British Airways Executive Club

[RickyR]

I thought i'd open up a post on the British Airways Executive Club, the frequent flyer loyalty program for British Airways. But, BA don't fly to Manila I hear you cry! Well the answer to that is that you can redeem and earn miles when flying Cathay Pacific who do fly to Manila and Cebu, and occasionally you'll find the London-Hong Kong segment is with BA.

Recent reforms to the British Airways Executive Club have made it even better, with more rewards.


Earning Miles

• Flying British Airways
• Flying with a Oneworld Partner; Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Finnair, Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines, AmericanAirlines, LAN, Malex, Mexicana, Iberia, s7 Airlines
• With non-flying Partners; hmv.com ebay.co.uk, Apple Store, johnlewis.com
• Converting TESCO CLUBCARD POINTS
• Using the British Airways American Express Card
• Car Rental with Avis
• Staying in hotels including the Hilton, Hyatt, Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Intercontinental

Essentially with dedication you can quickly earn miles, even without flying. If you use a British Airways American Express card for all your spending, particularly your big spending you'll quick rack up points. With the British Airways American Express you automatically get bonus miles when you join, and if you spend a certain amount of money within the first 3 months. Also if you spend 10,000 points in a year, you get a free companion ticket when you redeem a ticket for yourself. So for instance you redeem a flight London-Manila-London, then you automatically get another one free for your wife/girlfriend/best friend/me???? and that includes business or first class.

With the Tesco Clubcard, you can convert all of your clubcard points into British Airways points, where £2.50 worth of Clubcard vouchers can be exchanged for 600 BA Miles and every additional 50p worth of vouchers gives you another 120 BA Miles.

Then of course whenever you fly with BA, Cathay, Qantas or whoever, make sure you handover your BA Executive Card Number.

Redeeming
I have heard of people who don't fly, and just make a determined effort to earn miles using the Credit Card, Tesco Clubcard and partners and they have managed to redeem First Class flights just on miles! Though you do have to pay the taxes and fees which can add upto two hundred pounds for a return flight to Manila.
You can redeem awards on British Airways and all Oneworld partners to any destination of your choosing in all classes. You can also choose how many points you want to pay vs how much cash.

Benefits
If you fly several times a year, particularly in full fare economy and business class/club world or above you'll quickly earn 'tier points', which can only be earned by flying and are seperate to the award points. These refresh every year and automatically give you a status, whether it be Blue, Bronze (a new tier), Silver or Gold. Which can be of great benefit when flying economy by giving you access to the wonderful terraces lounges, increased chance of an upgrade when the airline needs to upgrade passengers, priority boarding, business class checkin, priority baggage handling, increased baggage allowances and much more.

Essentially, if your thrify there are so many ways to earn points and get cheap flights.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...ink=TOP_echome

[Terpe]

I've cast my 'vote'. I do collect BA miles and points.

I've been a member of BA Executive Club for many more years than I can even remember. Since I left my 'travelling job' 10 years ago I haven't been anything like a frequent flyer. In fact I.ve gradually used up nearly all my air-miles during that time.
I will remain a BA Executive Club (Now called Avios) member for as long as I can.
There are plenty of benefits if you take time to read the small print, use the points wisely and get the biggest 'bang-for-your-buck'.
Many frequent flyer schemes can work out the same or even higher cost on many routes once you look at the tax to be paid.
Often better to use your rewards for upgrades on flights or for hotels.

[Englishman2010]

Thanks for the useful info Ricky

I've flown BA in the past to Australia, Austria and Scotland, but haven't flown with them for about 10 years. However, I'm collecting Tesco clubcard credit card points and have around 14K Cathay Asia Miles already, so I'll keep my options open and consider them in the future.
The only issue I have with BA is that they don't fly long haul out of BHX, which means a 2 and half hour treck to LHR and extortionate parking fees or taxi fares or a flight and wait in transfer from BHX to LHR