In the announcement most members of BA’s Executive Club had been dreading, British Airways has today announced a raft of changes. The Executive Club will simply change to being called The British Airways Club and will introduce wide sweeping changes on 1 April 2025. After already reducing Avios earnings recently (which BA claim has resulted in the majority of people earning more Avios, I doubt this is the case for most premium leisure travellers) and the unpopular brunch/supper services, it seems BA is going for the hat trick.
We thought that some changes were possibly coming which I spoke about in (this article) but I didn’t think it would be such a dramatic change.
In this post:
Timeline of Changes
There are three change points from 1st April 2025 (no, this is not an April Fools), Members can expect:
- Spend based Tier Point system. The good news is that it will include ancillary spend including seat selection and excess baggage. However, the amount you earn is pretty low. Members will earn 1 Tier Point for every £1 of eligible spend. The eligible spend does at least include the base fare and the Carrier Imposed Charges (YQ and YR), but not the non-airline taxes and fees. This is positive as they could have just gone for the base fare. If you use a voucher or discount code, the TPs will be based on the base cost after the discount.
The price breakdown can be found on the “Flight Summary” page before confirming a booking or on the booking confirmation email. You will have to calculate your predicted TPs using that information – it won’t be shown in the same way as before. There is an example on the BA announcement page linked below.
From 1 April 2025, there will also no longer be a need to take a certain number of flights in addition to the Tier Points needed to move between Tier levels. You will also not be able to earn status by taking a set amount of flights. The only way to do this is in the new scheme is through the money spent. For Tier Point collection periods up to 31 March 2025, you still need to take a minimum number of eligible flights on top of the Tier Points needed to move between Tiers.
Examples for flights booked before 30 December 2024 for travel after 1 April 2025
London Heathrow to New York booked in Economy (O class):
- Today you earn 20 Tier Points each way
- From 1 April 2025, we’ll convert this to 267 Tier Points each way
London Heathrow to Madrid in Club Europe (I class)
-
- Today you earn 40 Tier Points each way
- From 1 April 2025, BA convert this to 534 Tier Points each way
On partner airlines (not Iberia or AA, which will be solely revenue-based), in some cases, where the fare paid is unavailable to BA or hasn’t been disclosed, you’ll earn Tier Points based on a percentage of miles flown. The cabin and booking class will also be considered, as shown in the table below.
For example, if you fly 1,000 miles in Business Lowest you’ll earn 250 Tier Points which is 25% of the miles flown.
Additionally, for flights booked before 30 December 2024 for travel from 1 April 2025, that are marketed by British Airways, American Airlines or Iberia, Tier Points will be awarded based on a conversion of the existing method. This means any bookings you’ve already made will earn proportionally the same number of Tier Points, or more, as today.
These are the rates BA will use:
| Your travel class | What you’ll receive |
|---|---|
| Economy Lowest (Q, O, G) | 25% Avios, 4% Tier Points |
| Economy Low (K, L, M, N, S, V) | 50% Avios, 7% Tier Points |
| Economy Flexible (Y, B, H) | 100% Avios, 15% Tier Points |
| Premium Economy Lowest (E, T) | 100% Avios, 12% Tier Points |
| Premium Economy Flexible (W) | 150% Avios, 25% Tier Points |
| Business Lowest (R, I) | 150% Avios, 25% Tier Points |
| Business Flexible (J, C, D) | 250% Avios, 50% Tier Points |
| First Lowest (A) | 250% Avios, 40% Tier Points |
| First Flexible (F) | 300% Avios, 60% Tier Points |
- Tier Points on a contribution to Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF): Members will also earn Tier Points and collect Avios by purchasing a contribution to SAF, earning up to 1,000 Tier Points per year. This sounds like a lot until you see the new Tier Point requirements. Customers will also be able to use their Avios as a form of payment for these green payments. You will be able to do this by visiting a dedicated landing page which will be live on April 1, 2025.
- New Tier Point Structure on British Airways Holidays: The British Airways Holidays’ current double Tier Points promotion is due to end on 30 June 2025. Instead, the airline has created a permanent tier point earning rate on holiday packages. Members will earn Tier Points based on the price of the entire package, with no limit in place. This includes any extras such as seat bookings.
For holidays with a travel date from 1 April 2025, you’ll earn 1 Tier Point per pound (£) spent on the total price of your holiday package. Tier Points will be evenly split between the number of people on the booking. All passengers who have added a British Airways Club number will receive their Tier Points after the trip is complete. Infants under two can’t earn Tier Points on a British Airways Holidays package. The good news is that they are removing the minimum stay requirement which makes things much simpler.
I asked BA about double tier point promotion bookings and got the following statement: ” In the same way as flight-only bookings, there’ll be a conversion to ensure that customers are earning proportionally the same or more Tier Points as they would do under the new model.” Basically, only eligible holidays booked before 30 December 2024 for travel completed by 30 June 25 will receive a double Tier Points bonus award.
Tier Points earned from a British Airways Holidays package will take 14 days, after you’ve completed your trip, to credit. Flights will stay the same.
Later in 2025, Members can also expect:
- Tier Points on credit card spending: This is probably good news for most members, although it does not really reward loyalty by actually flying with BA. BA American Express Premium Plus Cardmembers will be able to earn up to 2,500 Tier Points by spending on their card. More details of this offer will be announced closer to the launch date. From late November 2023 to May 2024, BA offered 200 Tier Points in return for spending £25,000. These were earned in increments with 100 TPs for £15,000 spend as the initial level. Let’s hope the new earning rate will be more generous.
- New milestone benefits between Tiers: The idea is to give more rewards between tiers. These 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.
Colm Lacy, British Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, 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.”
Existing Bookings
If you already hold bookings for travel after 1 April 2025 British Airways, American Airlines or Iberia you will be awarded Tier Points based on a conversion of the existing method, this also applies to BA Holiday bookings. Any existing bookings will earn proportionally the same number of Tier Points, or more, as they would today. I would assume this means in proportion to the new raised levels required for the tiers.
All bookings from 1pm today, 30 December will be under the new system of tier points if the booking is for travel after 1 April 2025.
The New Tier Point Thresholds
New Tier Thresholds:
- Bronze: 3,500
- Silver: 7,500
- Gold: 20,000
- Gold Guest List: 65,000 to qualify (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).
- GGL renewal: 40,000 points (with at least 32,000 earned through British Airways-marketed flights British Airways Holidays)
The threshold for Gold for Life will be 550,000 Tier Points, and Gold Guest List for Life will be 1,500,000. Members’ proportional progress towards Lifetime thresholds will be preserved and be based on the % of their current progress. As an example, if you are at 30,000 TPs, so nearly there, you would be 85% of the requirement. This means that you would need an eye-watering extra £80,000 of spend to get Gold for Life.
Let’s have a look at how the status levels would all add up versus the current system:
Current levels
- Bronze: 300
- Silver: 600
- Gold: 1,500
- Gold Guest List: 5,000 initially, then 3,000 for renewal
Let’s take Silver as an example. Currently, you could spend around £1500 on a business class Qatar ex EU and get some positioning flights in Club for £300 and wind up with silver for about £1800. Or if you did it flying BA Club Europe at an average of £300 per round trip it would cost around £2,250. Now you will need to spend £7,500 per person. This would be the equivalent of 3 long haul flights from the UK at £2500 or 25 return Club Europe trips at £300. BA Holidays could be a way to lessen the blow if you spend a lot of hotels and/or car hire. Plus, you could earn 2,500 Tier Points on the Amex card if you are a high spender.
We asked BA if they would indicate how many Tier Points you will earn at the time of booking, but they said the customers will be able to calculate this themselves, and there will be a thorough explanation available on the website.
Upgrade vouchers will also change:
From 1 April 2025, the way Members earn Tier Points is changing and the number of Tier Points needed to unlock certain rewards will be updated to reflect this.
