BA Silver Tier - All You Need To Know

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Last Updated: 20 Feb 2024

Flight Club

If you’re a BA Executive Club member you’ll know there are more benefits to be had than those you get from just collecting Avios points. Of course, your Avios balance is hugely important - it’s how you earn BA reward flights and discounts off your cash flights. But you should also be working to advance your tier status in Executive Club to benefit from priority boarding, lounge access, cabin upgrades, and other tempting treats. 

British Airways has recently revamped its Executive Club loyalty program. Starting from the 18th of October 2023, the airline streamlined how you earn Avios on cash flights and, for the first time ever, allowed people to earn points on select ancillary purchases.

 

 

What are BA Tier points?

When you join the BA Executive Club to start earning Avios you automatically become a Blue Tier member, entitled to some basic special offers. It’s free and it’s simple to do, so there’s nothing to hold you back. BA Executive Club has four tiers, and the more Tier Points you collect when flying, the greater benefits you'll receive, as you move up each level. 

 

Where do you earn BA Tier points?

There are loads of ways you can earn Avios, through certain bank accounts and credit cards, by converting Nectar points, by spending at hundreds of brand-name retailers as well as by booking flights and holidays with British Airways. The earning network is constantly growing too - Uber recently joined the Avios gang, allowing customers to collect points for each Uber journey they make when booking via their app. 

By contrast, you can only earn Tier Points by flying. You get them every time you fly with BA, its subsidiaries, or with one of its Oneworld airline partners, including Iberia, Qatar, American Airlines, and Qantas. The number of Tier Points you receive will depend on your ticket and destination. The long-haul earning bracket shifts at 2,000 miles, and it’s also worth noting that using two connecting flights will earn you more points than one direct flight. The best bit is that you don’t lose Tier Points by booking a cheaper fare during a sale or special offer. If you want to take a look at how many Tier Points and Avios you’ll earn on a particular flight before you book it, the BA website has a handy flight calculator. If you’ve already booked, don’t worry, you can work it out in the Passenger Information section under Manage My Booking. 

 

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If you’re new to the BA Executive Club you can claim points for British Airways flights taken up to three months before you joined. BA’s Tier Points are usually credited soon after you fly but those earned through its partners may take up to a month, and you must remember to add your BA Executive Club membership number to each booking to log your points. If you do forget to add your membership number to your booking you can still claim your Tier Points or missing Avios up to six months after your flights, as long as you save your ticket numbers.

 

What are the different Tiers?

 

BA Executive Club has four tiers - Blue, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. When you join BA Executive Club you’ll be automatically enrolled in the Blue tier, the most basic. However, over time you’ll be able to progress through the tiers as you fly.  

 

Silver Tier status in BA Executive Club 

Silver is a very attractive tier for many Club members; it’s where you can start to enjoy a lot of travel perks. To earn Silver tier status you’ll need to accumulate 600 tier points (that’s a minimum of 4 British Airways flights). 

As well as Blue and Bronze benefits, Silver tier status gives you:

  • Business class check-in and priority boarding (except at London City Airport) on BA and its Oneworld partners. You can use the business class lane and board the plane before the rush, even when you’re flying economy. 
  • Free seat selection on British Airways flights for all members of your booking, from the time of booking. This excludes exit-row seats though.
  • A luggage weight allowance of 32kg (71lb) per checked bag in any travel class for everyone on your booking
  • 8 Avios per £1 spent.
  • Access to Club World lounges, where you and a guest can relax before your flight. In fact, you’ll be able to enjoy complimentary food and drink and a range of business facilities at over 170 lounges worldwide.
  • 50% bonus Avios on flights with BA
  • Priority at Baggage Arrival Services if your luggage is lost and Reservation Assurance that you’ll be offered at least an economy seat on your flight if it’s full. 
  • A temporary freeze on your Executive Club tier status if you take maternity, paternity, or adoption leave. Also, 1,000 welcome Avios if you enrol your child in your household Avios account. 
  • The option to share Avios with up to six household members, by linking your individual memberships, and with others via friends and family lists. 
  • You’ll also receive priority over Blue and Bronze Members on reservation waitlists and airport standby lists.
  • Oneworld Sapphire status. This is the Silver equivalent of BA’s alliance partners so you’ll get similar perks when you fly with them. 

 

Higher tiers 

If you manage to get to Gold tier status you’ll earn First Class check-in and lounge access. Your Avios bonus will be 100% (so effectively double), and you’ll also have a chance to earn seat upgrades past a certain number of Tier Points.  Gold also gives you access to additional availability for Avios reward flights (hunt reward seats down through the BA website or, for greater flexibility, by using our own BA redemption finder). There’s a handy table to compare the tier benefits here.  

 

 

How can you move up the Tiers?

 

Here are the points needed to hit each level and the earning alternatives:

Blue: Automatic entry-level tier.

Bronze: Fly with BA or Iberia at least twice plus earn 300 Tier Points, or take 25 eligible flights with BA or its Oneworld partners.

Silver: Fly with BA or Iberia at least four times plus earn 600 Tier Points, or take 50 eligible flights.

Gold: Fly with BA or Iberia at least four times plus earn 1,500 Tier Points.

 

 

When you hit the points required for each new tier, you’ll automatically be moved up. Note that Avios reward flights will not earn you any Tier Points. You only accrue these on flights you pay for (or the proportion of the flight you pay for if you’re part-paying with Avios). 

So, before you dive into the BA redemption finder in search of reward seats it’s worth checking if you’re near your next Tier level. If you are, you might want to pay cash instead to bag the Tier Points.  

 

Download the RFF Mobile App

Simplify your reward flight finding journey.

Our app helps you find reward seats with the touch of a button!

 

It’s worth noting if you’re a member of Virgin’s loyalty scheme that, unlike BA reward flights, those taken on Virgin Atlantic do count towards your tier status. Be aware too that your BA Tier Points reset to zero at the end of each membership year, on the anniversary of when you joined the BA Executive Club. However, you’ll remain at the same tier status for the next membership year. You can check your points’ expiry date on the Manage My Account page of the Club website.

 

Lifetime Tier Points

It’s some consolation that those expired Tier Points don’t entirely disappear, they’re added to your Lifetime Tier Points total. If this reaches 35,000 Tier Points, you’ll be given Gold Tier status for life. At that point, you’ll have essentially earned rockstar status!

 

 

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