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How do you get a British Airways Executive Club Premier card?

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Most people think that the British Airways Executive Club tiers are Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold.  There is also Gold Guest List – see here for how you get that – but it is a subset of Gold and does not have its own membership card, unless you count adding the letters ‘GGL’ to the corner of a normal Gold one.

There is, however, another elite tier you may not know about – British Airways Executive Club Premier.

This is the card you get:

How do you get a British Airways Executive Club Premier card?

How do you get a British Airways Executive Club Premier card?

This information is taken from official British Airways guidelines I saw, although the guidelines are now a few years old and may have been updated.

The aim of Premier is to keep on the good side of people who control the travel budgets at British Airways’ largest corporate accounts.

In order to get a British Airways Premier card, you need to control a travel budget which spends at least £2 million per year with British Airways.

Importantly – and this is taken verbatim for the guidelines – giving someone a Premier card:

“will not always reflect the revenue generated for British Airways by the company, but should be based upon the individual’s ability to influence travel policy”

How do I apply?

You don’t.  Based on the guidelines I have, you need to befriend a member of the British Airways board or a key sales manager.  They will submit an application on your behalf.

Five other BA executives (specified people, not random staff) must ‘second’ the application, including the British Airways Chief Operating Officer.

British Airways Premier status

How many British Airways Premier cardholders are there?

It was 850, at the time of publication of the guidance notes I saw which go back a good few year.  However, Alex Cruz made a decision to cull the ranks when he was CEO and last time I heard the number was nearer 450.  The card was allegedly removed from various high profile celebrities and sports stars who had no commercial value to the airline.

What do you get if you are a British Airways Premier cardholder?

What you DIDN’T get, interestingly, was tier points according to the BA guidance, although I believe that this has changed.  Perhaps introducing lifetime status criteria meant that Premier members still wanted to track their points?

As a Premier, you receive all of the benefits of British Airways Gold membership plus (we think):

  • use of the Special Services team at key airports
  • personal escort to/from aircraft, even at remote stands
  • access to British Airways lounges at all times, even if the member is not flying on British Airways
  • ability to bring two guests into a lounge (a Gold member can only bring one guest)
  • access to top lounge (The Concorde Room at Heathrow Terminal 5, presumably now the Chelsea Lounge at New York JFK) irrespective of class of travel
  • ability to give Gold status and 2 x Silver status to friends
  • an annual upgrade voucher, allowing a single cabin upgrade for two people – this is the same as the Gold Guest List GUF2 voucher

Only the first two benefits above offering something genuinely above what a Gold Guest List member of British Airways Executive Club would get.

Not a bad deal if you can get it …. but don’t get your hopes up.

PS.  If you want to know more about the ‘standard’ Executive Club status levels, we have a number of articles of interest albeit they have not been updated in two years:

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (45)

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

  • Jonathan Shapiro says:
    18 Sep18 September 04:13

    I would class GGL as a ‘super-set’ of Gold rather than a ‘subset’.

  • James C says:
    18 Sep18 September 05:04

    Just to mention the GGL card actually has ‘GL’ rather than ‘GGL’ in the top right corner. There’s also the Guest List logo (a sun rising from a crown) which precedes the text.

  • Scott says:
    18 Sep18 September 05:50

    I thought I’d previously read that BA would hold a departing flight to await a Premier on a late arriving connection too?

    • Danny says:
      18 Sep18 September 06:02

      Yep, you read that on Head for Points in previous versions of this same article. But Rob seems to have deleted that sentence from this updated version of the article. Intereestingly the now deleted sentence also suggested British Airways will sometimes remove paying passengers from a flight if a Premier member wishes to travel on it. Presumably that means BA no longer do this for Premier members?

      • Chris says:
        18 Sep18 September 06:53

        They don’t do it for anyone. It wouldn’t make any sense. Premier and Guest List just get priority help with rebooking if they miss a flight or it is cancelled.

