What are the benefits of British Airways Executive Club Gold status?

What are the benefits of British Airways Executive Club Gold status?

Gold is one of four tiers of the Executive Club, British Airways’ frequent flyer membership scheme. In this article we’ll look at what the benefits are of having British Airways Executive Club Gold status.

Gold and Gold Guest List (more on that later) are the highest statuses you can hold as part of British Airways Executive Club. You won’t be surprised to learn that it takes a lot of flying to achieve this level – you can read more about what it takes to achieve British Airways Gold status here.

Unlike the other tiers, Gold comes with several additional milestones at varying tier point levels. Gold Guest List is a sub-tier of Gold that comes with some exceptional benefits. You can read more about what British Airways Gold Guest List is, how to get it and what the benefits are here.

Even ‘standard’ Gold status comes with a long list of perks:

• 100% bonus Avios on all British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines and Japan Airlines, doubling avios earned

• free seat selection at the time of booking for you and anyone else on your booking, including “extra legroom” upgrades and access to Row 1 in Club Europe and in First Class

• free seat allocation for a companion on their own booking, but on the same flight (this can only be done over the phone)

• two free 32kg bags per person in all classes, for everyone on your booking

• use of First Class, Club World, Club Europe or oneworld equivalent First Class or business class check in desks, regardless of your flight class – plus use of the First Wing at Heathrow Terminal 5

• access for you and one guest (traveling on a British Airways or oneworld operated flight) to the British Airways Galleries First lounge or the equivalent oneworld first and business class departure lounge

• use of the British Airways arrivals lounge, irrespective of class of travel, when arriving at Heathrow Terminal 5 on a long haul flight

• priority boarding

• reservation assurance on full-fare economy tickets, guaranteeing you a seat even on full or overbooked flights.

• priority over lower status passengers on waiting lists

• additional Avios reward seat availability in economy

• Gold Priority Reward, allowing you to book any seat still for sale for double the Avios cost (these can only be booked offline and with 30 days’ notice)

The official list of British Airways Gold benefits can be found on ba.com here.

Key benefits here are access to First Class lounges as well as the ability to book Gold Priority Rewards, which allow you to book any seat, regardless of whether it is set aside for a redemption, with your Avios balance. If the seat is bookable, it’s yours.  This article explains more about British Airways Gold Priority Rewards.

For its most loyal flyers, however, British Airways has some even bigger surprises. Find out what rewards BA Gold Guest List members are entitled to ….

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.