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British Airways is ending the year with a bang — and that's putting it lightly. On April 1, 2025, British Airways Executive Club will roll out a wide range of program changes that'll see the full-scale adoption of revenue-based earning, an overhaul of its elite status qualification requirements, a name change, and more.
Here's what travelers need to know about the new British Airways Club. And yes, the “Executive” part of the title is going away.
British Airways To Overhaul and Rebrand Executive Club in 2025
There's nothing like fitting a press release in on one of the last days of the year, announcing seismic program changes. British Airways Executive Club did just that. When the new unified Tier Point collection year begins on April 1, 2025, the program will look a lot different.
At a high level, here's what's changing:
- You'll earn 1 Tier Point for every £1 of eligible spend with British Airways. That means the distance you fly and your fare class will become irrelevant — unless you're traveling on a specific partner airline.
- The number of Tier Points required for each elite tier will change.
- British Airways will introduce milestone rewards that grant you perks between each tier.
- Members will have new ways to earn toward status by booking British Airways Holidays, contributing to Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), and more.
Depending on where your loyalty lies, these changes may or may not impact you. But if you're considering earning (or retaining) Oneworld elite status through British Airways, you'll want to read on for the more granular details.
Earn Tier Points based on spending — not flying
British Airways' elite status qualification metric is Tier Points, which have traditionally been earned solely by flying. The number of Tier Points earned depended on the fare class you booked and the distance you flew. But come April 1, 2025, fare class and distance flown will no longer matter, as British Airways is shifting to a revenue-based Tier Point earning structure.
The new earning rate is 1 Tier Point for every £1 worth of eligible spending, which includes your fare plus any carrier-imposed charges and add-ons. Government or airport-imposed surcharges and taxes do not count towards the number of Tier Points you'll earn.
British Airways will also apply this earning structure to Iberia and American Airlines flights credited to Club. Flights on other partner airlines will still feature unique distance- and fare class-based Tier Point earning structures, which you can find on this partner-specific webpage and by opening up the drop-down menus.
The number of Tier Points required for elite status is going up
Alongside the shift to revenue-based Tier Point earnings, British Airways will also hike the number of Tier Points required to earn elite status and scrap the “required number of flights” component. You can find the new thresholds below:
| Tier | Tier Point Threshold |
|---|---|
| Blue | None |
| Bronze | 3,500 |
| Silver | 7,500 |
| Gold | 20,000 |
| Gold Guest List | 65,000 (Earn at least 52,000 through British Airways-marketed flights, qualifying add-ons and British Airways Holidays packages), and 40,000 to retain (Earn at least 32,000 through British Airways-marketed flights, qualifying add-ons and British Airways Holiday packages). |
On balance, these new thresholds will make earning top-tier Club Gold much more difficult. Before these changes, it was possible to earn Gold by hunting for cost-conscious long-haul flights in premium cabins. But once April 1 comes around, the math will change; unlocking Gold will require at least £20,000 worth of spending.
However, there will still be incentives to earn British Airways status courtesy of the newly announced “milestone rewards.” Details are slim, but the British Airways Club intends to offer perks between elite status tiers — starting with bonus Avios.
New ways to earn Tier Points outside of flying
Like lots of other airline loyalty programs, British Airways will start allowing you to earn toward elite status without flying. Come April 1, members can earn Tier Points on the following non-flight purchases:
- Unlimited Tier Points on the total cost of British Airways Holidays bookings.
- Bag and seat purchases.
- Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) contributions — Earn up to 1,000 Tier Points at a rate of 1 Tier Point and 10 Avios per pound (£) spent.
- Spending on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card — Earn up to 2,500 Tier Points on eligible card spending.
With the right strategy, you could unlock Club Bronze without stepping foot on a plane.
Related: A Complete Guide to Earning and Redeeming British Airways Avios
Goodbye “Executive Club,” hello “Club”
British Airways also plans to make some cosmetic changes to its loyalty program, starting with dropping “Executive” from the program name and introducing a new logo.
But outside of graphic designers who can appreciate an intuitive logo where there is one and travel bloggers who will now have to fit in a few extra words to meet word count requirements on articles about British Airways, these changes won't be very impactful.
Final Thoughts
Nowadays, it's exceedingly common to see airline loyalty programs shift to revenue-based earning structures and reward non-flying activity. The writing was on the wall when British Airways adopted revenue-based Avios earnings in 2023, so it's not entirely surprising that it's applying the same strategy to Tier Point earnings.
But that doesn't mean you can't ask why British Airways decided to make these changes. The answer — nearly identical to how Virgin Atlantic explained away its most recent negative program changes — is program members. Here's the explanation by British Airways' Chief Commercial Officer:
“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.”
It's impossible to know whether or not Executive Club members actually asked for changes of this magnitude. But that's neither here nor there; British Airways is rolling out these changes on April 1, 2025, no matter what.
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