British Airways Executive Club Guide | How to Get Gold Status with BA
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2023
- #britishairways #executiveclub #bagold #bastatus
British Airways has an excellent travel rewards programs that for reasons known only to them is called “The Executive Club”.
Last year I hatched a plan to get British Airways Gold Status and although it didn’t go exactly to plan I did get there in the end. I took a few brilliant trips that I was planning to visit anyway, I just massaged my travel to earn me status with BA.
So after visiting a few lovely places I had BA Gold Status.
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0.00 Intro
0:22 Who Cares About Status?
0:52 The Executive Club
1:19 Avios vs Tier Points
2:06 What Do You Get?
3:34 The Levels of Status
4:12 Bronze Level
4:54 Silver Level
6:14 Gold Level
9:21 The Myths of Status
9:40 The Membership Year
10:21 Timing Your Status
11:34 Soft Landings
12:00 How Many Tier Points do you Need?
13:00 Earning Tier Points
13:57 Hacking the System
15:29 Your Next Steps
Getting status in the frequent flyer scheme allows you to enjoy many benefits, including free checked bags, priority boarding and first class lounge access, and you can achieve Gold Status without breaking the bank.
It’s hard to believe but you don’t have to be a “frequent flyer” or spend huge sums on long haul business class to earn top status in the British Airways. This guide will explain what the Executive Club is, what it isn’t and how it works.
It will help you “hack” the BA system so you can find ways to boost your tier points without having to spend “loads of money” on business class fares or even fly frequently.
You can take a few lovely trips and get BA Gold Status and enjoy all the perks that Gold has to offer.
If you’d like to follow me on my travels, please subscribe to the channel to get updates when I release new videos,
Thank you for watching, please remember to like and subscribe, and thank you for joining me on my Grey Gap Year.
Phil
I agree - Silver is the sweet spot for me too. Lounge access and excess baggage is good enough for me
Thanks for your comment and your support, I think I'll land into Silver in the end.
Really well covered and clearly presented all the key points. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind comments, I'm glad it was helpful.
Another cracking video and well explained.
Getting BA status is on our bucket list for next year and would be chuffed to reach Silver
Thanks again
Thank you for your kind comments, good luck with the tier point run. New video out on Sunday that might help.
Thanks soo much Phil, that was just soo informative and helped me concisely understand something that they deliberately try and keep mysterious - well done 👍
Going to watch your next video right now!
Thank you for your kind comments and support. I'm really glad you found the video helpful.
Thanks for simplifying the scheme I travel a fair bit and I think I will start working on my points. Cheers
Thank you for your comment, good luck in your point hunting, I'll hopefully see you in the First Lounge at Heathrow one day
Great video breakdown.. 👏
Thank you for your comment, appreciate it.
Smashing it Phil, big fan 👏🏻 seems like you've been talking to a camera for yesrs! Much better camera angle/backdrop setup in this one too 👌🏻
You are very kind, thank you for your comment and the feedback the camera angle. I'm brand new to this and I've looked back on some of the other videos and I think you're right.
Thanks again
Phil
Also here from 'Matt's Planet' videos and have subscribed :) great videos and I look forward to seeing where your upcoming content takes you! -Callum
Thank you for your lovely comments Callum and thank you for the sub it is very much appreciated. As a long time fan of @MattsPlanet I consider it high praise to have some of Matts fans enjoying my videos.
Nice explainer. As I commented on the other video, I'd probably say that Silver is the sweet spot - it's a big leap in tier points for a smaller gain than, say, bronze to silver.
I agree, I think Silver will be my sweet spot in years to come too. Thanks for the comment, much appreciated.
Loving these videos, keep it up!
Thank you Joel, I really appreciate your support
I book hotels via Rocketmiles, earn Avios on Qatar which is automatically sync'd with my BA Avios. POOOKE!!!
Nice tip, I'll have to look into that, thanks 😊
As a newbie to the world of Avios I find this extremely useful. Very good explanation. I took a flight in the spring from Almeria-Mellila with Iberia I think I'm missing tier points
Thank you Craig, it means a lot to know that you're getting value out of my video.
