British Airways Executive Club is the loyalty program of British Airways. The program has a comprehensive range of benefits and perks for frequent fliers, that may suit you best if you fly British Airways or oneworld partners regularly. The best part is you don’t need to be UK-based to take advantage of the benefits on offer, earn tier points or to earn or redeem British Airways Avios (the name British Airways’ name for miles). In fact, if you are US-based and fly American Airlines regularly, it is worth considering whether British Airways Executive Club may be better suited to your needs. More on that later.
In this ultimate guide, we’ll take a deep dive into the British Airways Executive Club and show you how to make the most of it. You’ll learn everything from how to earn and redeem Avios (British Airways’ name for miles), earn tier points (status credits towards frequent flier tiers), how to make the most of your Avios redemptions, how to gain frequent flyer status with British Airways, credit card options to earn British Airways Avios and much more.
What is the British Airways Executive Club?
The British Airways Executive Club is British Airways’ loyalty program designed to reward their frequent flyers with perks and benefits to make their travel experience smoother and more enjoyable. As a member of the British Airways Executive Club, you can earn Avios points by flying with British Airways or their partner airlines, by using their co-branded credit cards (such as the American Express Premium Plus), or shopping through the British Airways Executive Club shopping portal. These Avios points can then be redeemed for flights, flight upgrades, hotel stays, car rentals, and more.
In addition to earning Avios points, when flying with British Airways or another oneworld carrier, members can also earn tier points based on the flight distance and the cabin class/fare class in which they fly. Once you have enough tier points within your membership year, you move up to the next tier, with additional perks and benefits.
Below is the minimum tier points required for each tier:
| Membership Tier | Blue | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Gold Guest List |
| Tier Points Required | 0 | 300 | 600 | 1500 | 5000* |
Overall, the perks and benefits of the British Airways Executive Club are well worth it if you fly regularly with oneworld carriers. With a range of benefits available across all tiers and earning opportunities both in the air and on the ground, there’s never been a better time to join this expansive loyalty program if you aren’t a member already!
What are British Airways Avios?
British Airways Avios are the British Airways Executive Club’s version of airline miles. These points can be redeemed for a range of benefits, including flights, free upgrades, and hotel stays, although the best redemptions are definitely for flights and flight upgrades. One of the biggest advantages of earning Avios is that British Airways allows you to redeem them not only on British Airways flights, but also with its partner airlines, notably oneworld carriers, which include American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qantas to name a few. Check out my other article here on the oneworld alliance, and all the airlines within it.
Earning Avios
Earning Avios is super easy, as Avios can be collected by flying with British Airways or any of its oneworld partners. Additionally, you can earn Avios through credit card spending on co-branded credit cards such as the American Express Premium Plus in the UK, or credit cards with rewards schemes that partner with British Airways as a redemption partner such as American Express in the US.
There are also hotel partners such as Marriott Bonvoy, IHG, Accor and even Airbnb whereby you can earn bonus Avios just by linking your British Airways Executive Club membership number. Additionally, another way to book hotels is through the British Airways Avios Hotels portal which currently offers 15 Avios per £1 spent, which is a great way to earn Avios and much higher than most Avios partners with much greater choice. If you are booking car hire, British Airways partners with Avis, Budget and Zipcar. For UK-based travelers, linking your Nectar account and doing your grocery shopping at Sainsburys will be a fast way to accumulate Avios. Overall, this means that the more you travel and shop with these partners (make sure your Executive Club membership number is linked), the more Avios you will earn.
Redemption Value of Avios
One important thing to note with Avios redemptions is that the value of an Avios point varies depending on how it’s being redeemed. It’s always a good idea to do some research before deciding how to use them so that you get maximum value out of them, including Avios versus cash redemptions. The best way to do this is to use the following formula to confirm alternative redemption opportunities:
Cash price minus any co-payment (Fees and taxes) divided by the number of Avios required for redemption.
Check out the “British Airways Reward Flights: How to Book and Redeem” section below and my other article “British Airways Rewards Flights: Sweet Spots and Travel Hacks” for more tips and tricks. To find out the longest British Airways flights within each Distance Band, check out my article here.
Best Ways to Earn British Airways Executive Club Miles/Avios
There are many ways to earn British Airways Executive Club miles, also known as Avios, which you can later be redeemed for award flights, free cabin upgrades, hotel stays, car rentals, and more. One of my favourite ways to use Avios is for last-minute Rewards Flight Saver flights within Europe, which often can be very expensive. Below are some of the best ways to rack up your Avios balance.
Flying with British Airways or Partner Airlines
Earn miles by flying with British Airways or its partner airlines such as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, and Japan Airlines. The amount of miles you earn depends on your fare class and distance traveled. As a general rule of thumb, the higher your fare class and longer your distance flown, the more miles you earn.
