British Airways: Australians and New Zealanders can now join Executive Club

Although you may think that British Airways are a pretty crap airline, their Executive Club frequent flyer program can be useful.

Background

That advantage has been denied to Australians until now. Not entirely true. You could join if you could provide a non-Australian address, preferably in the UK, Europe or the USA. This rule was a hangover from when BA was a more close personal friend of Qantas, and it was through that given access to the BA program would compete with flyers joining the Qantas programs. This was also tempting because Qantas charged a fee to join its Frequent Flyer Program, and BA didn’t.

Qantas ended its joint venture with BA way back in 2013, but it has taken until now for the rules to be changed. Qantas still has a joining fee for its Frequent Flyer program, but you can avoid it easily by using a ‘free join’ link or joining via Woolworths.

Why Join?

Well, I’m not a big fan of BA. My husband has forbidden me to book their long haul business class due to an unfortunate experience about a decade ago. But if you join, you could get the following advantages:

• Lifetime Oneworld Emerald status available at a much lower threshold than from Qantas
• Get more tier points (status credits) when booking on OneWorld partner airlines that Qantas gives you
• Generous Gold Guest List (GGL) benefits for top-tier flyers
• Short-haul awards require fewer points (Avios) than if booked through Qantas rewards

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Better update my address with British Airways Executive club then. Oh, and that flight I had to cancel due to COVID-19 about 18 months ago – better follow up that refund.