What you need to know about British Airways Executive Club Tier Point changes

Back in February, British Airways announced a big change to Tier Point collection year-end dates, aligning all members to the same date starting from April 1, 2025. We're now in the transitional year of Tier Point collection, changing over to the new process.

Prior to April 1, each British Airways Executive Club member was given a "Tier Point year collection end date" on the eighth day of the month following the date they first joined the Executive Club. For example, if you joined on Oct. 15, 2022, you would have had until Nov. 8, 2023, to qualify for elite status.

Once members earn sufficient Tier Points to reach an elite status level, they are awarded that status for the remainder of their year date and the following Tier Point year-end date. If a member's date is Feb. 8 each year and they earn enough Tier Points to reach Executive Club Silver status by November 2023, they would be awarded Silver status until Feb. 8, 2025 — 12 months after the 2024 year-end date.

This system has now undergone some slight changes regarding the year-end date. Keep reading to find out more.

Related: Complete guide to earning British Airways Avios

What are the changes to British Airways Tier Points year-end dates?

British Airways is now aligning all members' year-end dates to start on April 1 and end on March 31, beginning in April 2025. Rather than having different dates based on when you initially joined the Executive Club, all members must earn the required Tier Points by the same March 31 date to earn status.

For Tier Point collection periods starting on or before March 2024, "there will be no change to how you earn Tier status, and any status earned within this period will be valid for at least 12 months," per British Airways' website.

Any existing status that is valid past March 31, 2025, will remain for the full period of time. However, if your Tier Point collection begins on or after April 2024, your collection year will end on March 31, 2025, and an adjustment will be made to your Executive Club account.

British Airways issued the following example to highlight the changes.

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"Your Tier Point Collection Year resets on 8 July 2024, meaning that your next Tier Point Collection Year starts on 9 July 2024 and ends on 31 March 2025 instead of 8 July 2025. The Tier Points you earned between 1 April 2024 and 8 July 2024 will contribute to your overlapping qualification periods and will be applied as a Tier Point Adjustment."

British Airways has added a handy breakdown of how the Tier Point calculations will work depending on the month of the member's year-end date. It appears that members with a year-end date of, say, November 2024 will have a shorter period to earn the required Tier Points before the March 31, 2025, cutoff date; however, British Airways will add any Tier Points earned between April and November 2024. So, a full 12-month period is counted, and flyers can receive elite status if they earn enough Tier Points in 12 months.

The program has advised that it's doing this to simplify the earning system. Many major U.S. programs already use this system of members having the same status end date. However, they tend to use calendar years rather than the April to March year that the British Airways Executive Club will adopt in 2025.

There are no changes to how to earn or redeem Avios, the loyalty currency of the Executive Club.

Related: How to transfer your Avios between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus accounts

What do British Airways end-date changes mean for Executive Club members?

So, is this good or bad news for Executive Club members? Very little will change for those members whose year-end date is before April 2024.

Any status earned until March 31, 2025, will be valid until April 30, 2026, regardless of previous year-end dates.

If you don't meet the requirements for Tier Points to maintain your status, the Executive Club offers a "soft landing" so you won't completely lose your status. Instead, you'll be downgraded. For example, say you're a Gold member whose status is valid until April 2024; if you don't earn sufficient Tier Points to earn Silver or Gold status, you will only drop to Silver.

Related: Airlines you can book using Avios: How to maximize your points

Bottom line

Aligning millions of members' status dates will always be complex and will result in some winners and losers. However, this simplification to a single date for all members will make the system easier to understand.

British Airways does appear to be using a fair system of counting all Tier Points earned in the 12 months to March 31, 2025, when the transition happens.

With the change, travelers may see generous British Airways Holidays double Tier Points offers in February and March of each year. This is because there will likely be a surge in last-minute Tier Point runs due to so many Executive Club members trying to lock in their status for another 12 months.