Not got your British Airways Executive Club status extension or tier upgrade? This is why

As we covered yesterday, British Airways has now processed status extensions for the majority of British Airways Executive Club members.

Most, but not all.

There are two scenarios under which you may not currently have the status or expiry date you expect.

Is your Executive Club year-end 8th May or 8th June?

If you have an expiry date of 8th May or 8th June, your status has not yet changed.

There is a reason for this.  If you had an 8th May or 8th June expiry date, your membership card is still valid and runs until 30th June or 31st July respectively.

If BA had extended your card year this week, it would have meant extending people who were otherwise due to be downgraded on 30th June or 31st July at the higher tier.

This is what is happening, as BA told it to me:

If your tier point year ends on 8th May or 8th June AND you have retained your status or upgraded your status in your previous membership year, your card expiry date will be extended on Monday 29th.

If your tier point year ends on 8th May or 8th June AND you did not retain your status and are due to be downgraded, your card expiry date will be extended as soon as your downgrade is processed on 30th June or 31st July. 

This makes sense.  Imagine that you had a year end of 8th May, were Gold but only earned 200 tier points last year.  At present, your card shows ‘Gold member, card expiry 30th June 2020’.  On 1st July you were due to drop to Silver.

If your card had been extended this week, along with all the rest, you would have had your Gold status extended.  Instead, BA intends to wait until 1st July when you drop to Silver and then give you a free one-year extension.  Such a person would therefore, on 1st July, see that their Silver status runs until 30th June 2022.

Has your British Airways status not been upgraded as expected?

There is some confusion over how British Airways is applying the new, lower, tier point thresholds.  As a reminder, these are:

Bronze status – 225 tier points (was 300 points) 

Silver status – 450 tier points (was 600 tier points)

Gold status – 1,125 tier points (was 1,500 tier points)

If you qualify by segments flown, these targets have also been reduced by 25%.

It wasn’t clear whether these lower thresholds apply to your CURRENT membership year or only your NEXT membership year.

We now have an official answer from BA.

The reduced tier points thresholds will be applied on Monday 29th June.

If you have reached the thresholds mentioned above (225 for Bronze, 450 for Silver, 1125 for Gold) your tier will be upgraded automatically next week.

These people will ALSO benefit from the lower tier threshold for your next membership year, so effectively benefit from the lower threshold for two membership years.

All other BAEC members should see the reduced tier thresholds showing online too, with the lower target applying for the rest of their current year AND the following year.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2023)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Successfully apply for either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards by 2nd April 2023 and you will be entered into a free draw to win ONE MILLION AVIOS! Full details are on the application forms here (free) and here (paid). This competition is exclusive to Head for Points readers. T&C apply.

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.

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.

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.

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. The bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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