Airmiles

British Airways’ (BA) frequent flyer loyalty programme is called the Executive Club or BA Exec Club for short, it’s open to anyone and is free to sign up. All you need to do is register online and provide a few details such as name, email and home address – then you are ready to start collecting points.

You can also download a BA App for your phone which makes keeping track of upcoming bookings and your points balance a doddle. It also doubles up as place to download your boarding pass - so no more paper tickets to print out and worry about losing! 

Avios vs Tier Points

One of the confusing parts of BA’s Exec Club is understanding the difference between Avios and Tier Points. 

Avios is BA’s loyalty points programme, similar to collecting Clubcard Points on shopping at Tesco or Nectar Points at Sainsbury’s. Once you have collected enough Avios you can spend them in a variety of ways:

• Redeem them towards Reward flights (you still have to pay some taxes and fees) – details below.
• Use them as part payment towards a cash booking.
• Use them to upgrade your seat by one class (e.g. Economy to Premium Economy, or Premium Economy to Business Class), subject to availability.
• Redeem them on hotels, car hire, wine and other experiences.

The main ways to collect Avios are:

1. From flying with BA (and on flights operated by the other 12 member airlines of the OneWorld Alliance), with the number of Avios earned dependent on the class of travel and the distance flown.
2. Alternatively, and increasingly for many BA Exec Club members, through credit cards such as the American Express British Airways Premium Plus Card.

Tier Points on the other hand, can only be earned by flying with BA (and OneWorld Alliance partners) and they count towards one of BA’s four Status Tiers – Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Blue is the starter level which everyone gets when they enrol in the programme and is mandatory to collect Avios. As you earn more Tier Points in a membership year (determined from when you signed up) you progress through the different membership tiers. Each Tier requires a set amount of Tier Points, and once you reach that level a new set of benefits are available to you. You remain at that membership level for the rest of your membership year and the following 12 months. For example, if your membership year began in January and you achieved Silver status in June 2020, you would have Silver status for the remainder of 2020 and throughout 2021. 

The number of Tier Points you earn on a flight is dependent on the fare class booked and the distance flown. Most short haul economy flights in Europe earn between 5 and 20 Tier Points, with Club Europe (BA’s name for short haul Business Class) earning 40 Tier Points per flight. Long haul flights such as those to the US and further afield earn between 20-70 points each flight in economy with Club World (BA’s name for long haul Business Class) earning a whopping 140 Tier Points per flight and as much as 240 Tier Points if flying to Australia! Luckily BA has created a Tier Points calculator so you can work out exactly how many Tier Points you’ll earn from your next flight!

Here’s a summary of each of the BA Executive Club Tiers, Tier Points required and the key benefits:

Blue

You'll become a blue member as soon as you join

• Collect avios
• Collect tier points
• Save details and preferences
• Member-only offers

Bronze

Attained at 300 Tier Points

• Priority check-in and boarding
• Free seat selection 7 days before departure
• 25% bonus Avios
• Collect Tier Points
• Save details and preferences
• Member-only offers

Silver

Attained at 600 Tier Points

• Priority boarding
• Free seat selection at booking
• Access to Business Class lounges
• Extra baggage allowance
• 50% bonus Avios
• Collect Tier Points
• Save details and preferences
• Member-only offers

Gold

Attained at 1500 Tier Points

• First-class check-in and boarding
• Free seat selection at booking
• Access to First Class lounges
• Extra baggage allowance
• Additional reward flight availability
• 100% bonus Avios
• Collect Tier Points
• Save details and preferences
• Member-only offers

Spending Avios

So, how many Avios do I need before I can redeem a Reward flight? The number of Avios you pay for your reward flight depends on the date, class of travel and destination, the further the destination, the more Avios required. BA uses a 9-zone distance chart to calculate the number of Avios required for each class of travel. For example, an Economy zone 1 flight requires 4,000 Avios each way (double this amount for a return flight) and an Economy zone 9 flight requires 32,500 Avios each way. 

For many people, the goal of collecting Avios is to fly in the pointy part of the plane, in either Business Class or First Class. It’s worth highlighting that there is a big difference between flying Business Class on short haul flights (Club Europe) and long haul (Club World). The former has regular economy seats but with complimentary food and beverage on board and access to the Business lounge, whilst the latter has lie-flat beds, in-flight entertainment and fine dining with premium champagne, wines and spirits. The latest BA Club World seat is called “Club Suite” which even has it’s own door!

However, as you can imagine the number of Avios required to redeem for Club World and First Class (only operated on long haul flights) is significantly higher. Due to Air Passenger Duty (APD) in the UK, Business Class and above flights attract an additional tax of £172 which means you often have to pay over £500 in taxes and fees on Avios redemptions for Business and First Class. However, these seats normally command fares over £2500 and as much as £5000 for a First Class ticket to Australia.