This time last year, British Airways managed to drain the festive spirit from status holders everywhere with the shock news they were overhauling the British Airways Executive Club to become ‘The British Airways Club’. Come 1st April, out went the British Airways Executive Club and in with the new British Airways Club – a move to a spend-based Tier Point system.
Many of these changes caused an outcry from loyal BA members, and Michele captured the consensus in this open letter to Sean Doyle. The changes were seen as a betrayal and a loss of community.
A year on, the dust has well and truly settled, and it’s time to have a look back at the changes (are they as bad as we first thought?), the backtracks and most importantly, what to do with your loyalty in 2026.
In this post:
The Changes
The main blow was the new Tier Point thresholds and the move to a spend-based Tier Point system. Members would earn just 1 Tier Point per £1 of eligible spend, and the number of points needed completely changed:
- Bronze: 3,500 Tier Points
- Silver: 7,500 Tier Points
- Gold: 20,000 Tier Points
At the top end, the changes to the Gold Guest List qualification meant that those of us who were nearly there suddenly faced eye-watering additional spend to qualify.
- Gold Guest List: 65,000 Tier Points to qualify and 40,000 Tier Points to retain (with a minimum for BA-marketed flights, qualifying add-ons or British Airways Holidays).
- Gold for Life: 550,000 Tier Points
- Gold Guest List for Life: 1,500,000 Tier Points
Alongside the thresholds, BA also introduced:
- The opportunity to earn Tier Points on British Airways Holidays packages (split between passengers)
- Tier Points on some paid extras, such as seats and baggage
- Tier Points for Sustainable Aviation Fuel contributions
- Milestone bonuses between tiers (nice to have, but certainly do not make the changes any better)
A Minor Rollback
By February 2025, it was clear BA had underestimated the reaction. While there was no major backtrack, a few adjustments followed. BA reintroduced a sector-based qualification option, including 25 flights for Bronze or 50 for Silver (BA Coded). BA Holidays were also added to the bonus Tier Points offer. These changes were certainly welcomed, but of course, did not make up for the overhaul.
The Amex Benefit Finally Arrived
One of the most criticised aspects of the original announcement was the promise of Tier Points from credit card spend, followed by months of silence.
In June, it was announced that the BA AMEX Premium Plus Card will offer up to 2,500 bonus Tier Points made up of:
- 750 Tier Points at £15,000 spend
- An additional 750 Tier Points at £20,000
- A further 1,000 Tier Points at £25,000
Make sure you register for this!
Some people have also been offered an extra 500 points via email.
It’s hard to deny that this benefit is a valuable addition to the BA Club. An opportunity to earn Tier Points without flying through everyday spend. Credit cards are already one of the most lucrative ways to earn Avios beyond flying, and now you can earn Tier Points too. It would, of course, have been better if this had been announced alongside the changes.
Extra Tier Points Are Here to Stay
What was originally dubbed a Tier Points special offer will now be a permanent part of The British Airways Club and added to all qualifying flights and holiday packages. From 25th November 2025, extra tier points will no longer be a limited-time promotion, and no registration is required.
This late announcement was almost certainly a reaction to the backlash over the loyalty programme overhaul and the sheer number of status holders who’ve already switched to other schemes. Perhaps a lot more than BA expected. Yes, this is excellent news, but these should have been the thresholds (or lower) from the get-go.
You will earn the following per individual flight:
- Euro Traveller – 75
- Club Europe – 175
- World Traveller – 150
- World Traveller Plus – 275
- Club World – 400
- First – 550
This allows earning up to 1,100 Tier Points per return flight, making status easier to earn.
Are The Changes as Bad as We Thought?
I think we’re all in agreement that the British Airways Club is a huge downgrade from the British Airways Executive Club. However, is it as bad as first thought? You still need 20,000 Tier Points for Gold. Initially, this would require £20,000 to be spent, or more like £24,000 when you factor in taxes and charges. Is it still this way after the rollbacks?
Yes, the programme is spend-based, but there are still several workarounds where status is achievable for £12,000-£15,000. Think clever routing, cheap long-haul deals and partner flights. On top of this, the chance to earn Tier Points in other ways, such as credit card spend and BA Holidays, especially with the new bonuses, has made status more achievable than I first thought.
If you’re a frequent flyer, but used to earn status while keeping costs down, the changes are still a disaster. No more tier point runs. However, like many readers, if you mainly fly in premium cabins, the automatic bonuses often mean you still have the potential to earn status quickly. It is now possible to earn Gold status for much less than £20,000 from flights alone.
