British Airways’ Executive Club Introduces Avios Point Modifications

In order to better serve its frequent travellers, British Airways has announced a significant change to the Executive Club loyalty program’s Avios point collection procedures. The modifications, which will go into effect in October of this year, will extend the ways in which Avios points can be earned while also simplifying the fundamental collection methodology.

It’s time for a change.
By travelling on British Airways, customers can currently accrue Avios according on their scheduled fare class and the number of miles they log. The lowest economy rates, according to The Points Guy, yield 0.25 Avios for every mile at a minimum of 125 points each flight. This can increase to three Avios every mile flown at a minimum of 1,500 points per flight for flexible first class tickets.

Bonuses of 25%, 50%, and 100% are given to Executive Club members in the Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers, respectively, for all levels except Blue. This system, nevertheless, is problematic because a flight’s distance isn’t always directly correlated with its price. As a result, in some cases travellers may spend more to obtain fewer points and in other cases the opposite may be true.

However, this will alter as of 18th October. For reservations made after this date, Executive Club members will accrue Avios in a way that is consistent with the price of their ticket. Blue members earn 6 Avios for every qualifying £1 spend, Bronze members earn 7, Silver members earn 8, and Gold members earn 9.

Simple and Open
The UK flag carrier hailed the change as “a transparent, consistent, and simplified way to collect Avios,” with Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management Ian Romanis stating that: “We continue to listen to our customers’ feedback and ideas to evolve our Executive Club. This is a simpler and more transparent system offering more opportunities to collect Avios than ever before, rewarding loyalty based on customers’ cash spend. It’s a tried and tested model already used by a number of global airlines, including our sister airline Iberia.”

As previously said, BA is by no means the first significant airline to implement a spending-based strategy for its frequent flyer programme. Similar programmes are already in place at Lufthansa, SkyTeam heavyweights Air France and KLM, and the Spanish flag carrier Iberia, according to God Save The Points. Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue programme offers 4–8 points for every €1 spent. For earning miles on their flights, US carriers have long since switched to a spend-based scheme.

Additional Avios Earning Potential
The number of ways Executive Club members may earn Avios has been increased, while BA has simplified the rates at which they can do so. For BA and Iberia flights, for instance, ancillary items like upgrades, seat selection, and excess luggage will all be included in the qualifying spend starting on October 18th.