- Gold Upgrade Voucher for Two: 35,000 Tier Points
- 2 x Gold Upgrade Voucher for One: 50,000 Tier Points
Tier Point Special Offer
“To celebrate these changes”, British Airways is offering limited time bonus Tier Points when booking before 14 February 2025 for travel from 1 April 2025. Bonus Tier Points will be awarded based on cabin, from Euro Traveller to First. It does not specify but I’d assume these to be per leg.
Bonus Tier Points will be awarded as follows:
- Euro Traveller: 50
- Club Europe: 100
- World Traveller: 70
- World Traveller Plus: 140
- Club World: 210
- First: 330
Conclusion
Very little of this seems to be positive, although the rate of earnings on BA Holidays does slightly soften the blow. Although this change has happened elsewhere, the UK is a different market with a lot of BA loyalty, which is likely to be negatively affected by the change.
Amongst the TLFL team, I am Gold and Michele is Gold Guest List. Both of us are in agreement that we will no longer be pursuing status with BA. Michele plans to just use BA where it is convenient/well priced or she can use Avios and/or vouchers.
Our first thought and possible workaround would be to obtain status with another Oneworld airline, such as American Airlines or Qatar. Their thresholds are unaffected and would mean you would have all the benefits of BA Gold but without the high spend. We will be covering how to obtain status with other airlines in the coming weeks.
British Airways has a special page for FAQs and more information. www.ba.com/theclub.
136 comments
This is going to be a case study one day in tone deaf management failing miserably. I used to try to qualify every couple of years for BA Gold but with these changes I’ll just fly other airlines as I regularly do. Especially as BA already has an issue with those high taxes out of London on premium flights.
agree totally and as a leisure traveller have no chance now of retain Gold. I have noticed the lounges in LHR are now packed but would it not have been better to just change the tier point structure to say
2500 Gold or 2000
1500 silver
1000 bronze
I will miss the perks like extra baggage, seat selection on reservation and a warm Gold welcome occasionally. Gold dedicated line etc etc.
probably look at KLM/Delta now or Star Alliance for long haul.
why change for change sake-rant over!!
What, if anything, will happen to those who are already Gold For Life. (I hope that BA isn’t going to tinker with this benefit, or not having to scramble for tier points any more – my preferred carriers to where I travel long haul (all for leisure) are Qatar, Finnair and Iberia)
Nothing currently. BA’s T&C say they have to give 6 months notice of any change so you are safe for at least 6 months. The new thresholds only affect new qualifiers.
In the FAQ recently posted by “The Executive Club” it’s not quite as easy as this, as far as I can see.
GFL are sitting pretty on this one.
As a recebt GGL I was hoping to see this categorised as a different level, giving something more for the effort of earning. There appears to be nothing in this for me to try and renew, indeed, nothing to attract me retaining any status with BA. I will enjoy the Concorde Room for the next 15 months but bid farewell to BA. Sadly, now a second rate airline with one of the most punitive loyalty schemes on the market. The brunch/dinner was tone deaf, this is just sticking your head in the oven stupid!
Totally agree with this! I’m GGL and within touching distance (1-2 years) of GFL but now it’ll take me 4-5 years and why bother? The airline is on a slippery slope and their products and services have been getting worse and worse for years. The only thing that’s kept me loyal to the airline is the convenience and familiarity of the Gold Wing and the few excellent people I regularly interact with at BA. I’ve had the privilege of flying first this year several times and it’s not as good as business class on other airlines.
Here here !
I have not seen and ‘feedback’ to say let’s make it virtually impossible for leisure traveller like me to reach Gold. Undoubtedly, I have been enjoying the perks of Gold such as recently using Cathay First lounge in HKG. But this loyalty is not going to be forever. I’ve booked some flights with Qatar for 2025 don’t know what it’ll be points wise with them. But I’ve seen some really good deals from your recent email the other day with other airlines eg Etihad, Turkish etc.
I enjoy the perks eg cathay first lounge in T3, Qantas First in LAX etc. For me it’s a conflicting balance. I just don’t feel BA is that great compared with some other oneworld partners.
When this change comes it might be time to move after all. Or just not bother with BA most of the time. Will see what the ground swell of opinion is like I’m sure there’ll be discussion on flyertalk and will see if it’s another brunchgate.
For anyone who has gold or silver, would now be the time to go for a status match on a SkyTeam or Star Alliance airline?
Sad unless you or your business pay high-end fares. But converting to tier points based on fares was inevitable. I said that on the BA Flyertalk board when BA switched to revenue-based mileage accrual, only to be met by a chorus of denial: Europe is different from America (where this approach is dominant), BA won’t want to lose its upscale leisure travelers, and so on. Unfortunately that was just wishful thinking. The bottom line is always the bottom line.
For more and more airlines, value as a customer is being determined by revenue spent and not miles flown. BA seem to be going this route as well now.
As you’ve mentioned looking into other airline programmes, perhaps a look at those programmes that leisure travellers could still benefit from based on their flying and not their spend. (as there are fewer of them with each passing year).
I was right years ago when I dropped from hold to silver then bronze and now blue, I predicted BA wasn’t anymore my choice of airline even being based in London, thankfully I had platinum for life with Air France, switched back to them and discovered how they have improved and how the service and treatment was so good, not a single flight I am not approached and asked if need any, not a single flight I am not offered a drink, an upgrade, a free seat next to mine, I was right in my prediction
Totally agree on AF. They seem to really be investing in the customer experience. All good flights for me with them and excellent, consistent crew.
I have a Gold Card with BA. I will now look very carefully to see whether it is worth investing any further in keeping the card. I will now look at flying other One World carriers and will look carefully at the offers you advertise on airlines such as Etihad. Way to upset a lot of loyal customers, BA!
As a founding member of the Exec Club this actually feels like a death in the family. My travels, spending and loyalty drive me to always consider BA as my airline of choice – even when they were more expensive. This was a complete shock and like many, can’t ever see myself or my partner spending £40k a year just to retain Gold. I think what BA have miscalculated is that this will result in a culture change for many loyal UK based frequent flyers. The days of picking BA to retain status or accumulate avios will no longer make sense, as our efforts will now transfer to different carriers. I’m actually still numb as I didn’t see this dramatic change coming.
They mention that thus decision was made after a customer survey. I for one did not see a survey. Maybe they had a lady in the Concorde lounge for a day to get feedback ! I have been gold and always silver but frankly BA’s product has always lagged behind other airlines and Like brunch gate (fly to starve) this will I believe be very negative to them in the future.
I agree. I’ve been a member for 33 years, and increasingly have recognised how little BA reward loyalty, nor even seem to want it. For example, I’ve been in a dispute about lost Tier Points data all year, and still no resolution. It seems that the great days of BEA and BOAC have finally faded into a semi-budget airline that doesn’t give a hoot if you’ve been an Exec Club member for a third of a century. If you can’t afford the nutty cost of renewal for Gold, you’re out. Obviously, British Airways has utterly failed to calculate the knock-on effects in a community of frequent flyers that compares and contrasts experiences, value and service quality continuously. It’s clear the decision-makers have simply disregarded the economic realities, since squandering loyalty is about the worst thing you can ever do in a highly competitive market where others already exceed the quality of your offering, so all you’ve got left is loyalty through the benefits of long association. I imagine that in May 2026 the First Lounge in T5 HRW will become an echoing, lonely shell of a place, devoid of atmosphere, life or optimism. All that’ll be left is a rump of wealthy, solitary travellers, playing out last orders in a declining members’ club whose greedy, unempathic masters heralded its own demise.
