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The British Airways Club, which was formerly known as the 
British Airways Executive Club, is the airline’s loyalty program, and it is built around two different things. It has been primarily structured around Avios, which one spends on Reward Flights, upgrades, and part-pay options, alongside tier points, which determine status benefits like priority services and lounge access. The best results come from treating it as two separate systems. For Avios, passengers earn broadly from flights on British Airways and partners, and then they can be redeemed selectively, with passengers aiming for redemptions where cash prices are high, all while remembering that British Airways often adds carrier-specific surcharges.
Pooling of miles helps, with a Household Account letting up to six people combine Avios, and friends and family sharing can widen who one is able to book for. This can help keep balances active, since Avios expire only after three years of inactivity. For status, focus on tier points, which reset each collection year. Since April 1, 2025, British Airways has awarded a single tier point for every £1 of eligible spending on the carrier’s flights and add-on services (with taxes obviously excluded). Status tiers start at Bronze, which is offered at 3,500 points, and go all the way up to Gold, which is offered at 20,000 points. Reward Flights do not earn tier points, but eligible add-ons are still capable of doing so. Passengers should track everything in their accounts, claim missing credits quickly, and use paid seats, bags, or upgrades to top up, as this is now a clear way that BA also layers in extra tier points by cabin on eligible flights.
British Airways’ Loyalty Program Has Existed For Decades
The British Airways’ loyalty program traces back to the early 1980s, when the airline launched the Executive Club as an invitation-style frequent-flyer scheme aimed primarily at rewarding high-spending, repeat business travelers, according to the carrier. Over time, it evolved into a tiered status ladder, and by the early 1990s, the airline had expanded the structure of the program far beyond its original format, creating multiple levels of recognition tied to how and how much its members flew. In the 2000s, British Airways looked to refine the program again, and it added clearer mileage earnings and broader redemption partners to the story.
Loyalty schemes became a major source of profit for carriers. A major modern reset arrived in 2011, when British Airways and 
Iberia aligned their loyalty ecosystems and introduced Avios as a common reward currency, replacing older miles and making it easier for high-spending travelers to earn across the airline’s large and rapidly growing partner network.
The scheme also grew with oneworld, and it gave elites reciprocal perks across alliance partners all over the world. The most recent chapter came in 2025, when British Airways rebranded the Executive Club as the British Airways Club, and it overhauled the way people earned status and moved Tier Points toward a spend-based system while keeping Avios as the redeemable currency. Today’s Club is the product of four decades of consistent iterations, shifting from exclusivity to scale, and from distance-based loyalty to a revenue-based system.
How Is The British Airways Club Structured Today?
In 2026, the British Airways Club is structured around two separate point systems and four tiers of elite status. The reward currency is Avios, and members are able to earn these points on British Airways flights, partner airlines, hotels, car hire, shopping, and other partners, all before spending them as they wish on Reward Flights, upgrades, hotels, car rentals, or part-payment on regular bookings. These are all the standard things that one would be expected to be able to use airline miles for, so there is a part of this that certainly makes sense.
The second of the two important reward currencies is the airline’s status currency, which cannot be spent or shared. These are tier points, which are used to accumulate elite status and reset every collection year. These points allow frequent flyers to efficiently climb the loyalty ladder and unlock additional benefits of all kinds. Everyone begins their journey with blue status, but they can quickly progress by spending enough to attain more tier points:
|
Status Tier |
Tier Points Needed |
|---|---|
|
Bronze |
3,500 |
|
Silver |
7,500 |
|
Gold |
20,000 |
Benefits across these different status tiers include everything from free seat selection to access to the airline’s business-class lounge. The airline awards these points based on eligible spending on British Airways flights and eligible add-on services, all while some partner airlines still use mileage-and-fare-class formulas to calculate status tiers, a system that is inherently harder to understand. The program also includes some milestone bonus Avios, household Avios pooling, and a Family & Friends system, which makes it easier to redeem points.