20,000 Tier Points for Gold Example based on bargain fares:
- 2,500 Tier Points – BA Premium Plus AMEX Bonus (based on £25,000 spend)
- 2,400 Tier Points – 1 x Long Haul Club World Return (LHR-JFK) – £2,000 sale fare – £1,600 eligible spend (1,600 Tier Points) + 800 bonus
- 4,100 Tier Points – 1 x LHR-DXB return in First – £4,000 – £3,000 eligible spend + 1,100 Tier Point bonus
- 6,000 Tier Points – 10 European returns in Club Europe with an average fare of £350 per return- eligible to spend £2,500 + 3,500 bonus Tier Points
- 5,000 Tier Points – A Mediterranean British Airways Holiday in Club Europe for 2 – 7 nights 4* – £9,300 – 4,650 Tier Points to you + 350 bonus
It’s not all been negative on the BA front. This year, they have been pressing ahead with their £7 billion transformation plan, investing in lounges, seats and the overall experience. We’ve already seen refreshed lounges in Dubai and Miami, and attention is now firmly turning to Heathrow, where upgrades to Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 lounges are long overdue. Add the continued rollout of Club Suite, incremental improvements to onboard soft product, not to mention Starlink introduction and a renewed focus on reliability, and it’s clear BA is trying to push forward as a luxury brand. Perhaps look at this period as a transition.
Status Match Success
Many people have chosen not to wait around. Throughout the year, many people have taken up status match opportunities. There have been several status match offers that have proved extremely popular.
Not long after the outcry, we saw some tempting status match offers from Air France-KLM Flying Blue and the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. The Air France status match was particularly successful, with 4,000 BA status holders approved, 95% of whom matched to Flying Blue Gold or higher. From this, over 17,500 flights had been booked with Air France by the end of August, with over 60% of matchers booking at least one flight. Virgin launched a tempting offer and even a million points draw for switchers.
Where Will Your Loyalty Lie in 2026?
Remain
Yes, 2025 marked the end of an era with BA being a spend-based loyalty program, but there have been a few minor positive changes, and it’s easier than first thought to earn status. Being UK-based, there are a huge number of ways you can earn Avios and Tier Points.
The Lure of Other Oneworld Options
Aside from the Gold Guest List, there is no requirement to fly BA to earn status, unlike many other airline loyalty programmes. This means it’s even easier to fly another airline and credit to BA or fly BA and credit to another programme. You could also jump ship and switch alliances altogether. This year, many people have moved to Qatar. We covered the loyalty programme in depth in our Qatar Privilege Club guide.
Cathay and Finnair Plus also remain popular options among readers, both part of the familiar Oneworld ecosystem, especially Finnair, which also uses Avios. We’ve also seen Cathay make a number of positive changes to the loyalty programme.
SkyTeam Became a Compelling Option
When the changes were first announced, SkyTeam was not an obvious option, but due to the Status match offers and the wider SkyTeam benefits, many people have ended up switching. We will be writing a full SkyTeam guide soon.
Don’t Rule Out Star Alliance
We recently wrote a guide to the best Star Alliance options. Despite not having a UK-based member airline and having recently lost SAS, Star Alliance could be a compelling option for some. It’s the world’s largest alliance with a massive choice of lounges and plenty of Europe-based airlines. Think Turkish Airlines – more countries than any other airline, the Lufthansa Group airlines and TAP Portugal.
Final Words: Where Will 2026 Take You?
One year on, the changes have fundamentally changed the relationship between BA and many loyalists. It’s no longer a programme that rewards frequency, but one that rewards concentrated spend and travel in premium cabins, and increasingly people who plan their flying and holidays with Tier Points firmly in mind.
However, that doesn’t rule out the British Airways Club. It’s still a compelling option for many, but just not as many as before the changes. There are lots more workarounds than originally thought, mainly due to the rollbacks and further announcements. You can still make Tier Points work in your favour, and Gold is no longer behind a £20,000+ wall.
But for many, it’s not about the financial changes from the rollbacks; it’s about a relationship tarnished and the psychological effects that just can’t be reversed, and, in turn, mean a switch in loyalty.
Looking forward to 2026, there is no right answer to where your loyalty should lie. BA certainly has major benefits for many, but there’s also the ever-popular options of switching within Oneworld, switching alliances completely or even becoming a free agent or signing up to a non-alliance programme. Whether this is via ever-popular status matches or a switch to another airline, there are many options and fantastic benefits to look forward to, even if you stick with BA. Loyalty in 2026 is conditional, personal and very deliberate.
As we look ahead to 2026, where will your loyalty lie? Let us know in the comments below:
26 comments
Now Emerald OneWorld – Platinum Qatar Airways thanks to an Accor (Diamond) membership status match (after several attempts…). Treated like royalty and could not be happier. BA is now for the occasional relocation flight to/from Europe (points to Qatar) and the odd direct Avios flight to Cape Town. BA lost a lot of money from us when it made this financially illiterate decision.
