How British Airways Lost My Loyalty After 7 Years of Elite Status

Airline loyalty programs are a big deal for frequent flyers like me.

Having lived in London for most of the past decade, flying British Airways often made the most sense as it’s the airline with the most nonstop routes from the U.K. capital to the rest of the world. I started earning Avios and naturally earned elite status with The British Airways Executive Club.

Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. Once frequent flying returned after the pandemic, once-loyal BA status holders like me began to reconsider their loyalty. The last nail in the coffin of my loyalty was the gutting of The British Airways Club loyalty program.

More specifically, earning status is now much harder — and more expensive.

BA Is Losing Loyal Members

Since being gifted British Airways Gold status in 2018, I actively chose flights operated by British Airways or Oneworld members to maintain my status.

Aside from a single tier point run to Malta and back in 2019, I earned my status every year by spending money on full-price fares with British Airways and other Oneworld carriers.

Having Gold status with BA is the equivalent of Emerald status with Oneworld, the alliance’s highest elite level. With that, I also enjoyed top-tier perks when flying other Oneworld member airlines, such as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and more.

I adjusted my travel habits to maintain my status, often opting to pay more for a British Airways or another Oneworld airline flight rather than a cheaper ticket with a non-Oneworld airline.

I loved my Gold status while I had it, but as time passed, I couldn’t see the value in trying so hard to be loyal to an airline that doesn’t appear to care enough about its loyal customers. After flying over 100 flights with BA over the last 7 years, I’ve seen and heard enough to conclude that I’d rather take my money and loyalty elsewhere.

Not only have I stopped trying to maintain Gold status, but I’ve also given up on the idea of maintaining any status with British Airways. Ultimately, my disloyalty is for 3 main reasons:

• The perks and benefits of BA Gold status are lackluster at best.
• Earning Gold status now requires significantly higher spending.
• The overall passenger experience and service delivered by British Airways have numerous shortcomings, regardless of your status or cabin class.

I’d already made up my mind about switching allegiances before BA introduced the shocking gutting of its loyalty program, which went live in April 2025. When you factor in that even earning mid-tier Silver status is unaffordable for the average leisure traveler, the situation is dire.

Still, Oneworld is my favorite airline alliance, and I will miss it when I lose my BA status completely next year.

Underwhelming Gold Status Benefits

There are some excellent tangible perks of having BA Gold status. The best is the exclusive First Wing check-in at Heathrow Terminal 5. I also enjoyed accessing other Oneworld airline first class lounges around the globe, as well as additional reward seat availability, Group 1 boarding regardless of cabin class, and more.

As a Silver member, I still get perks like airport Fast Track, lounge access, and Group 2 boarding. Spending $20,000 to access the First Wing and better lounges, such as the Soho Lounge at JFK’s Terminal 8, hardly seems worthwhile.

Upgrades Are Few and Far Between

Upgrades are a status perk that frequent flyers of European flag carrier airlines (like British Airways) don’t get as often as frequent flyers in the U.S. For example, even if the business class cabin of a British Airways flight is empty and many Gold elite status members are flying in lower cabins, elite status holders won’t automatically be upgraded to fill the cabin.

However, there are occasions when upgrades are granted to status holders. In my experience, this has usually occurred when the cabin I was flying in was oversold, so the airline needed to free up some seats by moving passengers to an adjacent cabin. This happened to me at least twice over roughly 4 years as a Gold member.

The best time this happened was when I’d booked premium economy to Doha, Qatar (DOH) and got bumped up to business class.

Interestingly, I’ve received the same number of upgrades as a Silver elite as I did with Gold — often after small, friendly gestures like bringing chocolates for the crew.

Granted, these upgrades were just on short-haul flights within Europe. Even still, it would be nice to know that spending enough money with British Airways to earn Gold status would give you a better chance of getting an upgrade than by handing out sweets.

Enjoying these sweet upgrades isn’t something I’m complaining about — far from it. It’s a lovely gesture from the crew, and I’m always very grateful when it happens. However, a system should automatically fill empty seats in business (or even first) cabins with Gold status holders. The money spent to earn Gold status surely is more deserving than a nice box of chocolates.

BA’s Lackluster Lounge Offering at Heathrow

Having BA Gold status entitles you to access BA and Oneworld airline first class lounges, no matter the cabin class you’re flying. At Heathrow Terminal 5 — the airline’s global hub — the dedicated lounge for Gold status holders is the Galleries First Lounge.

Unlike what you might expect from an actual first class lounge, none of the passengers who use this lounge are actually flying in first class. Rather, it’s full of passengers with Gold status flying all cabins from economy to business class on both long and short-haul flights. With so many passengers eligible to use it, the lounge gets very full and doesn’t at all feel exclusive or premium.

