What are the benefits of joining British Airways Executive Club?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Today I wanted to explain the benefits of joining British Airways Executive Club. The Executive Club is free to join, of course, so you’ve nothing to lose by not joining!

Executive Club is British Airways’ frequent flyer membership program, allowing you to collect and save Avios, the British Airways reward currency.

Once you’re signed up, you can start collecting Avios both from British Airways and oneworld alliance partner flights – including American Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Executive Club also has a large network of commercial partners including retailers and restaurants where you can conveniently earn on your daily spending. As a member you’ll also receive exclusive offers and competitions from both British Airways and their partners. Here’s a list of Executive Club hotel partners, for example, and here are the shopping partners.

Once you save enough Avios, you can spend them with British Airways by booking reward flights or part-paying cash bookings with Avios to reduce the fare, making your next flight more affordable. You can also upgrade your class of travel – for example from economy to premium economy, or premium economy to business. There are also options for spending on hotels, car rental bookings, wine and insurance. With just a couple of flights or your daily spending you could easily save yourself some money in the future and, since joining the Executive Club is free, there’s no way you could lose out.

There are additional benefits to joining British Airways Executive Club, particularly if you are a regular flyer. For every flight you take with British Airways or its partners, as well as earning Avios, you’ll also earn tier points. Unlike Avios, you can’t spend tier points. However, they do determine your elite status with Executive Club.

There are four tiers within British Airways Executive Club each with its own level of rewards and benefits, including lounge access, priority check-in, free seat selection and more. We wrote this article explaining how the different Executive Club tiers work.

When you first join Executive Club you will have Blue membership. Your first milestone, in addition to collecting Avios, should be to achieve Bronze status – the first of the elite levels – which has several benefits including priority boarding and free earlier seat selection. We’ve written about what it takes to become an Executive Club Bronze member and this page of the BA site shows what benefits you would get if you got promoted.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 1.8 million monthly page views. Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios? Click here to read our latest news stories, click here to join our email list and click here to read our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.)

How to get 20,000 Avios from Amex Gold or 30,000 Avios from Amex Platinum (December 2021 offer)

The sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold converts to 20,000 Avios and the card is free for the first year. You can apply here.

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

You don’t qualify for the Amex Gold bonus if you have a British Airways American Express card. You DO qualify for the bonus on The Platinum Card, which converts into 30,000 Avios. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

If you have your own small business, the best way of earning Avios is via the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa. It has a sign-up bonus which converts to 10,000 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 look at the British Airways Accelerating Business card, because it currently has a limited time offer of 60,000 Avios when you sign up by 14th November. You can apply here.