British Airways Club (Formerly Executive Club): A Beginner's Guide
Kayleigh14 Oct 2025
Last Updated: 10 Nov 2026
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KayleighLast Updated: 10 Nov 2026
British Airways operates one of the world’s most popular airline loyalty programmes – the British Airways frequent flyer loyalty scheme known simply as the British Airways Club, where members collect Avios and earn elite status (Tiers) in return for flying with BA and partners.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive into how BA Club works – from earning Avios and Tier points to insider tips on booking reward flights, upgrades and more. We’ll also explore British Airways’ business class (branded Club World) offerings like the new BA Club Suite and how to maximise your membership benefits. By the end, you’ll be ready to get Avios easily and put them to use for your next adventure.
Find available reward seats with British Airways and Iberia.
The British Airways Club is BA’s loyalty scheme, rebranded from the Executive Club in 2025. Free to join, it lets you earn Avios (points) on flights, hotels, car hire, credit card spend, banking spend, and over 2000 retail partners.
You also collect Tier points, which unlock elite status, moving between the various levels of Blue, Bronze, Silver, or Gold.
Avios can be redeemed for flights and upgrades on BA and oneworld partners like Qatar, Iberia, Finnair and American Airlines. BA guarantees 14 reward seats per long-haul flight, so there’s always some Avios availability, though it goes fast.
You don’t need to be a frequent flyer to get value from BA Club. In fact, some of the smartest Avios collectors rarely step on a plane. Why? Because BA Club lets you turn your weekly shop, hotel stays, credit card spend, and even surveys into travel rewards.
And once you do fly, things really open up.
Join the Club and you’ll:
More importantly, joining the Club puts you in the loop: You’ll start to see where and how to spot reward flights, Companion Voucher redemptions, or off-peak sweet spots before others do.
And the best bit? It costs absolutely nothing to join.
Becoming a BA Club member takes all of five minutes and could pay off for years to come.
Head to BA.com, create an account, and you’ll immediately receive a BA membership number and Blue tier status. From that moment, you can start earning Avios on eligible flights, including any flown up to three months prior to joining (yes, retroactive credit is a thing).
As a Blue member, you won’t get priority boarding or lounge access just yet, but you can:
It’s the foundation you’ll build on as you collect Tier Points and climb the status ladder.
Avios are what most people think of first when they join. These are your reward points: the currency you earn, collect, and spend on flights, upgrades, hotels, car hire, and more.
You’ll pick them up in dozens of ways:
How to Book BA flights using Avios
Want to make sure you're not wasting your Avios on poor-value redemptions? Read our guide on how to get the best value from your Avios before you spend a single point.
Avios are far more than just a ticket currency. Yes, the headline use is booking flights, often the most valuable redemptions, but the real strength of Avios lies in their flexibility and the web of partners that makes them useful across your whole trip.
Avios don’t vanish quickly: they only expire after 36 months of no activity. Even a tiny transaction resets the clock.
Example: Buy a pair of socks via the BA eStore and earn 1 Avios. That one point extends the life of your entire balance for another three years.
Tier Points don’t buy you flights: they buy you status. And with status comes benefits.
The more Tier Points you earn each year (from 1 April to 31 March), the higher you climb through the Club’s elite levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
Unlike Avios, Tier Points:
As of April 2025, British Airways moved to a revenue-based model, meaning you now earn 1 Tier Point per £1 spent on BA flights or BA Holidays (excluding taxes/fees).
So, a Club Europe return from London to Berlin costing £500 (ex taxes) will earn you 500 Tier Points. Spend £7,500 in a year and you're Silver.
Alternatively, you can still qualify based on the number of BA flights you take in a year:
For a detailed breakdown of each tier’s perks, see our BA Tier Points and Status Guide.
Tier | Points Needed | Key Perks |
| Blue | 0 | Join for free, save preferences, member offers |
| Bronze | 3,500 | Business check-in, priority boarding, seat selection 7 days out |
| Silver | 7,500 | All Bronze perks + lounge access, free seat selection, extra luggage |
| Gold | 20,000 | All Silver perks + First Class lounges, best seat access, upgrade flexibility |
British Airways is raising the Silver and Gold thresholds for the collection year that starts on 1 April 2027. If you're collecting Tier Points now, the current figures still apply until 31 March 2027.
| Tier | Collection year 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 | Collection year from 1 April 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 3,500 Tier Points or 25 eligible flights | 3,500 Tier Points or 25 eligible flights (no change) |
| Silver | 7,500 Tier Points or 50 eligible flights | 8,000 Tier Points or 50 eligible flights |
| Gold | 20,000 Tier Points | 21,000 Tier Points |
The Tier Point milestones that pay bonus Avios also move up from 1 April 2027, to 5,750, 12,000 and 17,000 Tier Points, and you'll earn fewer extra Tier Points on long-haul World Traveller Plus, Club World and First fares. Source: British Airways, About tier points (checked November 2026).
