
British Airways announced a series of unfortunate changes to the British Airways Executive Club, their loyalty program on the 30th of December 2024, as covered by Head for Points. The changes to the loyalty program unfortunately make Gold and Silver status fairly unobtainable in 2025 for most leisure travellers. Instead, the program will now focus on the highest revenue-generating customers, who are generally business travellers on flexible fares, rather than those who fly the airline most often. This change will be seismic for British Airways Executive Club members, and it’s no wonder that people are already discussing shifting their future travel away from British Airways to EasyJet or other airlines. Let’s dig into the changes to the British Airways Executive Club program, and what some of the alternative loyalty programs are out there for UK-based frequent flyers.

Recent British Airways Executive Club Changes
From the 1st of April 2025, British Airways Executive Club is shifting away from a distance-based tier point system to a revenue-based tier point system. This means that instead of the number of flights and distance you fly, the amount of tier points you earn will be based on how much you spend with British Airways. These are the thresholds for each level:
Bronze – 3,500 Tier Points
Silver – 7,500 Tier Points
Gold – 20,000 Tier Points
Gold Guest List – 65,000 Tier Points, 40,000 Tier Points to renew
Tier points will now be earned at a £1 per point conversion, which notably excludes surcharges and taxes including Air Passenger Duty charges. There will also be a partnership with American Express to earn points through spend on the British Airways Premium Plus credit card (only this card), with more details including the earning ratio to be announced. These credit card spend tier points will be capped at a maximum of 2,500 tier points per year.
It will be interesting to see if British Airways will offer other ways of earning tier points such as double or triple point promotions once the program is underway from the 1st of April 2025, or ability to earn through the British Airways Shopping portal.
The general sentiment is that this is bad for leisure travellers who pay for their flights themselves, with status reserved for high spending business travellers whose flights are paid for by their employer/business. This will probably cause British Airways Lounges to be a lot emptier, as well as lower overall flight occupancy. With most leisure travellers unlikely to gain Bronze or Silver under the new thresholds and earning system, there isn’t much differentiation between British Airways and low-cost carriers. Cash prices of British Airways flights have also skyrocketed in 2024, so there are multiple push factors at play for leisure travellers away from British Airways.
So if you are caught in the crosshairs of this change, what can you do about it? Well you can look to change your loyalty to other airline programs.

Choosing the Best Airline Loyalty Program for Your Travel Patterns
For UK based travellers, look at your current travel patterns, as well as your travel patterns for 2025 and beyond. Do you mainly fly within Europe, back and forth to the US, to the Middle East or Asia, Australia and beyond? Each airline loyalty program has pros and cons, but a big issue to highlight is several programs have a “minimum number of flights” requirement on the host airline. If you aren’t flying to or from the region that the airline of your loyalty program operates, then that program is useless. For example, British Airways has had for the longest time, a minimum of 2 British Airways flights per year to achieve Bronze, and 4 British Airways flights minimum to achieve Silver and Gold. If you were based somewhere else in the world where British Airways doesn’t operate, then you wouldn’t be able to meet this criteria no matter how many oneworld partners you regularly fly with.
Also to note, certain programs have unusual restrictions, such as most US carriers often don’t include lounge access on domestic flights for most loyalty program tiers. Just something to consider if you are often travelling in the US on holiday or on business, and are considering shifting your loyalty program to American Airlines or one of the other US carriers. You will probably be better off looking at loyalty programs of other carriers outside of the US.

