British Airways extends Executive Club elite status – for some – and reduced tier points

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• Nick says:

  21 Dec21 December 12:15

  Are the extensions based on status now, or at expiry date? If someone gets promoted between now and May, would that new status then be valid longer?

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 12:39

    Makes no difference – if you earn Silver now with an 8th May 2022 year end, you get it to 8th May 2023 anyway under the normal rules (eg rest of current year and all of following year).

    • Bimbo says:

      21 Dec21 December 13:22

      I think it might make a difference. As a September, what happened last year to me was that my Silver got extended to 2022, but I managed to qualify for Gold after the extension and so I ended up with Gold until 2023. I kept quiet as I’m not sure it was meant to happen. Or maybe I’m just confused, but felt wrong to get 2 years and something.

• TGLoyalty says:

  21 Dec21 December 12:28

  Great news all round Silver for another year and my plan to hit Gold again after May 22 requires fewer TP for a while longer.

  • AJA says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:51

    I wouldn’t be so sure. After May 22 your next TP end date will be 8 May 2023 when the thresholds will return to normal.

    BA’s website states:
    “Members with a Tier Point collection end date from January 2023 onwards can retain or upgrade their Tier status according to the normal thresholds.”

    So while you will have Silver for the year 9 May 2022 to 8 May 2023 (card year end 30 June 2023) you will require 600TP in that year to retain Silver or 1500TP to upgrade to Gold

• Richard G says:

  21 Dec21 December 12:29

  Just got the email. Probably a good thing as I’d given up on trying to retain status for next year.

• Mighty Hunter says:

  21 Dec21 December 12:44

  I think there’s a misunderstanding here. Reading the blurb on the exec club site, it says:

  Members with a Tier Point collection end date between July 2022 and December 2022 can benefit from the reduced Tier Point thresholds to retain, or upgrade, their Tier status.
  and –
  Members with a Tier Point collection end date from January 2023 onwards can retain or upgrade their Tier status according to the normal thresholds.

  I would read that as not requiring the threshold to be reached by 31st December 2022 but reduced thresholds will apply for the whole tier point year for all cardholders with a renewal date of December 2022 or earlier

  • Bluekjp says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:20

    Agree Fully. That just struck me as I read the article for the first time. Under the ‘Just for clarity’ example the article is wrong or poorly worded.

    • Rob says:

      21 Dec21 December 14:26

      We had this problem before when BA last did the tier point extension. ba.com is wrong, I think. The article is correct.

      Go back to BA’s email today and it clearly says “Don’t forget, in addition to protecting your current Tier for another year, we have made it easier for you to reach the next Tier and enjoy the benefits you deserve. We’ve reduced the amount of Tier Points needed to upgrade your status by 25%. This reduced threshold will now be applicable until December 2022.”

      This was sent to someone with an 8th April year end.

      • AJA says:

        21 Dec21 December 14:43

        @ Rob I’m not so sure.

        The website says:
        “This means that Members with a Tier Point collection end date up to June 2022 can benefit from the reduced Tier Point thresholds to upgrade their Tier status.

        Members with a Tier Point collection end date between July 2022 and December 2022 can benefit from the reduced Tier Point thresholds to retain, or upgrade, their Tier status.”

        It looks like anyone with a TP end date of Jan 2023 or later will need to earn the usual 300/600/1500TP.

        I haven’t received an email from BA and I think this is because my Tier Point year end is 8 Feb 2023. From the wording posted above by Mighty Hunter and that on BA’s website it looks like I need to earn 600TP by 8 Feb 2023 to retain Silver beyond 31 Mar 2023. I don’t think earning 450TP by 31 Dec 2022 will cut it.

        • Bluekjp says:

          21 Dec21 December 21:16

          100% of members will have a 2022 year end of course, so everyone will benefit from the reduced figure through to their year end in 2023. It is at this point, when you reach your 2023 year end that you then begin chasing the original levels for the next renewal. It seems very clear to me. In fact, crystal seems opaque by comparison.

      • AJA says:

        21 Dec21 December 14:46

        The website also specifically states: “Members with a Tier Point collection end date from January 2023 onwards can retain or upgrade their Tier status according to the normal thresholds.”

        • Rob says:

          21 Dec21 December 15:48

          Update: I have adjusted the article because BA asked me too.

          However, I am sure BA is talking nonsense. Are they seriously expecting global travel to be back to normal in 18 days time? It would need to be, if someone with an 8th January year end is expected to earn the full 1,500 tier points between 9th Jan 2022 and 8th Jan 2023.

          We will find out if I am right or wrong on 9th January, because those with a Jan year-end will either see a requirement for 1,125 tier points for Gold or 1,500.

        • AJA says:

          21 Dec21 December 19:46

          @Rob I sincerely hope you’re wrong and BA is right in thinking that travel is returning to normal but I have little confidence in travel returning next year to anything remotely like 2017 levels let alone 2019. The status extensions and reduced TP requirements, while nice, are only helpful if you’re actually flying (which I’m currently not doing, so it’s moot). The one positive for me is the extension of the BA Holidays double tier points promo which might be helpful – 2 80tp route holidays is enough for me to retain Silver.

• MKB says:

  21 Dec21 December 13:26

  “Only elite members with a tier point collection end date between the 1st April 2022 and 30th June 2022 have received a status extension today.