We’ve jumped, we are recently retired leisure travellers with family in BKK ans Singapore so we are now with Qatar. We only aspire for sapphire status ( nothing in the article about that) and ironically not totally dumping BA as we get an annual companion ticket but they have lost my loyalty and revenue.
Hi, Does anyone know if there will still be a “soft” landing, I.e. if I attained Silver for 25-26 year will I keep it for 26-27. Tx
Put me off BA completely. After a spiral downwards of their diminished service and products, this was a final whistle to stop travelling with BA for business and leisure. Most European trips now with what were once budget airlines actually give a much better service than BA. Nothing was worth sticking around for, not the monopoly of a “new” seat on aircraft taking an age to upgrade either.
My main point is that 2 business class return flights in February and March. This year are totally ignored because of the change of date, which seems totally unfair and basically an accounting manoeuvre, to avoid giving the benefits Faily earnt Howarr
Silver for 12 years, ending April and currently trying Skyteam. KLM crown lounges grim. Also on Star Alliance now till 11/26 so will be trying them out. Loved BA, still do but can’t afford to stay!
For me it is a big no. Being gold for years – in 2025 I had 1 short haul flight with BA and I am very happy with it. I travel only in business or first – silver/brown membership are irrelevant for me and gold one is not worth my money.
I’ve had to stay only because of the 2-4-1 companion ticket and I need to get Avios. We are pensioners, so don’t have the luxury of a Company where we earn good money. We manage 1 x companion voucher plus an upgrade voucher per year. We paid for our recent trip to Australia (here now) = Business class with Finnair/Qatar return to Perth and where this usually got us Silver, it doesn’t now. Our problem is trying to earn enough Avios points to use the Companion voucher. Our recent flight booked via Finnair from LHR to HEL has still not been credited to my BA account and I’m chasing the tier points. So far nothing and it’s been over a month now. We would never fly BA to Australia, the other airlines are far superior.
Loyalty is 2 way. These draconian and cowardly changes put me off BA completely. After a few years of service spirals with diminished service and products, this was a final whistle to stop travelling with BA for self funded business and leisure. They can go F themselves. I’ve switched allegiance to Air France / KLM. BA still outrageously has a monopoly on Glasgow /Heathrow flights which should not be allowed and should be investigated.
Still Gold, still primarily flying with BA (as usual route makes that fairly unavoidable), but crediting points to Qatar. So BA still getting almost all my money, but such is the true pettiness of BA that, despite booking through my BA account, I get no Gold benefit of free seat choice at booking, have to separately prove I’m Gold equivalent for lounge each time at an airport as it doesn’t show on ticket, etc. Doing the latter at LGW a few weeks ago, I made an explanatory comment about not earning my points with BA anymore and the absolutely lovely woman at the reception replied, “Just like everyone else.” “Really?” “Yes.”
(On a side note, discovered after flying that there are no points of any kind for LGW-Graz return trip in business. Doesn’t exist in BA/Qatar calculator either. Something for which to watch out.)
Lost me completely. After 20 years business and pleasure on auto, a kick into spending on my own behalf. BA C with lounge and Do&Co has generally become LCC and a Michelin tasting menu with one CV trip to draw down points.
3 couples in my dwelling were all BA Gold with average spend of £12k per year each (£72k total). All have now been status matched with AF/KLM and use them. I don’t think the full financial effects of this ludicrous change will be shine through until Q2 2026 when the leisure Golds drop out. For those who believe the lounges will become less crowded when the ‘low spenders’ depart, think again. It won’t be long until space at premium prices (especially LHR) comes into focus and the size of the lounges reduce to offset loss of revenue.
Still Silver and will remain silver. We are leisure travellers and happy with that. B gates lounge is where we always go and avoids the scrum of the North and South lounges.
That was a very weak defence of BA in the first part of the article… If you don’t do week-long BA Holidays (really?) and don’t do BA Amex, then many Golds under the old system – even some GGLs – don’t have any hope of achieving new Gold…
Assuming a soft landing, I will try to maintain BA Silver from April and am trialling TK/*Gold. For anyone old enough to remember bmi, that would have made *A more useful ex-UK. Let’s see whether *A or OW keep my loyalty longer term
Lost me. Have status matched with another airline. BA absolutely not worth it. The comments here confirm how everyone is feeling. Bad bad move.
GfL for over 15 years or thereabouts, happily keeping my GGL status through trips to second home near Vancouver plus frequent short haul trips and various other trips. Given cost of trips originating in UK, and needing to connect somewhere (being EDI based) I have started switching. I would have gotten to GGLfL in about 5 years but it was going to be much longer with the change so letting the rope go was not easy but have done that now also knowing I can use F wing in LHR when there. Will miss group 0 and jokers but not the product.
I thought Gold would be impossible for me under the new system, Silver would be fairly easy as my wife & I booked big trips with BA for our big birthdays this year. However, as we have a BA Amex and with the tier point bonuses I’ll retain mine. Didn’t jump ship to KLM as the fares for destinations I wanted were more expensive.
