British Airways Club is here – what do you need to know?

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• Novice says:

  1 Apr1 April 11:12

  Rob, when you publish the comparison of ff clubs articles, can you give your opinion on; if a person doesn’t care about status but just cares about Avios then what ff club is best in terms of getting the most Avios per flight or a rough idea?

  I don’t care about status. I only fly business class so lounges etc are already part of that for me and I mostly travel solo. My aim is max avios.

  • Richie says:

    1 Apr1 April 12:38

    My guess is maximising AmEX and Credit card SUBs may be best for you.

  • inman says:

    1 Apr1 April 12:52

    Not a straightforward one unfortunately.
    BA, Qatar, Finnair, Iberia, Loganair and Aer Lingus are the carriers who use avios as their common currency. A further 30+ airlines can be used to earn avios indirectly.
    Some airlines calculate based on revenue and some don’t. For example, if I travel from London to Doha on BA vs QR, QR provides a fixed number of avios based on booking class (afaik) but BA calculates avios based on revenue. Based on the cost of the ticket, I could earn higher or lower amount of avios on BA compared to QR.
    But there is one thing for sure. As long as the GBP remains stronger than the EUR, you will always earn more avios on Iberia or Finnair, as their earning rate is in parity with EUR rather than GBP.

• Dave R says:

  1 Apr1 April 11:18

  When BA says “closer to the launch date” on the website
  I appreciate closer is an ambiguous term but we are now past the launch date!

  Perhaps BA could provide us with a dictionary definition of closer – a Day, a Week, a Month?

  quote from BA site today – https://www.britishairways.com/content/the-british-airways-club/about-tier-points
  “Earn with American Express
  In 2025, British Airways American Express® Premium Plus Cardmembers will be able to earn up to 2,500 tier points by spending on their card. More details of this offer will be announced closer to the launch date.”

  • ian_h says:

    1 Apr1 April 11:32

    They didn’t specify the launch day of what though so they will definitely give more info before the launch date of what they are launching 😉

    • NFH says:

      1 Apr1 April 12:41

      BA’s e-mail of 31st December 2024 stated “From April 2025, we are delighted to welcome you to The British Airways Club. A Club designed to give you more opportunities to unlock rewards, combined with a fresh look and feel. … There will also be new ways to earn Tier Points. From booking holiday packages with British Airways Holidays, making contributions to Sustainable Aviation Fuels (‘SAF’)¹, adding extras to your booking like seating or baggage, or a spend-based offer on the British Airways American Express® Premium Plus Card², giving you more ways to earn than ever before. … ²Spending on a British Airways American Express ® Premium Plus Card – Cardmembers will be able to earn up to 2,500 Tier Points by spending on their card. More details of this offer will be announced closer to the launch date.”

      The launch date is clearly stated as April 2025, and nothing defines “the launch date” of the tier points earning as being different from the “April 2025” launch date defined earlier in the e-mail. The e-mail forms binding contractual terms pursuant to Section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and any ambiguity in these contractual terms must be interpreted in favour of the consumer pursuant to Section 69 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (contra proferentem).

      • Cicero says:

        1 Apr1 April 13:37

        Doesn’t bind Amex, probably doesn’t bind BA.

        • NFH says:

          1 Apr1 April 13:44

          It’s BA, not Amex, who is contratually obliged to give tier points for spending on cards. If consumers paid an increased annual fee of £300 to American Express in the belief that they would receive this benefit, then they could seek damages from BA.

        • JDB says:

          1 Apr1 April 14:46

          @NFH – nobody paid an increased £300 fee in the expectation of tier points as that fee was in place considerably before all this. So no damages.

        • NFH says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:13

          @JDB – that’s factually untrue. I paid an annual fee of £250 in February 2024, but it increased to £300 in February 2025, for which the only promised additional benefit was the opportunity to earn up to 2500 tier points with effect from April 2025. There will be many other people in the same boat, given that my anniversary is based on the date that the card was first launched in 2001.

      • JDB says:

        1 Apr1 April 14:44

        @NFH – contra proferentem clearly isn’t engaged here. There is absolutely no way BA has contracted to do anything or to do so by any particular date. There wasn’t even any earnings rate to measure your quantum of damages. It’s ridiculous.

        • NFH says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:15

          @JDB. BA wrote “Cardmembers will be able to earn up to 2,500 Tier Points by spending on their card“. Cardmembers cannot do so. Therefore BA is a breach of contract. Yes, it might be difficult to quantify the loss, but not impossible.

        • Cicero says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:18

          JDB is right, there is clearly no contractual obligation on BA to give TPs. It doesn’t mean BA hasn’t messed up, and may have upset Amex, but that’s it.

