Can I get British Airways priority boarding if I join the Executive Club?

Executive Club is British Airways’ frequent flyer program, allowing you to earn Avios and tier points in return for continued loyalty.   In this article I want to look at whether you would receive priority boarding if you joined British Airways Executive Club.

The benefit of priority boarding is that you are unlikely to be stuck in the jet-bridge shuffling along slowly as you wait for people already in the aircraft to vacate the aisles and sit down.

British Airways has ten different boarding groups. We looked at who gets to board in which group in this article.

Your boarding group is based on the ticket type you buy and your status level in British Airways Executive Club.

You will not receive priority boarding just for joining British Airways Executive Club since you will only be a Blue member. These get no privileges.

However, if you become an elite member with a Bronze, Silver or Gold card, you will automatically be entitled to priority boarding and the use of business class check-in and baggage drop counters.

To become an elite member you must fulfil the minimum requirements, based on your tier point balance. For example, to become a Bronze member you must accrue at least 300 tier points in a membership year.

You can read more about what it takes to become a British Airways Executive Club Bronze member in this HfP article here as well as all the additional benefits that elite status confers on you at ba.com here.

PS. Interestingly, Virgin Atlantic does give priority boarding to anyone who joins Virgin Flying Club – even if they have no status. Read more about that here.

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

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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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.