I have managed to retain Gold for a number of years now, limited in recent years to leisure travel only. There is no way that I shall be able to do so on this basis, so will have to decide whether I will be content to move to Silver, or to shop elsewhere. I suspect that other airlines will see this as an excellent opportunity to go in for status matching; I shall look with interest to see what is on offer. One possibility is to revert to using my local airport and connecting via AMS, which we did for many years. So i shall certainly be interested in a SkyTeam status match.
Living just two miles from Teesside airport with connections to AMS, my wife and I will almost certainly do the same
I don’t doubt the competition will be extremely eager to offer a welcome to proven frequent travellers. Status matching is pending and inevitable. Thus, when it comes to BA, I’ve never seen an airline so keen to undermine its most reliable revenue stream – frequent flyers, regardless of their motive to fly – for the sake of management’s whimsical pursuit of some mythical pot-of-gold attached to high rolling max-flex premium class passengers. I was part of the last generation to enjoy that high life extensively, right up to the late-1990s. It was fun, but these days it’s going, going… and almost gone. BA is diving into a shallow pool that’s evaporating fast in the searing glare of cost-cutting pressures and on-line efficiency savings. Unless they halt the current folly immediately, we, the cohort still loyal to a faltering airline service (that apparently can’t decide if it’s competing with budget airlines or private jets) will be going, going, gone too. I remember lamenting the merger of BEA/BOAC in the early 1970s. I never expected BA to actively hasten its own downfall by punishing the very people who’s kept it going through thick and thin in the decades since.
Bye Bye BA Executive Club
Hello Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! And why hasn’t this been communicated in advance to GGL and premier passengers and their opinion sought? There will be a max exodus from the airline’s loyalty programmes I predict.
I simply don’t believe their mantra that these changes are in response some compelling consumer preference based on “customer feedback.” Today, I’ve spoken with a number of Gold and Lifetime Gold Members who are profoundly in shock at these changes. All the talk is about finding alternative loyalty programmes. None of the talk is about accommodating BA’s attempts at demanding phenomenal additional financial commitments for what has, in recent years, been a degraded service. It’s as if BA has fooled itself into thinking it’s not subject to the established laws of business. They still have time to junk this crazy scheme. If they don’t, I suspect they’ll irrecoverably damage their reputation with the largest part of the premium market – which includes all the other flights that flanker off the core business travel. After all, if you’ve shifted to Star Alliance, you won’t be sending your family with British Airways, will you? When BA realise their mistake and appeal for forgiveness, who will trust them enough to return – and risk being betrayed again?
Hello. I am 65 TPs off Gold for Life. What is the best way to get this pinned down now or at least by end of March and at what cost? Thanks.
Fly in one day to and from EDI, GLA, ABZ, MAN, BHD or JER in Club Europe, whichever destination is cheapest (probably on a Saturday or Sunday). That will achieve 80 TPs.
For someone with 34,000+ tier points I would have thought you’d know how to get 65 more in the next 3 months?!
Just do a return to Malta in Club. Sorted.
Currently GGL and maintain about 4250 TP per year however with this I’ll struggle to get to GGL status I think and tbh I’m not sure the perks outway the spend. I thought BA would make GGL its own level and I’ve read the website that doesn’t even mention GGL so we aren’t that important to BA it seems. Think I’ll drop to Gold and enjoy another airline and see how they treat those that wish to fly premium and be valued. Happy New Year BA another loyal customer lost
I am at c. 29,000 lifetime tier points – I moved to Australia and now put most of my flights through Qantas. I was using BA on flights which paid better than Qantas (ie with JAL and Qatar where there is quite a discount on tier points earned with Qantas). With this change I don’t think I will try for GFL. I also don’t have complete confidence in BA making further changes down the track given the magnitude of these changes to the negative for the most part.
Why do they want to punish their most loyal customers?
Can’t see us staying with BA now and we always book business class for Europe and Long haul.
As someone who has been retired for many years I have to fund my own travel and by making full use of BA Holidays double tier points have for many year managed to retain silver tier status. This new arrangement will mean this status will be impossible to maintain and I will now go back to using travel agents like Trailfinders and the like to book my holidays and use the airline where they can obtain the best price. I suspect that BA will see less business for BA Holidays which they have recently highlighted as a profitable growth area.
Now would be the time to give BA a bloody nose here and no longer use them to achieve status or spend my hard earned cash with them. I agree with the TLFL team and will no longer be chasing gold status but instead switch to Qatar for a significantly better product.
As someone who pays over the odds for Premium Economy long haul due to company policies (no Business Class travel allowed), I should benefit from this move but even for me, I would struggle to retain my Gold status. Had they allowed the lead traveller to collect all the points for a holiday booking (as Virgin does), it might have been possible, but alas no.
This seems to be a move to flush away leisure travellers, tier point runners and anyone who isn’t a high spender. That would be great if the high spenders were seeing huge value from the airline but given the exceptionally poor technology employed. degrading service, terrible food options, and calamitous business decisions, it’s hard to see them clinging on to those people in the same numbers either.
Thanks for the memories BA, it was nice knowing you, I’ll now try out some of the competition and see what the fuss is about.
If I get enough TP for gold by end of March will I have that for the following year still?
My wife and I have had silver status for a number of years, largely due to visiting our family in Denver Colorado. Flying ex-NCL via LHR, we needed 3 visits per year in P/E (10+90 each way) or 2 visits there plus a BA holiday, which we’ve often done. But the new levels make silver totally unattainable. We will give up our status and simply start looking for the best value flights from a wider range of carriers in future. I suspect our story will be repeated by thousands of formerly loyal customers. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
I’m the same, work and family brought me to the US at least three times a year, I’ve booked World Traveller Plus where I could, paid for upgrades if there was a last minute offer, and a few European flights have always then got me over the line.
Now that won’t even get me to bronze, so there’s now little point in paying a premium to fly BA from April. The end result is that BA will lose most of my custom and I’ll almost certainly save money while possibly even having a better experience with other airlines.
Been Gold for some time now. I’ll try the new scheme next year but if I’m not happy, BA can F…OFF.
What the hell is wrong with them? The tier point change date was a kick in the teeth for many of us and now this!!
As if they couldn’t make things anymore complicated. Already booked flights in for post April 2025 as TP runs which will now not necessarily guarantee I keep my gold status. BA do not offer much to the customer (leisure) and this feels like another blow. Will be watching to see if flying with them continues to be worthwhile. Gut feel is a strong no currently.
If BA management wishes to spit in the face of those who have supported the airline through some pretty ropey times, then they can expect to live with the consequences. I will now be looking out for status match offers from Star Alliance or SkyTeam and will consider my options. This is akin to playing Russian roulette with customer loyalty.
For the relative few who decided to stay put with BA owing to corporate deals, enjoy the luxury of near empty lounges – until these are either downsized or closed owing to reduced footfall.
Being GGL by paying for my leisure travels it’s now a Bye Bye Ba , farewell ( most likely not with this leadership). The feeling is one of betrayal mixed with unappreciativeness.
But what to expect from a leadership that invented the fabulous BA Brunch scheme?
Guess the new loyalty program will be as successful…
After many loyal years with BA it will be exciting as a free agent.
I expect the lounges will become ghostly, characterless places that will put off customers. they’ll have to downsize, and perhaps even merge them with notional partitions perhaps. How many people will show up in Concorde Lounge in a few years time?
Another mess, that has no benefit to anyone. The entire BA management team needs sacking. It will no longer be achievable for average flyers to keep their silver status, even after spending many 1,000s every year on flights 🙁 will just no longer bother I guess.
Could someone please advise me? I currently have 33,425 tier points and 960 tier points booked to complete by 31 March, leaving me 615 tier points short for lifetime gold under the old ratios.
I’m considering doing 4 back-to-back flights at 160 tier points each. However, I’m unsure if I can book a BA holiday now for travel after 1 April that will still count towards lifetime gold under the current ratios. Any suggestions for the cheapest and quickest way to earn these tier points would be greatly appreciated.
