Last Updated: 21 Feb 2024
BA Tier Points are a core element of the British Airways Executive Club. They essentially can be thought of as frequent flyer incentives that reward loyal customers with status. Better still, status has benefits. The more flights that an Executive Club member takes, on British Airways and other Oneworld airlines, the more Tier points they can earn.
Earn sufficient Tier Points within a membership year and a BA Executive Club member can move from Blue (basic membership) through to Bronze, Silver, Gold and beyond. For yes, very frequent fliers (and certain VIPs) can earn status above BA’s highest standard tier, Gold. If you spend more time “Up in the Air” than George Clooney you could achieve “Gold Guest List” status, “Lifetime Gold” or even the mysterious British Airways “black card” officially known as British Airways Premier.
Be aware though, just as you can rise up through the tiers unless you have Lifetime Gold or Premier membership, you can fall back down on them too if you don’t sustain your jet-set lifestyle over the subsequent membership year.
But does building bountiful quantities of Tier Points actually offer anything more than a collection of progressively more fancily coloured cards? Well yes, of course. Each higher tier a member reaches within the Executive Club comes with a longer list of travel perks and benefits when flying on BA and other Oneworld airlines. These can include a higher baggage allowance, free seat selection, priority check-in, priority boarding and access to a network of VIP airport lounges, for those reaching Silver Tier and above.
Tier points are not to be confused with Avios points, these are two separate things.
- Avios are points you can earn in several ways, including flights, to redeem for Reward Flights and other services. They are a virtual currency that you can spend.
- Tier points can’t be spent on Reward Flights or redeemed. They are only earned when you take a qualifying flight. They are used to climbing through the Executive Club ranks to gain access to progressively better travel perks.
However, Tier Points are not irrelevant for those whose priority is to earn points for reward flights. One of the perks of status on BA is a higher Avios earning rate, whenever you fly with BA and its partners.
Blue members receive 6 Avios per £1 spent, Bronze members get 7, Silver members get 8, and Gold members get 9 whenever they fly on British Airways. Some BA partner airlines offer tier bonuses too which, if you are an Executive Club member, will be rewarded in Avios.
However, Tier Points are not irrelevant for those whose priority is to earn points for reward flights. One of the perks of status on BA is a higher Avios earning rate, whenever you fly with BA and its partners.
Bronze members get a 25% bonus Avios on qualifying flights with BA, Silver members receive a 50% bonus and Gold members collect 100% more Avios whenever they fly on British Airways. Some BA partner airlines offer tier bonuses too which, if you are an Executive Club member, will be rewarded in Avios.
How can I earn & calculate Tier Points?
With the BA calculator, you can calculate the number of Avios and Tier Points you can earn on direct flights. The tool tells you what you’ll earn flying with British Airways, or with its partners.
It can only calculate earnings on direct flights with one airline, so for connecting journeys, or itineraries featuring more than one airline, enter each flight separately, then add the amounts together to learn your total earning potential. Typically the amount of tier points awarded is based on distance flown & cabin class.
Below is a rough guide to expected Tier Points earnings.
- Economy: 5 – 80 Tier Points
- World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy): 90 – 100 Tier Points
- Club Europe (European Business): 40 – 80 Tier Points
- Club World (Long Haul Business): 140 – 240 Tier Points
- First Class: 210 – 240 Tier Points
BA Tiers & Benefits
There are 4 standard tiers within the British Airways Executive Club. Depending on the tier you sit within, this can affect the amount of Avios points that you earn per flight.
Blue
This is your starting point once you join the BA Executive Club and the lowest tier you can fall to if you haven’t flown enough during your membership to qualify for a higher level when your membership year ends and Tier Points are reset. While BA Blue has few tangible benefits, it does allow you to earn both BA Tier Points and Avios. If you hold a Blue membership, you earn 6 Avios per £1 spent.
You can also save your flying preferences for things like window or aisle seats and special meals, which may be taken into account when you fly (there are no guarantees). Plus you can pool your Avios with family members by linking your accounts together within a household account.
To progress from Blue you need to take what BA refers to as “eligible flights” during your membership year. These used to only include BA flights, but now include Iberia too:
- An eligible flight is one where your ticket has a BA flight number (even if another airline operates the aircraft) or a flight operated by British Airways (including its franchisees and BA CityFlyer).
- Or, confusingly, a flight where there is both an Iberia IB flight number on your ticket and the aircraft you fly on is operated by Iberia or its franchisees.
Bronze
To advance to Bronze you need to:
- Earn 300 Tier Points and take two eligible flights within a membership year
- Or, take a total of 25 eligible flights within a membership year.
Bronze benefits:
- Priority check-in*
- Earn 7 Avios per £1 spent
- Free seat selection 7 days before departure (this compares with the ordinary 24 hours).