        • NFH says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:23

          @Cicero – I have explained the contractual obligation. Just because the contractual obligation is vague and hard to quantify, it does not mean that one does not exist. Can you explain the legal reasoning for why you say “there is clearly no contractual obligation on BA to give TPs“?

        • Cicero says:

          1 Apr1 April 22:16

          @NFH in response to @Cicero – I have explained the contractual obligation. Just because the contractual obligation is vague and hard to quantify, it does not mean that one does not exist. Can you explain the legal reasoning for why you say “there is clearly no contractual obligation on BA to give TPs“?

          I’m a lawyer.

        • NFH says:

          2 Apr2 April 17:15

          @Cicero – you say you’re a lawyer, but you can’t offer any legal reasoning to challenge my legal reasoning above? That’s not persuasive and this approach wouldn’t get you far in court!

        • Cicero says:

          2 Apr2 April 18:26

          @NFH I say I’m a lawyer, because I am one 😉 You don’t mention whether you are a lawyer?

      • JDB says:

        1 Apr1 April 15:37

        @NFH – you had already accepted/contracted to pay the £300 fee by 1 August, long before the December announcement. Amex has made no representations to you about TP and will offer you a pro-rata refund if you feel aggrieved.

        This is all just looking for bogeymen that aren’t there and the ‘contractual’ case is a complete non starter. I’m not sure that even trading standards/advertising standards would have much interest. You simply haven’t contracted for any thing nor suffered any loss/detriment.

        • NFH says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:48

          @JDB – No, I did no such thing, and nor did the other cardmembers whose increased £300 annual fee was billed in February 2025.

          Just because the contractual obligation is vague and hard to quantify, it does not mean that one does not exist. Can you explain the legal reasoning for why you say “the ‘contractual’ case is a complete non starter“?

          Given that BA evidently promised the tier points earning before it had agreed its terms with American Express, BA’s promise was a misleading action in breach of Regulation 5 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, because a reasonable person would understand that the tier points earning would start in April 2025.

          I never said that Amex had made representations. The misrepresentation was by BA, not by Amex. It makes no legal difference whether the £300 is paid to Amex or to BA.

        • JDB says:

          1 Apr1 April 16:11

          @NFH – the issue is that there is absolutely no contractual obligation on BA. If you could somehow show there were such a contract and that BA had resiled from it (which isn’t even the case yet) and tried to plead some sort of estoppel, BA’s actions would need to be unconscionable, a threshold you couldn’t possibly meet. I just can’t see why you would even contemplate any action.

        • NFH says:

          1 Apr1 April 17:09

          @JDB – There is a contractual obligation on BA, albeit a vague one that is difficult to quantify. Putting aside that argument for a moment, BA has made a misrepresentation as I argued above. Do you disagree with that too?

        • JDB says:

          1 Apr1 April 19:06

          @NFH – I think you would be struggling, even on misrepresentation. It’s so vague, lacking anything clear and unambiguous as to be fanciful. Perhaps more to the point, why would anyone bother?

  • JDB says:

    1 Apr1 April 11:37

    As per @ian_h BA didn’t specific the launch day of what and Amex never said anything and nobody provided the earning rate, so there’s not exactly much to complain about save some assumptions. When the TP promotion was run previously it was for six months and will have straddled many TP year ends.

    It’s actually pretty complicated from both BA and Amex’s perspectives.

    • RC says:

      1 Apr1 April 14:29

      It’s not complicated.
      BA has chosen to make it so by announcing changes Amex hadn’t agreed to.
      The complication arises from poor management and negotiation skills. Nothing more.
      No doubt Strickland the TV rent-a-quote will soon pop up alongside Tarry and the others defending BA because no one else will?

      • JDB says:

        1 Apr1 April 15:06

        There are actually a lot of complications on both sides. The non alignment (for most people) of the year ends risks creating unfairness, if TP are going to be earned systematically (as opposed to the one off trial in Nov 23) if they are going to be awarded on the first £15k then that’s likely to lead to a fee increase and if it’s on sums over £15k it runs into issues with the £35k minimum income. These are for starters and an article here highlighted other considerations/problem. I wouldn’t be laying all this at BA’s door.

        • Ziggy says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:35

          It’s shocking that anyone should think that BA should have considered all of this before driving ahead with the BAC and making announcements. Besides, it’s not like the BAC was in the planning at least two years is it? *roll eyes*

        • CJD says:

          1 Apr1 April 18:13

          I would lay it at BA’s door because they appear to have announced something that wasn’t ready to be announced. It didn’t come from Amex.

