I travel from Asia to North America 3-4 times a year. Now this may not sound like a lot many but it’s because I study in the U.S. So since  my first time I went to college, I flew British Airways and enrolled in their frequent flyer program, the Executive Club. Just like in almost all such programs you move up the different tiers and acquire the respective benefits.

Before I explain what differentiates it from other such programs, I’d like to give a brief background. So British Airways is a part of the One World Alliance, which is a one of 2 biggest airline alliances; the other one being Star Alliance. In the United States, American Airlines is one of the biggest partner airline of the One World Alliance and they have just become the world’s biggest airline (In terms of fleet) with their recent acquisition of US Airways. With such a vast network, I have don’t have a hard time selecting an airline when I have to travel.

Now back to why the decision of enrolling with them has been so rewarding. After only completing 2 round trips back and forth to college, I gained the Silver membership on BA. This is relatively fast compared to other airlines where you keep slogging for minimal returns. This brought in so many benefits and honestly, I got so so so excited. Lounge access, priority boarding, free additional check- in bags, fast track through almost any line at the airport, business class check-in, priority baggage handling, premium seat selection at the time of booking at no extra cost and many more every time I flew on any One World partner. I was 19 and having these perks to get you through a 20+ hour journey doesn’t hurt. My most favorite perk thus far is easily the free business class upgrade which I receive almost every single time, and believe me you want to sleep on a lie-flat bed on those super long haul flights.

Now talking about redemption. The BA Executive Club let’s you and your family/friends collect miles (or Avios as they call it) together. this means and everyone can pool their miles and spend them as they wish (if they want to, that is). What’s great is that they let you redeem on One World Partners as well. You only have to pay the tax element of the fare in cash and the rest on your miles. I personally have flown on short haul flights on American Airlines with redemption and paid $1.65 one way and 4,000 avios. A round trip fare to London from North America can cost as low as $300 and about 40,000 avios. A round trip between Asia and North America costs $700 and 60,000 avios. Now if you compare all these to actually paying in cash, you’ll notice that difference is ginormous.

Now I feel I might have missed a lot details in anxiety of this being my first post, but I assure you I will cover all bases of everything in the future with so much travel coming up in the next few months. The tags will be particularly easy to navigate.

Click here to find out more about the executive club

Thanks for reading 🙂