British Airways launches ‘Lifetime Gold’ for an exalted few

If you log in at ba.com you will see that there is a new feature.  On the top line, next to My Avios and My Tier Points you will see ‘My Lifetime Tier Points’.

And, if you scroll down the page, you will see ‘Date of joining the club’ – with a very precise (in my case) ’17 December 1996′ next to it.

This is all linked to the new benefit launched yesterday – lifetime Gold membership of British Airways Executive Club.  Full details are here.

BA has certainly set the bar high.  To qualify for Lifetime Gold, you need to accumulate 35,000 tier points.

This represents 1,750 return flights to Manchester in economy!  More likely, it represents 125 Club World return flights to the US.  This is a pretty tough call unless you are on the road full time, for pretty much half your working life.

(Interestingly, BA is counting all tier points, whichever airline they were earned on.  There is no minimum requirement to have flown a proportion of these on British Airways.)

There is no sign yet of Lifetime Silver, although the wording on the website:

It also gives every Member of the Club the chance to accumulate enough Lifetime Tier Points to achieve the new rewards we’ll be introducing in the future – starting with the launch of Gold membership for life.

…. implies that other others will be forthcoming in time.

It is worth remembering, of course, that Lifetime Gold technically means for the lifetime of British Airways, and not YOUR lifetime!  After all, when BA bought bmi, all of the bmi flyers who thought they had ‘lifetime Gold’ after achieving ten years of Gold status with bmi, were told to take a running jump …..

At some point in the next few years, the EU and the US will agree to loosen the restrictions on who can own airlines, and at that point IAG is likely to get swallowed by an overseas airline.  That may be the end of your lifetime Gold!

I am hugely unlikely to ever achieve lifetime Gold, given that I try to avoid spending money on flights when possible.  To be honest, I was surprised that my tier point balance since 1996 is as high as it is …. but I am still over 100 Club World flights to New York away from the target!

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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.