Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

BA Club Europe domestic flights confirmed as 40 tier points each way

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

The new British Airways Club Europe domestic services started yesterday.

It had not been fully clear how these flights would be treated for tier points.  The publicity material put out by British Airways was vague on this point, not intentionally.  The fact that you only get 20 British Airways tier points for domestic Spanish flights in business class on Iberia meant that we couldn’t be certain that the same would not apply here.

However, the British Airways tier point calculator was updated yesterday.

Club Europe is confirmed as 40 tier points each way.

This opens up some interesting possibilities for tier point runs.  Domestic Club Europe flights can be obtained for under £200 on some dates – Leeds Bradford has the best deals – and, importantly, do not require a Saturday night stay.  This makes it fairly easy to sneak one in if you need the tier points to gain or retain status.

If you are booking a long haul Club World flight for cash, you might also want to see how much extra – if anything – it costs to add in a domestic connection.  If you need the tier points, the quick train ride up to Manchester from London, just to fly straight back down and then connect to your long haul service, may be worth it.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (53)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Stu R says:

    This would definitely be an easy and valuable way to build and retain status …. if you could get your accrued points to post in the first place!

    We’ve only just returned from the NZ biz trip on QR (thank you Rob!) and we’re still waiting for our Avios / TP’s to post from the outbound nearly 3 weeks ago, despite our BAEC no’s clearly appearing on every boarding card!

    • Kevin says:

      Stu – we’re still in NZ as part of the same QR deal (from Pisa) but pleased to say our outbound Avios/TPs posted within 6 days of taking the flights. Sounds like BA (or whomever) has made a c@%k-up. In the past, a scan of the boarding passes has resolved the issue – hopefully the same this time for you.

      • zsalya says:

        All the airlines I have looked at have dedicated webpages for claiming uncredited flights.
        Are you saying that these do not give resolution, and so scanned boarding passes have to be sent, or are you bypassing the procedures they have set up?

      • Stu R says:

        Thank Kevin, I already scanned all the boarding passes and sent them off via their dedicated site yesterday …. fingers crossed. Hope you’re having as good a time as we did; what a great place! Also, probably too late for you now but we tied our trip in with an overnight stop in Lucca on the way home, the icing on the cake of an already wonderful trip …. enjoy!

        • BrianDT says:

          Indeed, a wonderful country to visit . We’re in the middle of a three month visit, but sadly leaving AKL/NZ tomorrow to head over to Tasmania and on up to the Darwin.

      • Dai says:

        Good morning, Stu & Kevin – Just a my experienced that I flew on QA J/R from Pisa to Haneda, Tokyo via Doha on Sunday, 19th March, (arrived Tokyo, 20th) and I received Avios/TPs on Wednesday, 22nd March. Someone told me that QR flights credit each Wednesday after travel.
        However, return flight from Tokyo to Rome via Doha on Sunday, 26th March (arrived Rome on 27th) has not yet credited.
        Hope you & I will receive Avios/TPs this Wednesday.

        • Stu R says:

          Dai, I’m not hopeful as 2 Wednesday’s have passed and no points yet 🙁

    • Leo says:

      We’ve always had difficulties with QR crediting – usually with only one of us when we’ve been on the same flight and we’ve also had problems with the missing Avios claim form. I don’t think it’s a BA issue but QR. I agree they tend to post on a Wednesday. I’ve had to go through the BA liaison person on FT to get the matter resolved twice. Also with IB too.

  • Elaine says:

    “If you need the tier points, the quick train ride up to Manchester from London, just to fly straight back down and then connect to your long haul service, may be worth it.”

    If you need the tier points and you live north of London then the “quick train ride up” is not necessary – not everyone lives in London!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      I live in the Midlands and Manchester is still a quick train north. Think Robeston point way a tier run for those that would normally get on at LHR.

      Most north of/or near Manchester would probably already be using a cconnection from there anyway

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Bloody phone

        “I live in the Midlands and Manchester is still a quick train north. Think Rob’s point was adding in a small tier run for those that would normally get on at LHR.”

    • Alan says:

      Yes, I bet Rob was chuckling to himself to see how soon we all commented on that 😛 This video would seem relevant – esp the Watford comment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENeCYwms-Cc

    • John says:

      Rob is actually a northerner…

      • Alan says:

        I think he’s gone native though 😛 That or Stockholm syndrome… 😉

  • Nick says:

    Has anyone noticed how much the prices in the low fare finder for club have shot up this week. Bergen used to be from £82 each way Inverness was from £40 each way. They’re all now way more. I even found Istanbul for £75 each way for a one week window next Feb but that went very quickly

    • John says:

      I guess the prices to BGO went up after they canned the evening flight

  • Liz says:

    These new CE domestic flights now affect the cost of your so called free connection flight to a long haul destination. If you book your domestic connection on the same ticket e.g. EDI-LHR-SIN it now adds £71.54 in taxes purely for the EDI-LHR leg. I don’t really want to pay for a CE domestic flight but will need to if I want my bag checked in all the way – BA get you every which way!

    • Anon says:

      Really, that’s shoddy, think I paid £37 / pax / sector my recent “Free” EDI-LGW add on.

      So your “complimentary” G&T and cuppa & sarnie costs another £35, bargain! lol!

