For a business that supposedly relies on creating and nurturing loyal, lifelong customers, British Airways sure knows how to go about alienating the people that it’s meant to appreciate the most… it’s most frequent of frequent flyers who choose to fly with BA even when there are better options.
These seasoned jet-setters will overlook BA’s clapped-out IT systems, numerous operational meltdowns, lackluster service, and high ticket prices for the chance to acquire frequent flyer status and the many benefits of being part of the ‘club.’
Now, many are wondering why they ever bothered. On Monday, British Airways turned the way that frequent flyers achieve status on its head. The effect is that many ‘elite’ frequent flyers will soon be priced out of attaining the very status they’ve spent so many years acquiring and renewing.
To the uninitiated, British Airways frequent flyers acquire status by collecting Tier Points, which have long been awarded based on several factors, including the flight length, the number of sectors completed, and which class of cabin you traveled in.
Although the system relied in part on how much you spent, it was open to gaming, with frequent flyers sharing ways to acquire elite status by spending as little money as possible. Under this system, elite ‘Gold Card’ holders weren’t necessarily the highest-spending customers.
In fact, customers who spent a lot of their own money to buy expensive Business and First Class tickets but who didn’t necessarily fly that often or know how to make the Tier Point system work in their favor had no chance of acquiring status even though they were spending more than many elite frequent flyers.
A change has been on the card for some time, and it was no surprise that British Airways was going to follow the lead of rivals and base Tier Point collection on cash spend – a so-called ‘revenue-based’ frequent flyer program.
The thresholds that British Airways has set to achieve status, however, have left frequent flyers both surprised and dismayed in equal parts.
To gain perks like lounge access, free seat selection, checked baggage, and priority check-in, frequent flyers will now have to spend £7,500 per year to unlock the Silver tier.
Access to BA’s first-class check-in at London Heathrow, as well as more exclusive airport lounges, requires an annual spend of at least £20,000.
The annual spend requirement is based on the ticket base fare, as well as carrier imposed charges, but not airport or government taxes. British Airways will, however, let passengers collect Tier Points on ancillary add-ons like extra baggage, seat selection, and upgrades.
There will also be other ways to collect Tier Points. At a conversion of £1 for 1 Tier Point, passengers will literally be able to buy 1,000 Tier Points per year by donating £1,000 to British Airways for sustainable aviation fuels.
And, for the first time, passengers will be able to collect Tier Points on the airline’s cobranded BA American Express Premium Plus credit card – although the maximum number of Tier Points that can be collected per year is capped at 2,500.
Details of how this system will work are yet to be revealed, although don’t expect £1 of credit card spend to equal 1 Tier Point.
Renaming the program from the Executive Club to simply the British Airways Club is a clear indication that BA is hoping to shake off the image that frequent flyer programs are only for business travelers and engage premium leisure travelers who don’t necessarily fly a lot but do spend a lot.
To this end, the new program will reward passengers who book packages through British Airways Holidays, allowing customers to earn Tier Points on bundled flight, hotel, and car hire bookings for the first time.
Many elite status holders, however, have already done the sums and worked out that they won’t be able to hold on to their hard-earned status under this new system. To say that they are furious would be an understatement.
And its not just loyal passengers who have expressed their displeasure at British Airways. It’s own employees have barraged the airline on an internal message board to share their feelings about the changes.
If it weren’t already obvious to British Airways, one staffer noted that the changes had “gone down like a lead balloon” and that even acquiring Silver status was now “unattainable” for most people.
“Yet again BA seems to be on a mission to annoy, alienate and drive away loyal customers,” another employee wrote. A third chimed in: “The live feedback from dissatisfied Executive Club members indicates that the new status requirements are perceived as unattainable for many, if not most.”
And the negative comments from the airline’s own workers continued: “A terrible decision driven solely by greed,” another staffer wrote. “Can’t stress enough how badly this announcement had gone down with our loyal customer,” another comment stressed.
Social media is ablaze with BA’s loyal frequent flyers threatening to give up status chasing and instead book future travel with other airlines when the changes come into effect in April 2025. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.
If it does, it will be interesting to see whether it actually has any impact on BA’s bottom line.