oneworld Alternatives to the British Airways Executive Club
As British Airways a oneworld alliance partner, shifting to another loyalty program within the same alliance could mean you can still work towards status with another airline with lower thresholds, and continue to enjoy the loyalty perks when travelling British Airways in the future. As British Airways have one of the most connected route networks from London to Europe and the US, for existing British Airways Executive Club members who will continue to travel with British Airways in the future but won’t meet the new thresholds for Silver or Gold elite status, shifting your loyalty program to another oneworld carrier could be a good strategy to pursue. Here are some alternative oneworld airline loyalty programs to consider:
American Airlines AAdvantage
I cover everything you need to know about American Airlines AAdvantage here.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Alaska Airlines is one of the best US carrier loyalty programs out there. Even better there is no need for a minimum number of Alaska Airlines flights, meaning that all you need to do to achieve MVP Gold status is earn 40,000 qualifying miles. MVP Gold status is equivalent to BA Silver. This is equivalent to 5x round trips on British Airways in Economy from London to X. A fairly achievable target to earn airline status.
With Alaska Airlines, qualifying mile earn rates are based on the fare class of your ticket. Also, if you book British Airways flights through the Alaska Airlines website, there is higher earn rates for Economy fares at the lower end. Booking directly through British Airways is better for Club Europe, Club World and First fares. You can find more information on which fare classes are best to book on alaskaair.com or britishairways.com here.
To highlight, Club Europe cash fares booked through the British Airways website earn 150-250% of the flight distance in miles, which is an attractive earn rate and fast track path to MVP Gold status (equivalent to British Airways Silver status). Essentially, you could earn MVP Gold status with the equivalent of just over 2 round trips in Club World between London Heathrow and Dubai each year depending on fare class.
The only downside to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is that the program only grants MVP Gold status holders domestic lounge access if you are connecting to a international flight on the same day. If you do a lot of domestic US flying, it might be worth looking into a different oneworld loyalty program.
Cathay Pacific’s Cathay
Check out my guide to the Cathay Pacific loyalty program, Cathay, here. Cathay Pacific does have a one Cathay minimum flight requirement though, so this is only a good option if you need to travel via Hong Kong at least once per year.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
The Qatar Airways Privilege Club is a good oneworld loyalty program option if you do fly east to the Middle East, Asia or Australia at least once a year. You have to earn at least 20% of your Qpoints, 4 flights within 12 months or 8 flights in 24 months on Qatar Airways to qualify for status in addition to the Qpoints requirements. The Gold tier (equivalent to British Airways Silver) requires 300 Qpoints in any 12-month period, with 270 Qpoints required to renew in a 12 month period or 540 QPoints in a 24 month period.
The Silver tier (equivalent to British Airways Bronze) includes lounge access to a dedicated Silver Lounge (for the member only + guest pass allocation) at Doha Hamad International Airport which is a nice touch, and the lounges at Doha Hamad are the best in the world. You can also link your British Airways and Qatar Airways accounts together and transfer Avios instantly between the two, which should give you more flight redemption availability for using up the rest of your Avios balance in your British Airways Executive Club account.
Qatar wouldn’t be suitable if you mainly fly within Europe, to Africa or on transatlantic routes, but it is definitely worth considering if you fly to the Middle East, Asia or Australia regularly.

Star Alliance Alternatives to the British Airways Executive Club
If you are looking to shift your business away from oneworld and British Airways, Star Alliance is another great option to consider. Within Europe, Star Alliance members include Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, TAP Portugal, LOT Polish Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Aegean, Turkish Airlines and Croatia Airlines. United is the main US Star Alliance carrier partner, with several airline members flying to the Far East and beyond too. Here are Star Alliance airline loyalty programs to consider as an alternative to the British Airways Executive Club:
Aegean Airlines Miles+Bonus
Aegean is a great option to gain and retain Star Alliance Gold elite status with minimal flying and cost.The Gold tier (status tier with lounge access) only requires 24,000 miles to qualify, with only 12,000 miles to retain Gold in the following year. There is a minimum of 4 flight segments per year on Aegean or Olympic Air to qualify, but this is only one economy roundtrip to one of the many Greek islands via Athens from London per year.
For context, you would earn roughly 2,500 miles from London to Heraklion via Athens in Economy Light (with hand baggage only). Gold status is definitely obtainable if you do at least two long-haul flights per year.
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles loyalty program is a good option to consider as to qualify for Gold, you need to earn 40,000 miles in the first year, but then your status lasts for two years. To requalify, you can either earn 30,000 miles in the first 12 months after you reach Gold, or 45,000 miles across the 2-year period your status is valid for. Miles&Smiles is great if you are an irregular frequent flyer, for example, doing lots of flights in one particular year, then minimal the following year. There is also no minimum number of flights on Turkish Airlines, so you could absolutely reach the miles requirement through Star Alliance partners. Definitely a great option to consider if you have irregular travel patterns.

