to grant Tier Points based on the distance flown (slab) and the fare class booked, but as of April 1, 2025, the airline will switch to awarding Tier Points based on the revenue generated by the members. This will bring the elite status earnings in line with the Avios award part of the programme, which has been revenue-based since late 2023. The airline will also rebrand to move from “British Airways Executive Club” to “The British Airways Club”, dropping the Executive part, who are the people who will still benefit from this move and continue to earn status.

With the new overhauled programme, British Airways will grant one Tier Point per GBP of eligible spending. The airline will also offer other ways to earn Tier Points, including spending on co-branded credit cards and paying for extras such as seat selection and additional baggage.

The status requirements will also change. Effective April 1, 2025, the status qualification requirements will become:

• The British Airways Club Bronze status will require earning 3,500 Tier Points (GBP 3,500 spend, equivalent to INR 3,76,000)
• The British Airways Club Silver status will require 7,500 Tier Points (GBP 7,500 spent, equivalent to INR 8,06,000)
• The British Airways Club Gold status will require 20,000 Tier Points (GBP 20,000 spend, equivalent to 21,50,000)
• The British Airways Club Gold Guest List status will require 65,000 Tier Points, with at least 52,000 earned through British Airways marketed flights, qualifying add-ons, and British Airways Holidays packages), and 40,000 to retain (with at least 32,000 earned through British Airways marketed flights, qualifying add-ons, and British Airways Holiday packages)

Qualifying spending includes flights (before taxes and fees) and ancillary spending, like seat selection and excess baggage. Some of the other ways to earn Tier Points include:

• Earn up to 1,000 Tier Points per year for contributing to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF); you earn one Tier Point and 10 Avios per GBP 1 spent on SAF Credit purchases.
• Earn uncapped Tier Points from booking British Airways Holidays vacation packages, with Tier Points earned based on the price of the package at one Tier Point per GBP 1 spent. The Tier Points will be split evenly across all the group’s non-infant travellers on the Holidays package.
• Later in 2025, BA members can earn up to 2,500 Tier Points per annum by spending on their UK-issued co-brand Amex credit cards.

British Airways will also introduce new milestone benefits between tiers. Members will start with earning 2,500, 4,000, and 5,000 bonus Avios at milestones within Bronze and Silver.

Earning Tier Points via Partner Flights Credit

For partners on which British Airways does not have fare information, members will earn Tier Points based on the fare class as a percentage of the distance flown.

Ironically, in the media statement on the new programme, British Airways credited the changes to “Member Feedback”. Here is how Colm Lacy, British Airways Chief Commercial Officer, describes these changes:

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.

My Take on the Changes

British Airways status could be earned even by leisure travellers, provided they did a bit of bargain hunting to fish for it. However, now, it is a straight change, with the airline requiring GBP 20,000 of spend on the airline, which will edge out many leisure spenders. The airline may want people to switch to booking Holidays with the airline, which is a margins business that will allow the airline to make money on the passengers as well.

However, if you are a BA frequent flyer who buys flexible tickets on the Club World cabin, you should earn the status just for 1.5-2 trips.

I remember being at BA’s headquarters in Waterside in 2011/2012 when they switched to Avios as a currency. Passionate frequent flyers then took the airline to the cleaners with feedback. Now, these changes, as per BA, “underline our continued investment in our loyalty programme and in our customers” and are “based on our Members’ feedback.” Nope, this is a devaluation floating around the industry and is easy to sell to the CFO because there is a direct correlation between the business and the status from now on.

Get oneworld status for just USD 49-149

If you are still looking to earn oneworld status, you can status match into Royal Jordanian’s Status Match Programme while you still can. You can earn a Silver Status on RJ (equivalent to BA Bronze, oneworld Ruby Tier) for just USD 49 and a status in most hotels and airline programmes. On the other hand, you can also get Gold Status on RJ (equivalent to BA Silver, oneworld Sapphire) but only against equivalent Airline statuses. Make sure to enlist that you reside in one of the countries where the programme is offered.

Bottomline

As of April 2025, British Airways will overhaul its loyalty programme. The programme will change from the British Airways Executive Club to The British Airways Club. Tier Points earning and how many tier points will be required to earn status will evolve as well as of this date.

What do you think of British Airways’ loyalty programme changes?

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