Do I need my British Airways Executive Club membership card to get into a lounge?

Do you need to have your British Airways Executive Club membership card with you to get into an airport lounge?

Access to departure and arrivals lounges is a benefit of British Airways Executive Club elite status. In this article we’ll look at what identification you need to enter a lounge.

As you make your way up the tiers of Executive Club, which I outline here, you’ll be provided with new cards to match your status – Bronze, Silver or Gold. (Blue – the lowest status – does not come with a physical card but a copy you can print out yourself or download the BA app for a virtual card.)

However, you may sometimes find yourself without your Executive Club card – perhaps you have forgotten it, or it has not yet arrived since you crossed into a new tier – and without the BA app active on your smartphone.

Luckily, you do not need your card for access into lounges

If you are a Silver or Gold member (Bronze status does not qualify for lounge benefits), then simply associating your Executive Club number on your booking will enable you access, since your status will show on your boarding card and in your booking information.  This applies to oneworld partner lounges as well as British Airways lounges, so you should never find yourself unable to get in simply because you have not brought your card.

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

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

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:

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

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.

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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

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