If you’re actually flying first class, you’ll get access to the coveted Concorde Room. Sadly, even this, the most exclusive lounge in BA’s network, needs a facelift and falls short of other first class lounges. Gold elites used to enjoy at-seat ordering via a QR code. First introduced during the COVID era, this was considered by many to be a slightly elevated experience compared to the buffet in BA’s business-class Galleries Lounges.

The pre-pandemic buffet has returned and serves pretty much the exact same food as what you’ll find in the business class lounges.

If Heathrow is your home airport and lounges are an important factor when planning elite status goals, then the lack of a tangible difference between the regular Galleries business class lounges and the first-class lounge provides no incentive to strive for Gold status over Silver.

Bottom Line:

British Airways’ lounges leave much to be desired, but the airline has confirmed it will start a renovation project for its 8 Heathrow lounges in 2026.

Purser Personal Greetings

I’ve noticed inconsistencies with the “Golden Hello.” This greeting is when the flight’s purser finds you at your seat, no matter the cabin class, to introduce themselves and, more importantly, thank you for your loyalty to the airline.

It’s not a published benefit of having Gold status, but a nice gesture I have enjoyed on several occasions myself, and something many Gold elites look forward to.

I was on a fifth-freedom flight from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires when I noticed something a little off with the Golden Hello. The purser appeared to be using his iPad to guide him around the cabin to visit Gold elite members before take-off. He went from passenger to passenger in a random order, likely to do with the order in which they appeared on his manifest.

I was a Gold status holder on this flight, but he didn’t come and speak to me.

I even got a Golden Hello once when flying economy with Cathay Pacific from Manila to Hong Kong. This is particularly significant as it shows that Cathay recognized and celebrated my loyalty to Oneworld even though I’d earned my status with British Airways rather than Cathay Pacific.

Personally, this special welcome doesn’t make me feel validated in any way, and I’m happy enough without it. Let’s be honest, pursers have much more important things to attend to before departure. For others, I know this is a valuable element of their experience as a Gold status holder.

Earning British Airways Status Requires a Lot of Spending

British Airways’ loyalty program rebranded earlier this year, making it more difficult for loyal frequent flyers to earn their status. British Airways loyalty members now have to spend significantly more money to qualify for their status. Earning BA Gold status now costs around $27,000 annually.

Previously, if you booked a last-minute cash ticket in business class for £10,000, you’d earn the same amount of Tier Points as someone who bought the same cash fare in advance for £2,000. Booking deals in premium cabins, even to Europe, was a lucrative way to climb through BA’s elite ranks.

For example, BA’s lowest round-trip fare between JFK and LHR is usually around $3,414.

Considering Tier Points are now only earned on the base fare and BA’s carrier-imposed charge, the total amount of Tier Points you would earn from this flight is 2,980, if it were calculated in dollars.

In British pounds, the equivalent is around £2,220. You’d need to buy 9 round-trip flights in business class between New York and London to attain Gold status. That’s fine if your company pays for you to fly between New York and London in business class every few weeks. But for frequent leisure flyers who used to be able to achieve Gold status flying a mixture of cabin classes and distances over the year, it’s pretty much impossible.

BA compounded frustration by promoting new ways to earn status — such as through credit card spending and ancillary purchases — that ultimately require members to spend more money.

Shortcomings in the BA Passenger Experience

It’s not just British Airways’ loyalty program that’s problematic. British Airways’ reputation of being the best airline in the world is long gone.

I’ve flown British Airways enough times over the years to have noticed inconsistencies in in-flight catering, business class seats and cabins, and the ground experience. It pains me to say it, as this was always something I would stick up for British Airways about, but I’ve also noticed a significant decline in the level of service.

Short-haul flights in BA’s economy are nearly indistinguishable from flying a European low-cost carrier, such as EasyJet or Ryanair. The seats are as hard and don’t recline, and the crew is mostly indifferent. You have to pay to check a bag, even with the lowest fare (and even with elite status), but you’ll pay a premium to do so.

The experience for passengers flying in premium cabins is also plagued with inconsistencies.

New Aircraft, Same Old Problems

Earlier this year, I flew on a very new Airbus A320neo that did not have Wi-Fi installed. During an almost 5-hour flight to Cyprus, I was given a packet of crisps and a mini bottle of water. 

With no Wi-Fi and no IFE screens, I could have saved myself some money by flying Ryanair or Wizzair and happily done without the water and crisps. Alas, I flew BA to ensure I earned my Silver status for one last time.

Even if your aircraft has Wi-Fi, you’ll have to pay to do anything more than send messages. Thankfully, BA Executive Club members get free access to messaging.

