In the UK, the period between Christmas and New Year’s is usually a sleepy period. Many people are on vacation until early January, making for an odd combination of leftover turkey and lo-fi leisure. Not this time. On December 30th, British Airways made major changes to its loyalty program that threw central England into turmoil.
Simply put, the days of being able to take advantage of the system by taking low-cost, high-income flights are long gone. BA is moving away from awarding points based on distance flown or fare class. Instead, we’re moving to an earnings-based system for granting status, where the more you pay, the faster you rank up.
The announcement caused an uproar, with fears that the new scheme would strip many existing members of their valuable silver and gold status. Even Bronze, the entry level of basic benefits, is now out of reach for many.
Once BA supporters understood the news, MyCretFlyer’s forums and bulletin boards quickly became a hot topic. There was early acceptance by some, but clear anger from many.
The intensity of this feeling is not limited to armchair aviation geeks. Some of the country’s best-known columnists weighed in, with former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil suggesting it was “predisposed to a self-inflicted disaster”.
@British_Airways Loyalty program changes are a self-inflicted disaster. Probably one of the biggest corporate frauds of our time. CEO Sean Doyle needs to think again. It’s been a long time since it became the most popular airline in the world. He shouldn’t go…
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 2, 2025
Elsewhere, London-based business daily City AM drew unwelcome similarities to British carmaker Jaguar’s controversial rebranding in November.
Why all the fuss?
The principle of recognizing frequent users based on their spending is nothing new. This is common practice at many major airlines, including some of the largest airlines in the United States. So why did British Airways’ changes cause such a backlash? Have members of the Executive Club had it too good for too long, or is BA partly to blame?
A week after the announcement, Skift used AI-powered tools to analyze many of the thousands of public comments, posts, and column inches dedicated to the change.
Now that the dust has settled, here are five of the most frequent complaints about the British Airways Executive Club review, and some lessons for the future.
1: “Change is happening fast”
Most of the major changes announced on December 30th will take effect from April 1st, 2025. Although this neatly aligns with the new standardized collection year, this short notice upset many people, especially those who had already made travel arrangements at the old program’s assumed income levels. .
British Airways says customers who book flights before December 30 and travel from April 1 onwards will receive tier points “based on existing method conversions”. Critics argue that this is not very beneficial as the overall goals required to reach bronze, silver and gold status have jumped significantly.
In addition to issuing a fairly stern 90-day warning about the changes, the timing of the announcement itself drew criticism. With many people staying away from the regular news cycle during the holiday season, some have suggested that BA may have tried to cover up the bad news at a time when public attention was focused on Christmas events.
There have also been complaints that important information has been delayed. Skift spoke with several Executive Club members who did not receive an official email from BA until December 31, nearly 24 hours after the media began reporting on the matter.
Lesson learned: Communicating difficult commercial decisions becomes even more difficult when customers feel they don’t have enough time to evaluate and respond.
2: “This is corporate gaslighting.”
Tweaks to the format of British Airways Executive Club (soon to be rebranded as British Airways Club) have been expected for some time. What seems to be frustrating to many is how these fundamental changes are being positioned by BA management.
In a press release on December 30, BA’s chief commercial officer Colm Lacey said the review was “based on feedback from our members”. This raised eyebrows and led to inevitable questions surrounding the nature and scope of the feedback exercise.
Some of the more outspoken BA members on social media went so far as to describe this approach as corporate gaslighting.
Lesson: Transparency is important. Some PR surfacing is to be expected, but don’t insult already upset customers by claiming the change was the result of feedback through opaque channels.
3: “Loyalty is no longer rewarded.”
British Airways believes the overhaul will “result in better (customer) loyalty”, but this view is not yet widely accepted. Social media is full of examples of incredibly loyal (at least in the traditional sense) frequent fliers who never reach entry-level or even mid-level status.
“We calculated that you would need to make 87.5 final BA bookings (Germany-London-Germany) to achieve Bronze status,” writes aviation journalist Thomas Boone.
Mr. Boone’s economy travel to Europe won’t do much for his loyalty status, but it will make it much easier for others.
In contrast to the current system, passengers will be able to earn British Airways’ top-tier Gold membership after flying just over three medium-haul flights. As pointed out by UK-based frequent flyer website Head for Points, Gold will soon be available for the equivalent of just over 1.5 flexible business class return tickets from London to New York. is. Fly first class and you’ll arrive even faster.
Lesson: Turning away regular flyers, even those on unprofitable tickets, is a risky move. A well-executed program should be sophisticated enough to recognize loyalty in a variety of ways.
4: “Mixed messages from BA”
In recent years, British Airways has run very generous offers when purchasing holidays through its holiday division. Customers who book a flight and at least five nights in a hotel or rental car will receive two tiers of points. In practice, this meant that passengers flying business class from Edinburgh to London Heathrow and on to Dubai could earn Silver status (the second highest level) for that trip alone.
Unsurprisingly, this promotion was extremely popular and partially contributed to BA Holidays’ surge in revenue. The downside is that the status and the time required to get to the airport lounge are often very crowded.
A recurring suggestion from our AI-powered analysis is to reduce excessive promotion and allow those who rely on it to naturally disappear from the system. This, combined with a slight increase in the existing tier point threshold, could potentially alleviate congestion in a less severe way.
Lesson: Confusing consumers with mixed narratives and promotions increases the amount of ill will later on when significant reductions or changes are made.
5: “BA is worthless”
It’s been decades since M&C Saatchi’s British Airways commercial featured the famous slogan ‘The World’s Favorite Airline’. Even before the Dec. 30 announcement, BA was on the defensive.
Years of cuts and underinvestment have cut out the details and made the problem worse. To that end, new management last year announced a much-touted $9 billion transformation program that promised new aircraft, upgraded airport lounges and enhanced IT systems.
If our assessment is to be believed, these changes may come too late for some. Many current BA passengers claim they fly with the airline because of its once-generous loyalty program. Take away their perks and they will take their business elsewhere. It’s impossible to establish how much of this change is just the rantings and bitterness of keyboard warriors on the other side of the change, but there may be some truth in it.
British Airways owns more than half of the available slots at London Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest international airports, but it is not without competition. Members unhappy with BA’s loyalty system may look to Virgin Atlantic as an alternative airline on some routes. The Delta-backed airline joined the SkyTeam alliance last year, making it a more attractive international player.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is another viable option for those living in the UK region, which currently connects via BA’s Heathrow hub. The Dutch airline connects Amsterdam non-stop to 17 cities in the UK. This is more than double the number of UK destinations BA flies directly from Heathrow Airport.
Lesson learned: tread carefully when rebuilding a damaged brand.
What does British Airways say?
Skift asked British Airways a series of questions about the changes. These included several questions regarding timelines and the nature of member feedback activities.
In response, the airline issued the following statement: “As part of our rebrand of our loyalty program, we have introduced more ways to earn Tier Points than ever before, including packages with British Airways Holidays and co-branded credit card payments, seat selection and extra baggage. If you pay additional charges such as.
“The changes we announced emphasize our continued investment in our Executive Club program and our customers, and reward their loyalty. A similar model is used.
In 2023, Delta Air Lines rescinded some of the more extreme elements of its SkyMiles program overhaul. It remains to be seen whether BA bosses will take a similar approach.
Even with late concessions, the broader direction of travel is clear. Revenue-based loyalty programs are the future, and more airlines are likely to adopt them in the coming years.