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What Are The Program’s Credit Card Offerings?
Today, the British Airways Club’s credit-card ecosystem includes two separate lines of credit cards. For starters, there are British Airways-branded credit cards and Avios-linked partner cards. In the United Kingdom, the core BA products include the British Airways American Express Credit Card and the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card. Both of these cards earn Avios on everyday spending and can trigger a Companion Voucher to be offered as an additional benefit once travelers hit an annual spending threshold.
The Premium Plus version of the card offers stronger benefits for frequent flyers, and its voucher can be used in any cabin. In contrast, the standard version of this benefit is restricted almost exclusively to economy cabins on reward flights. American Express also highlights automatic enrollment into the British Airways Club and added travel and shopping protections for customers. In the United States, British Airways’ principal card offering is the British Airways Visa Signature Card, which is issued by Chase Bank and earns Avios.
These kinds of cards include British Airways flight discounts from the United States, reward-flight statement credits, and a “Travel Together” benefit after high annual spending is achieved. Alongside those, the UK-based British Airways Club members can also use Barclaycard Avios cards (which are not British Airways-branded but still program-compatible) in order to achieve different earn rates, fees, and voucher-style rewards.
A Look At The British Airways Lounge Network
The British Airways’ lounge system is best thought of as a framework of tiers that includes standard business-class lounges, more exclusive First lounges, two flagship lounges, and a separate Arrivals lounge at Heathrow Airport. The two flagship spaces include the Concorde Room at Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Chelsea Lounge at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Upon departure, access comes from either cabin or status, with passengers in Club Europe, Club World, or First always eligible to use the lounges.
British Airways Club Silver and Gold members will also get lounge access when flying British Airways or oneworld, with a one-guest allowance in many cases. British Airways also extends lounge access across its wider network, saying that it has lounges at more than 20 airports, and that partners have them at more than 140 facilities as well. On top of all this, the Concorde Room and the Chelsea lounge are both tightly gate-kept, mostly for first-class passengers or high-tier British Airways members.
The arrivals lounge also functions quite differently, as these facilities handle eligible long-haul arrivals. British Airways notes that guest access is not available to the lounge because of capacity limits. Elsewhere, all lounge entries remain somewhat subject to availability, and oneworld exceptions can continue to apply. That makes the BA lounge system generous for frequent flyers.
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Who Are British Airways’ Loyalty Partners?
British Airways loyalty program partners fall into two separate groups. First, there are airline partners. British Airways allows Club members to collect Avios on British Airways, oneworld carriers, and additional partner airlines, with earning rules varying significantly by carrier. British Airways’ own list of flight partners includes major carriers like American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, and Japan Airlines.
Beyond just flying, British Airways has built a broad Avios ecosystem, and members can earn through Avios Hotels, with over 300,000 properties present in the database. The British Airways shopping portal, which includes hundreds of online retailers, as well as lifestyle partners like Uber, Nutmeg, and American Express, all offer additional rewards.
Avios can be used with travel partners like hotels and car rental companies. British Airways specifically highlights Avis and Budget for car hire redemptions. The result is thus a dynamic program designed to reward both frequent flyers and everyday spending, not just flights or occasional holiday-package bookings.
What Is Our Bottom Line?
At the end of the day, British Airways is a capable international airline, and, like any flag carrier, it has a well-developed global loyalty backbone. The carrier has two different key reward currencies, and those looking to optimize their exposure to the program will probably want to do their best to accrue both.
Furthermore, passengers will need to keep their eyes on the airline’s partnerships and credit card offerings, as they can help them get better value for their money when it comes to the industry. Customers will find cobranded credit cards as the easiest and most efficient way to maximize their benefits.
The ultimate goal for anyone trying to get the most out of the British Airways Club is undoubtedly going to be the accrual of elite status. While this is not necessarily the easiest thing to do, it can still provide customers with a lot of value, especially if they have invested enough in flying and attaining status through the program.
