We have all been waiting for BA to confirm its plans for extending status in light of the continuing legal restrictions on any kind of leisure travel from the UK until at least 17 May. After Virgin only extended status for 3 months, I was not expecting a blanket extension for all members. I was correct and although there will be some winners from today’s announcement, there will be many that feel they have been unfairly treated by the latest announcement. Obviously, it doesn’t mean that BA won’t do something else once the picture for travel from the UK in 2021 becomes clearer.
British Airways has today announced it will be protecting the Tier status of SOME Executive Club members for a further year. Eligible members will receive an additional 12 months on their Tier status expiry date which will be updated in their Executive Club accounts this week. The extension is only available for members whose Tier Point collection end date falls between 1 July and 31 December 2021, will have their Tier status protected for an additional 12 months, irrespective of how many Tier Points they earn. British Airways continues to reduce the amount of Tier Points needed to reach each Tier by 25 per cent for those whose Tier Point collection year ends before July 2022.
Niall Rooney, Head of the British Airways Executive Club, said: “As we await the Government’s decision in April and plan for the safe restart of travel as soon as possible, we want to thank our Executive Club members for their loyalty during the most difficult time in the airline’s history.
“We know many of our members haven’t been able to travel, but today’s news means they can keep their benefits for longer and use them when they’re able to fly again. We hope this complements a number of measures we’ve already introduced, including our book with confidence commitment, which provides flexibility and reassurance for our customers.”
BA’s statement says that ” It also means that no British Airways Executive Club member will lose their Tier status in 2021.” This is true and they have given an extension already. However, they will either need to do something else after the 12 April government travel announcement or risk alienating some of their highest spending members.
Let’s take the most extreme example (which includes both myself and Paul). If you are a Gold Guest List Member whose status now expires in the first few months of 2022, you are in a difficult situation. To earn Gold Guest List you initially have to earn 5,000 points. This gets you a Concorde Room card and Gold Guest List status. You can then renew for 3,000 points if you don’t mind not having the Concorde Room card. Currently, with the reduction of 25% off tier points for renewals this year, it would mean that you need to earn either 3,750 for the CCR card or 2,250 just to renew or you will be downgraded to silver in 2022. With travel not expected to restart until 17 May at the earliest, that will give you 9 months to earn status.
If everything went back to normal instantly, having a 25% reduction in earning tier points would be perhaps enough. However, with business travel cut to the bar minimum for at least the next few months and nearly all UK long haul routes being either on the red list or requiring 14 days quarantine, the majority of people will be unable to travel long haul. Many countries are unlikely to reopen borders to any extent for a further 6 months. To get status you would need to do 3 Club Europe returns per month to reach the lower threshold of GGL for the next year. While that may be technically possible, it’s unlikely very many people could justify doing this from a business or personal point of view currently.
Hopefully, BA will continue to consider individual cases if you present evidence that you had trips cancelled that would have meant you retained status. So far I have had nearly 2,000 tier points worth of trips cancelled this year. If you are in a similar situation, make sure you keep all the details of the cancelled trips. You can then apply to BA for them to take the lost tier points into account if you are unable to retain status. Sadly I earned my GGL status in February 2020 so only got to use the Concorde Room twice before it closed. I definitely have not got much value for money out of my Concorde Room card!
British Airways previously announced a six-month extension to all Executive Club vouchers, due to expire before 31 December 2021. This was the third extension that was applied, following similar extensions in March 2020 and October 2020 and included Gold Upgrade Vouchers and American Express Companion Vouchers. British Airways is also adding an additional six-months validity to all new Companion Voucher or Travel Together tickets earned between June 2020 and the end of December 2021.
What do you think about the latest status extension from British Airways? Is it enough? Let us know in the comments below.
29 comments
The way I read this – if my collection year ends on 08 August 2021 and I am GGL with Concorde Card I should get and extension to August 2022 with a Concorde Room Card?
Yes that’s correct
How does this connect with the status extensions announced last Spring?
My tier point collection year ends 8 June 2021 so I won’t be covered by this extension, but the app says my card expires on 31 July 2022, so I already have an extra year. The slower speed of opening up long haul travel means that I’m not likely to have anything like a full year before dropping off Gold in June/July 2022.
Yes that’s the issue. So everyone like you including me, that has status expiring in the first half of 2022 will struggle to make status. You only have to make 75% of the tier points but it’s still going to be tricky.
Looks like I am in luck. I’m only Bronze and renewal was 8 Aug 2021, and was looking to push to Silver before that date. Flights I had booked have now been cancelled or changed so looked like I would not be in luck. With the added extension, Silver should definitely be on the cards – Gold, might be a bit far but who knows 🙂
Hi
Still rather confused with something!
My Silver status expires 8th Dec 2021…
Two questions –
1. Will my status Silver status be extended to 8th Dec 2022?
2. Am I able to Go for Gold status in 2022, by hitting the Gold tps of 1125?
Or would I need to achieve 1500 tps, as I currently am not a gold member?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
Yes, you will get silver status until 31 January 23, but will need to get enough tier points to maintain silver by 8 December 2022 to keep it past 31.1.23. Yes, you could try and get gold by getting 1125 by 8 December 2021. The reduced tier points apply to all status levels for renewals until July 22.