Credit Card Signup Bonuses
Applying for a co-branded credit card such as the British Airways Visa Signature Card and earn a generous signup bonus after meeting the minimum spending requirement within the first few months of account opening. You can also earn additional miles per dollar spent on eligible purchases using these cards.
Shopping through the British Airways Shopping Portal
Shop online through the BA Shopping Portal at hundreds of merchants including Apple Store, Macy’s, Sephora and earn Avios per dollar spent. You can also take advantage of special promotions offered from time to time where you can earn bonus Avios.
Rental Car with Avis/Budget
Rent cars with Avis/Budget using your BA membership number and get up to 5 Avios per $1 spent in addition to discounted rates.
Book Hotels direct with Avios Partners
British Airways partners with Accor, Marriott, IHG, Hyatt, Hilton, Melia and Radisson, so you can earn rewards points by booking direct with these hotel partners, then convert your points to British Airways Avios.
Airbnb
If you frequently use Airbnb’s for accommodation (I definitely do), the great news is that British Airways partners with them. Simply click through the link on this page and enter your British Airways Executive Club membership number to earn 3 Avios per $/£/€. Even better, Airbnb Experiences is also included, which is a great way to explore local cities whilst travelling.
Using a Carshare service
British Airways partners with Zipcar, so make sure you link your membership number if you use them (they operate globally including the US, Canada and UK) for 50 Avios per booking.
Taking Advantage of Sales and Promotions
Keep an eye out for British Airways sales, often in shoulder months or around the winter holiday season to earn Avios at cheaper cash fares. This is also a great strategy to accumulate tier points cheaply, and a great excuse to make mileage runs if you need to in order to reach the next membership tier.
In all, there are plenty of ways to earn British Airways Avios, both directly through flying with British Airways, or indirectly through partner airlines, hotel partners, credit card rewards programs, car rental partners and your everyday online shopping.
British Airways Reward Flights: How to Book and Redeem
Booking a reward flight through British Airways Executive Club is super easy. Simply log in to your British Airways Executive Club account on the British Airways website, select “Book” then “Book with Avios”. Here, you can search for available redemptions on a variety of routes, cabins and oneworld partners including availability in the highly-regarded Qsuites on Qatar Airways. You can then proceed to book online or if you prefer, via the Executive Club contact center.
Payment Options
Once you find the flight you want to book, select it and proceed to the payment page. British Airways has a unique co-payment system for airport fees and taxes, whereby you can select to pay with more cash or more Avios. Note, the value of the points redemption is not fixed and will change depending on how much cash you are willing to pay, so it is worth finding the sweet spot to maximise your points redemption value. You also have to option to pay with a combination of Avios and cash when booking a cash fare, but this isn’t usually a great use of Avios as the points redemption value is often low. Booking through the “Book with Avios” function usually has the best redemption rates.
Sweet spot British Airways Avios Flight Redemptions
I have another article here exploring sweet spot flight redemptions with British Airways, as well as the best Avios redemptions under 25,000 Avios, so check those out.
Availability and Flexibility
When redeeming rewards flights with British Airways, keep in mind that availability is not always guaranteed, especially during peak travel seasons, school holidays and on some long-haul routes due to high demand. It’s best to book early and be flexible with your travel dates if possible. British Airways does offer free cancellation up to 48 hours before departure for Avios redemption flights, so redeeming Avios can also make financial sense if there is redemption availability, and you need a flexible fare instead of paying cash for a flexi-fare.
On long-haul routes, post-COVID, there has been a lot of demand for redemption flights to Asia and Australia and so there are very few seats available on these routes currently. With British Airways flying hundreds of trans-Atlantic flights everyday, there is generally much greater reward availability to and from the USA to London and onto Europe. You can use this handy tool to search for British Airways reward flight availability on different routes, times of year and cabins, but unfortunately it does not show availability for partner airlines.
Overall, British Airways Avios are a great way to score cheap flights with co-payments starting at just $1/£1 and comprehensive availability across the British Airways and oneworld network. Redemption rates versus other airline programs are fairly reasonable, and taking advantage of the many sweet spot redemption opportunities is a great way to maximise your travel experience for less.
British Airways Rewards Flights: Sweet Spots and Travel Hacks
There are so many great British Airways Avios redemptions that it’s too hard to write within this article without summarising, which just wouldn’t give you the full picture on what to look for and how to book these sweet spot redemptions. In some cases, you must book over the phone and thoroughly plan your redemption route, cabins and dates around current availability before calling so it is better to cover this in a separate article. Please see my other article here for a detailed guide on sweet spot British Airways Avios redemptions and travel hacks.
Also, to see sweet spots within each distance band to fit your Avios balance, check out the full list here.
