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

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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.

My british airways executive account status has not been extended

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.


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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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

Comments (108)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Capecam says:

    Rob – i have a May 8th collection cutoff and a June 30 card expiry. I did not hit the gold membership crieria for 2020-2021 but BA extended my membership tier for the next year after I notified them of cancelled flights and extenuating circumstances . Account shows validity till May 2021 only, and tier point thresholds still of 1500 / 600 / 400. Any thoughts on how people renewed for a year ex gratia in April May or June will be treated ?

    • BP says:

      Exact same situation here with Silver. End date 8th May. Already extended to 2021 due to paternity extension. Had COVID not came along I had trips booked that would have meant I requalified anyway.

      Hoping I get extended to 2022. This is likely to be the end of my status as work travel will not return to the same extent as before.

  • BS says:

    Does this give the odd situation that those with May/June tier year ends will get the benefit of the lower tier points requirement upgrade lasting for an extra 12 months (as their extension will get processed later)? And those with other year ends will get the lower tier upgrade, but this will not be extended for 12 months??

  • Cheshire Pete says:

    “ *Members whose Tier Point collection end date was in May or June 2020, who did not meet the reduced qualification requirement for their Tier will have the 12-month extension applied to their new Tier once their current card expiry date has passed“

    Mmmmm – why did BA word it like this as if only people waiting for lower threshold are affected? My card expires June 2021 not June 2020. Not
    Sure this explains it all TBH.

    • blenz101 says:

      Because if you do hit the threshold you don’t need to rely on a goodwill extension you will have it by virture of your flying pattern.

  • Andrew says:

    Words I never thought I’d write – I do think BA have been quite generous here, giving gold for an extra year (to make up for not being able to use my benefits this year) and made it easier to requalify during 2022 for 2023 – might make be consider staying with BAEC (although continue to mainly fly QR, crediting my flights to BA)

    • Paul74 says:

      Ha ha yes. I’d pretty much given up on BA. Since about a year ago I’ve pursued a ‘best value semi flexible/flexible fare in the premium cabins’ approach. Needless to say this wasn’t going to result in many BA flights (last one in November). When BA was slow to offer the extension I just shrugged my shoulders.
      Now it’s Gold until Jan/Feb 2022 and if other OW airlines like Finnair or Qatar offer good fares you never know, 1,125 tier points in my 21/22 year might happen. In any case, it’ll be nice to run down my Avios (meeting my semi flexible/flexible requirement) over that period knowing that Gold is in place.

  • Neil Donoghue says:

    So card expiry has now been extended to the 8th of February 2022! Do the reduced tier points apply next year or can I wait until 2022?

  • Kerry says:

    Sorry if this sounds a bit thick to ask, but the reduced tier point threshold for renewal applies to which of the nearly two years of status they have given?

    I had just re-qualified Gold On 8th April, and I see my tier point collection year still ends 8 April 2021, but my status is valid through end May 2022…

    So, do I need to earn 1125 tier points before 8 April 2021, to maintain status, or effectively have they dropped this year entirely and they will only count the 2021-2022 year, eg I have to earn 1125 tier points in that year to maintain status?

    • Kerry says:

      It’s also worth noting that I do not see any reduced tier point threshold listed – for my account it continues to display 1500 required to renew.

    • Rob says:

      BA now says it will apply to BOTH years. However, you don’t need to earn any TPs to April 2021 because you already have the following year in the bank.

  • Matthew Juden says:

    Thanks for this – so I’m one of these people who’s tier point collection ended in May, expiry June, however I did qualify again for gold – which shows as expiring, as planned next June. Any idea what happens – do I get an extension as well ?

  • Troll Basher says:

    Odd.

    GGL/CCR sitting on 3530 at point of lockdown.

    Other half’s Gold, gifted from me, has been extended until July 2021.

    My own year end is still showing as September 2020.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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