British Airways has come under fire after being forced to downgrade thousands of members of its loyalty scheme, following an error by its parent company's rewards team that incorrectly told passengers they could retain their gold or silver tier status.
Technical Issue Blamed
The mistake, which IAG Loyalty attributed to a “technical issue,” comes as a shake-up of the scheme is causing disruption for thousands of affected passengers. The changes to the coveted loyalty programme, implemented earlier this week, are designed to free up lounges and prevent some travellers from gaming the system.
Overhaul Impacts Top Status
The overhaul, aimed at rewarding passengers based on money spent rather than distance travelled, has led to many travellers losing top status. This week, IAG Loyalty, the unit of BA parent IAG that manages the rewards programme, contacted several thousand members informing them they would retain their prior status, despite not accumulating the required number of points.
Error Acknowledged
However, on Friday, the unit admitted it had incorrectly told many customers they could keep their status. The mistake affected less than one per cent of BA’s membership scheme, which boasts over 13 million members worldwide.
IAG Loyalty stated: “Earlier this week we renewed the status of a very small number of BA Club members according to our normal guidelines and criteria. This raised concerns with some of BA’s members, who believed we’d made a mistake. Our initial investigation didn’t identify any obvious issues. However, over the last 24 hours we’ve conducted some more detailed forensic work, and have discovered that due to a technical issue, some members were incorrectly told they had retained their status, when they hadn’t earned it, or been entitled to it.”
Apologies to Affected Customers
The company added that it would be contacting affected customers in the coming days to apologise and reinstate them to their correct tier. The error has caused frustration among loyal BA customers, many of whom rely on their status for perks such as lounge access and priority boarding.