You should check the FAQs on their website, but my read of it is that for a BA holiday to benefit from double TPs between April 1 and June 30, 2025, you would need to have booked it BEFORE today (Dec. 30, nicely timed yes!). The TPs would be calculated based on the new system.
As the new “club” launches on April 1, qualifying BA holidays booked for travel before April 1 would continue to accrue TPs under the existing system.
That’s my understand too. Unbelievable.
Try to fit in 1 x bah dbl tps to an 80 tp city, then 2 weekend x 160 tp trips.. hope you can manage the 5n trip before apr 1st tho…
I travel leisure, two or three times a year, always in premium cabins. There has always been an incentive for me to try and push for Gold via BA Holidays etc, but now no more (given the spending requirements). That one thing that meant I would prioritise travelling with BA has now gone and therefore likely some of my custom moving forward. Even Silver would be hard to attain at these requirements, and what benefit would that bring me bar a few more Avios?
I really don’t understand why the levels are so high (and yes, someone has probably crunched all the journeys made by all current members to work out the volumes at each level of £ spend) unless they are actively looking for a much more slimmed down Exec Club.
Thanks for this update. Are there any further changes, for example, there appears to be no Club Europe availability after April between Glasgow and Gatwick airports?
They are cutting the Glasgow – Gatwick route, it’s not otherwise related
Really! Given that many holiday destinations fly out from Gatwick this is another blow if you don’t live in the SE.
Well, one advantage is that it will save me having to fly to London to take an international BA flight. I can now start looking for the airline with the best price from the airports up north.
BA BOYCOTT
…..fly with
ANYONE BUT BA
Personally – after Covid – when it became clear airlines don’t really care about us – I stopped to chase any membership level – being BA gold and LH Senator for years. Just buy whatever it’s cheaper ( with decent airline ) and has better timing. Lounges all over deteriorated, food and drinks offered are far worse than used to be. I can’t see the point to spend a penny more than I have to.
I think this was always just a matter of time as many other airlines have made similar changes in recent years.
For me personally, I decided some time ago that I would no longer be chasing BA Gold status. Mainly because when I travel long haul I travel in premium cabins anyway so benefit from most of the perks ‘status’ would entitle me. And feeling locked in to always choosing OneWorld carriers to attain such status when there were frankly much cheaper BIZ deals with non OW aligned carriers where once again by virtue of cabin.
I am on 86000 tier points, accumulated over 22 years of loyal flying. If I calculate it correctly,GGLFL will now require a further spend of £240,000?
So BA if this is how you reward loyalty, I will enjoy the Concorde Room for another year and then you can properly f*ck off. Status match to Virgin and Turkish, here I come.
I’m the same…..Concorde Lounge is OK and the jokers are a good perk, but I’m not going to be blackmailed into spending £40k a year just for those.
Hi, I see you say “All bookings from 1pm today, 30 December will be under the new system of tier points if the booking is for travel after 1 April 2025. ” I can’t find that on the BA website, it just says from 30th December it will be on the new system – can you share where I can find that information.
I booked a “double tier points” holiday in April flying in club this morning that doesn’t now need to be in club if its on the new basis! – but can’t cancel it without loss of deposit.
Thanks
I booked a double tier points holiday in April a few days ago, so should still get the double points, but will it be worth it? At the moment I assume that I will wait for a better SkyTeam status match than the recent paid one, but will obviously need to earn their TP equivalent to maintain status. Losing the £170 deposit might be small beer against that. And I now regret my TP run in 2 weeks to get me to GGL for a year, which may well now be wasted if I’m earning elsewhere.
I pay for all my own flights. I often buy lowest price Club tickets LHR – OSL. Under the current system, I need the equivalent of 37.5 return tickets to re-qualify for my current GGL status (37.5 x 80 tier points = 3,000 tier points) at about £13,000. Under the new system, I would need to buy about 140 equivalent return tickets at over £49,000! Not happening.
At the moment I do flights plus holiday twice a year and spend around £3500 with BA to keep Silver
From what I see I will now need to spend £7500!
Brunch. Lots old biz class layout and now this. BA has lost my loyalty
I will miss the F Wing when scooting up to T5 late on a Friday after work. But, the game always requires flexibility and consumers may choose their merchants as much as BA may choose its priorities. It is good to see Eugene and Michele already turning their eye towards alternative OW schemes.
I’d hope anyone would realistically realise if you are running a business giving away endless freebie’s (in this case some food and wine in a lounge) to customers who spend the minimum amount of cash (and frequently with non-BA airlines because they are cheaper) – those customers aren’t loyal, they are gaming the system. Loosing you as a customer to another airline will save BA money – all the perks they provide customers with their shortcut Gold Card, benefits BA have to provide to customers on flights that cost the same as EasyJet to Europe – it doesn’t work for them and everyone else has to pay for it. I couldn’t agree more with the rationale- loyalty isn’t frequency it’s spend – same at Tescos and Sainsbury’s- could care less how often you visit, care how much you spend with them.
Not to say there are some people who would rightly move business away from BA – I’m sure many SME’s flying Premium Economy would happily move to Virgin or KLM now.
And think of the personal CO2 emissions saved not flying around the world pointlessly on points runs for some ‘free’ champagne…
I felt the Double Tier Point BA Holidays offer had been a huge driver of business for BA and made up for the loss of business travel since COVID. If they keep those Tier thresholds at the levels announced, most people will give up trying for status and use other cheaper airlines more often. Not dissimilar to a Labour Government putting up taxes and thinking everyone will just work harder. No, many of the real drivers of the economy ‘quietly quit’ or emigrate.
Having reached silver three times then gone down to blue to claw my way back to silver again. (we only travel business for leisure) so pay for our flight personally. I will not be able to achieve Silver again. Now I shall start looking at Air France having read such good reviews on here. BTW I live a four hour drive from Heathrow so any European flights I don’t take with BA as they don’t fly from my local airport. I have already booked two long haul Business Class Holidays with BA for 2025
Adios BA
May I just provide a modest “counter-argument” in that there is, I think, one “benefit” from the new system in that it should remove a current anomaly whereby having just earned 730 Tier Points through recently taking BA First Class direct return flights from LHR to Sydney (BA15 &16), I am still stuck in Bronze despite exceeding the TP threshold for progression to Silver. Apparently, I need to take a further two eligible flights to progress to Silver: despite the Executive Club website stating that “once you reach 600 points within the same year you will become a silver member” Having taken the longest direct flights possible with BA and in the highest cabin class, it appears I get no Tier Point reward under the present system.
If you take the cheapest possible flight to a UK airport such as EDI, GLA, ABZ, MAN or BHD and back in one day by 31 Mar 25, you will have achieved the four BA or IB flights needed for Silver, which will last until 31 Mar 26. But I agree that scrapping the four flight requirement is a help, especially as I have o often needed to tick off those 4, while making flights with much better airlines such as QR and CX.
But it doesn’t state that. It, very clearly, ( currently and for years now) states there is a minimum requirement of 2 BA flights for bronze and 4 for both silver and gold.
Whilst I am livid with them for this BS they have always been incredibly clear about this. To the point that even the app will tell you X tier points and Y flights needed to reach Z level.
You missing this information that is clearly displayed anywhere where you are logged in and viewing your account screen isn’t their fault.
I’ve just read through the mail shot and, as a leisure traveler, wonder why I would favor BA any more. My wife and I have maintained Silver status for a few years now and, with the spend on Amex, have managed around 6 2-4-1 vouchers (still one to use up). With the hike in Amex annual fee and the increased spend requirements, combined with this announcement, I’ll certainly be looking else where for travel.
