The Executive Club is a British Airways travel benefits program. They help you earn perks when you fly.

Like many travelers, you want to find as many as you can, as quickly as possible, to earn more of those tempting perks. The British Airways tier point game can be played like a pro with this easy guide.

With any luck, you will be able to enjoy airport lounges, more points and other perks. That is why tier points matter.

What Are British Airways Tier Points?

Tier Points are not points you can spend, and they are completely different.

You can earn double tier points on your trips with British Airways Holidays, which means you can earn perks twice as fast.

British Airways Tier Points system allows you to climb through the ranks from standard Blue Executive Club membership up to Bronze, Silver, Gold and beyond. They are based on where you go and what cabin you are in.

You will earn more tier points if you are further away from the front of the plane. That means

  • The cheapest economy tickets typically receive the lowest tier points.
  • Tickets in first class receive the most, and go down from there.
  • Short haul flights get fewer tier points than long haul flights.
  • There’s a magic distance and method to maximize tier points.

Where Can You Earn British Airways Tier Points?

You can earn British Airways tier points when flying with any Oneworld airline.

To do so, you simply enter your British Airways frequent flyer number when flying on one of these airlines. You can do it at the check in desk or online. It's a good idea to add your Executive Club number every time.

You don't earn tier points on flights booked withAvios or when you use an Amex 2 for 1 voucher. Virgin Atlantic offers elite status qualified tier points when you use miles to book flights, rather than just on flights booked with cash.

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What Do British Airways Tier Points Get You?

The British Airways Executive Club has tiers of points.

It is important to remember that your tier points earning year is unique to when you joined the frequent flyer program, and not based on a calendar like January 1st to December 31st.

You can see when your tier points collection year ends by logging into your Executive Club account. It begins again the next day. TheTier Points collection year ends on the app or website. You need to earn your points before that date by taking flights.

Moving Up The BA Executive Club Tiers

The tier points thresholds needed to earn elite status have been temporarily lowered by British Airways. The figures above are higher than what you need for this period.

The reduced elite status thresholds are only applicable for all Members until December 31. You can read below to understand how the tiers work.

Bronze: 225 Tier Points or 18 eligible flights

Silver: 450 Tier Points or 37 eligible flights

Gold: 1125 Tier Points

The thresholds will return to normal on January 1st.

In normal times, here’s how it goes.

You start at Blue with zero tier points, but once you earn 300 tier points you jump up to Bronze, which unlocks Oneworld Ruby status. That is valuable, and brings free seat selection and business class check in on airlines whenever you fly, and whatever cabin you are in. It helps give you priority in delays and other issues.

When you earn 600 tier points at British Airways Executive Club Silver, you can earn Oneworld Sapphire, which gives you lounge access and security fast track, even when you are flying economy. That is true on all Oneworld airlines. You move up the priority boarding order. Lounge access on all trips is a game-changer.

You can get all of the above at Gold, plus access to first class lounges from all Oneworld airlines, as well as Zone 1 boarding and access to the First Wing at Heathrow Terminal 5. There are other perks.

You improve your upgrade chances when you move up a tier. You keep tier points earned so far if you hit a new threshold. So it's 1,500 for Gold, not 300, then back to zero, then 600 and back to zero, etc.

How Do You Know How Many British Airways Tier Points You’ll Earn?

Tier points range from 5 points a pop one way on short haul economy to over 200 points on long haul first class. The simplest and best tool for figuring out how many tier points you will earn on a flight is a tool from British Airways.

You can find your cabin by entering the airline you are flying and your current British Airways status. It will tell you how many tier points you earn on a one way basis, but also how many points you can actually spend, which you will earn as well.

The tier points of the higher cabin are what you get when you accept a cash upgrade offer. The extra tier points can be used to justify the expense. The bed and tier points can be a steal if you are in Premium on a long flight.

You can use GCMap.com to plug in each segment and see each distance, like LHR-JFK-SFO-HNL-LAX-BOS-LHR.

The More Connections, The More British Airways Tier Points

People go to extreme lengths to earn British Airways tier points, even if they hear people at a bar or boarding gate. It is tragic and useful at the same time.

One way to earn more is to build in as many connections as possible.

If you go from London to Los Angeles, you will earn more tier points if you fly to New York, then New York to Los Angeles. It's the same on all airlines.

If you want to maximize your tier points, you can use ITA Matrix to pull up routing rules, which will let you know where you can build stops to maximize your tier points. If you like that sort of thing.

2,000 Miles Is The Magic Trick For Tier Points

For flights under 2,000 miles, you can receive between 5-20 tier points per segment in economy and 40-40 tier points in business class.

The figure jumps to between 20 and 70 in economy and 140 in business at 2,000 miles. A simple round trip in business class can earn you 280 tier points. There are airlines that take it a step further.

  • If you have a long a haul connection, like London to Doha, then Doha to Bangkok, you earn a whopping 280 tier points each way, or 560 round trip.
  • Many airlines such as American, Qatar, Sri Lankan, Malaysia, JAL and Cathay can be excellent resources for finding these kind of itineraries.

The Best Resource For Finding 2,000 Mile Tier Points

The best guide to 2,000+ mile tier points options was created by Points To Be Made. There are amazing examples within Europe, within Asia, within the USA, Australia, Middle East and beyond which can bring incredible tier points sums without going all that far.

It is equally rewarding to fly from London to San Francisco as it is to fly from Helsinki to Malaga.

Tier Points For The Win

When you input your British Airways Executive Club frequent flyer info into a reservation on a Oneworld airline, you can earn Tier Points and redeem them for points.

There is nothing lost by earning them, and moving up the tiers of British Airways Executive Club means more opportunities to save and travel better in the future. If you see an amazing flight deal on a Oneworld airline, be sure to factor in how helpful the tier points could be to you achieving some perks before passing.

Happy travels! If you're into that sort of thing, be sure to look for opportunities to earn more tier points when BA has an amazing sale. We assume you are here.

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The addicting part of earning frequent flyer miles is that the game is constantly changing. You have to evolve to succeed. British Airways and its partners offer a wide variety of opportunities to earn miles and elite status.

In travel advice.

Today is a good day for travelers who like British Airways or Virgin Atlantic. Both airlines announced moves to make it easier to maintain elite status, as well as some ways to move up a tier or two. The latest on what members of British Airways Executive do.

In frequent flyer programs.

British Airways is extending elite status again for many members, and even going a step further, with new temporary perks for Silver and Gold members, that may last quite a while. The latest update comes amid increased frustration at US officials who continue to block highly vaccine visitors.

In frequent flyer programs.