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 shifting away from permitting vacationers to earn factors primarily based 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 primarily based on the price of their flight, incomes 1 Tier Level for each £1 ($1.24) spent, in accordance with 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.

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

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 will additionally introduce new milestone advantages between tiers later within the yr, together with presents of two,500, 4,000, and 5,000 Bonus Avios at milestones throughout 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 modifications to its TrueBlue frequent flyer program, as did United Airways, Southwest, Alaska Airways, American Airways, and Frontier Airways.

The loyalty program modifications come as British Airways is working to roll out a new firstclass 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, and a 60-inch curved wall for privateness. The brand new seat is predicted to hit the skies in mid-2026.