- Priority Boarding*
- Priority at baggage arrival services desks.
- Collect 25% more Avios on flights with British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines and Japan Airlines. Flights on some other airlines may also offer bonus Avios.
*Priority check-in and priority boarding are not available to Bronze Members at London City Airport.
Silver
To advance to the Silver tier, you must:
- Take at least four eligible flights and earn 600 Tier Points.
- Or take a total of 50 eligible trips.
Silver benefits:
- Priority Business-Class check-in.
- Earn 8 Avios per £1 spent
- Free seat selection at the time of booking.
- Priority Boarding.*
- Collect a bonus of 50% more Avios on flights with British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines and Japan Airlines.
- Baggage allowance of 2 x 32 kg bags for anyone on the same booking.
- Business-Class lounge access for the cardholder and a guest when travelling with any Oneworld partner.
- Priority over Blue and Bronze Members on reservation waitlists and airport standby lists, giving you added reassurance on busy flights.
- A direct line to a dedicated team of BA customer support staff.
*Priority boarding is not available to Silver Members at London City Airport.
Gold
To enable Gold Membership you will need to have flown on eligible flights at least four times and earned 1500 Tier Points during your membership year.
The Gold tier is meant to keep "big spenders" returning year after year. In some cases, BA offers companies that have corporate travel deals with the airline an allocation of Gold memberships that it can award to its employees.
Gold benefits:
- First-Class lounge access for the cardholder and a guest when travelling with any Oneworld partner.
- Complimentary Elemis Spa treatments when flying from Heathrow’s T5.
- Priority First-Class check-in.
- No booking or service fees for Priority Reward bookings.
- Gold Priority Reward – use double the amount of Avios to open up a reward seat on any flight (as long as there is cash seat availability in the desired cabin)
- Free seat selection at the time of booking.
- Priority Boarding.
- Collect a bonus of 100% Avios points on flights with British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines and Japan Airlines.
- Baggage allowance of 2 x 32 kg bags for anyone on the booking.
- A direct line to the BA dedicated team of customer support staff.
- Earn 3,500 Tier Points and receive a BA Gold Upgrade for One Voucher
Gold Guest List
You strike the Gold tier at 1500 Tier Points. At 3,500 Tier Points, you earn a BA Gold Upgrade voucher for one. At 5,000 Tier Points, you will join an elite sub-tier of Gold Members called “Gold Guest List”. Gold Guestlist members get two guaranteed redemptions a year of up to five seats as reward flight tickets.
You get a dedicated VIP customer service number with 24-hour availability, you can invite two additional guests to British Airways departure lounges and one to the arrivals lounge, you receive Hilton Honors Diamond status, a card giving you access to BA’s Concorde Rooms (their most elite lounges) and at the beginning of your membership year, you may gift your status to one person, with an Executive Club Gold partner card and nominate two further people to receive BA Executive Club Silver membership for a year. You will need to earn 3,000 Tier Points in subsequent years to retain Gold Guestlist status.
At 7,000, 8,000 and 9,000 Tier points you will have the opportunity to choose between an additional Gold Guestlist travel redemption, two additional Gold Upgrade for One vouchers or 50,000 Avios.
Gold Lifetime
The Lifetime Tier Points initiative rewards the most consistently loyal flyers of BA. All the Tier Points that you’ve ever earned since you joined the Executive Club, are added up to your Lifetime Tier Points pool.
Although your Tier points will be reset every membership year (the anniversary of when you joined the Club) they will still be added to your Lifetime Tier Points (the total Tier Points you’ve ever earned with the Club).
You can earn a Gold Tier membership for life when you reach 35,000 Lifetime Tier Points. As a result, your Gold membership will automatically renew every year for life.
British Airways Executive Club Premier (Black Card)
We know this card exists, but it is shrouded in secrecy and mythology. You can’t apply for it, nor can you earn it with Tier Points. BA insiders tell us that, to receive the card, you need to be considered as someone who will “influence’ at least £2 million of spending with BA every year. This could be through controlling a large company’s travel policy or by being a high-profile ambassador for BA. However, it is believed that BA has reduced the number of celebrities and VIPs receiving this honour. The award of British Airways Executive Club Premier cards has to be through the nomination of a board member or senior member of the sales team. It then has to be signed off by five nominated members of the BA executive team, including the Chief Operating Officer.
Premier members will be served by a VIP “Special Services” team at key airports, they get access to BA lounges whenever they want, they can bring two guests into lounges, use the Concorde Room at Heathrow or JFK, gift a Gold membership to a friend and receive an annual upgrade voucher allowing a single cabin upgrade for two passengers.
Allegedly BA will bump a paying passenger if a Premier member wants their seat and even delay flights for Premier members who are running behind schedule!