Do I earn Avios and tier points on a British Airways codeshare flight?

Today I want to answer the question “Will I earn Avios and tier points on a British Airways codeshare flight?“.

In this article we’ll look at what codeshare flights are and how they impact your ability to earn Avios and tier points as part of British Airways Executive Club.

The practise of codesharing flights is common, and if you have ever looked at a departures board you have probably seen at least one flight where the flight code rotates between airlines for the exact same flight.

Many airlines have codeshare agreements that allow them to book customers on each others’ flights.  Though the flight is only operated by one airline, each airline places its own flight codes on it and so you may, for example, find yourself flying on an American Airlines aircraft with a British Airways flight number.

A common use of codeshare flights is for connections.  British Airways, for example, add its code to various services run by Bangkok Airways, allowing it to sell through-tickets to destinations across Thailand with a connection in Bangkok.

The rules for earning Avios and tier points on codeshare flights depend on both the operating carrier (ie. whose aircraft and crew you are flying with) as well as your flight number.

How do I know which airline is operating my flight?

Just because a flight has a flight number from a certain airline (eg BA235) it does not necessarily mean that British Airways will be operating it.

You will be told who is operating your flight at time of booking when you select your flights, as this is a legal requirement in the UK. If you have already booked your flight, you will find this information online in the ‘Manage My Booking’ section of the airline website.

Will I earn Avios or tier points?

The good news is that if you are flying under a British Airways flight number, you will always be credited with Avios and tier points, regardless of who is operating the flight.

You will also earn Avios and tier points when you fly with a oneworld airline flight code and on a oneworld-operated codeshare flight. So, for example, you would earn Avios and tier points if you flew from New York City to Los Angeles on American Airlines, as long as both the flight code and operating airline is American Airlines or another oneworld carrier.

There are no other circumstances (except one) in which you can earn Avios or tier points on a codeshare flight. For example, you will not earn Avios or tier points when you fly on a oneworld flight code on an aircraft that is NOT operated by a oneworld airline, eg a Cathay Pacific coded flight operated by Air New Zealand.

The only exception to this is with Qantas where, for example, you can fly Emirates (a non-oneworld airline) and still earn Avios and tier points on some flights.  There is a similar arrangement on a small number of Air France and KLM routes. In general, however, you need the operating airline – the one physically flying and crewing the flight – to be in the oneworld alliance.

Still confused? This handy chart used to appear on ba.com although it now seems to have been removed (click to enlarge):

If your flight qualifies, you can use this calculator on ba.com to work out how many Avios and tier points to expect.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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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:

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

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

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.

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