British Airways has downgraded thousands of frequent flyers after a technical mistake wrongly told them that that they could keep their elite status. 

The blunder came from IAG Loyalty, the airline's parent company rewards team, which mistakenly informed some members they would retain Gold and Silver tiers even though they didn't meet requirements.

The airline later admitted the message was incorrect and said fewer than one per cent of its 13 million members were affected.  

The issue comes amid a major shake-up of the scheme this week, which aims to free up lounge space and prevent some travellers from circumventing the system. 

Passengers are also now rewarded for money spent rather than distance travelled - leading to many losing their Gold or Silver status. 

Despite not accumulating enough points to qualify for elite status, thousands of passengers were contacted by IAG and informed that they would retain their prior status. 

After discovering the mistake, the airline said it would contact affected customers and apologise, along with adjusting their status to the correct level. 

An IAG Loyalty spokesperson told the Daily Mail: '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 (fewer than 1%) were incorrectly told they had retained their status, when they hadn’t earned it, or been entitled to it. 

'Because of this, we’ll be contacting affected customers in the coming days to apologise and reinstate their correct tier.'

It comes as British Airways owner IAG recently announced the airline will increase ticket prices as the cost of jet fuel soars.

The airline giant, which also owns Aer Lingus and Iberia of Spain, has joined other operators in hiking prices as disruption to the key Strait of Hormuz raises energy costs.

IAG said it was not immune to the impact of fuel prices having 'risen sharply', despite it having already locked in some costs.

'Like other carriers, IAG airlines are making some pricing adjustments to reflect these higher fuel costs,' it added.

The warning follows budget airlines Ryanair and Easyjet saying that passengers should expect higher prices towards the end of the summer.

Disruption caused by rerouting flights due to the war has resulted in the lowest-priced economy tickets costing 24 per cent more than they did a year ago, according to research by consultancy Teneo.

The average cost of a barrel of jet fuel has more than doubled in a year, to £137 per barrel, says the International Air Transport Association. Fuel makes up as much as a quarter of operating costs.

There are also worries over cancellations. German airline Lufthansa said this week it would slash 20,000 European flights as they were no longer profitable.

And travel giant Tui this week said the war had cost it £35million, and cut its profit guidance as consumers delay bookings.