British Airways are taking cancelled flights into account for Executive Club status

British Airways are currently being very understanding towards their most loyal customers. As people have not been able to fly and may not for some time, all members were given an extra 12 months added to their Executive Club status. This means frequent flyers maintain their hard earned Gold, Silver or Bronze card without the need to fly.

That was coupled with a 25% reduction in the amount of tier points needed to achieve a higher level. Generous all round. What is not quite so commonly known is around cancelled flights and going up a tier.

Cancelled Flights and Executive Club Status

Travel plans over the last quarter have been thrown out the window. Some people had flights booked which would bring them up to a higher tier in the Executive Club and cancellations mean these eventually did not take place.

Anecdotal online reports show that people were being raised to the next status based on cancelled flights. All you need to do is show the flights booked that get you over the line. No tier points or Avios are awarded, but the increased status is.

What Is My Experience?

In March, British Airways reduced the tier point qualifications by 30% for people with an April, May or June renewal date. At the time I was 250 tier points short of meeting the new level, so I went ahead and booked a week away, with the destination partly chosen due to the frequent flyer earnings.

Naturally, those flights are now cancelled. I don’t mind, as I had already maintained my Silver status and it does the job. However I have been Gold before, in fact my very first article on this blog was about the welcome pack, so I knew what I was missing.

Once I heard that cancelled flights were taken into account, I spoke to British Airways. They advised yes, my cancelled flights would be taken into account automatically. Dubious about this, I decided to call again and speak to someone else a week or two later.

Eventually I spoke to someone who took all the details, found my bookings and said it would most probably be granted. All I needed to do was wait until after Monday. Overnight Monday into Tuesday, my request was approved, as is evident by the e-mail above.

Overall Thoughts

Those people who would have gone up in Executive Club status, but who lost out due to cancelled flights, might want to contact the club directly and see what they can do. If you have the booking references of the cancelled BA flights, it will probably save some time.

Clearly I am very pleased that British Airways is doing this. It likely won’t impact very many people at all, but for those of us that it does, it’s an excellent way to treat loyal customers. What did I do to mark the occasion? I booked flights with British Airways for August as it’s the least I could do.

Did you know that British Airways are raising Executive Club status based on cancelled flights? What do you think of them doing this? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Alan Wilson from Stilton via Wikimedia Commons.