Skyteam Alternatives to the British Airways Executive Club
Skyteam is another alternative worth considering as an alternative to oneworld. If you mainly fly to the US, Skyteam members include Virgin Atlantic and Delta. Within Europe, you have SAS, Air France, KLM, AirEuropa and ITA Airways. If you mainly fly to Asia, China Airlines, China Eastern, Garuda, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and XiamenAir are all also Skyteam members. If the route networks of these airlines could work for you, here are the best Skyteam airline loyalty programs to consider as an alternative to the British Airways Executive Club:
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is one of the most discussed airline loyalty program alternative for British Airways Executive Club members, especially for those members who travel transatlantic routes regularly.
In terms of tier points, lounge access is only available at the Gold tier, requiring 1,000 tier points within 12 months. For context, depending on fare class, this is roughly 5-10 Upper Class flights, 10-20 premium flights, or 20-40 economy flights on Virgin Atlantic metal. In my opinion, this is quite steep in comparison to other airline loyalty programs, especially when Virgin Atlantic only operates mid and long-haul flights only. To note, there are no minimum flight requirements on Virgin metal, and you can meet the threshold with Skyteam partner flights alone. As part of your earning strategy, you can utilise Skyteam partners for short-haul European flights, but they earn tier points are a reduced rate on flights shorter than 2,000 miles.
On the plus side, they are running a status match promotion for British Airways Executive Club members, which you can find more details of here.
In summary, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a great option if you do a lot of long-haul travel in premium cabins, or often take connecting flights in regions Skyteam members cover. For short-haul European frequent flyers, other options will be better.
Air France and KLM Flying Blue
Air France and KLM Flying Blue is a great program to consider if you do a lot of European short-haul travel. Through Air France’s base at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and KLM’s base at Amsterdam, they cover a wide flight network throughout Europe and further abroad. Instead of Tier Points, you earn XP based on flight distance and travel class. There are also several Skyteam carriers with flights departing from London including Delta and Virgin Atlantic, so it is also easy to earn XP whilst avoiding connecting flights through Amsterdam and Paris if you wish to avoid these airports.
Gold requires 180 XP to achieve, which is equivalent to five long-haul business class flights over 5,000 miles. Additionally, If you end up with between 180 and 300 XP by membership year end, 180 XP is deducted and you can use the rest towards requalifying next year. Flying Blue is a fairly straight-forward program in comparison to some other airline loyalty programs, and a good option to consider.

Travel Hack: Benefits of Typical Airline Status on Low Cost Airlines
If you are based elsewhere in the UK, low cost airlines including Vueling, EasyJet, Wizzair and Ryanair might be better for you in terms of point-to-point flights rather than needing to fly through Heathrow with British Airways. With British Airways cash prices skyrocketing over the last year, if you are unlikely to meet the new tier thresholds, it might be worth considering shifting your flying to low cost airline options.
But don’t despair! You can absolutely make a low cost airline flight extra special, with most of the elite status perks by purchasing the following:
Fast Track
At several airports in the UK including Gatwick and Luton, you can pay in advance for fast track access, getting you airside faster and saving you precious time waiting in queue. For example, Fast Track at Gatwick is only £6 when you book in advance online and this has absolutely saved me from missing my flight during peak times several times over Easter, School Holidays and the Christmas Holiday seasons.
Lounge Access
Paid-for Lounge Access is available at several UK airports through third-party contract lounge providers. Certain airlines even use these if they or their airline partners don’t operate a lounge from the departing airport or terminal. I really like No.1 Lounges around the UK as they are consistently pretty good in terms of food and beverage offerings, and Club Aspire is also fairly good too. At Gatwick, I think Clubrooms is great, however it is more expensive than other options. If you don’t fly too regularly, purchasing lounge access upgrades your whole travel experience into a special occasion.
If you travel regularly, it might be worth looking at a Priority Pass membership. You can either buy these direct through Priority Pass or look at credit card options which offer this. Do note, for No1 Lounges at Gatwick and some other airports, you may need to pre-book access for a fee, however this does sometimes include Fast Track access, which is roughly the same price as the pre-booking fee.
Extra Legroom Seats
If the cost isn’t much more (and you are tall like me), absolutely book exit row or extra legroom seats. This is the possibly the biggest thing you can do to elevate your travel experience. If the price online is too expensive, ask at check in or at the gate if it is possible to change your seat.
Depending on the time of year, these perks on top of the base fare with a low cost airline can still be significantly less than an economy flight with British Airways for a much better travel experience, so it’s worth checking when booking your next flight.
Status Match Options from British Airways Executive Club
If you currently hold Silver or Gold status with British Airways, there are several options to status match to a different airline loyalty program, allowing you to enjoy the perks and benefits straight away without the additional cost, time and hassle of accumulating airline elite status. Check out StatusMatcher.com for other airlines currently status matching British Airways Executive Club status.

Conclusion
Choosing an alternative airline loyalty program to change to from the British Airways Executive Club depends mainly on your travel patterns, and whether the majority of your travel is within Europe, Transatlantic, to the Middle East and Asia, or further afield. No airline loyalty program is also a valid alternative for 2025 and moving forward for UK-based frequent flyers, taking advantage of lowest-cost flights, fast track services and paid lounge access where available.