In Britain, the period between Christmas and New Year is usually a sleepy one. With many on vacation until early January, it’s a curious mix of turkey leftovers and lo-fi leisure pursuits. Not this time: On December 30, British Airways sent Middle England into a tailspin with sweeping changes to its loyalty program.
Put simply, the days of gaming the system with low-cost, high-earning flights are numbered. BA is moving away from awarding points based on the distance flown and fare class. Instead, it is transitioning to a revenue-based system for awarding status – the more you pay, the faster you’ll climb the ranks.
The announcement sparked uproar, with fears the new formula will see many existing members stripped of their prized Silver and Gold status. Even Bronze – the entry-level tier for basic perks – now looks out of reach for many.
Frequent flyer forums and message boards soon lit up as BA loyalists digested the news. While there was early acceptance by some, there was tangible anger from many.
The strength of feeling wasn’t limited to armchair aviation geeks. Some of the country’s highest-profile columnists weighed in, with former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil suggesting it had “the makings of a self-inflicted disaster.”
The changes to @British_Airways loyalty programme has the makings of a self-inflicted disaster. Maybe one of the biggest corporate cock ups of modern times. CEO Sean Doyle needs to think again. It’s a long time since it’s been the world’s favourite airline. He should avoid going…
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 2, 2025
Elsewhere, London-based financial daily City AM drew unwelcome parallels with November’s controversial rebrand at British carmaker Jaguar.
Why All the Fuss?
The principle of recognizing frequent flyers based on the amount they spend is nothing new. It’s common practice at many major airlines, including some of the biggest U.S. carriers. So why have British Airways’ changes caused such outcry? Did members of its Executive Club have it too good for too long, or is BA partly at fault?
One week after the announcement, Skift used AI-powered tools to analyze many of the thousands of publicly available comments, posts, and column inches dedicated to the changes.
With the dust beginning to settle, here are five of the most frequent complaints about the overhaul of the British Airways Executive Club, plus some lessons for the future:
1: ‘The Changes Are Rushed’
Most of the major changes announced on December 30 take effect from April 1, 2025. While this aligns neatly with a new standardized collection year, the short notice upset many – particularly those who had already arranged travel on the assumed earning levels of the old program.
British Airways says customers who booked flights before December 30 but for travel after April 1, will have tier points awarded “based on a conversion of the existing method.” Critics argue that this will be of little benefit as the overall targets needed to reach Bronze, Silver, and Gold status have jumped so significantly.
As well as a rather tight 90-day warning of the changes, the timing of the announcement itself also drew criticism. With many detached from the regular news cycle during the holiday season, some suggest that BA tried to bury the bad news when public attention was focused on Christmas festivities.
There have also been complaints about the stunted delivery of key information. Skift has heard from several Executive Club members who didn’t receive the official email from BA until December 31 – almost 24 hours after the media began reporting the story.
Lesson: Communicating a challenging commercial decision is made all the more difficult if customers feel they are given insufficient time to assess and react.
2: ‘This is Corporate Gaslighting’
Tweaks to the format of the British Airways Executive Club – soon to be rebranded as the ‘British Airways Club’ – have been expected for some time. What appears to have frustrated many is how these radical changes have been positioned by BA management.
In the December 30 press release, Colm Lacy, BA’s Chief Commercial Officer, said the overhaul is “based on our Members’ feedback.” This raised eyebrows, with inevitable questions surrounding the nature and scope of the feedback exercise.
Some more outspoken BA members on social media went as far as to describe the approach as corporate gaslighting.
Lesson: Transparency is important. A degree of PR sugarcoating is expected, but don’t insult already upset customers by claiming changes are the result of feedback via opaque channels.
3: ‘It Doesn’t Reward Loyalty Anymore’
British Airways believes the overhaul “better rewards [customer] loyalty,” but this perspective hasn’t been universally accepted. Social media is awash with examples where incredibly loyal – at least in the traditional sense – frequent flyers will fall far short of reaching even entry or mid-tier status.
