Frequent flyer programs can seem really scary to the uninitiated, and it doesn’t help that the very way we refer to them implies that you have to be a frequent flyer just to become a member.
Of course, nowadays, that’s really not the case at all, and joining the right frequent flyer program (or programs) could really benefit your wallet and improve your travel experience.
This guide is designed to introduce you to the basics of the British Airways frequent flyer club, how it works, and how it could benefit you even if you’re not a regular traveller.
Think of this article as a beginner’s guide that answers the most common frequent flyer program questions.
- The very basics of the British Airways Executive Club
- What are the benefits of becoming an ‘elite member’
- How you can acquire Avios with credit cards
- Get even more Avios with online shopping and transfer partners
- How to spend Avios for ‘free’ flights or money off
- Is the British Airways Executive Club right for you?
The very basics of the British Airways Executive Club
The Executive Club is the name of the British Airways frequent flyer program (often shortened to BAEC), and like any frequent flyer program, it allows members to acquire two things: the first is elite status, and the second is points, which can be redeemed for award flights and other purchases.
Frequent flyer clubs need a currency and a method to acquire elite status. The British Airways Executive Club uses Avios as its points currency, while the method the program uses for members to acquire frequent flyer elite status is through collecting ‘Tier Points’.
You can only acquire Tier Points when you fly on a British Airways flight or one of its partner airline flights, but there are a number of ways you can acquire Avios, such as when you book a flight, holiday, or car hire through BA, as well as spending on co-branded credit cards, transferring other points currencies into the Executive Club and through online shopping portals.
What are Tier Points and how do you earn them?
Tier Points allow you to progress through the various tiers of elite frequent flyer status. You are awarded Tier Points when you fly on a British Airways flight or on a partner flight, which is credited to your Executive Club account.
The number of Tier Points you earn is based on two factors: (1) the flight distance and (2) which cabin you fly in. As you can guess, you earn very few Tier Points on short-haul flights in Economy, but you can earn an outsized number of points when flying multi-segment journeys in a premium cabin.
For example, the lowest-priced Economy ticket on a flight between London Heathrow and Paris would net only 5 Tier Points, whereas the same flight with a Business Class ticket would net 40 Tier Points.
Here’s a simple breakdown of the number of Tier Points you can expect to earn based on the ticket you book and the length of the flight.
- Short-haul flights include much of continental Europe, the UK and Ireland
- Medium-haul flights include Istanbul, the Canary Islands and North Africa
- Long-haul flights include the eastern United States and Canada, the Caribbean, and the Middle East
- Ultra-long-haul flights include Cape Town, Santiago de Chile and Singapore
| Distance | Ticket type | Tier Points |
|---|---|---|
| Short-haul | Economy – Lowest | 5 |
| Economy – Low | 10 | |
| Economy – Flexible | 20 | |
| Business | 40 | |
| Medium-haul | Economy – Lowest | 10 |
| Economy – Low | 20 | |
| Economy – Flexible | 40 | |
| Business | 80 | |
| Long-haul | Economy – Lowest | 20 |
| Economy – Low | 35 | |
| Economy – Flexible | 70 | |
| Premium Economy | 90 | |
| Business | 140 | |
| First | 210 | |
| Ultra long-haul | Economy – Lowest | 20 |
| Economy – Low | 40 | |
| Economy – Flexible | 80 | |
| Premium Economy | 100 | |
| Business | 160 | |
| First | 240 |
Thankfully, British Airways has a handy tier points calculator which you can use to work out exactly how many points you should expect to earn when flying with BA or various partner airlines that allow Tier Points to be credited to the BAEC.
Partner airlines include OneWorld alliance partners like Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific and Alaska Airlines, as well as Iberia, Qantas and American Airlines.
There are four initial membership tiers of the Executive Club, starting off with Blue and progressing through Bronze, Silver and then Gold.
When you join the Executive Club, you automatically become a Blue member, but to progress to Bronze, you need to collect at least 300 Tier Points. Silver status requires 600 Tier Points, and Gold is achieved once you’ve earned 1,500 Tier Points.
