From April 2024, British Airways will implement a significant change to its BA Club - moving to a single points collection year for all, to replace the current system which tracks British Airways Avios points collection based on when you joined the British Airways Club, previously known as the British Airways Executive Club. If you collect Avios to travel using BA reward flights, read on to find out exactly what’s changing.
What’s changing?
Right now, the BA Club system is based on each member, and your tier point collection year is based on the anniversary of the date you joined the Club. Your tier points automatically reset on the eighth day of your anniversary month. But from 1 April 2024 BA will begin aligning the Tier Point Collection Year for all BA Club Members to start on 1 April and end on 31 March every year - by April 2025 the process should be complete.
BA are making the changes over the next 15 months to ensure that all members can extend their current status and collect additional points based on when their current membership year ends. There won’t be any change to how you can earn Tier status during the transition, and any status you earn within this period will be valid for at least 12 months.
This might all sound a little confusing, but to put it basically, If your BA Club membership year ends before the new rules kick in on 1 April 2025, this next year will work as usual. But, your next membership year will end on 31 March 2025 regardless of how short that is. To make up for any shortfalls, British Airways will re-credit any tier points earned in your old membership year from 1 April 2024 to your new membership year.
British Airways said: "This change will simplify the journey for BA Club Members by aligning all Members to the same Tier Point Collection Year, making it easier to manage travel plans for yourself, colleagues, and family."
How will the change affect BA Club members?
As of 1 April 2024, everyone in the BA Club will have their Tier Point Collection Year set to end on 31 March 2025. From there, British Airways will determine each member's status for the following membership year using the full 12-month period beforehand. They will also use a Tier Point Adjustment to combine your status earned over the whole year with that earned in the truncated collection period.
Because this has the potential to be a little confusing at first, British Airways has given an example of how the new system would work for BA Club members who are due to renew in October and also includes information for the other eleven months on its website, BA.com:
- Your current Tier Point Collection Year will continue as normal until October 8, 2024
- Your next collection period will be October 9, 2024 - March 31, 2025
- Tier Point Adjustment: we'll add on any Tier Points you earn from April 1st - October 8, 2024, to work out your Tier status
- Any Tier status you receive during the transition period will expire on April 30, 2026
The new status will be valid until April 30, 2026, the new Membership Card expiry date. Passengers who do not have the required Tier Points to maintain their status will be downgraded starting May 1, 2025.
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There will be no change to how you earn Tier status and any status earned within the period will be valid for at least 12 months. Any existing status you have that is valid beyond 31 March 2025 will continue for the full duration.
If you collect and spend your Avios on BA reward flights using a BA Club Household Account this change has a great benefit. Typically, everyone using the Household Account will have a different tier point year-end, so you might have a situation where each family member takes the same flights together, but some gain tier status whilst others don’t. The upcoming change will stop this problem. Curious about how British Airways Tier Points work? You can find a full breakdown on our dedicated page here.
It would certainly ainly seem that the airline is continuing to make changes when it comes to BA reward flights to further streamline loyalty points collection. This move will bring them into line with other airlines within the IAG family, including Iberia, who only recently switched to join Avios as their loyalty programme. It was only last year that Adam Daniels, CEO of IAG Loyalty, expressed his preference for a universal loyalty reward programme across airlines.
Here at Reward Flight Finder (RFF), we predict more future integration between airlines with Avios loyalty programmes and perhaps a new Avios credit card (IAG?) whereby you can earn points to use across programmes easily. We’ll continue to keep RFF readers and members informed of further developments.