        • RC says:

          1 Apr1 April 19:00

          It’s 100% BA. It’s BA that decided to make changes, hasn’t planned properly, clearly has nt agreed terms either Amex and has made a mess of it.
          Try as some may to deflect blame, anyone with two neurons or more can see this is wholly BA.

        • JDB says:

          1 Apr1 April 19:36

          @RC – your blindly anti BA rhetoric is well known on these pages and some of your views have some validity, but in this particular instance, you are barking up the wrong tree.

        • Cicero says:

          1 Apr1 April 22:30

          Having agreed with JDB above, I don’t understand what he’s saying here. We don’t know what has happened between Amex and BA, but we do know that BA has promised something that it cannot deliver at the moment. It’s not a breach of contract but it looks as if it’s BA’s cock up, not Amex’s.

      • pbcold says:

        2 Apr2 April 13:14

        This entirely analysis is funny.

    • RC says:

      1 Apr1 April 20:42

      Odd how anyone who points out factual errors is ‘anti BA rhetoric’. BA screws up so much, factually underperforms the majority of IAG, has terrible Which? ratings and us now trying to rewrite history on Amex, which some like @JDB are in connivance with.
      How much do BA pay you to be their ‘blog warrior’ for them’?

      • JDB says:

        1 Apr1 April 21:47

        Almost all of your posts are comment, not fact or correction, so rhetoric is the correct word. Also entirely one sided/extreme in content and tone (i.e. with some sort of agenda) which makes them far less valid or credible; it’s never as simple/simplistic as you suggest. That’s why you get so little engagement.

        Re your Amex/BA assertions, I would suggest you aren’t fully apprised of the situation. More fun/easier to guess or assume BA is at fault. Have you actually met either the BA or Amex UK management? Do you rate Amex UK management?

• Pl says:

  1 Apr1 April 12:30

  Will be interesting to see how Oman air structure their program, if they do indeed join oneworld as planned.

• BJ says:

  1 Apr1 April 13:05

  They are not only protecting commercial interests, they are also protecting passenger/member interests. BA has no way if knjwing if any other arrangenent has willing consent of those involved.

• kevin86 says:

  1 Apr1 April 13:50

  I’ve always been blue and choose my airline based on what is best for me at the time. Most of my avios are from credit spending and a lot of my flights with BA are reward flights. I also only fly infrequently for work.

  Will any of the changes make any difference to me? Can’t see anything which suggests there are

• Henry Young says:

  1 Apr1 April 14:03

  I just realized why you need tier points for status. Surely I’d cry tears if I ever had to fly BA again. Happily boycotted BA for 20 years and I see it keeps getting worse through its short sighted cost cutting. Sad to see, but in a UK context, it’s entirely consistent with the British condition, Starmer economics, etc. Thank got I mostly left a decade ago. Terrible country. If you’re still here, sort out your Plan B – plenty of way better options are available. Thank me later 😉

  • Craig says:

    1 Apr1 April 14:38

    Hmmm 🙄 “thank you Henry”…

    Most informative, although what exactly is “mostly left”?!

    • Thomas says:

      1 Apr1 April 16:07

      😂

  • kevin86 says:

    1 Apr1 April 14:45

    BA are very profitable and have been for a while (outside of COVID)

• LWH says:

  1 Apr1 April 14:11

  My partner and I have a BA ‘double tier points’ holiday in May and another holiday in September both booked prior to the announced Exec Club changes. Both would normally have tier points credited to our respective Exec Club accounts. Any ideas as to whether that will still be the case?

  • Richie says:

    1 Apr1 April 15:01

    You’ll get new TPs.

  • Dermot says:

    1 Apr1 April 15:07

    Yes they convert it from the old system by using a multiplier and they say you will be no worse off.

    • Rob says:

      1 Apr1 April 15:09

      You ARE worse off, because the gap between what you earn and what you need to requalify is now wider. Earning 750 TPs towards Gold when Gold was 1,500 TP is a lot different to earning £10,000-worth of TP when Gold needs £20,000.

      • Jules says:

        1 Apr1 April 15:31

        Huh? Both examples are 50% of what is required to achieve gold.

        • jjoohhnn says:

          1 Apr1 April 15:41

          But the cost of 750 TP’s and £10,000 are not the same. It’s a lot more expensive to get £10,000 worth of TP rather than 750 TP’s

• Rob S says:

  1 Apr1 April 14:17

  A quick question/comment on the transition period, especially for flights booked before Dec 31st 2024:
  There are a few “pro rata” adjustments in the description, presumably using the 20,000/1500 =13,33 scale for Gold. However, the lifetime gold ratio is 550,000/35000 = 15.71. I made my May bookings to push me over the top for lifetime gold and now I’ll be getting less bang than what I expected when buying tickets. Has anyone explored this angle with BA ? Thanks!

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