BUT, I can’t get my head around the section about ‘British Airways Club Partner Cards’. Does this mean one Silver or Gold member can have their partner (or other nominee) given the same status but without the qualifying spend????/
I agree with some of the things said above by those who were “gaming the system” and costing BA money via drinking free champagne etc etc. But having gamed the system to get gold for years, the main reason for me is not alcohol but space (row 1 in CE) and being able to pre-book a seat (I’m 6’5 and this is essential given BA’s awful CE legroom).
I used to look at guys (and gals) who were necking bottles of champagne and wonder whether they knew the price their liver was paying for their perceived “win” against BA, and how much they were really enjoying the stuff after glass 5. I love a drink, but just because it’s free doesn’t mean you have to abuse it, and these changes have, in part, been driven by abuse. (there are many other factors, almost none of which are in BA’s gaslighting press release).
We are where we are. BA clearly have far too many gold card holders now due to the Covid double tier carrots, though those initiatives do seem somewhat cynical in retrospect given the massive change to lifetime levels. A change was due, but this feels dramatic. I’m sure they have good data, but I wonder if BA realise just how many of their bookings are driven by people who in some way are booking because of status?
A big part of their bookings (say 25%) are, I think, either::
A) A booking made because the customer wants to top up their tier and the price difference to a better airline is minimal; or
B) A booking made specifically to do tier point runs near the end of a year.
If BA lose all the bookings which are tier point runs, and all of the “meh, I’ll go with BA” bookings, how the heck are they going to fill that hole? Are they really going to get that much more revenue from random new customers? Who are those people and why will they suddenly spend more? There’s a lot of talk about how many people will leave the club/BA, but I don’t see the target market who will suddenly fly more or spend more with the airline because of these changes. So if a bunch of people leave and no one new comes along that’s fairly basic maths – reduced loads/profit. Even if the people leaving were “low profit customers”, you can’t tell me that having a bum on a seat at £400 going to MLA on a tier point run isn’t better than flying empty. Fuel isn’t that expensive, and nor is champagne.
The silver lining which many haven’t talked about is the BA holidays spend option, but that is so open to abuse and scamming I think it will get tweaked before rollout, so I’m not banking on it. I won’t say how because I don’t want to encourage it.
It also makes no sense to me. BA is an airline, first and foremost. Why the hell should I get more tier points for booking an economy trip to the states for two weeks with a few nice hotels and a car hire than flying first class to Singapore?
I will not chase BA Gold after this. Ive been Gold for a number of years and im dissapointed at the announcement. They created this mess with Double Tier Points Holidays, now rather than adjust that, they are killing the regular flyers who use BA mainly for work and some leisure. I think im going to try Emirates and only use BA when its more convenient. BA have priced themselves out of the Asia market, and still use the old style Business Class planes…makes no sense, management making these devisions have lost their minds.
The new Chief Executive of BA Hols has just left a similar post from TUI U.K. The BA hols offering in the package holidays arena is uncompetitive and unsophisticated so it will be interesting to see what they do. I’m ex travel industry, now retired. Sitting on 2M + Avios, it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out. I’ll be reading posts even more attentively going forward to see which loyalty scheme I need to invest in. My Gold will lapse soon and I need a push in another direction.
Having flown back overnight from Grenada on a very tired Gatwick fleet 777 with old Club World with great food, poor service, no recognition on any of the 4 flights of Gold, I looked rather enviously at the Virgin plane next to us in St Lucia.
I travel a lot with BA on business, hit Gold renewal 6 months early. Personal travel has benefited from the Double Tier points offer.
But I guess my punchline is a Gold for Life looks unobtainable prior to retirement in 2 years, my loyalty to BA and probably One Workd is likely to gon
I’ll be on the Grenada to Gatwick flight at the end of February and I am not particularly looking forward to it so it’s interesting to hear your opinion. As it’s the return leg of a LHR – MIA – GND – LGW 2-4-1 I can’t really complain at the £450 taxes we paid. If it wasn’t a 2-4-1 I’d be using other airlines.
I have assiduously flown at my own expense sufficiently often to retain Gold (usually only just) over most of the last ten years. I reckon I would spend around £7-8k p.a. (including schemes such as BAH Double tier points) to get my 1500 points. I now would probably struggle to keep Silver!
It seems a huge shame/mistake for BA to basically reserve Gold membership for corporate frequent fliers who are not paying out of their own pocket and whose loyalty is a function of corporate travel policy. Meanwhile BA are ditching loyal leisure users, who are often advocates.
I like the F lounges at LHR/LGW but they are not worth spending £20k p.a.
So I while enjoy Gold for the next year, I now consider myself “liberated” to look for cheaper business fares on other carriers. Cheers!
PS I was a BA Director with responsibility for the FFP (some years in the past) so this move hurts a lot
I think your conclusions, based on your employment with BA, say it all. It’s terribly sad – but useful to hear. I think a lot of us are feeling it’s like a kind of break-up, because the other party (BA) has broken its solemn vows – for example, “if we stay together I promise to give you a Lifetime of Gold.” Indeed, I suspect the threatened altering of the goalposts for something like the Gold For Life threshold which takes literally decades for most of us to achieve constitutes an actual breach of contract – and undoubtedly does so in moral terms. From a marketing perspective, it’s incredible to see that BA has failed in one of the most basic laws of business – retaining hard-earned loyalty from proven high value customers. it’s so basic I never expected it – and nor have many others. This is the ultimate breach of faith and it’s impossible to see how BA can recover their position, or increase their net return, unless they speedily halt this economically insane misadventure.
Been a BA silver or gold for 25 years. But no more. There is no way I can achieve silver with BA from next year. So like others it will be BA only if they are cheaper.
As somebody who was going to spend the next few days planning trips in the new year with a view of maintaining status, my options have just opened up and am now looking at No Fly cruises and other airlines.
The decision to to put everybody onto the same collection year with the first year being a transition looked attractive but now the sting in the tail has become to light….
I will enjoy my current benefits until March 2026 and should I book BA due to a destination / timing, I will but if there is an alternative cost effective option or more convenient airport I will take that option which I would NEVER have done in the past due to LOYALTY.
BIG MISTAKE spring to mind, shame.
I have also spotted the double tier point OFFER to 30th June has reduced to 31st March
My plans for April through June have changed which is a shame for the Hotels we have been visiting for the past few years BUT new destinations, airlines and travel options now beckon
BA say you will still get the equivalent of the double TP bonus on BA holidays booked prior to yesterday for travel April-June.
So presently Gold, Gokd for FY 25/26. Do I still get a soft landing to Silver if I can’t get the Tap?
I saw in another article that there are no soft landings any more – but as I”m unsure on this, don’t quote me!
BA have said on social media that no changes to soft landings
First, what a time of year to drop this bombshell. Bah humbug.
Second, how on earth can BA justify Gold status being worth £20k of spend.
Third, clearly years of loyalty to BA buys you nothing.
As for this “due to member feedback” BS, no-one is buying it.
I expect that the bright sparks in the so called management team that came up with this hugely negative change will most likely have just joined the airline and will probably be gone within 18 months. It beggars belief that they haven’t run it past their premium flyers prior to implementation.
I’m off too – its now clear loyalty has no space at BA – the interns have been at it again.
Heathrow T5 and the runways will be less busy I guess very soon once loyalists walk away.
Oh dear BA, what a screw up.
I am afraid I will be shifting to another airlines loyalty programme and preffered airline. Means 2025 my last year as a Gold executive club member. The new scheme is clearly
designed to reduce the number of club members across all levels.
Having read all the very well considered views and comments I personally can’t add much more. It’s shameful of BA to drop this now, and have the apparent arrogance to assume anything they choose to do means customer loyalty is a given. Unfortunately not for me. ‘Loyalty” should be viewed both ways. BA are scoundrels – I’ve personally been a BA traveller in both business and leisure for over 30 years through all the tiers, lower service standards and quality, cannot warrant any premium.
