The BA Club – British Airways’ frequent flyer programme – has four membership tiers: Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Blue is where everyone starts, and the other three are what most people mean when they talk about ‘elite status’. Each tier unlocks more benefits, and the higher you climb, those benefits extend to the 14 other airlines in the Oneworld alliance too.
Getting there requires tier points, and that means understanding how the programme actually works – because it changed significantly in April 2025.
Tier Points, Avios & Eligible Flights: What’s the Difference?
These three terms come up constantly, and they’re easy to muddle.
Tier points determine your status level. They earn alongside Avios whenever you fly, reset to zero on 31 March every year, and cannot be spent on anything. Their only job is to move you up the tiers.
Avios are the reward currency – the points you spend on flights, upgrades, hotel stays and more. Unlike tier points, you can earn Avios in lots of ways beyond flying: hotel stays, car hire, credit card spend, and shopping portals all count. We’ve covered how to find and book an Avios reward flight separately if that’s what you’re after.
Eligible flights used to be a third requirement for status – you had to hit a minimum number of flights alongside your tier points. That requirement is gone under the current model. Now, flying a set number of sectors with a BA flight number is simply an alternative route to Bronze or Silver if you fly frequently but on cheaper fares.
What You Need to Reach Elite Status
Since April 2025, The BA Club uses a spend-based model for British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia flights: you earn one tier point for every £1 of eligible spend (your fare plus carrier-imposed charges, excluding airport taxes). On top of that, you earn bonus tier points per flight based on your cabin and fare flexibility – from 75 bonus points on a short-haul economy Plus fare up to 1,250 on a fully flexible long-haul First ticket.
The thresholds to hit within each collection year (1 April to 31 March) are:
- Blue: Free to join, granted immediately.
- Bronze: 3,500 tier points – or 25 flights with a BA flight number.
- Silver: 7,500 tier points – or 50 flights with a BA flight number.
- Gold: 20,000 tier points.
For Bronze and Silver, the sector count is an either/or alternative to tier points – not a combined requirement. Gold is tier points only. Once you hit a threshold, your new tier activates immediately and lasts until 30 April the following year.
Use BA’s flight calculator to estimate tier points on a specific flight before you book. It’s worth running the numbers, particularly on partner airline bookings where the earning model differs from BA’s own flights.
For a full breakdown of what each tier gets you, read our post on the benefits of BA Club elite status. And if you’re weighing up whether it’s worth pursuing at all, we’ve looked at whether BA Gold or Silver status justifies the effort.
BG1 Tips on Maximising Your Tier Points
Credit partner flights to take advantage of distance-based earning. When you fly Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways or Cathay Pacific and credit to The BA Club, tier points are still calculated on a distance-and-booking-class basis rather than spend. This can work significantly in your favour on long-haul routes where you’ve found a competitive business class fare – because the tier points you earn reflect the miles flown, not what you paid. A reasonably priced Qatar Airways business class return to Asia, for example, can deliver far more tier points than the equivalent spend on a BA fare. We’ve compared Finnair Plus Gold vs BA Silver and Qatar Privilege Club Gold vs BA Silver if you want to run the numbers on each route to Oneworld Sapphire status.
Look for ex-EU business class deals on Oneworld partners. Business class fares from European departure cities are often significantly cheaper than flying the same routes out of London. Qatar Airways regularly offers ex-EU business class fares from around £1,200, and flying in a premium cabin earns far more tier points per trip than economy. The Finnair Plus status run is a good worked example of how to approach this.
Add a stopover to earn more on a single trip. On long-haul itineraries, routing through a partner hub – Doha with Qatar, Helsinki with Finnair, Tokyo with Japan Airlines – adds extra tier-earning sectors from one booking rather than requiring a separate trip.
Watch the 31 March reset date. Tier points go to zero on 31 March every year. If you’re close to a threshold in February or March, it’s worth checking whether a pre-booked seat, an add-on bag, or a short positioning flight can push you over before your progress disappears.
Look out for oneworld partner flight offer and deals: Look for flight offers and deals from BA and partner airlines on premium cabins. As flying on higher cabins will earn you more tier points. There are usually great ex-EU offers on Qatar Airways from £1,200 on offer.
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