As well as hitting the Tier Point threshold, you also need to take a minimum number of flights which are either operated or marketed by British Airways or marketed and operated by Iberia.
Bronze requires two eligible flights, and Silver and Gold require at least four eligible flights within your Tier Point collection year.
| Membership Tier | Number of Tier Points required | Number of eligible flights required |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | 0 | 0 |
| Bronze | 300 | 2 |
| Silver | 600 | 4 |
| Gold | 1,500 | 4 |
Once you have joined the Executive Club, you have 12 months to collect Tier Points and take the required number of eligible flights before they reset. Unlike some frequent flyer programs, your Tier Point balance resets on the anniversary of the date you joined the Executive Club.
You can’t buy or gift Tier Points, but British Airways does occasionally run promotions to earn extra Tier Points, such as a double Tier Point offer when you book a British Airways Holiday.
Progress through the membership tiers just with flights
While collecting Tier Points is the primary method of acquiring frequent flyer status with British Airways, the airline does offer an alternative method. If you fly a lot, especially short-haul flights in Economy, you can progress up to the Silver Tier just by taking enough flights within your collection year.
Achieving Bronze requires 25 flights, and the Silver tier will require at least 50 flights.
| Membership tier | Number of flights required |
|---|---|
| Bronze | 25 |
| Silver | 50 |
Unlike achieving status by collecting Tier Points, only British Airways flights count towards this method of membership tier progression.
What are Avios, and how do you earn?
Avios is a frequent flyer program currency which is shared by several airlines, including British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Qatar Airways and Finnair.
You can use Avios to pay for reward flights, upgrades, part payment on flights and British Airways Holidays, as well as for paying for assigned seating and baggage. Avios can also be used to pay for car hire, hotel stays and inflight shopping.
Avios can’t be converted into cash, but you can work out the equivalent cash value. The equivalent cash value can vary depending on how you ‘spend’ it. Using Avios for reward flights is generally considered the best value method of spending Avios, while you’ll get less ‘bang for your buck’ if you use Avios for part payment of a flight and even less value for paying for inflight shopping with Avios.
You can earn Avios from flying with British Airways or one of its partner airlines. The number of Avios you earn is based on two factors: (1) how much you spend on your ticket and (2) your elite status tier.
| Tier status | Number of Avios awarded per £1 spent |
|---|---|
| Blue | 6 |
| Bronze | 7 |
| Silver | 8 |
| Gold | 9 |
You earn Avios on the base fare and carrier-imposed charges, as well as add-ons like assigned seating, baggage and cabin upgrades.
As you can see, being an elite member means you’ll earn a lot more Avios on the same ticket as someone without status. There are, however, lots of other ways to earn Avios, including by spending on co-branded credit cards which allow you to access benefits like reward bookings without necessarily being a frequent flyer.
What are the benefits of becoming an ‘elite member’
Frequent flyer clubs are sometimes mistakenly viewed just as a way for airlines to reward loyal big spenders with extra perks and benefits. Of course, loyalty does come with its rewards, but there are still lots of good reasons for joining a frequent flying programme like the British Airways Executive Club, even if you don’t ever achieve elite status.
If you do end up acquiring elite status, these are some of the perks you can expect to enjoy:
| Membership tier | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Blue | Collect Avios and Tier Points Spend Avios |
| Bronze | Business Class check-in Free seat selection up to seven days before departure |
| Silver | Priority boarding Access to Business Class lounges Additional baggage allowance Free seat selection at time of booking |
| Gold | First Class check-in Access to First Class lounges Additional reward flight availability Gold Priority award |
As you progress through the membership tiers, you also get:
- Higher Avios earning rates on flight bookings
- Dedicated customer service telephone lines
- Status freeze for maternity, paternity or adoption
For BA’s most loyal customers, there is an even more elite level of the Gold tier known as ‘Gold Guest List’. To unlock GGL, you need to acquire at least 5,000 Tier Points in the collection year and to maintain this status, you need to collect at least 3,000 Tier Points in each subsequent collection year.
