British Airway‘s loyalty scheme has been around for over 40 years, but the last few months have seen some major shakeups. The name changed from the Executive Club to simply British Airways Club, but that isn’t what ruffled customers feathers.
In December of 2024, the popular airline changed its rewards scheme, meaning that rewards and elite status are now based on spending, not the volume of flights. The shakeup drew criticism from consumers as well as frequent flyer website Head for Points.
Gold status offers perks such as access to first-class lounges and increased baggage allowance, generally requiring 20,000 points annually. In the new system, one point equates to one British pound. This makes it less a frequent flyer programme and more geared towards those who opt for business and first class regularly.
Some have pointed out that someone who takes a few high-value flights a year compared to someone who commutes in economy 50 times a year is being rewarded more, despite not being as loyal as the commuter.
British Airways have insisted that the changes to the programme are in an attempt to create a fairer system, and not reduce the number of customers who can take advantage of the perks of the programme. In contrast, Head for Points stated that the changes show that British Airways are “effectively washing its hands of the leisure market”, claiming it will be “impossible to earn gold for small business travellers, economy travellers or self-funded leisure travellers”.
British Airways have since announced more incentives to help customers boost their points, including an offer where customers can earn up to 550 additional points per flight, depending on their cabin class. This offer is in place for the rest of the year.
In addition, they have also introduced a guaranteed bronze status for people who take at least 25 flights a year, regardless of destination or distance. This will be good news for many commuters.
Bronze status offers business class check-in desks, free seat selection from seven days before departure (even in economy), as well as a much appreciated head start on getting them to higher tiers.
British Airways chief commercial officer Colm Lacy said awarding points for spending is “the best way of recognising our customers’ loyalty and we’re confident it’s the right thing to do”.
Speaking to the PA news agency, he said that “This is not about reducing the number of members in each tier. The focus for this is making sure we have a loyalty scheme that rewards people for the right behaviours.”
The new scheme does have a few perks though, as the reward earning activities extend to things like travel with BA Holidays and credit card spending, not just from pure flying, as was the case with the old program.
In the past, some customers were able to take multiple flights on indirect routes before their destination, as this was able to help them rise through the ranks quicker while still getting to their destination. Gilbert Ott, founder of the travel website God Save The Points, said people have an “emotional attachment to loyalty”, and the bonus offer creates “a little bit more of that game feeling”.
When speaking on British Airways, he said that “It’s aggressive because they’re the first in the UK – and one of the first in Europe – to go to a system where money is the main driver. But my gut is, if you look in five years, almost everybody (will have done) the same.”
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View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/travel-tourism/british-airways-controversial-loyalty-scheme-30938487