    • Rob says:
      18 Sep18 September 07:37

      It seems to be true but BA has specifically told me that it isn’t, so I deleted it this time around.

      Issue came up after I was booted out of 1A on a flight earlier this year ….

      • Mikeact says:
        18 Sep18 September 08:08

        @Rob And then ? How was it dealt with ?

        • Rob says:
          18 Sep18 September 08:46

          I was booted out a week before departure, not on the day itself.

          • Jonathan says:
            18 Sep18 September 09:14

            BA have got some nerve, especially since they’re the feature airline of this site that you run…

      • tical says:
        18 Sep18 September 14:35

        Was booted out of 1C on a short flight from London to Edinburgh at the gate (no info provided just new boarding pass printed) only to find out the first 2 rows of CE completely empty until a minute before the doors closed when David Cameron (acting PM then) walked in with an assistant and 2 security

  • Chris says:
    18 Sep18 September 06:50

    The letters on the card are GL, not GGL.

  • Sean says:
    18 Sep18 September 07:12

    According to the Register of Members Interests Theresa May was gifted Premier membership.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      18 Sep18 September 07:56

      Liz Truss probably had the shortest ever Premier membership and Rishi Sunak wouldn’t be seen dead in a commercial airliner if there’s a perfectly decent private jet available.

      • Sean says:
        18 Sep18 September 08:00

        Theresa May’s was from 2022 and still active.

        • John says:
          18 Sep18 September 09:23

          Renewed this year too. Also quite a few visits to the Windsor Suite declared, interestingly the declared value has dropped by almost hald for the most recent visits.

      • Richie says:
        18 Sep18 September 11:52

        BTW Piers Morgan has stated that he was on a commercial flight in the same cabin as Sunk to the US.

    • S says:
      18 Sep18 September 08:47

      Going by the number of gifted admissions to the Windsor Suite she has declared on the register, one might think the Premier card is wasted on her

  • Mayfair Mike says:
    18 Sep18 September 07:32

    I remember years ago Victoria Beckham had her luggage lost by BA on some trip. She demanded BA give her free 1st class flights for life as compensation. BA refused immediately which I always thought was a bit mean as the marketing would have way outweighed the cost, esp including her husband.

    • Mike Hunt says:
      18 Sep18 September 07:57

      When BA lost my baggage I demanded they give me my bags back – I didn’t get that either !

    • Rich says:
      18 Sep18 September 08:27

      Correct decision by BA as she still travels with them.

    • Gordon says:
      18 Sep18 September 09:48

      “I remember years ago Victoria Beckham had her luggage lost by BA on some trip.”

      That’s why I would not use expensive designer luggage, even if I could afford it, as it may not have been lost, but become more of a target!

      • Jonathan says:
        18 Sep18 September 10:30

        She and David are worth at least £500million, I don’t think they really care too much, probably more the contents than the bag itself since the bag is replaceable, whereas contents are always more tricky…

        • Gordon says:
          18 Sep18 September 11:49

          Exactly my point! Don’t bring attention to yourself with expensive luggage as it could be taken as well as the contents! Irrelevant how wealthy you are….

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:
    18 Sep18 September 07:53

    A GUF2 (2500 TP) or GUF1 (3500 TP) have nothing to do with GGL

  • J says:
    18 Sep18 September 08:22

    Another benefit may be selecting any seat on the plane, even if it has been prebooked by another passenger. I had this once with a former F1 driver – he was happy to swap back with me when he saw he had taken my seat next to my wife and 3 month old baby.

    • JDB says:
      18 Sep18 September 09:01

      I think that depends on the passenger asking for it. We have been in 1A/C with a well known figure (and Premier card holder) and his wife in the seats directly behind. They were escorted off the plane first to a Premier car.

      Although an Air France Club 2000 member at the time, I was asked to move out of 1A on Concorde to which I agreed. It turned out to be for JR and Sue Ellen!

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