In addition to all the other Gold tier benefits, GGL members also enjoy:
- Access to BA’s best lounge at Heathrow – the Concorde Room
- Two Gold ‘Upgrade for One’ vouchers per year
- One Gold Executive Club partner card and two Silver cards
How you can acquire Avios with credit cards
Taking flights isn’t the only way to collect Avios, and in reality, many Executive Club members collect the bulk of their Avios by spending on co-branded credit cards. British Airways offers co-branded cards with American Express in several markets, and there are also several co-branded Barclaycard Avios credit cards available as well.
In the UK, the two main co-branded personal credit cards available are the fee-free British Airways American Express Credit Card and the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card.
| British Airways American Express Credit Card | Fee Free |
| Welcome Bonus: Earn 5,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 in the first three months of membership | |
| Collect 1 Avios for every £1 spent on purchases | |
| Get a British Airways Companion Voucher when you spend £12,000 each membership year | |
| British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card | £250 annual fee |
| Welcome Bonus: Earn 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 in the first three months of membership | |
| Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on everyday purchases and 3 Avios for every £1 spent on British Airways flights and holidays. | |
| Get a British Airways Companion Voucher when you spend £10,000 each membership year | |
As you can see, the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card has an annual fee of £250 but offers a much bigger welcome bonus so long as you spend £3,000 in the first three months of signing up.
The Premium Plus also offers a higher Avios earning rate on purchases and an even higher Avios earning rate when you use it to purchase British Airways flights and holidays. In addition, the threshold to earn a Companion Voucher is slightly lower than the fee-free card.
For business owners, there’s also the option of owning the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card.
| British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card | £250 annual fee |
| Welcome Bonus: Earn 30,000 bonus Avios when you spend £5,000 in the first three months of membership | |
| Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on everyday purchases | |
| Earn 10,000 bonus Avios for every £20,000 spent, up to three times per year | |
| Earn 2 On Business Points for every eligible £1 spent with on qualified British Airways Flights | |
Barclaycard Avios branded credit cards
In addition to the British Airways co-branded American Express cards, Barclaycard offers two credit card options that are co-branded with Avios. Like the Amex options, there’s a fee-free card and a card that attracts a monthly fee with enhanced benefits.
| Barclaycard Avios | Fee Free |
| Welcome Bonus: Earn 5,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 in the first three months of membership (new Barclaycard members only) | |
| Collect 1 Avios for every £1 spent on everyday purchases | |
| Spend £20,000 within the 12 months and choose between a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher to use on an Avios Reward Flight booking, or 7,000 bonus Avios | |
| Barclaycard Avios Plus | £20 per month |
| Welcome Bonus: Earn 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 in the first three months of membership (new Barclaycard members only) | |
| Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on everyday purchases | |
| Spend £10,000 within the 12 months and choose between a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher to use on an Avios Reward Flight booking, or 7,000 bonus Avios | |
What is a British Airways Companion Voucher?
As the name suggests, a British Airways Companion Voucher allows you to take a companion with you for free (except for taxes, fees and carrier-imposed charges) when you make an Avios reward booking for yourself.
If you don’t have a companion to take with you, however, you can also use the Companion Voucher to get a 50% discount on the Avios price when you book a reward flight with British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus.
The British Airways American Express Credit Card Companion Voucher can only be used on Economy Class reward bookings, whereas the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Credit Card Companion Voucher can be used on reward bookings in any cabin.
Get even more Avios with online shopping and transfer partners
Using co-branded credit cards is a popular method to ‘passively’ earn Avios, but there are a number of other ways to earn even more Avios through your everyday spending.
British Airways has its own cashback-style online shopping portal, which allows you to earn Avios when shopping at some of your favourite retailers. There are over 1,500 retail partners on the British Airways Executive Club shopping portal, including big household names like John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, and B&Q.
Some retailers also allow you to earn Avios when you shop instore when you use a pre-linked card. Some of the participating in-store retailers include Selfridges, Nespresso and Hamleys.