The lounges do desperately need addressing though, we used the Quantas lounge at T3 on our last trip and that beat BA hands down.
I can’t see me keeping it in 2027 though as we intend to concentrate on Europe and Australasia which have better carrier options.
Been BA silver since conception & was Skyteam Gold until retirement.
I won’t retain silver from 2026 , so BA loyalty has been dispensed with & have already looked @ price + aircraft type for my small number of leisure in business trips ( 1 x long haul + 3 x European) per year.
Tried TAP Portugal LHR-LIS- FNC already and couldn’t fault them . Lounges not like the Ritz but hey they’re just watering holes.
I’ve been doing a lot of TAP trips too and agree their lounges in Lisbon need some work, especially the tiny non-Schengen one that really isn’t suitable for longhaul flights. But I like the rest of their service.
An unplanned uptick in business travel meant I renewed Silver (which had been obtained from leisure travel) and there is a chance I’ll scrape back to Gold, with the help of the bonus tier points benefit. But for my leisure travel, I now go where I want to, rather than where BA flies, and so I’m currently travelling a lot with Star Alliance airlines, and hope to do some longhaul KLM travel as well. So, I suspect, if the work trips subside again, BA has lost my loyalty.
BA lost the plot. It’s only 2 or 3 years down the line with shrinking revenue will they realise how much they’ve messed it up. No end of semi-positive advertorials will make any difference on these forums.
It’s a typical sh**ification process – ruining your own reputation in search of increased profit. Short term works, long term disaster.
Currently flying sky team and loving both Air France and KLM – agree with comments on lounges – but tbh now I dread the BA business lounge at LHR. So no change. On board the service and product offering is way superior (esp catering).
Etihad have my vote east bound. Recent free stopover in Abu Dhabi for 2 nights was excellent value. Lounge incredible.
T3 Cathay Lounge hands down best lounge at LHR – actually prefer it over the Concorde Room.
When dust settles, personnel will move on at BA Club.
Still very disappointed with BA following the changes last year, especially after holding Gold status for almost 12 years purely through tier points on flights. My wife was Gold and our two 11-year-olds were Gold as well.
We waited until April, but after a few flights it quickly became clear there was no realistic way to maintain status without booking a BA Holiday, which didn’t make sense for us. My wife and I switched to Qatar, and we should both reach QR Platinum (oneworld Emerald) any day now.
We’ve done more flying on Qatar recently. Qsuite is genuinely excellent, although they do struggle with consistency given the number of different cabins across the fleet. BA’s Club Suite is better than Qatar’s 787 mini-suite, but QR Platinum comes with access to Al Safwa Lounge and complimentary Al Maha transfers, which more than makes up for it.
The one thing I find particularly difficult to forgive with BA is that we supported them loyally through the difficult years, filling premium cabins when times were tough. Just as things started to improve again, they effectively turned their backs on their most loyal passengers. That’s much harder to overlook.
Our 11-year-olds can’t earn status with Qatar, so they remain with BA. With the same amount of flying, my wife and I are reaching QR Platinum, while the twins are only at around 10,000 tier points and will just about maintain Silver.
For us, the practical benefits remain the same: we can still take the twins as guests into the First lounges at LHR and use the First Wing. But by switching our flying to Qatar instead of BA, we actually earn more tier points (thanks to connections) and more Avios—which is pretty ironic.
BA has effectively lost four loyal, premium-only (J+) passengers. I’m sure they’ve done the maths and are happy with the profits they’re making, but aviation is cyclical. When they need loyal customers again, they may realise they’ve already driven them away.
Same here, attained OWE status by June on AY, will be Sky Team platinum as well this year. Avoiding BA and joint venture flights as much as possible. Been Gold for 15 years with 50-75 flights a year in mix of cabins.
BA giving loyal customers the finger prompted me to do the same in return. I’ve ceased making irrational flight choices just to earn BA Tier, and am now discovering different and better airlines to get me where I’m going. Well done BA geniuses!
Gold or GGL for about 12 years. This year I won’t even reach Silver. Why? Because BA has freed me from the tyranny of defaulting to them despite a woefully uncompetitive product. So I suppose I should be grateful? I’m spending less than before, for a better product.
BA Gold for 8 years and this will be my last. I cannot justify spending £20k on flights but maybe my future clients will!
2 things I have noticed since the launch of BA Club.
1 – The lack of personal greeting from BA cabin crew, especially if you are sat in Economy.
2 – The adjacent seat being blocked seems to have disappeared. I have been on several flights where I have had someone sat next me when there have been ample available seats in the cabin.
I know its 1st world problems but it makes a huge difference to my travelling experience.
BA will no longer be my 1st choice when booking flights or holidays.