British Airways quietly devalues Gold Guest List partner cards

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Back in December I outlined the benefits that Gold Guest List members get from British Airways. This is the exclusive club for anyone who earns over 3,000 tier points per year. You can read more about Gold Guest List on ba.com here (log-in required).

One of the perks of Gold Guest List is that you are able to gift British Airways Gold status to a friend or colleague and British Airways Silver status to two friends.

Very quietly (ie they did not notified Gold Guest List members about this) BA devalued the gifted cards. This decision was taken at the end of 2013 but not communicated and the impact is only now being seen.

From the start of 2015, anyone who received Gold or Silver status via a Gold Guest List member will NOT receive a ‘soft landing’ when their membership year expires.

The means that a ‘referred’ Gold member will drop straight back to Blue at the end of the year if they do not earn enough tier points to requalify automatically. They will not drop to Silver for a year, then to Bronze, then to Blue.

Similarly, a ‘referred’ Silver member will drop directly to Blue without an intermediate year as a Bronze.

This change applies to all existing referred members and not just anyone who is referred from the start of 2015. British Airways is apparently treating 13th December 2013 as the cut-off date and if you were referred after that date you will be downgraded all the way.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus: