Can I change my British Airways Executive Club membership year end?

Can you change your British Airways Executive Club membership year end?

British Airways Executive Club is a frequent flyer program that aims to reward your loyalty to British Airways.  In this article we’ll look at whether you can change your British Airways Executive Club membership year.

Membership years with British Airways Executive Club are somewhat counterintuitive, in that they do NOT cycle on the anniversary of your joining date.

Instead, British Airways assigns you a membership renewal date depending on when you signed up originally. These cycles occur on the 8th of each month. So, for example, if you sign up on the 12th December, your membership will automatically renew (and your tier points reset) on the 8th January.

This means that every new member is guaranteed a first year membership of between 12 and 13 months. Every following membership year is a more regular 12 months: in the example above this would be from the 9th January to the 8th January the following year. If you joined 2nd July, your membership year would begin on 9th July and end on 8th July every subsequent year.

Because the British Airways Executive Club system groups new sign ups into 12 monthly lots, each with a starting date of the 8th of the month, it is impossible to alter your membership year end. The system simply does not cater for such changes.

This is a very frustrating thing for many people.  My wife and my children have British Airways Executive Club accounts and we all have different membership year end dates.  It is perfectly possible for us all to take exactly the same flights but, because of the timing of the years, for some of us to earn status whilst the others miss out.  I don’t think this makes sense for anyone.

This will change in 2025

From 1st April 2025, you can ignore what I wrote above.

From that date, all members of the Executive Club will move to the same membership year. It will run from 1st April to 31st March.

This will solve the problem of family members having different membership dates and so having different levels of status after taking the same flights. There is a complex transition period in place in the run up to 1st April 2025 which we explained here.

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

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.