And there's more…
Once you pass key Tier Point milestones, you earn bonus Avios, just for progressing:
Tier Points Reached | Bonus Avios Awarded |
| 5,500 | 2,500 |
| 11,000 | 4,000 |
| 16,000 | 5,000 |
And for the true Club elite? Lifetime Gold awaits anyone who hits 550,000 Tier Points in total (or met the pre-2025 threshold). That status never expires, ever. Want to see how close you are to your next tier? Try our BA Tier Points Calculator.
Let’s bring it together with a quick comparison:
Avios | Tier Points | |
| What they are | Reward points: like a currency | Status credits: measure of loyalty |
| How you earn them | Flights, credit cards, shopping, partners | BA flights or BA Holidays spend |
| Expiry | Yes (after 36 months of no activity) | No, but reset each year |
| Used for | Flights, upgrades, hotels, car hire, more | Unlocking Bronze, Silver, Gold status |
| Do they carry over? | Yes | No |
If you're brand new to the programme, start by focusing on collecting Avios and booking your first reward flight. It’s tangible, exciting, and a clear return on your efforts.
But if you travel often, especially with British Airways or on BA Holidays packages, then chasing Tier Points becomes far more valuable. The perks that come with Silver and Gold can change your entire travel experience: lounge access, fast-track, better seats, and priority everything.
Tip: You don’t have to choose one or the other: the smartest BA Club members optimise for both. Book revenue flights when they help you earn Tier Points, and then use your Avios for the flights that matter most to you.
If you’ve ever sat bleary-eyed at midnight refreshing ba.com, hoping those elusive reward seats will appear, you’ll know the frustration. British Airways does guarantee reward seats on every flight, but they’re snapped up fast. That’s where RFF changes the game.
Instead of playing detective, you can let the tool do the hard work. Set an alert for exactly what you want (say, “two Club World seats from London to Cape Town in July”), and RFF will scan the system for you. The moment the seats are released, you’ll get a notification. No more guessing, no more spreadsheets, and no more alarms at 00:00 GMT.
What makes it powerful is the way it visualises availability. You can pull up a year-long calendar of Avios seats, explore routes on a map view, or drill right down to a specific flight on a specific day.
Example: A family of four planning Christmas in the Maldives. Without RFF, they’d spend weeks manually checking day by day. With RFF, an alert delivers the seats to them the instant they appear: they can book before anyone else even notices.
Want to master the tool? Check our How to book a BA Reward Flight with Avios guide.
The Flagship Business Class Experience for Avios Travellers
While British Airways offers cabins from Economy through to First, it’s in Club World (and especially the BA Club Suite) where many BA Club members find the best value for their Avios. As you climb the status tiers or start redeeming points for long-haul business class, this modern, high-spec cabin becomes a standout choice, designed to bring BA in line with the world’s best.
Designed with privacy and comfort in mind, the BA Club Suite is a significant upgrade from BA’s older “Ying-Yang” layout. It features:
It’s currently available on A350s, refurbished 777s, and select 787s, with more aircraft being retrofitted as BA rolls it out fleet-wide.
Why does this matter to Club members? Because when you’re booking reward flights with Avios, especially long haul, knowing how to find BA Club Suite-equipped flights is key to maximising the comfort and value of your redemptions.
Tip: Not all business class cabins are created equal. If you’re spending 90,000+ Avios on a long-haul Club World ticket, always check if that flight features the BA Club Suite. It can mean the difference between an upgraded experience and a dated one.
Use our Reward seat finder tool to check availability.
The beauty of BA Club is that your Avios aren’t tied to BA alone. Because British Airways is a founding member of the oneworld alliance, your points work like a global passport across some of the world’s best airlines: Qatar Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and plenty more.
This means you could earn Avios on a BA flight to Doha, then spend them on a Qatar Airways Qsuite to the Maldives. Or collect Avios on an American Airlines domestic hop and redeem them later on Iberia, where long-haul business class often comes with much lower fees than BA charges out of London.
Of course, there are a few quirks:
Airlines are just part of the story. British Airways Club also connects with an entire ecosystem of travel partners, meaning you can both earn and spend Avios far beyond the runway.
For many collectors, these “off-aircraft” channels are how balances quietly snowball throughout the year.
New Revenue-Based System
Here’s where being strategic pays off. BA Club isn’t just about collecting Avios: it’s about using the scheme in a way that makes travel genuinely better.
Pro tip: Some collectors book the outbound as soon as seats release, then wait for the return to drop later: changing dates is only £35 per person, and it locks in availability for high-demand routes.
