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British Airways is completely transforming its Executive Club programme into “The British Airways Club,” introducing a revenue-based status system that will fundamentally change how members earn elite status.

Before we get into the details, the bottom line is that this is bad news for pretty much anyone who currently chases status with BA…

New Status Requirements

From 1st April 2025, the new annual spending thresholds will be:

• Bronze: 3,500 points (£3,500 equivalent spend)
• Silver: 7,500 points (£7,500 equivalent spend)
• Gold: 20,000 points (£20,000 equivalent spend)
• Gold Guest List: 65,000 points for new members, 40,000 for renewal

How Points Are Earned

Members can earn points in several ways:

• 1 point per £1 spent on BA flights (base fare and carrier charges only)
• Points from British Airways Holidays bookings
• Up to 1,000 points annually from Sustainable Aviation Fuel purchases
• Up to 2,500 points annually from BA Premium Plus Amex card spending

For most leisure flyers (and many business ones too), this means that Gold status will be pretty much impossible to achieve. If qualifying purely from flights, you would need to spend £20,000 each year (not including tax/duty/etc).

Partner Airline Earnings

For partner airlines, earnings will be calculated as a percentage of miles flown. The details vary, but here are a couple of examples:

• Malaysia Airlines: 2-30% of miles flown depending on fare class
• Qatar Airways: Enhanced earning rate of 25% for discounted business class

Transition Period Benefits

BA is offering (a rather paltry amount of) bonus points on bookings made before 14th February 2025, for travel after 1st April:

• Euro Traveller: 50 points
• Club Europe: 100 points
• World Traveller: 70 points
• Club World: 210 points
• First: 330 points

Additional Programme Features

The revamped programme includes:

• New milestone bonuses with Avios rewards at various tiers
• Unlimited earning potential on BA Holidays packages
• Integration with sustainable aviation initiatives

Don’t get excited about the ‘milestone benefits’ – it’s a sprinkle of Avios.

If you book expensive holidays through BA Holidays, there might be some decent options for earning status that way, but watch the small print – it looks like the Tier Points are shared equally between everyone on the booking.

Impact on Existing Bookings

Flights booked before today for travel after 1st April 2025 will be converted to the new system, with BA promising that members will earn “proportionally the same number of Tier Points, or more” compared to the current system.

Bottom line

This represents one of the most significant changes to BA’s loyalty programme in decades, effectively shifting focus toward high-spending customers and making premium status significantly more challenging for leisure travellers to achieve.

If you value oneworld elite status, it’s probably time to start looking at your other options.

What do you think about the changes?