British Airways quietly devalues Gold Guest List partner cards

Back in December I outlined the benefits that Gold Guest List members get from British Airways.  This is the exclusive club for anyone who earns over 3,000 tier points per year.  You can read more about Gold Guest List on ba.com here (log-in required).

One of the perks of Gold Guest List is that you are able to gift British Airways Gold status to a friend or colleague and British Airways Silver status to two friends.

Very quietly (ie they did not notified Gold Guest List members about this) BA devalued the gifted cards.  This decision was taken at the end of 2013 but not communicated and the impact is only now being seen.

From the start of 2015, anyone who received Gold or Silver status via a Gold Guest List member will NOT receive a ‘soft landing’ when their membership year expires.

The means that a ‘referred’ Gold member will drop straight back to Blue at the end of the year if they do not earn enough tier points to requalify automatically.  They will not drop to Silver for a year, then to Bronze, then to Blue.

Similarly, a ‘referred’ Silver member will drop directly to Blue without an intermediate year as a Bronze.

This change applies to all existing referred members and not just anyone who is referred from the start of 2015.  British Airways is apparently treating 13th December 2013 as the cut-off date and if you were referred after that date you will be downgraded all the way.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.