Many retailers also offer bonus Avios offers, so make sure you check the shopping portal first before shopping online, as you have to access your desired site via the portal in order to claim any Avios.
Earn Avios with Uber
You can link your Uber account with your British Airways Executive Club account and earn 1 Avios for every £1 spent on rides. You can also earn Avios at the same exchange rate when you use the Uber app to book train tickets or coach travel with National Express or Megabus.
To link your accounts:
- Go to the Settings page in the Uber app which is accessed via the Account tab
- Scroll to the Rewards section at the bottom of the page
- Tap on the British Airways Executive Club link and follow on onscreen instructions
The ability to earn Avios via Uber is only available to British-registered app users, and Avios are only awarded on Uber rides taken in the UK.
Convert Nectar points into Avios
It’s possible to convert Nectar points into Avios at an exchange rate of 400 Nectar points into 250 Avios. You can also exchange in the opposite direction but at a slightly different rate with 300 Avios converting to 400 Nectar points.
Once you have linked your Nectar account with your British Airways Executive Club account, you can set up weekly auto conversion, which will automatically convert your Nectar points into Avios whenever you meet the conversion threshold.
How to spend Avios for ‘free’ flights or money off
There are a variety of ways to spend Avios, but the most popular and best value method is to book reward flights in which you only have to pay taxes, fees and carrier-imposed surcharges.
British Airways offers two types of reward flight option:
- Traditional reward flights are available to book, subject to strictly controlled availability, on British Airways flights, as well as Iberia, American Airlines and other Oneworld alliance partner airlines.
- Reward Flight Saver is only available on British Airways flights and allows you to pay significantly less in taxes and fees but at a higher Avios cost.
The amount of Avios you need to make a reward booking is based on the flight distance and cabin. There is also ‘peak’ and ‘off-peak’ pricing depending on when you want to travel.
As such, British Airways operates what is referred to as a ‘distance-based’ reward chart, but, unfortunately, BA doesn’t make it simple to calculate how many Avios you’ll need for a particular flight.
Several years ago, BA removed its published reward charts and disabled a simple reward chart calculator, although this information is still available in other unofficial formats across the internet.
The BA Avios reward chart is based on nine distance-based zones:
| Zone | Distance |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 – 650 miles |
| 2 | 651 – 1,150 miles |
| 3 | 1,151 – 2,000 miles |
| 4 | 2,001 – 3,000 miles |
| 5 | 3,001 – 4,000 miles |
| 6 | 4,001 – 5,500 miles |
| 7 | 5,501 – 6,500 miles |
| 8 | 6,501 – 7,000 miles |
| 9 | 7,000+ miles |
And one way Avios fares are charged as follows:
| Zone | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off Peak | Peak | Off Peak | Peak | Off Peak | Peak | Off Peak | Peak | |
| 1 | 4,000 | 4,500 | 5,750 | 6,750 | 7,750 | 9,000 | 15,500 | 18,000 |
| 2 | 6,500 | 7,500 | 9,500 | 11,250 | 12,750 | 15,000 | 25,500 | 30,000 |
| 3 | 8,500 | 10,000 | 12,750 | 15,000 | 17,000 | 20,000 | 34,000 | 40,000 |
| 4 | 10,000 | 12,500 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 31,250 | 37,500 | 42,500 | 50,000 |
| 5 | 13,000 | 20,000 | 26,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 68,000 | 80,000 |
| 6 | 16,250 | 25,000 | 32,500 | 50,000 | 62,500 | 75,000 | 85,000 | 100,00 |
| 7 | 19,500 | 30,000 | 39,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 | 90,000 | 102,000 | 120,000 |
| 8 | 22,750 | 35,000 | 45,500 | 70,000 | 87,500 | 105,000 | 119,000 | 140,000 |
| 9 | 32,500 | 50,000 | 65,000 | 100,00 | 125,000 | 150,000 | 170,000 | 200,000 |
For example:
- Flying from London Heathrow to Boston in First off-peak will cost you 68,000 Avios plus £546 in taxes, fees and surcharges
- Flying from London Heathrow to Shanghai in Club World off-peak will cost you 75,000 Avios plus £275 in taxes, fees and surcharges
- Flying from London Heathrow to Hong Kong in World Traveller Plus off-peak will cost 39,000 Avios plus £260 in taxes, fees and surcharges
While these are the ‘standard’ redemption rates, British Airways also gives you several different pricing options in which you can use less Avios but pay more in cash or use more Avios to reduce how much to spend in cash for your reward ticket.
