In today’s globalised world, travel is more than just moving from one place to another; it’s an experience – and flying is an integral part of that experience. The most experienced travellers know the perks of Airline Loyalty Programmes.
Whether you’re a frequent flyer or an occasional traveller, we understand that navigating the myriad of Airline Loyalty Programmes can be a daunting task. With each, offering a unique mix of benefits, earning structures and redemption options – understanding how to unlock the many benefits of your Airline Loyalty Programme Membership ensures that you make the most of every single journey. From accumulating frequent flyer miles to bagging free upgrades, Airline Loyalty Programmes offer a variety of perks tailored to reward you, their loyal customers.
In this series of articles, we’ll showcase some of our favourite Airline Loyalty Programmes and share some key strategies to MAXIMISE your Membership, helping you elevate your travel experiences and optimising your rewards. We’ve already covered Aer Lingus’ Aer Club, we’ll now jump across the pond to one of their partner airlines, British Airways – Executive Club.
Overview:
British Airways was quite an early mover in the Airline Loyalty space, when they launched the Executive Club back in 1982; it initially focused on delivering a feeling of true exclusivity. Since then, it has reinvigorated the Executive Club Loyalty Programme and actively tried to break free from this historic brand perception to a more inclusive brand image.
Ways to Earn:
With the Executive Club, you can earn in two ways:
- Through Tier Points
- Through Avios
Earning Tier Points:
Upon joining the Executive Club you automatically become a Blue Member, moving to a higher Tier by earning Tier Points, this is done by flying British Airways or other Oneworld Alliance Airlines operated flights – the number of Tier Credits you earn depends on the selected flight route and the fare class. Below are the number of Tier Credits needed per membership level:
- Blue: 0 Tier Points
- Bronze: 300 Tier Points and at least 2x British Airways Flights
- Silver: 601 Tier Credits
- Gold: 1,051 Tier Credits
Each membership tier offers a richer set of perks. Starting at the Blue level, members begin to earn Avios and the ability to spend them. Progressing to Bronze, members can enjoy priority check-in and boarding, along with a 25% bonus on Avios earned through booked flights. Silver members receiving even more benefits, such as access to business lounges, a 50% bonus on Avios earned, and free flight seat selection. The top tier, Gold, offers the highest level of benefits, including first class check-in and lounge access, additional reward flight availability, and a 100% bonus Avios earned on flights.
One truly WOW benefit of the Executive Club is that you and up to SIX members of your household, including your children can pool your Avios into a household account. Talk about MAXIMISING your membership!
Earning Avios:
Avios is the reward currency of the Executive Club Loyalty Programme. It is also the rewards currency used by British Airways’ partners such as Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Iberia, Finnair, Qantas and other members of the Oneworld Alliance. This partnership approach to earning Avios means that you can combine Avios points earned across all these different airlines.
Avios can be earned in many ways and to help you maximise your earning potential, we’ve broken them down into three categories:
- In the air: With British Airways and its partner airlines, you earn Avois Points each & every time you book a flight with. The number of Avois Points you earn, is linked to your Membership Tier. Not only that, but you also earn Avois points while at Heathrow Airport when you shop at World Duty Free.
Pro-tip: If you’re a frequent visitor to Heathrow Airport, you can also sign up to Heathrow Rewards – allowing you to collect points on almost everything you do at Heathrow – shopping, eating, drinking, parking and using the Heathrow Express. You will receive 1 Point for each £1 you spend – the best part? These Points can be converted to Avois points at a ratio of 1:1.
- Online: British Airways have an estore for their Executive Club members, which acts like a portal to many of your favourite online brands. By shopping through this estore, you can collect additional Avios points, with many offerings exclusive ‘boosted’ offers such as Selfridges, at time of writing which will award you 12 Avios for every €1 spent on Selfridges.com – for many of us, this is collecting a stream of what we like to call PASSIVE POINTS, it is such a no-brainer!
Pro-tip: If you’re a member of both British Airways’ Executive Club and Aer Lingus’ Aer Club, and you want to truly MAXIMISE your Avois earnings, it may be worth checking the points available to you from both eportals when shopping online!
Discover the full range of online brands here.
- On the ground: You can also earn Avios through Executive Club’s network of retail and leisure partners – including the likes of Sainsbury’s and The Wine Flyer.
Pro-tip: Make sure to register your credit or debit card, on British Airways estore so you can collect any applicable Avios points, when in the UK.
Even More ways to earn:
If like us, you truly want to MAXIMISE your Executive Club membership, you can also avail of the following Avios boosting activities:
- Join Avois for Thoughts, an online consumer research platform which rewards you with Avois for each completed survey.
- Get BA Amex Premium Plus Card, which at the time of writing is offering DOUBLE the welcome bonus of 60,000 Avios upon sign-up!
Ways to Spend on Travel:
Executive Club members can use their Avios in many exciting travel-centric ways:
- Cover up to 100% of the cost of your next British Airways flight.
- Buy a reward flight: This is a FREE flight with British Airways or partner airlines, all you need to pay is any Government taxes, fees or charges.
- Or how about taking a BRAND-NEW Avois only flight to incredible locations such as Barbados & Abu Dhabi?
Pro-tip: All Avios Airlines allow you to collate the Avois Points you earn. This means, that you can easily transfer the Avois Points earned through Aer Club to your Executive Club or vice versa – truly maximising your Membership.
Final Tip.
A small detail which can often be forgotten by members of any Loyalty Programme are expiration dates…
- Your Executive Club Tier remains active for a period of 1 year – the anniversary of when you joined the club.
- British Airways Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. BUT here’s our parting pro-tip, as long as you spend, or collect at least one Avios during this time, your expiration clock resets. An easy way to ensure your Avios remain active is by using the eportal. 😉
Final Thoughts.
We love British Airway’s family centric approach to Airline Loyalty – and how they have successfully made their Loyalty Programme accessible to everyone! Whether you’re a frequent flyer who can benefit from the every-day, added experiences that comes with moving through the Executive Club Tiers or an infrequent flyer who can, through some savvy online and in-airport shopping amass enough Avios to cover your next family holiday!
We hope that this article has given you new inspiration on how to MAXIMISE your Executive Club membership!