The British Airways Reward Scheme, or BA Loyalty Scheme

As mentioned in a previous blog about maximising airline reward schemes, we chose to commit to the British Airways Reward Scheme (BA Loyalty Scheme) several years ago and have since benefitted from some great rewards, allowing us to take long-haul flights with British Airways or its Alliance partners – it’s unlikely that we would have completed much of this travel as a family without having embraced the BA Loyalty Scheme.

***The BA Loyalty Programme changed on 1 April 2025***

The first thing to mention is that the BA Loyalty Programme changed on 1 April 2025 and so we have just entered a new phase in terms of maximising the British Airways Reward Scheme. In this blog I will try to highlight how things are different, but top line – the old BA Executive Club has been rebranded as The British Airways Club (‘the Club’).

Saving with the BA Loyalty Scheme

Getting started

Once you’ve decided to commit to the journey of maximising the BA Loyalty Scheme then take the following steps to get started:

• • Sign up online with the BA Loyalty Scheme through the BA website. Make sure that the rest of your family also sign up with the BA Loyalty Scheme as well.

• • Household points – link the membership accounts together for the family members who usually fly with you , so that you all contribute to Household points. You will need their membership numbers to do this.

• • Download the British Airways App on your phone. The British Airways App shows your account information, membership status, flight information, and can be used later for storing your boarding cards. 

There are two types of points – BA Tier Points and Avios Points

Like most airline reward schemes, when you book a flight with British Airways, you are awarded two different types of points:

• • BA Tier Points – Tier points are loyalty points and relate to your status as a member of the BA Club; and

• • Avios Points – Avios points which are a type of airline currency, awarded on flights but also in a number of other ways (see below). Once accumulated, Avios can then be used to offset costs of future flights and upgrades. 

BA Tier Points

BA Tier Points relate to your membership status with British Airways, such as whether you are a Blue, Bronze, Silver, or Gold Member of the BA Club.  The more BA Tier points you have, the higher your status level with the airline.  In turn, this affects which perks you can access, such as access to the airport lounges or priority check in.

Tier Point Calculation – Tier Points are now based on how much you spend with BA in the allocation year (rather than how much you have flown under the previous system).  

Membership – Everyone starts as a Blue member, and your membership status is reviewed each year at the end of the 12-month allocation period.  Your status can go up or down depending on how many Tier Points you have amassed in that period.  Your Tier Point total resets every year to make sure that you keep flying in order to enjoy the benefits of the scheme.

You will earn 1 Tier Point for every £1.00 of eligible spend (on basic fare and not the taxes or fees) with BA, American Airlines and Iberia.  The Tier Point requirements for the BA Club are now as follows:

• Blue status – Automatic starting point.
• Bronze status – 3,000 Tier Points (it was previously 300)
• Silver status – 7,500 Tier Points (it was previously 600)
• Gold status – 20,000 Tier Points (it was previously 1,500). 

It’s not easy to accumulate 20,000 Tier Points and therefore in turn, not easy to get to Gold Member status. You now need to spend a lot of money with BA to get to this level.  Even to get to Bronze status you need to spend £3,500 with BA!

How many times you fly also count – You can also earn status if you fly a certain number of times with the airlines in the qualification 12 months – 25 flights for Bronze, 50 flights for Silver – but the number of flights required is a high bar to achieve for leisure customers and those not regularly flying for work.

Gold Member Customer Service Helpline – One of the best benefits of BA Gold status, should you manage to achieve it, is the access to a dedicated Gold Members Customer Service Phone line which provides an excellent service when you need assistance with bookings or want to make changes to bookings.

Lifetime Tier Points – Lifetime Tier Points are the total number of Tier Points that you have earned since you joined the BA Club (and its predecessor the British Airways Executive Club). If your Lifetime Tier Points reach 35,000 then you will qualify for a lifetime at Gold Membership.

Other ways to collect Tier Points – in addition to collecting Tier Points by flying with British Airways, you can also collect them by:

• Booking BA Holidays (comprising ‘Holiday & Car’ or ‘Holiday & Hotel’).  Look out for deals on BA Holidays, such as, double Tier Points for hiring a car and/or hotel if you book by certain dates.
• Paying for seat upgrades
• Paying for additional baggage (‘qualifying add ons’), and for 
• Contributions to SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) adding a new green angle to Tier Point Collection.

Collecting Avios Points

Background

Avios points used to be called Airmiles until a change in 2018.  Airmiles were awarded in several ways, one of which was through the Tesco Clubcard Scheme. So, when we first signed up to the BA Loyalty Scheme, one of the actions we took was to do all our grocery shopping through Tesco and bank the Airmiles. These built up nicely on the weekly shops and were later converted to Avios when the schemes changed over, and members were transferred to the BA Executive Club.

The current ways to collect Avios points, include:

Collect Avios points on flights

Each flight (or flight upgrade) is worth a certain number of Avios points which you are awarded once you have taken the flight and can be viewed on your BA App.

Currently there are 4 frequent flier schemes offering Avios on flights, including the BA Club, Iberia plus, Vueling Club and Aer Lingus Aerclub.  In addition, BA has other partner airlines with which you can also collect Avios points, if you enter your BA Club membership number during the booking process.

You can let your Avios accumulate as they do not expire, with the caveat that you need to spend at least 1 Avios point from your pot every 3 years, but as long as you do this then your Avios will remain viable. That said, the longer you let your Avios points accumulate, then the more significant redemptions you can make further down the line.