If you want to check if you have the tier points then you can look in your Executive Club transactions list to see if they ever went in. If they didn't then you're going to be fighting with Iberia customer support. I don't imagine that will be pleasant but it might be worth an email or two.
Trying to get tier points assigned after a flight can be struggle. I had an epic struggle getting tier points assigned to my BA account from a flight with Qantas last year. No one seemed to know how to do it or who to pass me through to. There was no box online to put my executive club number into (that I could see). When I finally got the points, I got 5.
Good Luck, I hope to succeed,
Phil
Nice video , informative
Thank you for your kind comment, appreciated
Great video!
Thank you, much appreciated.
Very well explained. I’m currently bronze, wife is silver and we’re happy with that at the moment. Gold would be nice and that’s achievable with the current BA holidays double tier points offer. Two BA (minimum) 5 night holidays to the right destination, and via a domestic connection, will result in a silver card. Worth considering
Thank you for your kind comments, if you go for it let me know how you get on, good luck and all the best, Phil
Great explainer video... Thank you so much for the clear, concise and easy to follow advice. Keep up the great work!
Thank you Dean, I really appreciate your kind comments
Just earned Silver it's the lounges, seats and boarding for me. I didn't know about the priority baggage.
Thanks for your comment. Silver is definitely a sweet spot. Less than half the points commitment to Gold, I think Silver will be my own level of choice in the future.
CIV or commercial Value to BA is recorded so not all golds are equal... Very informative vlog keep it up
Another interesting fact about BA Gold I didn't know, thanks again.
Worth noting that the Avios earning rates and methodology will change for tickets booked from October 18th 2023, and so the bonuses for each status level mentioned in this video will no longer be correct after this date.
Thanks for pointing that out Connor, much appreciated. Perhaps I need to do some kind of follow up video in the Autumn
Avios earning rate will change, but for status it’s the tier points that matter. Will that remain the case?
@@antonh1709 Thanks for your question, tier points aren't changing, just the way your earn Avios.
You don’t get priority baggage with status. You get a decorative priority bag tag when you check it in, but BA doesn’t profess to prioritise any luggage regardless of status or cabin on arrival. Regarding Bronze members using Club check-in, this only happens when there is a two-cabin aircraft operating the route. The moment a 3rd cabin is involved i.e World Traveller Plus, then Bronze members must use that check-in desk, unless travelling in a higher cabin.
Thank you for your comments, I appreciate your feedback. Since making this video I've been watching carefully for when my priority bags come onto the carousel and I've had largely positive results in the 20 or more flights that I've taken with Oneworld airlines and generally speaking my bags have come in the first batch with other priority (and sometimes oversized) bags "often".
You may be right with 3 cabin aircraft, however at Gatwick the partitioned check in is for silver and gold and at Melbourne with Malaysia, business check in was for Bronze silver and gold and these inconsistencies are abound. I think in Barbados though your 3 cabin check in works as there was a First (Gold), Business (Silver) and Premium check in and then "bag drop" for everyone else.
If I can find an actual answer I'll let you know, thanks
Phil
Thanks to the odd way TP is awarded on the Heathrow-Sofia route, its possible to sign up for BA on Wednesday and then spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday doing the 1 return flight a day and get to silver before Wednesday of the following week
That's because although business class awards 40 tier points normally, certain places like Sofia, Malta, Keflavik and Athens are rated at 80 per direction
Thanks for your comment Trek. You're right of course, those odd "Short Haul Plus" destinations are a real sweet spot. I'm not sure I'd want to fly to Sofia back to back for 4 days in a row, but that would get you Silver and if you pick the right dates Sofia is £211 in business at the moment which is excellent value.
Good to know about Keflavik. Wanted to go there.
Your channel is the most helpful I have come across regarding this stuff. I only have recently got an Amex card, and got Around 40k points. How do I know which airline provider is best to convert my points to because the options are vast?