British Airways Loyalty Program: The Insider’s Guide
There are so many great sweet spots to explore within the British Airways Executive Club and Avios that it is too much to cover in this article, so I wrote a separate article on it here so I could cover each point in-depth.
British Airways Executive Club Status Tiers
Once you earn coverted tier points on British Airways and oneworld partner operated flights, you are eligible to upgrade to British Airways Executive Club frequent flyer elite status tiers when you reach certain tier point thresholds, which unlock additional perks and benefits the more often you fly. Each tier is based on achieving a minimum number of tier points and achieving a minimum number of “eligible” flights.
There are five frequent flyer tiers in the British Airways Executive Club frequent flyer program: Blue, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold Guest List. Below, we will go through each of the different status tiers, how to earn them and the benefits and perks they provide when you fly. It is important you evaluate the different perks and benefits available against how much you fly and your individual travel budget, as some of the top tiers may not be worth striving to achieve if you don’t frequently fly long-haul or to destinations with oneworld Emerald (first-class) lounges. If you are just short of the next tier and want to boost your tier point balance before your membership tier year ends, take a look through my mileage run article here for some ideas.
British Airways Executive Club Blue
Blue is is the entry-level tier of the British Airways Executive Club loyalty program. You will get this status as soon as you join, and will have this until you have enough tier points to move up to the next tier, Bronze.
Blue essentially enables you the ability to earn Avios and tier points.
British Airways Executive Club Bronze
British Airways Executive Club Bronze is the second tier in the rewards program, requiring a minimum of 300 tier points to be earned within your membership year, or take 25 “eligible flights”. The tier point threshold is easier (and usually cheaper) to reach than the eligible flight threshold, but it’s a good option if you need to fly for work or business regularly and only fly Economy. Once you achieve Bronze status, you get the access to the following benefits:
- Seat Selection (7 days prior to flight departure)
- 25% bonus Avios on British Airways, oneworld and Partner Airline Flights
- Priority check-in
- Priority Boarding
British Airways Executive Club Silver
British Airways Executive Club Silver is the third tier of the loyalty program, and where perks and benefits start to get interesting. In my opinion, this is the best value British Airways Executive Club tier, and if you fly frequently, the British Airways status tier you should aim for. To qualify, you must earn a minimum of 600 Tier Points, including 4 eligible flights, or take 50 eligible flights within your membership year. Once you achieve Silver status, you get access to the following perks and benefits:
- Seat Selection (At booking)
- 50% bonus Avios on British Airways, oneworld and Partner Airline Flights
- Priority check-in
- Priority Boarding
- Additional baggage allowance
- Fast-track at London Heathrow Terminal 3 and Terminal 5
- Access to British Airways Business Class/Galleries Lounges worldwide when flying British Airways or oneworld Partners + 1 guest
- Access to over 600 oneworld Sapphire Lounges worldwide when flying British Airways or oneworld Partners + 1 guest
- Dedicated British Airways Support Line
This is essentially the same ground experience as Club Europe or Club World, which makes travel so smooth when you fly Economy or Premium Economy.
British Airways Executive Club Gold
British Airways Gold is the ultimate tier status in the British Airways Executive Club Loyalty Program. This is for the most frequent of frequent flyers and will often require mileage runs to achieve (unless you fly super regularly for work). You must achieve 1,500 tier points within your membership year, including 4 eligible flights. This is a fairly tall-ask for most people, so will likely need to include several long-haul trips per year in Club World or First to achieve.
Once you achieve British Airways Executive Club Gold, you gain access to the following perks and benefits:
- Seat Selection (At booking)
- 100% bonus Avios on British Airways, oneworld and Partner Airline Flights
- First Class check-in (where available, such as at London Heathrow Terminal 5)
- Priority (First Class when available) Boarding
- Additional baggage allowance
- Fast-track at London Heathrow Terminal 3
- Dedicated Security Channel at London Heathrow Terminal 5
- Access to British Airways First Lounges worldwide when flying British Airways or oneworld Partners (Concorde Room is excluded) + 1 guest
- Access to British Airways Arrivals lounge after long-haul flights (no guest access)
- Access to over 600 oneworld Sapphire Lounges worldwide when flying British Airways or oneworld Partners + 1 guest
- Access to 26 oneworld Emerald First Class Lounges worldwide when flying British Airways or oneworld Partners
- Dedicated British Airways Support Line
- Extra Avios flight redemption availability
- Ability to Transfer Avios to other British Airways Executive Club members for free
British Airways Gold frequent flyer status is a frequent flyer’s dream, and is often a collector’s item amongst globetrotters. If you are interested in achieving Gold status and don’t fly Club World or First regularly, check out my other article here on mileage runs.
