Great news: British Airways EXTENDS elite status for another year

British Airways just announced that BAEC elite status will be protected for another year for approximately a quarter of their members. So while Tier Points will be reset at the start of the new membership year, their status will be safe until at least 2023.

It's a good move from BA while UK air passenger traffic remains suppressed but slowly picks up pace. While it may be a while until we see restrictions loose enough to perform any mileage running, this should be a great help in securing status for the 2023 year and beyond.

Niall Rooney, British Airways’ Loyalty Manager, commented:

“We want to thank our customers for their continued loyalty.  Many of our Executive Club Members haven’t had the chance to use their benefits as normal, by further extending their Tier Status, none of them will miss out on the amazing benefits they have earned. For our Members that have a flight booked, we are proud to be launching more benefits.  From today, our Silver and Gold Members can enjoy more from our award-winning lounges.”

So here is my understanding of the situation…

Does this status extension apply to all BAEC Members?

No.

The people who will benefit from this announcement are those whose Membership Year starts in January-March. If you don't fall into this group, you should expect the standard BAEC Terms and Conditions (last updated 25th September 2020) to apply until further notice.

What are the BAEC Elite status thresholds for 2022?

For 2021 all the Tier Point thresholds were reduced by 25%, and they will continue to do so until June 2022. What happens after that we don't know yet, but this will be highly dependent on how the industry can recover from the years prior.

So the thresholds will be:

• Bronze: 225 Tier Points or 18 eligible flights.
• Silver: 450 Tier Points or 37 eligible flights
• Gold: 1125 Tier Points

Remember you will still need the minimum 4 eligible flights to hit Silver or Gold, or 2 for Bronze.

Are my Vouchers extended too?

Yes. British Airways is also adding an additional six months of validity to all new Companion Voucher or Travel Together tickets earned between June 2020 and the end of December 2021.

Back in February, BA announced a six-month extension to all Executive Club vouchers that were due to expire before 31 December 2021. Similar extensions were announced in March 2020 and October 2020 which affected Gold Upgrade Vouchers and American Express Companion Vouchers.