  If your tier point year ends during this three month period, your existing status level will be rolled over automatically for another year. It will on your BA account by 1st January.”

  This sounds too good to be true. I meet this criteria and I am currently Gold until May 2023. Am I really being rolled over to May 2024? I’d be very (pleasantly) surprised if I were.

  • Bimbo says:

    21 Dec21 December 13:32

    That’s what happened to me last year! It feels like a glitch, so fingers crossed.

  • Mighty Hunter says:

    21 Dec21 December 13:40

    i asked this on page 1 and Rob said no.

  • LS says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:00

    I was in this situation in the last batch, and didn’t get an extension. What it should say is protection from dropping status for 12 months, not an extension.

    • Rob says:

      21 Dec21 December 14:16

      Last time they called it protection, now BA is calling it extension again.

• Mirp says:

  21 Dec21 December 14:09

  I’m confused too.

  My tier post year ends July 2022.

  Will I get extension or not?

  • Mirp says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:15

    My confusion is over — no extension for July 2022. I just read my partner’s email with his BA status extension. He has a May 2022 expiry date.

• NorthernLass says:

  21 Dec21 December 14:16

  I still struggle to understand all this. OH’s year end is July 8th. In August 2019 (last time we flew BA!) he got Bronze from one long haul trip, and obviously it’s not been much use to us in the interim. When will he return to being blue? No cash trips planned for the foreseeable as we have so many avios and 241s to burn through, plus there’s my re-kindled affinity for LCCs!

  • AJA says:

    21 Dec21 December 15:00

    I think your OH will drop to Blue on 1 Sep 2022 unless the required 225TP are earned by 8 Jul 2022 to retain Bronze until 31 Aug 2023.

    • NorthernLass says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:50

      Thanks AJA, that actually would work well as we’d be able to select seats 7 days in advance on our March, April and July trips!

• DoogieDoo says:

  21 Dec21 December 14:36

  Based on my flight in Club World a week ago I don’t think it’s a case if BA cutting people loose, rather time for passengers to cut BA loose based on the awful service, poor food and miserable crew. Maybe time for a status match and airline loyalty switch……

  • Mighty Hunter says:

    21 Dec21 December 15:07

    It’s certainly about time they got a grip of crew standards. Before she took redundancy early last tear, my wife was a CSD who always either welcomed gold card holders personally using their name, or, on a busy A380 flight, made sure the lead crew in the cabin did.
    She’s flown 16 sectors in business class as a gold card holder since November last year and hasn’t been spoken to once.
    There’s no managers in crew report any longer, nobody checking standards, and friends still flying tell her they are embarrassed when they see what’s going on around them.
    All the legacy of Alex Cruz and Covid, but I think and hope the new CE will make a difference soon – or customers will go elsewhere.

    • dougzz99 says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:55

      I hate any sort of status greeting, it’s naff to me. I’ve recently just done two BA long hauls, the flights were delayed by 1.5 hours on the outbound causing a missed connection, and 3.5 hours on the inbound. I further waited 2 hours for bags at LHR. These delays were undoubtedly down to insufficient staff for cleaning and prepping the aircraft. Both flights the crews were fairly mediocre, little other than minimum service. I’m typically a defender of BA, but these were probably the worst two BA flights I’ve taken. The AA connections at the far end were both as normal for AA, which I’m OK with.

    • Amy C says:

      21 Dec21 December 16:02

      That’s appalling. From 2013-March 2016 I worked indirectly for BA as a mystery flyer and flew in all classes a minimum of twice a month. They used to allocated different status’ to me to test whether crew acknowledged me as they should (as you describe). Mostly they did. But at least that and numerous other things were being monitored via a very costly mystery flight program. I had to write a very comprehensive report about everything. They didn’t do brilliantly overall by my recollection but at least they were trying to sort things out and get feedback re where they needed to improve. Cruz came in and binned off the program immediately as a cost cutting measure. They’ve been getting progressively worse ever since.

  • Anuj says:

    21 Dec21 December 15:37

    I’m amazed at how popular BA is on here because when you compare them to other airlines their premium offering is just so poor, apart from the advantage of direct flights from London I just don’t get it.

    • Rhys says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:40

      I think you underestimate how much of an advantage direct flights are.

      No other airline, not even Virgin, will fly you direct to Europe, Asia, America, Latin America, Africa…

      • Anuj says:

        21 Dec21 December 16:51

        Maybe it’s an an age thing too. I don’t think people my age think of BA as cool or aspirational in the way the Middle Eastern airlines seem

        • Peter K says:

          21 Dec21 December 17:32

          You’ve got the nail on the head, basically. Direct flights. I personally don’t think there are really any aspirational carriers West, certainly none with a decent FF scheme.

          East it’s a different matter, but for many saving an extra 4+ hours in an airport waiting for a connection is worth a worse service.

          Also, most FF schemes are also not great compared to BA. It really is the jewel in their crown.

    • dougzz99 says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:49

      BAEC is a very good program. If you want to fly primarily from London it’s the only game in town. It’s also easy to use other airlines in OW and maintain BA status pretty easily.

    • Alan says:

      22 Dec22 December 00:55

      Yep and if you don’t live in the SE they’re not direct anyway so you’re as good flying KLM or QR with a connection just as you’d have with BA – plus the added bonus of avoiding LHR and their ludicrous and ever-increasing fees!

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