Note – the higher your Tier Point status with BA, the faster you will accumulate Avios points on flights as there are different levels of point accumulation.

Collect Avios points with BA shopping

The BA website has a shopping portal with links to a range of retail outlets which allow you to collect Avios points on your purchases. Before you buy anything on-line, double-check whether the retail outlet is on the BA portal so that you don’t miss out on earning Avios points:

• • Go to the BA website and log on to your account.  

• • Find the shopping portal on the BA website and search to see if the shop you require is on the portal.  If it is, enter the retail site through the BA website and continue to make your purchase.

• • Avios points will then appear in your BA account shortly after making your purchase.

Avios App – Download the Avios App and link it to your BA Account by adding your BA membership number. The App shows you easily which retailers you can use to earn Avios on your purchases.

Collect Avios points on Hotels and Car Hire

You can find some accommodation booking hubs, such as AirBnB, on the BA Shopping Portal, so remember to visit AirBnB through the BA site – I have done this, and it all works smoothly. With others such as Booking.com you may need to book through the accommodation booking website and enter your BA membership number.

Similarly, you can earn Avios on car hire booked through the BA website, maybe as part of a BA deal (as an add on to your flight booking) or via the car hire company’s website by entering your BA membership number.

Collect Avios points with special deals

Keep a look out for special deals coming through – sometimes if you refer someone to a particular Avios related credit card (see below), on wine purchases or other products.

Collect Avios points with certain credit cards

There are several credit cards which allow you to collect Avios points on your spending.  My advice would be to undertake careful research before choosing a card, as some cards have an expensive annual fee and some require you to spend a certain amount of money on the card each year – just make sure you pick one that suits your circumstances.

The cards also vary in the amount of Avios that they award to you, as a signing on bonus, and then per spend.

BA AMEX Card

The British Airways AMEX card is one of the credit cards allowing you to collect Avios points on your credit card purchases. Our decision was to use an BA AMEX Card in the following ways:

• • To buy our weekly grocery shopping and pay it off at the end of the month.

• • To buy any large purchases for the house – furniture, bedding, electronics etc – and pay it off at the end of the month.

• • To put our business expenses on the card, as my husband is self-employed.

• • To use it to buy flights when the time comes around, to get double Avios points from the transaction.

This system has allowed us to stockpile a healthy amount of Avios over the years and, to be honest, probably more than we can reliably use in the time we have. Please note the following:

• • Annual fee – there are two versions of the BA AMEX card, one with an annual fee (Premier Plus BA AMEX) and one without an annual fee (BA AMEX Card).

• • Transaction fees for overseas purchases – there are transaction fees for overseas purchases on these cards, so we try not to use our card when we are away (only in an emergency).

• • Expensive if you don’t pay off the balance – like any credit card, you need to pay it off each month otherwise it is very expensive, and the credit card interest will eradicate any savings you might otherwise be making!

AMEX Companion Vouchers – perhaps the best benefit of using the BA AMEX card is that, if you spend £15,000 in a 12-month period on the card, you will be awarded an AMEX Companion Voucher which allows two people to fly for the price of one (2-4-1).

These AMEX Companion Vouchers, used in conjunction with accumulated Avios points, have allowed us to take some long-haul flights for minimal amounts – more of that to follow in a related blog about How to Use AMEX Companion Vouchers.

Spending Avios points

Buy flights using Avios points

Flights taken with Avios points are NOT free – you need to pay the appropriate taxes and charges for the flight, but you would be paying these anyway.

The British Airways website outlines how far your Avios points will get you, so start by having a look at what your Avios points are worth to you before you spend them.

We have typically taken the view not to redeem our Avios on short-haul flights, and to keep them for long-haul flights when we might even have enough to fly business (handy for any night flights, rather than day flights!).

See the benefit – if you’re thinking about booking flights with Avios, such as a transatlantic flight from London to New York, and can see flights with other airlines which are cheaper or similar to the amount of tax you need to pay, then it’s probably better to hang on to your Avios, or use them for an upgrade instead. Make sure you can see a clear benefit of redeeming your points. Remember – you are in this for the long game!

Off Peak travel – off peak travel flights require fewer Avios points if you can travel at these times.

Limited eligible seats – there may only be a limited number of seats on flights which can be bought using Avios, so it pays to book early if you plan to trade in your Avios.

Check your account – it’s a good idea to check your BA Account after flights to make sure that the correct number of Avios and Tier Points have been added on. You can claim Avios and BA Tier Points up to 6 months after your flight.

Household Accounts – each member of the Household Account continues to collect points individually, but any member can spend the points which are then deducted in proportional amounts from each member of the household account.

Going forward with BA…

When you start to look at maximising an airline reward scheme, such as the BA Loyalty Scheme, it can look a bit overwhelming with the different types of points and rules for redemption etc.  However, it is worth persevering as it all starts to make sense once you’ve booking a couple of trips using reward points.

The previous version of the BA Loyalty Scheme (up to 31 March 2025) has worked very well for us over the past 10 years, enabling us to take several special trips overseas with our family.

The changes to the BA Loyalty Scheme effective from 1 April 2025 look significant and, on the surface of it, ‘the Club’ doesn’t look so lucrative for us.  It remains to be seen whether the BA Loyalty Scheme will work for our family (and others) going forward.

Let’s see how the next 12 months goes…

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