Thanks for the prompt response.
One additional question if you wouldn’t mind –
As my Silver status is now secured until Jan 2023, to chase the higher status, I don’t think it will viable to chase Gold this year.
However, if I were to push for Gold status from Jan 2022,how many months would I have to play with until the 25% tp reduction stops?
Would it be for all flights booked and flown up till July 2022 or will this tp reduction continue until my status end date of Dec 2022?
Sorry I may have confused you before. You would have to get gold status this year as it only applies for tier point years that finish by July 22. So you would have to achieve it by 8 December for your tier point year
Hi,
My tier points end date is sept 2021 so I fall within this bracket however my card already expires in oct 2022, somehow in the previous extension I got two years. I assume nothing will happen now or will BA IT add another bonus year on?
You only get the status extension of your status expires in 2021, so sadly no extra extension for you!
With my year ending in January I have to earn 75% of points in under 50% of the year. Which compared to some others is unfair. Which whilst reduced for Gold, will I really get a couple of transatlantic returns and more in to get 1125 points – I doubt it.
Sadly there is no way effective to contact BA to at least make comment – it would make zero difference, but at least I would have made my point.
So I suspect we will both drop down for 2022 and beyond when I guess the earning will be back to normal.
Hopefully they will do something for everyone else at a later day. Twitter is a useful way to contact BA for comments.
This is big very fair on me. I have not been able to travel all year and my collection term ends 8th May 2021. Travel isn’t even allowed until 17th May so I’ll lose my silver status. So I’ll get knocked down to Bronze. Every flight that I had booked has been cancelled over the last year so very unfair that I’m losing out.
Are you sure that your status is not valid until June 2022? No one should lose status in 2021. If you check on the app or your account online you should have a card expiry date of 30 June 2022.If it doesn’t say that you need to contact BA as that is not correct.
So if my tier point collection year ends on 08 Jul 2021
My card expiry is 31 Aug 2021
Tier points are currently zero as I have not been able to travel at all since last year
I am currently on Silver status
Does this mean that I will retain Silver until Jul 2022?
To retain Silver, will I have to achieve the reduced tier points amount of 450 by Jul 2022 or will it be back to the normal amount of 600?
Any advice would be greatly received.
Thanks!
Hi LJB. Yes your card expiry will now be August 22. You will need to get 450 tier points by 8 July 22. Once the change takes place you can check how many tier points you need in the app.
Thanks Michele. Appreciate your response!
Hi, my tier year ends 8 Jan 22 having been extended a year from Jan 21. How likely is it to be extended again as travel areas could be scarce for many months. Thank you. Lesley
I think BA will have to do something but I think they are waiting to see how travel recovers before they make further decisions.
My silver status ends in Feb 2022 and my travel usually is to USA and Canada -both of which are closed, but there is no way I’ll be able to make stats. I assume I’ll loose it and I have to say I will probably go elsewhere when I next choose my flights
HI Michele,
Like you my Gold Card year ends Jan 22. I find the possibility of renewing that as near impossible without a normal long haul network and removal of travel restrictions. Obviously I will soft close to Silver after Jan, until then the message appears clear, BA don’t want my business.
You are right – I hope – in expecting BA to loosen this nearer the time, not least because it will take time for business travel to re-start. Most of my business trips, for example, are to Canada, which having performed well in the early stages of the pandemic now seems to have fallen behind the curve. But BA needs to be aware of the risk to its business if other airlines build up status-matching offers once travel does re-start. My year end is 08 Feb, so if BA sticks to this policy I shall be caught by it, and will be most unhappy. It only takes little things to drive customers elsewhere. Some years ago, when we were more in bed with Skyteam, AF lost about £8,000 of flights by requiring me to call on 0871 number. DL got the business instead. If BA penny-pinches on this it risks losing high paying customers, as you say.
Meanest airline ever. I had accumulated sufficient tier points (bar one flight) to move from Bronze to Silver and at a stroke, BA cancelled all those them. They graciously retained my Bronze status but I would need to make up sufficient tier points between May and the first week in Jan just to retain Bronze. An impossible feat in the current circumstances especially as the long haul destination I normally travel to are in the red list. Not impressed and not a loyalty incentive
Thankj you for the note – I was downgraded last year (contrary to my understanding otf their policy) have had to cancel 3 holiday trips (2 Europe 1 long haul ) which would have preserved my status. BA and the Exec Club have failed to respond to any e mail. leters and the phones are a joke. Who do you write to?
BA could improve the situation by not resetting tier points to zero on the anniversary date. There is no incentive at all to pay for a BA flight until the final year of the ‘protected’ status
Will an Amex companion voucher originally expiring late 2020 and extended to Oct 2021 be extended further into 2022?
Am I reading my account correctly? TP expiry date 08 Nov ’21 but the gold card expiry date is 31 Dec ’22. seems very odd.
Yes that’s how they do it. You still have the original tier point date as you could for example get GGL by then so the target date needs to stay the same. However your status is valid for an extra year. Your card is always valid until the end of the next month after your TP collection year. Hope that makes sense.
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