I loved the Executive Club and it was one of the main reasons I flew with British Airways. Each year I would make sure I flew enough with BA or the oneworld alliance partners to maintain my status. This usually meant buying up to Club Europe and taking connecting flights via London, a cost to me in both extra time and money.
All this is no more. British Airways have decided to implement a new frequent flyer programme from 1 April 2025 called The Club. It’s the same, just uglier (both in its branding and name), and with tier advancement levels set so high that I will no longer make even Silver any longer. What does this mean for me?
Goodbye Executive Club and Hello…
Since I now have zero incentive to book with British Airways any longer, it’s time to go elsewhere. From a oneworld alliance standpoint, there are alternative options. For example, I have joined Royal Jordanian’s Royal Club programme, where I could get Sapphire in 30 segments. You don’t even need to fly with RJ, but I will, because I’ve long wanted to get back on board after enjoyable flights with them years ago.
I Come From A Land Downunder
Another option for me is to head back to Qantas. I am over half way to lifetime Silver there (Ruby) and they continue to have Status Credit levels much like the Executive Club used to have.
Goodbye Oneworld?
The other alternative for me is to just rip off the shackles and ditch the oneworld alliance altogether. Quite frankly flying with Star and SkyTeam carriers is cheaper, sometimes almost unbelievably cheaper.
Overall Thoughts
British Airways have effectively nuked the Executive Club from existence. Avios mean little to me, while status does… or did! Perhaps this is the wake up call I needed to stop frittering money away needlessly when it comes to flights.
One would have thought a smart way to do this at BA would have been to have both the old and the new thresholds together. Silver – earn 600 Tier Points or spend GBP 7,500. That would have pretty much made everyone happy, but I am sure the people running the numbers found that to be too costly one way or another.
For me, it’s a farewell to around 15 years of holding status with an airline that I quite like. Since there is literally zero requirement to direct my business to British Airways any longer, I will be looking forward to trying a wider range of airlines. Ethiopian, I’m already looking at you for some future flights and SWISS, I’ll be back to you!
How have the changes to the Executive Club impacted you? What is your plan B and plan C? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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From a One World standpoint, I am already a 2 Million Miler, having flown a lot on American since the Aadvantage program began. I live in Budapest and must endure connecting in Heathrow whenever going back to America for visits. American used to have direct USA fligbts before COVID but not any longer. I am, otherwise happy with my Platinum benefits.
Sounds good – you’ve certainly flown an awful lot! You must have lifetime status of some kind by now. Nicely done!
I live in Geneva, Switzerland. For intercontinental work trips we were often booked on BA via London as they were most of the time cheaper than Swiss or Lufthansa. Travelling via Heathrow was always a nightmare for me and I cannot count how many times BA either cancelled a flight from GVA to LHR or the number of times I missed a connection in LHR. I won’t miss the BAEC for sure and will focus on getting better rates with Star Alliance (lifetime Senator) or occasionally SkyTeam
Yes, I think it’s time to move on to the most convenient flights for travel over chasing for status, that’s for sure. Particularly in the current environment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts there!
My primary use for my BA elite status has been lounge access in the US when flying on “domestic”/“regional” AA/AS flights when my AA elite status doesn’t provide lounge access. But there are now enough airports where an Amex or Chase or Priority Pass get me lounge access when flying American or Alaska that I wasn’t really getting much use out of BA elite status anyway. I may consider the RJ elite status thing — RAM, Malaysian, Finnair, and JAL make no sense for me — but QF is more likely an easier backup OW elite status to get and maintain under the current conditions. I already ruled out QR.
And Sri Lanka’s program also seemed to make no sense for me.
I haven’t even looked at SriLankan’s programme! Will have to do so just to see if I can make head or tail of it!
Yes, that has always been a nice perk for a cohort of US frequent flyers. Good point, when it comes to Amex, Chase and Priority Pass, there are a lot of options there. QF wasn’t on my radar until someone pointed out with a comparison to be on a mileage run (just to show the points) and it was very similar. I like RJ and as it’s just straight segments, it could be a real winner. I have three months of Silver left with BA, so I’ve a little time to decide, but I’m not crediting anything else to BA from this point on.
I let my BA silver lapse as well, I figured they would go the way of the money route. Much like DL, AA and UA (they even increased spending in addition to flight segments). I did a status match to AF flying blue gold and never looked back. Much easier to maintain gold or even go for platinum within a year even with economy or business class tix a few times a year. What a shame these airlines don’t listen to the majority of their customers..
It’s really good that you’ve found Flying Blue to be a programme that suits you. I’ve been a member for years, but only credited the very occasional flight with KLM to it. It’s certainly an option!
Can’t believe that they’ve made such drastic changes! I’ll be changing by preferred alliance to SkyTeam(KLM) as they’re the cheapest carrier for the places I visit the most. Bye bye BA!
Sounds like a good move to me. Certainly no point in remaining with BA considering what has been done. A friend of mine likes Flying Blue as a programme, so have at it!
Not forgetting that BA have dressed this up as a “Result of customer feedback” .. utter Bulsh*t
Perhaps it was a result of customer feedback… from one customer. Certainly not the majority, it seems!