In the U.S., even on transcontinental flights, some airlines, like Delta and JetBlue, have IFE screens in the back of the seats. BA’s other short-haul aircraft also have issues, such as cramming more seats into its Embraers.

Inconsistent In-Flight Meals

My experiences with catering on departure from Heathrow have generally been excellent, especially in Club Europe (short-haul business class). I even had an excellent breakfast on my return trip from Barcelona (BCN) to London (LHR) earlier this year.

Breakfasts are notoriously terrible, even in business class on long-haul flights, and egg dishes are usually the worst! This omelette was perfectly cooked and actually really tasty.

On a separate occasion this year, when I flew long-haul from Heathrow to São Paulo (GRU), I also really enjoyed my meal. The salmon and avocado starter was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. I don’t have a picture to prove it, but the hake entrée that followed was equally tasty.

In stark contrast, a meal I was served leaving Newark (EWR) on a previous flight was shocking. You can just about make out the puddle of greasy water that the rubbery omelette sat in.

I’m happy to admit that I’ve had more positive than negative experiences overall, though the main issue is the inconsistency. However, I often hear tales from others about how atrocious their meals were, which serves as a reminder that subjectivity plays a role here.

Unacceptable Ground Experience at Some European Airports

If you’re flying British Airways from an outstation in Europe back to London, your ground experience will likely be substandard.

Last summer, I was very disappointed on 2 occasions. The first was leaving Stuttgart, where British Airways doesn’t provide business class or elite status holder passengers with lounge access. BA passengers are charged €32 to use the lounge, while passengers flying other airlines like Air France, Delta, Lufthansa, and Turkish can use the lounge for free.

Boarding was also abysmal. Group numbers weren’t acknowledged at the gate, and passengers were pushed forward like stampeding animals. A similar situation happened at Dubrovnik (DBV), where a ground team member simply flung open a set of doors and shouted, “boarding.”

I understand that British Airways has limited control over how things are run in some locations, especially since it does not employ the ground staff in most cases.

However, in my experience with other airlines that pride themselves on customer service, the ground experience at outstations is often as close to as good as at their hub airports. Again, this is likely due to BA wanting to cut costs, whereas other airlines would pay more to ensure a consistent level of service.

One of the Worst Business Class Seats in the World

British Airways is still flying the old Club World product introduced in the early 2000s. It’s in a cramped 2-4-2 layout and does not feature direct aisle access at every seat.

You’ll still find these seats on the majority of British Airways’ Dreamliners, all of its Airbus A380s, and all Boeing 777s based at Gatwick. The airline has finally begun retrofitting the remaining Dreamliners, but this process is expected to take some time to complete.

BA will eventually replace all of these seats, albeit too late compared with what other airlines offer. It is an abomination that BA charges the same price for these seats as the newer Club Suite product.

Where I’m Taking My Loyalty Instead

When I still had BA Gold, I status-matched to Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue Platinum status, the equivalent of SkyTeam Elite Plus. I was recently gifted Lufthansa Senator Status from a friend who is a top-tier elite with the German Airline.

My focus now is on retaining my Platinum status with Air France. The great news is that Flying Blue’s status-earning XP points are still awarded on a distance flown basis, rather than money spent. Hitting the 300 XP threshold to requalify for Platinum status was relatively easy.

As a requalified Platinum member, I flew in a variety of cabin classes with Air France, KLM, and other SkyTeam airlines, including Aeromexico, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic. I didn’t need to do any tier point runs or cheat the system; I simply earned my status by being loyal to Air France-KLM and other SkyTeam airlines, which is exactly how it should be.

Air France also continues to incentivize me to requalify for my status through small gestures to acknowledge my loyalty. A recent example was on a 6 a.m. departure from Barcelona to Paris. After engaging in pleasant conversations with the flight attendant stationed next to my exit row in economy, he came to my seat just before departure, handed me a refreshing towel from business class, and said, “It’s not much, but we appreciate your loyalty.”

I could also choose this exit row for free thanks to my status. For now, I will enjoy being top-tier elite with Air France-KLM and SkyTeam and focus on earning enough XP this year to requalify again.

Final Thoughts

As a British citizen, it’s a shame that my nation’s flag carrier is no longer my preferred airline.

I love arriving at a far-flung airport and seeing the red, white, and blue tailfin parked at the gate. Hearing one of the many British accents from a crew member with a beaming smile when boarding made me feel like I was already home. I did not want to give up my status.

Unfortunately, the sentimental value I attach to BA is not enough for me to continue investing in an airline that prioritizes corporate spending over its loyal customers. When you factor in the shortcomings in the quality of both hard and soft products, then it’s really a no-brainer. I’m just one of many once-loyal BA flyers who are choosing to spend their money elsewhere.