How does Reward Flight Saver work?
Reward Flight Saver is the name given to BA’s different Avios pricing options for the same flight. This option is now available on all British Airways flights for the following ticket types: Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class.
As you can see, Reward Flight Saver fares aren’t available for First cabin redemptions, although you can see price reward flights in First with fewer Avios but a bigger cash payment.
British Airways is notorious for the higher fees and surcharges it adds on reward flight redemptions so Reward Flight Saver is a useful way to reduce these out-of-pocket costs, although it doesn’t always represent the value for money.
One thing to note with Reward Flight Saver is that there isn’t a ‘sliding scale’ that you can use to control how much you pay in cash versus the cost in Avios. British Airways presents you with a range of options, and you have to pick the option that best suits your needs.
Use Avios for part payment towards flights
If you can’t find reward flight availability, then another option to spend your Avios is with part payment towards a cash fare. You can use part payment with Avios on the following flights:
- All British Airways-operated flights
- American Airlines flights between the UK and North America
- Flights operated by partner airlines with a British Airways codeshare
Again, there’s no ‘sliding scale’ to control how many Avios you can use to reduce the cash fare but instead, British Airways will present several pricing options.
Generally speaking, part payment with Avios doesn’t represent a good value way to spend Avios compared to reward flight bookings, but it can be a handy way to spend Avios and reduce upfront flight costs.
Get an upgrade by using Avios
Another popular way to burn Avios is by using them to upgrade a cash booking. There are a few important points to note:
- On long-haul flights, you can only upgrade one cabin class – so if you’re booked in World Traveller, you can only upgrade to World Traveller Plus and so on.
- On short-haul flights, there are only two cabin classes, so if you’ve booked in Euro Traveller, you can upgrade to Club Europe.
- Of course, you can only upgrade when there’s availability in the cabin you want to upgrade to.
- You can check availability before booking your cash fare or at any time after booking.
The cost to upgrade using Avios is derived from the total Avios cost for booking a reward flight in the cabin you want to upgrade to minus the total Avios cost for booking a reward flight in the cabin you’ve booked with cash.
For example, if it costs 60,000 Avios to book a Business Class reward seat and the Avios cost for booking a World Traveller Plus reward seat on the same flight is 39,000, you would subtract 39,000 from 60,000 to get 21,000 Avios as your one-way upgrade cost.
Is the British Airways Executive Club right for you?
There are a lot of circumstances when signing up for a British Airways Executive Club account is definitely the right option, and there are a few occasions where it just doesn’t make sense to join BAEC or, at the very least, deposit elite qualifying credits and Avios to a BAEC account.
- If you’re based in the UK and want to ‘passively’ earn Avios through everyday spending on co-branded credit cards that can then be used for reward flights or money off cash fares, then joining BAEC is a no-brainer.
- If you want to earn Oneworld alliance Emerald elite status, then British Airways is one of the easiest programmes to achieve this status, so long as you can meet the minimum flight requirement on BA qualifying flights.
- If you fly a variety of Oneworld alliance airlines and are looking for a single home to credit points, then a BAEC account is a good place.
However, if you primarily fly another Oneworld alliance airline, then depositing points and elite qualifying credits into a BAEC account is probably not going to be the best use for achieving elite status and recognition with your primary airline.
If you’re just after low-fare flights that meet your schedule, then choosing British Airways over other airlines is also probably not a good use of your cash. That being said, if eligible, you can still earn Avios through other means to then use towards a BA flight in the future.