I did have a question – can anyone advise as it relates to the ‘other’ change BA pulled by changing the earning year. Taking the example of October and having now ‘earned’ status before the new March 2025 date, can I assume that I continue with status until March 2026?
If your membership year renews on the 8th October 2024:
Your current tier point collection year will continue as normal until 8th October 2024
– Any status earned or renewed during this period will be valid until 30th November 2025
– Your next collection period will be shortened to 9th October 2024 – 31st March 2025
– A Tier Point Adjustment will be made at the start of your shortened collection period (on 9th October 2024), re-crediting any tier points and qualifying flights you earned from 1st April 2024 – 8th October 2024
– Any status earned or renewed during this period will be valid until 30th April 2026
– Your next collection period will run for 12 months from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026
– Any status earned or renewed during this period will be valid until 30th April 2027
– Irrespective of the above, your status will not drop before the expiry date currently shown on your Executive Club membership card
This change is actually a blessing in disguise. I used to choose BA, even when it was more expensive, just to accumulate enough Tier Points to maintain Gold status. I’d typically fly Club Europe and often upgrade to Business or First on long-haul flights. However, there’s really no point in doing that anymore: BA lounges simply don’t justify spending £20k a year, or even £10k. Sure, I enjoy perks like seat 1A or 1F on European flights, but let’s be honest, it’s hardly life-changing. This change now allows me to save money and explore other airlines without feeling tied to BA.
Crazy plan….. with 2 very predictable outcomes:
1. Disgruntled frequent flier customers
2. Falls in premium passengers because like many in the chat I believe the previous incentives to stick with BA no longer relevant. Tiers are unobtainable and therefore will be flying more with Virgin, the Middle East airlines and frankly the best deals!
I know this is a first world problem. It’s still a shame to see such plans.
This makes the decision on whom to fly much more open now. BA will no longer be my go to. I will book the flight most convenient, as well as use the company with the best service (which hasn’t been BA for a long time).
By not using BA I can also expect to be better off financially.
What a mess! Congratulations BA, you’ve done it again – upset you most loyal customers – but this time it’ll be for good, as once we’re gone we won’t come back.
I’ve hung on as a Gold member, suffering the decline of standards onboard, food and customer service, because of the First Wing.
Nothing will persuade me to stay now…
What a shame – does ba have any idea of how to run a business , prices for flights are at an all time high and those customers who might have considere them will now look elsewhere
It beggars belief , most of the planes are old and very tired , the old club world is a disgrace and should have been put to bed years ago
The Gatwick fleet doesn’t appear to be replaced so charge a fortune for a very inferior product
Almost every single recent flight has had an issue , delay , seat , food , WiFi , wine, cancellations , time changes etc , surely improve the product before losing passengers
I am gold for life but this would not be achievable or desirable under the new scheme
Ba please talk to Michelle and Eugene. They know What Your premium Passengers look for and care about. I travel most weeks and sadly ba has lost the plot – don’t lost it please
Like a number of members I have chased gold for a number of years just making it with the BA holidays and or booking a holiday in club . However now there appears no point in me chasing gold and paying a bit extra for the privilege of an inferior product. There are so many options available for long haul out of the UK Turkish being just one of them a reasonable discount
I think a lot of executive members will now consider other option rather than chase the unachievable
Great shame but I think the BA bean counters have got it wrong big time
Well I’mm GGL, which should renew come April. If you don’t earn sufficient points in the year, will you still drop to the tier below as at present? (Which I assume for me would be Silver)?
I usually go to great lengths to justify flying with BA, but not with this new regime. Will like others and look for an alternative and just use BA when absolutely necessary.
Remember the days of ‘British Airways the Worlds favourite airline’? Well management should pat themselves on the back for turning it round to ‘British Airways, the World’s most despised airline’
OK, Like many going through the seven stages… I have held Silver then Gold for about the last 10/12 years, most Gold, and given I am here figured out the way to play the points systems. Net result, I get some good benefits for all the time I spend away from home on corporate travel. (By the way, some think it is a sin to have status through corporate travel, but remember that’s why these systems really got started).
Like everyone else, I’m working out the cost of retaining status is going up. Sounds like everything else in life!! I think based on my current circumstances I will retain, but need corporate LH to make it work!
But I wanted to add some balance, and much of this is not only my view but echoed on FF sites:
– The complaints of overcrowding in lounges is rightfully high. Too many have status especially since double tier points on BAH
– The complaints about boarding and everyone having status are high….
– That Bronze (anyone that stepped foot on BA in the last 3 years) use club bag drop is a common complaint – when the queues are massive (guilty at out stations!)
I guess this is the feedback BA reference
So how do you manage this? Well if loyalty for a business is about revenue (it is the only thing that is) then this move was always going to happen. Someone will have crunched the numbers seen what the new gates do this does to existing members, runs sensitivity analysis to churn, and several scenarios, and decided that it makes sense.
Could they be wrong? Of course? If I reflect then:
– those that connect through LHR may choose to use another option, will it be any better?
– those that live close to LHR (like me) will probably ride it out and see what happens
– those that gained status through TP runs will try another game, this one is up!
– those that can afford, or there companies can, to pay the very high prices will probably ride it out
The only other reflection is on why now…
We are already seeing a huge number of cancellations, and the A380 fleet is all due to for service this year which will ground them for months at a time, so capacity which is already very high will be tested. which means prices go up… which means if some passengers choose other options then it may not hurt in the short term – and the reality is long term is next year for the airline (as a business!!)
I didn’t think this would turn into my own blog but….
I dont like it, but that’s the uncertainty of change, and fear it will impact me, but from a business point of view I think it may make sense – crystal ball time!!
I’ve been solid silver for many years with a mixture of short haul business and leisure travel and usually with a couple of tier point runs thrown in for good measure. I have consistently prioritised BA over other airlines and my loyalty has been rewarded with silver status. These changes essentially reject loyalty as a concept on both sides and I am baffled as to who at the table thought this sent the right message to the U.K. customer. My TP runs may not have made BA a great deal of money but it made them more than the zero they are going to get now that silver is completely out of reach for me.
Following in from the above I’d be very grateful for suggestions as to maintaining my OneWorld status primarily through short haul Northern European flights. I’ve found Finnair to be an excellent carrier and am tempted to move across to them but wonder indeed if it’s time to try a different alliance.
Silver will require £7500 of ‘eligible spend’. So that will be a total spend of £7500 PLUS taxes etc i.e. nearer £9000+ ?
If AF and LH are smart, they will be offering status match.
I have been a Loyal BA customer for the past 25 years and Silver/Gold for the last 15. I have seen BA service levels decrease especially under Cruz. Good service on flights is a lottery with some being amazing and some not worthy of LLC’s. There is no way I will be able to maintain my status on BA any longer, and to be frank, the final straw for me is this latest change based on “customer feedback” (don’t get me started on brunch). In a way I am relieved as I can now just figure out economically what makes sense. I normally fly business for leisure travel so it’s not about lounge access for me, because I am going to get it anyway. I’ll use BA where it works for me and others when it’s cheaper or more convenient. Loyalty means nothing it’s spend what companies care about. The sooner we realise that the better. I used to bend over backwards to fly on BA, that now ends or this will be such a clusterf@ck, that BA will have to U-turn when revenue goes down and customer satisfaction decreases even further, we’ve seen that so many times before with BA! I am tired of fighting you BA, you clearly don’t want my loyalty! I am taking applications for for any airlines who gives a sh*t!
