British Airways drops plastic cards for Executive Club status members

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British Airways has decided to end the practice of automatically sending out plastic cards to Gold, Silver and Bronze members of British Airways Executive Club.

It has also stopped issuing paper ‘Golden Tickets’ to hand out to staff members who provide excellent service.

Gold members will still be able to issue digitial ‘Golden Tickets’ via an upcoming new feature on ba.com, which will have the added advantage of allowing you to nominate multiple people.

Intriguingly, Gold Guest List Members, Premier card holders, Gold for Life and Gold Guest List for Life Members WILL continue to receive membership packs and physical Golden Tickets.

Anyone who does still want to receive a Bronze, Gold or Silver plastic card – and the associated luggage tags – can order one via their Executive Club account.

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:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Lady London says:

13 Mar13 March 20:06

Hum. Wondering will the exchange rate be weighted then?
Michael says:

13 Mar13 March 20:23

Virgin Atlantic now extending status and voucher expiry by 6 months

https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/news/coronavirus.html?cid=PDM56358&bid=303830883
Simon says:

13 Mar13 March 20:42

Just identified an expensive new sofa we’d like at John Lewis. Off down Morrisons for a bit of serious triple dipping over the weekend then.
- Shoestring says:
  
  13 Mar13 March 20:43
  
  yes but did you see my comment about the Virgin Miles? – log into Shops awa to check you still got the 8 miles/ £
  - Simon says:
    
    13 Mar13 March 20:49
    
    I’ve got 6 miles per £ on my account.
    - Simon says:
      
      13 Mar13 March 20:54
      
      Incidentally, has anyone experienced delays in getting their 10% back for Amex spend at Morrisons? £1000+ spent on a new supplementary and no money back and it’s been weeks now. I note you have to wait 90 days before raising it with them.
      - Shoestring says:
        
        13 Mar13 March 20:56
        
        prompt payers for me but 1 day late on my most recent Morrisons 10% buy
    - Shoestring says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 06:50
      
      it’s there now, dated 12/3 but wasn’t visible yesterday 13/3
- Showmeyoursofa says:
  
  13 Mar13 March 23:13
  
  Go on then, don’t be shy, send us a link for your new sofa. We’re all intrigued!
  - Simon says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 07:36
    
    Here you go. It’s nothing that special. A compromise option agreed between me and the wife. https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-harrogate-high-back-large-3-seater-leather-sofa-dark-leg/piccadilly-black/p3647352
tom1 says:

14 Mar14 March 13:49

o/t Tesco / virgin auto convert bonus

Has anyone got the 1,000 (?) bonus points for turning this on yet?
Roy says:

14 Mar14 March 14:51

O/T I presume there’s no reason why the reduction in points requirement for IHG Spire wouldn’t apply to points earned via the credit card, too?

I suspect that for many this change has made achieving Spire elite status primarily through credit card spend achievable when previously it wasn’t. (For me, it’s changed it from clearly impossible to merely very difficult 🙂

So, the question is, should we go for it? Should I put all my credit card spend through the IHG card? I’m thinking that 25,000 bonus points on £27,500 spend – less if you get points from IHG stays – seems to make the IHG card significantly more attractive this year.

Maybe worth an article, Rob? At least once things have calmed down from the current 8-articles-a-day chaos 🙂
- Rob says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 15:46
  
  Article on this is actually already written …. I am saving it for Monday.
AJA says:

14 Mar14 March 16:27

I wonder when the no physical BAEC card policy kicked in? My Tier Point year ended 8 February 2020. In today’s post I received my renewal envelope from BAEC with a letter dated February 2020 confirming that I have renewed Silver status and enclosed in the envelope is a card showing validity until 03/21. Unlike last year however there were no luggage tags. That is fine with me.
Roy says:

14 Mar14 March 17:07

O/T Anyone have any idea what’s happened to Holiday Inn Express properties in Hamburg? None of them (City Centre, Hauptbahnhof, St Pauli) seem to be bookable any more.

Are changes afoot for the HIX brand?
- Roy says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 17:12
  
  Thinking about it, I guess it must be related to lack of demand. (Central Hamburg hotel demand is very much driven by shows at the Hamburg Messe, which are pretty much non-existent now due to the 1,000-person limit on public events.)
  
  Anyone know what’s happened to the hotels in question, though?
- Roy says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 01:33
  
  Ok, to answer my own question, it appears that Hamburg’s Holiday Inn Express hotels (all three of them) – have rebranded as Premier Inn!
Aliks says:

14 Mar14 March 17:10

I’m calling BA to cancel a reward flight to Spain that is due to take off at 10 am tomorrow. There is a recorded message that cuts off every time, — just before the bit telling the caller what to do about flights within the next 72 hours.
Does anyone know a better contact number than 0344 493 0747?
I cant cancel online as I already checked in – 30 minutes before the Spanish government put the country on lockdown.