Thank you for your comment, I assume you're talking Amex Membership Rewards Points and not Avios from a BA/Amex co-branded card? In the UK Avios are a good points currency to build up (and you can transfer 1:1 into your BA account), however if you have AMEX points then you have a wealth of options.
I hesitate to give you this tip now, because it is in an upcoming video, but you can (and do your own research, please) get Emirates seats via Qantas. So (if you can find availability) convert to Qantas and then book an Emirates ticket.
Good luck,
Phil
I just made gold 2 days ago, took me 3 trips from March to Sept this yr alk round trip. 1st class jfk to Istanbul, business class jfk to Dubai, premium economy jfk to Hong kong.
That does sound fun! Congrats on making Gold and thank you for your comment. 😊
Gold seat blocking is real!! Annoying sometimes ie row 1 seat A taken by a gold means 1c taken.. denying (me! 1C) unless cabin very busy....
I am very glad to hear that it's real. Long haul economy is so much better when you can spread out into the middle seat. I didn't know that Club Europe if Gold book one seat they get the whole row. Nice (or not if you want 1C). Thanks for the comment Richard.
@mygreygapyear I'm a silver but considering doing a 5 day trip somewhere for the double tps !! You have shown me the way via BA holidays- thanks
I'm silver, soon to be bumped down as not going to earn enough points. I'm sure I've had seats blocked out next to me on busy flights. Could just be a coincidence, but a packed flight from LHR to MAN saw one free seat next to me.
Thanks for your comment, status is often the deciding factor in many things these days, so it may well have been your status that did it.
being BA Gold member, I love the seat selection and lounge access, but when flying economy with hand luggage only, the priority boarding comes in very hand to store your stuff in the overheads ;-)
Thank you for your comment, that is a really good point. I'm a "hang back" person at boarding, no rush to sit longer on the plane than I have to, but making sure you get your bag into the overhead locker is a very good reason for taking advantage of priority boarding. Thank you for making that point, appreciate it.
Thanks for this helpful video. I have a question.
If you combine avios with cash do you get reduced tier points?
Thank you for your kind comment.
It's a great question because lots of people are unsure about bookings that involve Avios and tier points. The answer is,
If you book a reward seat (You started at "Book with Avios" on the BA website) then you get zero tier points (and zero Avios), regardless of which Avios and Cash option you chose.
If you book a seat for Cash (starting at "Book with Money" on the BA website) then you get full tier points (and Avios) regardless of how much you reduce the price with Avios.
Thanks for you question
Phil
Thank you, that is helpful to know
You forgot that silver gets fast track security which is a big plus for me along with the lounge access, just about to do a business out economy return to jersey then Club Europe to Lanzarote for 5 night double tier pointer to get my wife & me gold for the first time, looking forward to the first class check in at T5 & the short cut straight through to the lounges 🙂
One thing to note the priority baggage is a myth our baggage rarely comes first even when flying business & silver status it’s certainly something BA should crack down on, we’re so fed up waiting that rarely do we use hold baggage anymore. The business check in at Gatwick featured is also not great I’ve had many an occasion where there’s a long queue & it actually would have been quicker to check in using the economy channels even encountered this at T5 🤬
I hope to try & retain gold next year but will only do it myself as being that my wife can use the benefits too on a same booking it makes no sense to pay the extra cost involved to achieve gold for both.
Thank you for reminding me, I find the fast track security perk is pretty limited though. I've used it at Heathrow in various terminals and at Gatwick but I've been turned away a few times too. Do you know if it's available outside of London?
A few people have mentioned the priority bags things and I've been checking my footage. Definitely have them coming off early in Heathrow T4 after a flight with Malaysian. And then with other airlines but not so much with BA.
My bags came off with priority and oddly shaped / oversized bags recently and these were the first batch off...
Thanks again,
Phil
I am not a member of any flyer program. I will however be flying British Airways, San Diego to Glasgow to San Diego. I will be travelling in their premium economy cabin, but the flight to Glasgow will be in Club Europe, does this mean that I can use the business lounge at Heathrow before my flight to Glasgow.
Thank you for your comment, If you're flying in Club Class you will get lounge access with that ticket, but it may be better than that. If you fly in to Heathrow in First and have onward travel in any class you're permitted to use the Concorde Room, so I wonder if you fly into Heathrow in Club (from Glasgow) will you be permitted to use the lounge in Heathrow for your onward travel in PE?
It's probably worth asking, and if you don't mind I'd love to hear how you got on.
Have a wonderful trip,
Phil
Do you have to book your flights through BA or the othe one world airlines or does also work when book through a travel agent?
Thanks
Thanks for your question and welcome to the community. My first piece of advice is to not book through an online travel agent. If everything goes well, then no problem, but if you have a problem or a change then you can only deal with the travel agent who then deals with the airline.
So to answer your question, you can book through an online travel agent and there should be a space on their booking form for your BA Executive club number, but I prefer to book through BA and my second preference is to book through the airlines own website. You should be able to add your BA Executive club number on the booking.
Even if it's a few quid more I think it's worth it.
Thanks
Phil
Thanks for the reply. I was actually talking about a high street agent. Only because weve booked a holiday and were flying with Qatar and i was thinking of joining but didnt know how to go about everything. Thanks for the video, very informative @mygreygapyear
@@aydams1319 If you've booked your holiday you should have a 6 character booking reference (numbers and letters). If you join either Qatar Privilege or BA Executive Club then you should be able to assign this booking reference to your account.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday,
Phil
Hi I’ve been flying Qatar airways long distance and my status Qpoints and Avios show on my Qatar privilege club account, but no tier points shown on my BA even though both my accounts are linked. Am I right to assume that I should get tier points on both BA and on Qatar, ie would upgrade to silver or gold on both programs as I fly?
You can assign tier points to one scheme only so you need to pick your scheme and make sure all your tier points go to that scheme. I've recently booked some reward flights with Qatar so I won't get any tier points, but there wasn't anywhere to assign my executive club account number so I guess I'll be flying those as a Qatar burgundy.
When you booked your cash fares there is usually a point in the booking process or in manage my booking afterwards where you can assign your preferred scheme and executive club number, but this wasn't the case with Qantas. I had to contact customer services several times to get the points transferred.
If you want to get status in the BA scheme then you'll have to ask to get the points moved across
Thank you for your question and support,
Phil
Ah!! That makes so much sense, thanks Phil!
If someone currently holds the silver tier, and the following year won't travel enough to reach the next tier, will the person dropped from silver to bronze tier on the new year?
Thanks for your question. You don't need to move up each year to prevent a soft landing. If you are currently silver and earn over 600 tier points in your current year you will remain at silver. If you don't requalify for silver during your membership year then you should soft land to bronze.
Just a shame the Heathrow Galleries First lounge for Ba Golds has a poor food offering comparing to other Oneworld Emerald Lounges
Thank you for your comment and your support, the food is very business class I agree.
@@mygreygapyear Not even sure the food qualifies as business class to be honest
Priority Bag delivery - does not happen on BA and I am lifetime gold..
I've heard that, apparently it's on their website. It might be subconscious, I think I'm getting priority bags so I assume they came out first or something. I've been at a few luggage carousels in the last 12 months or so and I feel sure my bags were in the first batch.
I think I need to start filming the carousel to see what's happening.
Thanks for your comment and your sub, your support is much appreciated.
Phil
@@mygreygapyear If you look on the OW benefits section of the website it states this at the bottom of the priority baggage handling.
**Priority baggage handling is not currently available on flights operated by British Airways.
I've been making a mental note on baggage on my recent flights and videos. So I got priority bags with Virgin Australia and they were the first off and at Perth with Qantas. Recently I flew in First and my bag was in a the first group of bags which were all either oversized, heavy or priority and that was both at the destination and when we flew back into LHR.
Looking back at other footage my bag was one of the first off when I landed back in LHR T4 with Malaysia in January this year...
