‘Soft landings’ are definitely staying at British Airways Club, as 30th April proved

One of the hot topics during the transition from British Airways Executive Club to The British Airways Club was the issue of ‘soft landings’.

A ‘soft landing’ occurs when you only drop one status tier if you fail to requalify for the next membership period.

It was a long-standing features of the Executive Club. Hit Gold one year and you could get almost three years of lounge access out of it – the rest of your current year as Gold, all of the following year as Gold and all of the year after that as Silver. You’d then get a year of Bronze (free seat selection within seven days of departure) as a further sweetener.

‘Soft landings’ were never an official part of Executive Club. They were never mentioned on the website and they were not covered in the Terms & Conditions. They just happened.

A BA employee told me that soft landings were NOT meant to continue with British Airways Club.

It goes against the ‘money is all that matters’ approach to the new programme. Don’t spend enough in the year after you earned status? You’re a loser and you will be sent straight back to Blue.

As the protests against the British Airways Club changes gained force, BA changed its mind. At the same time as segment qualification for status was brought back, so were soft landings. It couldn’t be announced, of course, because they had never officially existed, but I am told that the decision was made.

(The other change was to give some, but not all, members with mid-year expiry dates a status extension to 30th April 2026.)

The only way to be certain soft landings were happening, however, was to wait until 30th April.

30th April was when the first cohort of people would lose status since the 1st April launch of British Airways Club.

What we have seen, with zero evidence to the contrary, is that soft landing are remaining. Everyone I know who was due to drop down last week only dropped by one level.

A Gold dropped to Silver for a year, a Silver dropped to Bronze.

If you already have status, this knowledge may impact how you treat British Airways bookings for the rest of 2025/26. If you are Gold, you know you will get a year of Silver so you don’t necessarily need to start building up status in a programme outside The British Airways Club.

It’s slightly different for a current Silver, since Bronze is not much of a consolation prize. You may still want to build up status with another oneworld programme or even another airline alliance.

It is also a factor to consider if you are deciding whether to earn status in BAC or look elsewhere in oneworld. British Airways Gold will continue to give you up to three years of lounge access (up to two years as Gold, depending on how quickly after 1st April you earn it, plus a year of Silver). Many other programmes do not offer this.

Of course, if it’s impossible for you to spend £20,000 net with BA to earn Gold in the first place it’s not up for debate ….