British Airways Overhauls Loyalty Program and How Reward Factors are Earned

British Airways is overhauling its loyalty program this yr, switching to a revenue-based system and transferring away from permitting vacationers to earn factors based mostly on the route and fare class.

As a part of the brand new program, which has been rebranded “The British Airways Membership” and can go into impact on April 1, vacationers will earn factors based mostly on the price of their flight, incomes 1 Tier Level for each £1 ($1.24) spent, based on the airline. Vacationers also can earn factors for cash spent on extras like seat choice and extra baggage and earn as much as 1,000 factors per yr by buying a contribution to sustainable aviation fuels.

As well as, vacationers can earn factors on British Airways Holidays. And later in 2025, the airline stated it plans to introduce methods to earn with BA American Specific Premium Plus bank cards.

Presently, loyal British Airways clients earn factors relying on the route, the airline flown, and the fare class booked with lengthy haul flights in premium cabins incomes essentially the most.

“The adjustments we have now introduced right this moment underline our continued funding in our loyalty program and in our clients. Based mostly on our Members’ suggestions, we’ve constructed on the adjustments we’ve already made – together with how clients acquire Avios and their membership yr – in a method that we imagine higher rewards their loyalty and displays their altering journey wants,” Colm Lacy, British Airways’ chief industrial officer, stated in a press release. “We all know that a lot of our clients make their vacation plans throughout our annual January sale interval, so it’s nice to have the ability to announce this right this moment.”

To enhance the brand new methods to earn, British Airways can be altering its tier thresholds. With the brand new system, vacationers might want to earn 3,500 factors to qualify for Bronze, earn 7,500 to qualify for Silver, and earn 20,000 factors to qualify for Gold.

The airline stated it might additionally introduce new milestone advantages between tiers later within the yr, together with items of two,500, 4,000, and 5,000 Bonus Avios at milestones inside the Bronze and Silver standing ranges.

British Airways isn’t alone in revamping its loyalty program. In 2023, Delta additionally launched a revenue-based tier system, which resulted in swift backlash. JetBlue has equally launched adjustments to its TrueBlue frequent flyer program, as did United Airways, Southwest, Alaska Airways, American Airways, and Frontier Airways.

The loyalty program adjustments come as British Airways is working to roll out a new first-class seat that includes a 36.5-inch-wide seat that converts right into a 79-inch-long rectangular mattress, a separate ottoman, a 32-inch 4K TV display screen, and a 60-inch curved wall for privateness. The brand new seat is predicted to hit the skies in mid-2026.