But that could have been luck / coincidence. I'll continue to keep my eye on it.
The only flights you do not earn Avios or Tier Points on are reward flights,
Hi Andrew, thank you for your comment. Could you let me know if that a correction of an error I've made in the video?
Thanks,
Phil
Hi yes sorry u said u paid £200 plus 5000avois for a flight and earnt 160tp and 5630 avois on that flight ? I've done the same 4 times now but never earned any tier points or avois on these types of flights
Hi Andrew, thank you for clarifying your point. I did indeed earn 160 tier points for that flight and it was not a reward flight. I started the search in the usual "pay with money" from my BA account and then in the options, due to the offer I read about on Points Guy UK, I was able to get £100 off the flight cost for 5000 avios.
And that's the key point here, if you start your booking from "pay with money" and then use some avios to reduce the cash cost then you get the tier points. If you start your booking from "book with Avios" and then use some cash to reduce the number or avios you spend you do not.
Hope this helps you in the future, all the best,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear brilliant thanks m8 ill look at that way next time I'm trying to stay at silver at mo
unless you fly at least once a fortnight it’s not worth it. for the average person who can count on 1 hand how many times they use air travel a year, it just isn’t worth the money to attain.
Thank you for your comment.
You make an excellent point of course and I did record a short section making this very point but I felt I'd waffled on for long enough without actually finding a single flight and I decided to cut it from the video so you could get to the action a few minutes sooner.
And again, you are right to say that if you go on your holidays a couple of times a year then the time and effort to get status isn't worth it because you can just buy business travel for your trips and get lounge access that way or better yet, use the money for better accommodation and experiences.
But I did find the benefits very helpful when I travelled to Australia in economy with Malaysia. We were delayed and being able to have a sleep for a couple of hours in the lounge was most welcome.
Thanks again for your comment, it is much appreciated,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear no problem, I recently stumbled across your channel in the hopes of obtaining ba status due to an increase in flights I've taken recently. I think your content is spot on and expertly produced. your channel deserves to and will grow bigger. , I wasn't making criticism to you per se, just a point how these airlines make it so unobtainable for the average Joe to achieve sadly.
I completely agree, im happy to slog it out in the back as many others and spend that upgrade money on a nice hotel or experience. If I travelled for work I would be more inclined to invest in means of transport.
I flew to port moresby last month with a ba status holder in economy and it was a killer. its remarkable how much having status improves the bare bones economy experience.
if I had to do those sort of trips every quarter, status would be a must.
kind regards
Thanks again. I didn't take it as criticism, just an excellent point well made and one that will be interesting to everyone on the channel, and that's what this is all about.
So thank you for contributing.
Phil
p.s. had to look Port Moresby up. I don't envy you that flight
Once a fortnight is 25 times....counting on one hand is 5 times. I agree 5 times, probably not worth it. But 10 times or more would be. There are also the "intangibles" of what is "worth it" e.g. priority check-in/queues, seat selection, food etc. It's difficult to put a value on "comfort" but for 10 trips or more a year it likely increases.
Seems like a lot of faff just for access to an airport lounge 😂
Thanks for your comment, I love the word "faff".
why go for british airways ? Noobs... i Have JGC premier, semi-lifetime emerald
Thank you for your question, I chose British Airways Executive Club because I'm UK based and also there was lots of information available on the quirks of the system and the double tier points offer also helped.
If I was going to look at alternative schemes, like the Japan Airlines scheme, I'd need to start again at the learning stage and I'm not sure of the benefits, could you point me to a UA-cam video that discusses the scheme? Another viewer has pointed me to the Royal Jordanian scheme which works on Economy sectors, which was very interesting.
I proudly wear the title "Noob" like a badge of honour, it's actually why I started making videos in the first place, not because I'm an experienced expert, but because I'm brand new at this and want to share what I've learned along the way. I'll make the mistakes, so you don't have to 😊
Thanks for your comment,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear just being semi lifetime membership outperforms all the British airways benefits