Bravo! 🙏
This does seem to be a mess. We’ve been silver members for around 10 years, achieving gold back in September. This has mainly been through leisure travel. We’ll retain our gold status until March 26 but unsure if we’ll get a soft landing to silver after that as I doubt we’ll reach the spending threshold. Being based near Glasgow, moving forward I see us looking at alternatives such as Qatar from EDI. BA Holidays have been great recently to achieve status but really need to reconsider given the need to connect in London, especially with many flights heading out from Gatwick. Longer term, we’ll need to reconsider our BA Amex but we do have a lot of Avios to use up.
The only thing I can think that would make this have a slight small measure of positivity is if BA could do a deal with Hilton (or other hotels) whereby you earnt Points, and were given status benefits on BA Holiday bookings.
I’ve never Understood why Hilton are a partner but yet you get no benefit and so I veer away from any holidays bookings because I’d rather work on my lifetime status with Diamond, or other hotel status. Correcting this would be a game changer.
Like many here, my wife and I have ‘played the game’ to keep Silver on BA for a few years now. As someone who migrated from American Airlines partially because of the differences in FF programs, I am utterly disappointed (though not surprised) to say the least. Most US-based airlines have shifted to a revenue model for their FF programs, which I find to be horrible. I’ve just come off a trip to the US for the holidays where the flights out were on AA and back on BA. I went out of my way to do so. I can say in both instances I had great service – which was noticable as I felt that both airlines had upped their game in this department. As a long-time flier though, these FF changes feel like a slap in the face.
At this point, so shortly after the announcment, I’m not sure what to think/do going forward. To the TLFL team – if you want a suggestion for a series of articles, how about comparing One World FF programs, and contrasting them against Sky Team et al.
I’m struggling to think how any Members’ Feedback could have resulted in this. And some of the social media posts I’ve seen supposedly supporting the changes have a whiff of ‘Internal Communication’ about them.
It will be interesting to see how they adapt to the change in customer flow at Terminal 5.
It’s inevitable that, in time, fewer passengers will be eligible to use the First wing, Fast Track and the lounges, so will this lead to a reduction in the number of premium service and lounge serving staff required? Self bag tagging means there might not be a need for some check-in staff and quieter lounges will result in fewer staff needed there too!
With more customers having to use the main terminal building will they be able to find space for extra seating to accommodate those who would normally be in a lounge? Perhaps it’s time to have a serious look at the ridiculous amount of space the queue barriers take up at each gate, bearing in mind there are seldom queues within the barriers themselves as the queues form elsewhere whilst passport & ID checks are completed at the entrance to the barrier maze.
Yet again, it would appear that the Investor’s Day “Show us your (expletive removed) money” a few years ago wasn’t a mistake after all, but a policy.
Having been a Silver member (vast majority leisure flights in Europe) for coming up to 20 Years continuous, these ill-timed changes are definitely customer losing. Granted the lounges and Heathrow are over-crowded and desperately in need of a revamp, but forcing out your most loyal members to achieve this does not seem the right way to go about it. Like others, i am skeptical that they are reflecting their members’ wishes. It just smacks of (more) cost savings. Those that made these decisions might soon regret them when revenue plummets as people use this as a final straw to go elsewhere. As this is not the first time that senior led decisions at BA have been regretted and then reversed, one wonders how this will play out. BA has certainly plumbed new depths with this announcement. I wonder what the Board of Directors have being doing all these years, given the long list of PR disasters all in the name of cost savings.
As solely a leisure traveller, I typically direct around £8,000 pa maintaining Gold including flying AA, CX and IB. For me, the prime benefit is Emerald status when outside the UK, e.g. CX First and AA Flagship lounges, so achieving Silver is insufficiently attractive to justify the distortion in my travel planning. My status chasing days are now over.
Now, I look forward to spending my travel pounds more freely and whilst I may look longingly at the status check-in desks, I’ll save several thousands of pounds accepting longer waits in line and eating in Pret, but at least with lower expectations.
As a final thought I wonder whether this email is a scare tactic, to be followed by a “we have listened” revision with tier levels around £5,000 and £15,000.
I echo everyone else. I am an older American BA FF who has children/grandchildren in Germany and have been chasing Gold for the past 10 yrs including paying double or more for bus/first on American in the US to pad my TP. I typically fly for leisure to visit them 3-5x a year. I do enjoy the perks which make it easier and more comfortable for a single elderly flyer. However, it looks like now is a good time to switch my loyalty to Lufthansa/United, which has a better itinerary to Germany anyway. Too bad BA and AA–you have lost my long-term loyalty and $$$.
Wow. This is some (not great) news!! I’ve been (mainly) Gold for quite a few years now – most years Gold qualifying with ease. Have some flights lined up in January and February – and was just about to book a BA biz long haul in March – which would renew Gold for 25/26. Have never booked BAH so all my spend is on flights only, mostly BA CE and the occasional Club World (plus usually at least one annual long haul OW in biz because, frankly, it’s usually better than on BA).
I’m thinking I might switch earnings on the existing bookings to Qatar and book AF/SAS or SWISS/LH for main loyalty going forward, starting right now for 2025. Had been assuming I’d reach GFL in a few years’ time but not sure that seems possible now (and I’d be a bit worried about further changes down the line). All such a shame.
Strangely, this makes me feel rather liberated. I have been Gold or Silver since the mid 80s and have always been rather annoyed that, despite my loyalty, I got no credit towards GFL for those years before they introduced Tier Points (1995?). Club Europe has been uncomfortable and cramped ever since BA dispensed with the club seating so shall now feel free to explore the many other options on offer and stop chasing points.
Before making these dramatic changes, and I’m Gold for life so no skin in the game, I would have thought real consultation via e mails to FF base, and maybe some ba personnel seeking views from FF base in lounges would have steered them away from these changes.
It will clear the lounges , at every status level, in 15 months and it will lead to fewer business class seats bought personally by the Traveller or small business purchasers and a depletion of those topping up status with impromptu weekend breaks. If this is the intention then it will be a great success .
A cursory look at FF blogs demonstrates the overwhelming negativity to these changes. The FF programme has invariably geared travel plans which was part of the intention. Changes to the programme will have a similar gearing in the opposite direction.
I would love to meet the FFlyers prayed in aid by BA who thought these changes were good. Outside of the odd contribution bucking the trend, the main thrust has ranged from despair to resignation. This will absolutely lead to Exec loyalists deserting BA, Iberia and AA in their droves.
I totally agree with you, Nigel. For a Gold for Life Member to despair of these changes is a striking demonstration of the level of miscalculation British Airways has made in their self-harming announcement. As you say, the lounges will become rapidly depopulated, to the point that their atmosphere will be sucked out and comparative silence will replace the somewhat agreeable bustle I’ve always found agreeable. Goodness knows that HRW T3 First Lounge will be like – it’s already a haunted house of emptiness. I look forward to learning which loyalty programme will utlimately attract you. I don’t doubt that many will be on offer within days.
Once “The World`s Favourite Airline”. Now “ABBA” (Anyone but British Airways).
Here is my scenario, comments welcome please:
1.My current tier collection period (under the old scheme) finishes on March 9th 2025. Currently Gold.
2. Given know travel plans I will likely qualify as Gold for another 12 months before that period ends. This is likely to be late Feb/early March 2025 – but 100% before 9th March 2025
3. Those travel plans are also likley to get me beyond the current Gold for life threshold of 35,000 tier points.
Obviously all that will be before the next scheme starts on April 1st 2025.
What will happen with my Gold For Life status after April 1st 2025?
Unfortunately I have held off saying anything bad about BA but this news makes them no better than easyjet.
I am sad as this is not good news
Looking forward to your suggestions and recommendations as to how to move from BA, presumably to Qatar as the best OneWorld alternative.