      Maybe its double the price for BA to cover its losses for having to pay out for a delay under EU261/2004 😉

      • Anna says:

        I noticed that the system now doesn’t seem to let you search for a CE flight with a WT connection from a regional airport – it comes up with both legs as CE. This means that you either have to part with 18,000 avios and £50 for a 40 minute hop from Manchester to Heathrow, or book separately, thereby falling foul of the rule on re-checking your luggage when flying on different ticket numbers.

        For the future it seems the way forward is hand luggage only, or an overnight stop at Heathrow.

        • Anna says:

          Although it may be possible to book the two different classes by phone but that’s an ordeal in itself!

        • Genghis says:

          I thought the connection is ‘free’ in terms of avios?

          • Alan says:

            Only for longhaul flights. It sounded like the OP here was wanting a CE flight but with a Euro Traveller connection (although they put WT), ie an RFS trip. With those you now pay full Avios and fees for connection. I think phoning will be the only way to do this now given poor BA IT.

    • Anon says:

      Liz – When you say “Taxes”?

      Thats BA speak for their own surcharges surely?

      ps I’m nr your neck of the woods next Sunday…

      • Liz says:

        Whatever they call them – taxes, surcharges, fees, – it was previously £37 as I have been pricing up our Oz trip and various connections for a while now in preparation for booking in May – but now the cost from EDI-LHR-SIN will be £437.51 LHR-SIN is £365.97.

        Next Sunday we will be in Manchester for a christening!

    • hugh says:

      maybe cheaper to start at INV, which is exempt from APD tax

      • Liz says:

        IIRC the times are not great for the INV flight – also only one flight per day so if there are problems with the flight you’ve had it – I would rather stick with EDI

        • Kinkell says:

          Inverness BA one flight a day. Leaves INV. 12.10. arr. LHR 13.40.
          By no means great for onward connections, so we have to weigh up going to EDI or ABZ which is a 3 hour drive away

          • Anon says:

            Once INV train station opens in next year, it could become more of an option for those in the Perthshire & Aberdeenshire areas to use for the outbound leg to avoid APD.

            If your heading east (KUL/SIN) on an overnight CW/F flight that leaves LHR late afternoon/early evening flight its not too bad timing, just a few hours in the lounge and also allows for minor delay.

            But yes, flying west to the US its not great unless you have the time to overnight in LHR the eve before, but then you have to factor in hotel costs…

          • Liz says:

            Yes flying west just doesn’t work for us from INV – we have the hassle of getting a train up there and an overnight stay so not worth it.

    • John says:

      Actually, these ‘enhanced’ fees for domestic add-ons have been there for a while (certainly before the latest CE introduction on domestics). I should know, I booked a LH 241 and queried them many months ago. But I fully agree….complete rip-off.

      • Alan says:

        Although my impression was that the taxes/fees/charges were higher when booked into CE than ET class for these domestics?

  • Julie says:

    When I looked at the BA tier points calculator and put in Aer Lingus LHR – DUB it shows avios earnings but no tier pints. Is this correct?.

  • Greer says:

    This is fantastic news! As usual my tier point collection time is running out and I really need a little something to tip me over 🙂 Manchester here I come.

  • Anon says:

    Rob as this is BA…

    How proactive have BA been with suitable and appropriate compensation due under EU261/2004 for the unlucky couple that headed east?

    Sure you won’t be giving out prizes for me guessing…! 🙂

    • Genghis says:

      @Anon. When’s the big unveiling of the Rangali review? 🙂 I note it’s currently password protected.

      • Anon says:

        I’m just finishing off a few tweaks today after receiving feedback from my proof readers.

        Like the octopus featured in it, the thing has kept growing arms and legs.! (Groan)

        Its at least twice the size of my previous review.

        Hope to very soon give Rob the green light for him to run as an exclusive, maybe as a couple of posts, so subject to Robs workload and HFPs queue of articles, it’ll maybe on here next wknd.?

      • Anon says:

        ps. After seeing the comments on the SPG thread, I’m feeling very grateful for my proof readers! 🙂

  • Gavin says:

    Off topic – for anyone with BA status a useful trick I’ve discovered which can give you free seat selection on a HBO ticket

    If booking a HBO ticket via a third party travel agent like Expedia, I’ve noticed that if you add the Booking Ref to your BA account via the App as soon as you are ticketed you can immediately go into manage my booking and select seats for free.

    This has worked three times for me -I’ve successfully grabbed exit row seats for free for me and my other half (no status) who was included on the same booking. When booking a return ticket I’ve not been able to get free seat selection for the inbound as the BA system seems to wake up and want to charge you for seat selection after confirming the outbound seat selection ! The obvious way round this is to book 2 singles if there’s no price difference.

    This might work for direct BA bookings but I’ve not tried.

    • Julie says:

      For the uninitiated, what does HBO stand for?. Thx

      • callum says:

        Hand Baggage Only

        • h2d says:

          I have found this doesn’t always work – on occasion I have immediately selected seats with no issues on HBO tickets as a GGL, only to have them later reassigned and correctly only changeable for a fee.

          • Gavin says:

            Ah, it has always worked for me before but I tend to book less than 48 hours before flying. I’ve just booked for June, so a couple of months to see what happens…

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.