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In 2023, British Airways will stop awarding Avios based on distance flown. Executive Club members will instead earn Avios based on the airfare paid. Even though we do not have the full details, many readers are probably expecting to lose out with these changes.

If you fly regularly on British Airways – but not on the most expensive fares – you might be interested in learning about alternatives. After all, you are under no obligation to continue crediting your British Airways flights to British Airways Executive Club…

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Earning Avios

If you wish to continue earning Avios – that you can move back to British Airways Executive Club later – you will need to credit your BA flights to Qatar’s Privilege Club.

What About Elite Status?

You will NOT receive a tier bonus when crediting British Airways flights to Qatar’s Privilege Club.

To reach elite status with Privilege Club, you need to earn QPoints. 300 QPoints will get you Gold status (equivalent to BA’s Silver) and 600 QPoints will get you Platinum status (equivalent to BA’s Gold status).

However, the potential deal killer is that you must fly at least 4 sectors on Qatar Airways or earn at least 20% of your QPoints (not the hurdle amount) from Qatar flights.

American Airlines AAdvantage

Earning AA Miles

If you credit your British Airways flights to American Airlines AAdvantage, you will earn:

What About Elite Status?

Once you have picked up elite status with AAdvantage, you DO receive a tier bonus when crediting British Airways flights to AAdvantage.

• AAdvantage Gold – 40% bonus
• AAdvantage Platinum – 60% bonus  (equivalent to BA’s Silver)
• AAdvantage Platinum Pro – 80% bonus (equivalent to BA’s Gold)
• AAdvantage Executive Platinum – 120% bonus (also equivalent to BA’s Gold)

To reach elite status with AAdvantage, you need to earn Loyalty Points. Click here to read our article on AA’s Loyalty Point system.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Earning Alaska Miles

If you credit your British Airways flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, you will earn:

What About Elite Status?

Once you have picked up elite status with Mileage Plan, you DO receive a tier bonus when crediting British Airways flights to Alaska’s Mileage Plan.

• MVP – 50% bonus
• MVP Gold – 100% bonus (equivalent to BA’s Silver)
• MVP Gold 75k – 125% bonus (equivalent to BA’s Gold)
• MVP Gold 100k – 150% bonus (also equivalent to BA’s Gold)

To reach elite status with Mileage Plan, you need:

Iberia Plus / Air Lingus AerClub *

There is a small chance that, for legal reasons, British Airways might not be able to share underlying fare information with Iberia Plus and/or AerClub. If so, you might be able to continue earning based on distance and cabin flown…

Bottom Line

Even WITHOUT these upcoming changes, I already credit my long-haul British Airways flights to American Airlines AAdvantage. I believe that AA miles are worth more than Avios AND I’m a fan of AA’s new Loyalty Point system (it lets me earn elite status from hotel stays, rather than flying unnecessarily around Europe on TP runs…)

Any regular reader of InsideFlyer will also know that we LOVE Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. A single long-haul flight in Club World or First Class will see you earn a ridiculous number of higher-value Alaska miles.

Of course, you might not want to switch at all.  Assuming that British Airways doesn’t change the Tier Point system, you might be more interested in your status benefits than whether you earn 400 or 600 Avios on a cheap short-haul BA flight…

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section…