“Did some maths that I would need to do my last BA booking (Germany-London-Germany) 87.5 times for Bronze status,” wrote aviation journalist Thomas Boon.
While Boon’s European economy travel won’t do much for his loyalty status, others will find it much easier.
In contrast to the current formula, a passenger could be awarded British Airways’ top-tier Gold membership after a little more than three medium-haul flights. As noted by UK-based frequent flyer website Head for Points, Gold will soon be available for the equivalent of just over one and a half flexible business class return flights from London to New York. Fly it in first class and you’ll get there even sooner.
Lesson: It’s a risky move to alienate passengers who fly very regularly – even those on less profitable tickets. A well-executed program should be sophisticated enough to recognize loyalty in its various forms.
4: ‘Mixed Messaging from BA’
Over recent years, British Airways has run an exceptionally generous offer when buying a vacation through its holidays division. Customers who booked a flight, plus hotel or car hire for at least five nights receive double tier points. In practice, this meant a passenger flying from Edinburgh to London Heathrow and onwards to Dubai in business class could attain Silver status (the second highest level) from that trip alone.
Unsurprisingly, the promotion has proved incredibly popular and been partly credited with soaring revenue at BA Holidays. The downside is a watering down of what it takes to reach status and airport lounges that are often incredibly busy.
A recurring suggestion from our AI-powered analysis is cutting the overzealous promotion and allowing those relying on it to organically fizzle out of the system. This, combined with a modest increase in the existing tier point thresholds, could thin the crowds in a less severe manner.
Lesson: Confusing the consumer with mixed narratives and promotions increases the amount of ill will when drastic cuts and changes are later taken.
5: ‘BA Isn’t Worth It’
It’s been several decades since M&C Saatchi’s commercials for British Airways carried the famous slogan, “The World’s Favourite Airline.” Even before the December 30 announcement, BA was on the defensive.
Years of cuts and underinvestment saw niceties scrapped and problems fester. This led to new management announcing a much-touted $9 billion transformation program last year with a promise of new planes, upgraded airport lounges, and enhanced IT systems.
If our assessment is to be believed, these changes could come too late for some. A number of current BA passengers claim to fly with the carrier because of its once-generous loyalty program. Take the perks away and they’ll take their business elsewhere. It’s impossible to establish how much of this is sour grapes and bluster from keyboard warriors on the wrong side of the changes, however it is likely to hold some truth.
British Airways owns more than half of the available slots at London Heathrow – one of the world’s busiest international airports – but it isn’t without competition. Disgruntled members of BA’s loyalty scheme could look to Virgin Atlantic as an alternative for some routes. The Delta-backed airline joined the SkyTeam alliance last year, making it a much more compelling international player.
KLM is another viable option for those living in the UK regions who currently connect via BA’s Heathrow hub. The Dutch carrier connects Amsterdam nonstop to 17 British cities – more than twice the number of UK destinations served directly by BA from Heathrow.
Lesson: Approach with caution when rebuilding a damaged brand.
What Does British Airways Say?
Skift asked British Airways a series of questions regarding the changes, including several about the timeline and the nature of the member feedback exercise.
In response, the airline provided the following statement: “As part of a re-brand of our loyalty programme, we have introduced more ways than ever before to earn Tier Points, including packages with British Airways Holidays, spend on co-brand credit card and when paying for extras such as seat selection and additional baggage.
“The changes we have announced underline our continued investment in our executive club programme and in our customers, rewarding them for their loyalty. This is a similar model used by many other airline loyalty programmes across the world.”
In 2023, Delta backtracked on some of the more extreme elements of an overhaul to its SkyMiles program. It remains to be seen if BA bosses will follow a similar approach.
Bloomberg’s well-respected aviation reporter Danny Lee even went so far as to suggest this could be British Airways’ “Vasu Raja moment,” a reference to American Airlines’ distribution disaster last year.
Even if late-day concessions are made – the broader direction of travel is clear: Revenue-based loyalty programs are the future and likely to be adopted by many more airlines in the coming years.
