What is British Airways Executive Club Gold Guest List?

What is British Airways Gold Guest List, and is it something worth pushing for?

British Airways’ status levels can sometimes be confusing, especially in the higher levels. In this article we’ll talk about what Gold Guest List is and why it’s worth having.

You may already know that British Airways Executive Club is made up of four tiers: Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The latter three are the elite levels, and require a commitment to flying British Airways.

What you may not know is that Gold status is actually split into two sub-tiers: Gold and Gold Guest List, both of which also have additional incremental bonuses. Sound complicated? Hopefully this article makes things a little clearer ….

• at 1500 tier points, you become a Gold member (you can see the full list of British Airways Executive Club Gold benefits here).

• at 2500 tier points, you are awarded a Gold Upgrade for Two voucher (these are valid for 12 months) for an upgrade to the next cabin, subject to availability

• at 3500 tier points, you are awarded two Gold Upgrade for One vouchers (these are valid for 12 months) for an upgrade to the next cabin, subject to availability (this article explains how British Airways Gold Upgrade for One vouchers work)

• at 5000 tier points – 3000 tier points for renewals – you cross the threshold into Gold Guest List (more details below)

• at 6000 tier points, you receive a Gold Guest List redemption benefit – BA will turn any cash ticket for sale in fare classes A, D, T and B into an Avios ticket

• at 7000, 8000 and 9000 tier points you can choose from an additional Gold Guest List redemption, two additional Gold Upgrade for One vouchers or 50,000 Avios.

As you can see, there are lots of incentives to become a high-ranking Gold Guest List member. Once you reach 5000 tier points and cross the threshold into Gold Guest List, you get the following benefits in addition to what you already receive as a Gold member:

• two redemptions per year for British Airways to open up to five reward seats in fare classes A, D, T and B, rather than the standard reward fare class (this basically allows you to force open Avios reward seats)

• dedicated priority service phone number with 24 hour availability

• the ability to invite two additional guests to British Airways departure lounges and one guest to arrivals lounges

• at the beginning of your membership year you may gift your status to one person with an Executive Club Gold Partner card and confer Silver status to two other people. These cards are valid for one year only and once they expire they will return to their previous status.

• complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status

• access to BA’s Concorde Rooms, Concorde Dining and First Dining Rooms worldwide

There should be plenty on that list to get excited about. Gold Guest List redemptions are particularly powerful as you can force British Airways to open up revenue seats for Avios in the fare classes A, D, T and B if they are available – this article explains how Gold Guest List ‘jokers’ work.

Renewing Gold Guest List ‘only’ requires 3000 tier points so, once you’ve achieved it, keeping it will be a little easier.

(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 2.6 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 (December 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

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 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.