Perhaps you, TLFL, might wish to consider making direct contact with Qatar executives to discuss how we might move to them in a smooth manner. My wife and I are and have been BA Gold for several years using a combination of BA, Finnair, Qatar, AA, Qantas and AA, however we rarely use them for hotels as have high status that always secures room/suite upgrades that is lost by booking through BA, so we are not going to spend more with BA to please some incompetent in their head office that devised this nonsense. BA’s Gerald Ratner moment.
I have finally started achieving bronze status which allowed me at least to skip the long queues at check-in and some minor perks. But last couple times booking premium economy from USA was almost $3k (business used to cost that not that long ago), and last minute upgrade offer cost only $250. That won’t get me to bronze now. I left Miles&More because they kept erasing unused miles after 2yr and 10000miles wouldn’t even buy me a night in hotel like in 2010. So where does it pay to be loyal nowadays?
The mass exodus begins. Such a shame for BA that a handful of jobsworths have put the final nail in the coffin. A flurry of ‘status match’ offers from other airlines to follow and that will be it. It’s interesting why they haven’t published the recent feedback? Because it offers no defence.
With many businesses now going remote working, where are all the extra business travellers coming from? They’re certainly not filling the cabins on predominantly leisure routes for sure. Maybe BA have such a problem with trent engine parts that they’re happier grounding and cancelling flights and not being an airline at all.
As with the majority of these comments I’m also heading for the door and I’m certainly not “celebrating” these changes like the 3 people who were asked for an opinion!! (Maybe 4… who knows)
This is a “Ratner moment” for BA. Telling an entire cohort of travellers to flip off.
It would be really helpful if you could post articles for reasonably affluent and discretionary leisure travellers looking to ditch BA. Status match offers and the like.
I was switched to OW when BA took over BMI. Looks like I’m heading back to Star Alliance.
I struggle to keep Silver status each year but need it particularly for the seating advance booking and the luggage. I see no way I will be able to achieve this now with my husband and I being pensioners. Every 2 years I book with Qatar to Australia but credit to BA just to keep my status.
Along with everyone else, I’d like to know whether to use Qatar or Finnair loyalty programmes in the future?
I will no longer be using BA for my short haul flights as I usually do.
We are already booked for March 5 nights in Istanbul in order for both of us to be silver. I guess that will then last a year before we can’t manage it any more.
I look forward to guidance from TLFL on which loyalty scheme is best for head for. Clerly, I expect it’s Star Alliance, but I already have gold there. So is it better to relocate in OW or shift to Skyteam with the the BA cache? Or should we wait for the offers to be made to the probably majority of Silver/Gold who see no future in BA unless it demonstrates a miracle moment of self-awareness in the next days? I’m in a separete dispute with BA at present, which I’ll share in detail if they don’t resolve is (it’s been going on throughout 2024). Should they do the right thing, I’ll see how it all pans out in the next year or two. If not, I expect I”ll be part of the exodus they reap through their own marketing stupidity.
I don’t understand all this regarding the Gold for Life thing. I’m at 31,000 TPs, and I presume that will cost me another 4,000 GPB to get the GFL. That right?
I didn’t get this in the article above about having to spend an ‘eye-watering 80K.’ Can you explain?
Someone please correct me if I get this wrong, but my understanding would be that;
You have 31,000 TP which is (roughly) 88% of the current 35,000 GFL requirement.
The new GFL requirement will be 550,000 TPs, so presumably you will be converted/credited 88% of that, meaning your “new” Lifetime TPs total will be roughly 480,000.
This means you will need to earn another 70,000 new TPs – costing you £70,000 – to get to 550,000
Is this a correct understanding all?
£70k ex taxes so probably £100k plus !
Happy New Year to you all.
Done it. Just signed up for Qatar Airways Privilege Club having looked into how they will reward my loyalty. Will now mainly book Qatar and other OWA airlines for my long hauls going forward and only BA if the fare justifies it (ha).
It will be an initial dip in status as I work myself back up to Emerald but shouldn’t take too long. As I have a fair few flights coming up next few months I’d rather get going than wait for a (potential) status match. Good luck everyone.
Sorry but I’m trying to fully understand all this- If I book tickets today or next week- for travel BEFORE April 1 2025, then I still get the distance based TP’s?
Have been BA Gold for a good number of years, apparently 2025 is the year I say GOODBYE BA. I ive in the US and it’s always a chore to get my 4 flights per year…now it appears “what’s the use”. And I say this directly to BA management, hoping they will read it…..why would I fly you if I can’t maintain status? There’s absolutely no benefit, and so you have lost my business for good, unless it benefits me…..that’s probably where I should have always been, but previously I saw a BA benefit. No longer. Bye, bye
I will start to use other airlines after this. I’m currently on track to gain Gold this time, but after that, probably not. So I will start to shop around and not be as loyal as I was.
As if the whole idea wasn’t bad enough, their proposed exchange rate for flights already booked for 2025 is totally unfair.
For example – I have Premium Economy flights booked to Tokyo which would have earned 200 tier points i.e. 33.3% towards Silver. At the new exchange rate they will now only be worth 12% of tier points.
I had been planning to book other flights and holidays for 2025 to keep me at silver level but I will not book with BA now.
I always thought that it was not fair that someone gets 280 points for spending £6000 on a flexi business class to Singapore/India and others can get 1500 points for spending less money. I also could understand why avios rewards changed to the cost of ticket rather than distance travelled. However I think they should have raised the thresholds to something like 800 for silver and 1700 for gold and give more tier points when you buy more expensive flexi tickets. It’s also makes it a bit easier to calculate using the existing method. Personally I only fly one world spending on average spend £7K to £8K to maintain Gold card status each year (all leisure travel) as the perks made it worth for me. What BA need to be careful about is that other airlines especially Turkish and Etihad often offer seats for a lower cost and arguably a better service that many customers will go to with these changes. I have 4 business class international flights booked for next year and looking at them now. If I needed to fly to these destinations I would have went elsewhere with 3 of the flights. Resulting in BA having lost 6 business class fares between me and my partner alone in one year. Annoying for me I just needed to book 2 more club Europe flight and I would have been guaranteed Gold for 2026/2027 but this is not the case which is grossly unfair and there should have been more warning. All 4 international flights were for leisure and not essential so if had known of the changes earlier I would have only booked 2 overseas trips and not 4 and not to mention the cost of hotels I have wasted in attempting to get gold card again.
Correct me please……
currently if i buy a first ticket and use 100K avios to reduce fare by £1K I still get FULL tier points towards (eg) Silver.
Forward to new system. I use same number of Avios. Fare reduced by same amount BUT, double whammy, they’ve reduced the Tier points I earn.
Almost impossible to get SILVER so bye bye B. A, bye bye…apologies to Bay City Rollers!
I will not longer fly BA, as a general matter of choice. I will look for cheaper options, and go with another Alliance, like Miles for More. I have been Gold or Silver for the last 10 years, most of it Gold , but i will never spend £20,000 on flights with BA alone
In the Iberia in-flight magazine you can find the following sentences
Happy 2025!
We’re starting the new year full of ambition. We are going to add eight long-haul aircraft to our fleet, which will allow us to reinforce some of our current routes and open up new destinations. We will also see some interesting changes to our loyalty programme and to the MadridBarcelona Air Shuttle. And we will be deploying many other developments over the coming months.
ronda.iberia.com/issues/jan-feb-2025/staff-
I am outraged that my 37 years of loyalty to BA has been thrown in my face, just as I am about to reach GFL. I have accumulated 33,415 points, and now will need to spend more than £20k to get me across the line!!! As a retired premium leisure traveller, flying mostly short-haul, that is going to be impossible!! Ggrrr! I am sorely tempted to try to ‘beat the system’ by flying a ton of high-tier-point trips between now and April 1st e.g. Longer EU destinations that give me 160 points. Does anyone have any other advice or strategies that would do this the most cost-efficient way!?? Yours, another disgruntled BA FF!!