In late 2022, Iberia Plus moved to revenue-based Avios earning for flights, and it was announced that British Airways Executive Club would move in the same direction in 2023. This is an update, as British Airways has just completed its move to revenue-based Avios earning.
In this post:
Executive Club goes revenue-based as of October 2023
As of Wednesday, October 18, 2023, British Airways Executive Club has changed how Avios are earned for flights. British Airways is describing this initiative as “offering members a transparent, consistent and simplified way to collect Avios.”
Executive Club members booking flights from October 18, 2023, can expect to earn Avios at the following rate, depending on their elite status:
- Blue members will receive six Avios per £1 spent
- Bronze members will receive seven Avios per £1 spent
- Silver members will receive eight Avios per £1 spent
- Gold members will receive nine Avios per £1 spent
Note that qualifying spending for airfare includes the base fare and any carrier imposed surcharges on revenue tickets (but not award tickets). Only government taxes and fees don’t qualify for earning Avios.
Furthermore, for the first time, Executive Club members can earn Avios for ancillary fees, including upgrades (online or at airport), pre-paid seating charges, excess baggage, etc.
As you can see, this means that distance traveled no longer factors into how many Avios you earn for your ticket. Tier Points continue to be the method by which you can qualify for elite status, and that’s sort of distance based (in the sense that the number of Tier Points you earn correlates to the distance of the individual segments you fly).
Ian Romanis, British Airways’ Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management, said the following about this change:
“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 and 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.”
That’s right, folks. British Airways is switching to revenue-based Avios earning because the company continues to listen to its customers!
My take on these British Airways Executive Club changes
We knew that British Airways Executive Club would switch to revenue-based Avios earning, and there aren’t really any surprises here. What’s my take on these changes?
- This was inevitable, since many of British Airways’ competitors in Europe are also moving toward this system
- In the US it was terrible when airlines switched to revenue-based earning, because they otherwise awarded at least 100% miles for all tickets; the change won’t be nearly as bad for British Airways passengers, where discounted tickets only earn Avios equal to 25% of the distance flown
- Some members will appreciate the ability to earn Avios on ancillaries, which weren’t previously rewarded
- These revenue-based systems give business travelers on someone else’s dime a strong incentive to book the most expensive ticket possible, which is no doubt part of the motivation for a change like this
- It’s interesting how American AAdvantage is also switching to revenue-based earning for British Airways flights as of the same date, clearly a reflection of the close partnership between the two airlines; this eliminates an arbitrage opportunity that many took advantage of
Bottom line
For tickets booked as of October 2023, British Airways Executive Club has introduced revenue-based Avios earning, whereby members earn 6-9x Avios per £1 spent on airfare and other ancillaries. There are no real surprises here, other than British Airways claiming that this change is being made because the program always listens to customer feedback (okay, that claim isn’t actually surprising either).
What do you make of these British Airways Executive Club changes?
Only fair to add that both BA & AA corporates take advantage of their "joint business venture" aka transatlantic price fixing cabal to avoid UK/EU261 and consumer protection whenever they can.
Given their failed IT systems and plummeting cost cut service perhaps this will be the proverbial straw that will move much business travel onto competitive carriers that habe some respect for their customers.
The change to revenue-based is not surprising but the sharp cut in bonus awards for EC Gold members is… previously Gold members would earn a 100% award bonus under the distance-based system. I assume they’re calculating that at 9 Avios/£1 of spend, the rewards will come out the same or slightly better for most long haul tickets in premium cabins for Gold members, but it remains a devaluation of elite benefits.
I really don't get to worried or excited as the loyalty programs are pretty poor. The real points earning is now through the banks and credit cards. As long as they have suckered the banks into paying so much for points this is the direction I see.
Just waiting for Tim Dunn to use this opportunity to tell us how Delta is superior...
I just switched the return portion of my J ticket on BA this weekend to my AS number instead of AA. 16k miles earned vs 8,500 is a massive incentive, despite losing out on the loyalty points. Their loss, not mine.
The ability to buy the most expensive ticket when someone else is paying for it doesn't exist for most corporate travellers. It is usually the other way around.
I was wondering the same thing...any corporate travel I have ever been involved with is the cheapest available through a broker/booker/platform of some kind. No one in 2023 is maxing out travel expenses on someone else's dime.
Honestly, if the insane fares we've seen this year stick around, it's probably a positive change. Earning 1570 Avios on 300€ "discounted Y" tickets within Europe, which have became a norm, is far preferable over the almost-nothing these tickets earned previously.
No follower they, BA has always been a real thought leader and leader-leader in the world of loyalty programs. Very impressive indeed!
/s