British Airways Executive Club Gold Guest List
British Airways Gold Guest List is a secret tier within Gold, for the top, top, top British Airways frequent flyers. To achieve Gold Guest List status, you must earn over 5,000 tier points within your membership year. To renew your status, only 3,000 tier points is needed, however this is still a very tall ask for most flyers. So with all that long-haul flying, how does British Airways reward you?
In addition to the Gold perks above:
- Twice per year, you can request BA open up Avios flight redemption availability on any flight (with cash availability) in any cabin, for up to five reward seats
- Dedicated Gold Guest List 24-hour British Airways Support Line
- Access to British Airways Business Class/Galleries/First Lounges + 5 Guests
- Access to British Airways Arrivals Lounge + 1 guest
- Concorde Room Access at London Heathrow Terminal 5 + 1 guest (when flying any class on British Airways or any other oneworld carrier)
- Ability to gift British Airways Executive Club Gold Partner status to one person, and British Airways Silver status to two more people
- Free Hilton Honors Diamond Status
- Complimentary upgrade to 1st class on the Heathrow Express
My Thoughts on Gold Guest List
5,000 tier points is a tall-ask for even the most frequent of frequent flyers. If you fly very frequently long-haul for work and these perks are worthwhile to you, a strategic mileage run or two (or three) may be worthwhile in order to obtain Gold Guest List status. With careful route planning and a suitable budget, it is absolutely possible to achieve. Gold Guest List is the ultimate British Airways’ fan collector’s item. Additionally, the lower renewal requirements of 3,000 tier points make it easier to renew in subsequent years. Bear in mind that once you reach a total of 35,000 lifetime tier points, British Airways will gift you Lifetime Gold status.
British Airways Executive Club Partner Airlines
One major advantage of being a member of the British Airways Executive Club is the ability to earn and redeem Avios on partner airlines. British Airways is part of the oneworld alliance, giving you access to earn Avios and tier points, redeem Avios and receive frequent flyer benefits based on your elite status on 13 airlines that fly to over 900 destinations worldwide. British Airways also partners (codeshares) with Aer Lingus, Bangkok Airways, China Southern, airBaltic, Fiji Airways, Kenya Airways, Airlink, Loganair, Vueling and Vistara. Earning and redemption opportunities, as well as frequent flyer status benefits vary from airline to airline, so best to check before you book.
Can you earn Avios and Tier Points on non-British Airways flights?
These partner airlines (oneworld and codeshare partnerships) mean that even if you’re not flying with British Airways, you may still be able to earn miles/Avios on your flights and use them towards future flights or other Avios redemptions, as well as earn tier points.
New Destinations and Connecting Routes
Partner airlines give you access to unique destinations with no direct flights by British Airways. These could include flying from Omaha, Nebraska to London, or Osaka to Helsinki. Booked on the same ticket, the transfer would usually be seamless, allowing you to enjoy your time at the stopover airport instead of worrying about your luggage.
Additionally, partner airlines open up more flight options on key routes. This includes the key transatlantic route between New York and London. You could fly to London on British Airways, and back on American Airlines if the flight times work better for your schedule. All whilst still earning Avios and tier points.
More Avios Redemption Flight Availability
Partner airlines are also super helpful for Avios redemption flights. There is a greater chance that there is reward flight availability on the date and route you are after if there are multiple flights per day flown by multiple partner airlines.
In all, British Airways’ Partner Airlines provide you access to more flights, more destinations and more routes than British Airways’ own flight network to get you where you need to go faster.
How to join the British Airways Executive Club
Not a British Airways Executive Club member yet? Signing up is easy.
If you are based in the USA, simply click on the registration form on the British Airways website here and enter your details.
If you are based in the UK, click on the registration form on the British Airways website here.
It really is that simple. Once you have signed up, you will receive your British Airways Executive Club membership number. Adding this membership number to any upcoming oneworld flights or British Airways flights you are either about to book or have booked, means you will start earning Avios and Tier Points right away.
Conclusion: Is British Airways Executive Club Right For You?
In conclusion, British Airways Executive Club is a great frequent flyer program for those of you based in the UK, Europe or US with regular European, domestic UK or Transatlantic travel with oneworld partners. There are plenty of low-cost Avios and tier point earning opportunities no matter where you are located in the world.
The limiting factor is the minimum “eligible flights” for higher tier status with British Airways, so do bear that in mind if you are looking at attaining BA Silver or Gold with British Airways.
For US-based oneworld frequent flyers who have the occasional trip across the Atlantic (at least once a year), it can be a great option, that will give you American Airlines Admiral Club access if you hold BA Silver or above. This contrasts to American Airlines’ own frequent flyer program, in which you don’t get domestic lounge access until the very, very top tiers of the program.
If you haven’t already, join the British Airways Executive Club today.