What happens to my British Airways tier points at the end of my membership year?

In this article I want to look at what happens to your British Airways Executive Club tier points at the end of your membership year.

If you’ve already read our guide about what British Airways tier points are, you’ll know that they are the way of tracking your elite status with British Airways.

The more tier points you have, the higher up the ladder you can climb and the more rewards are open to you, such as complimentary lounge access, seat selection and more.

It is impossible to spend tier points – they are not a reward currency like Avios – and, crucially, they are reset to zero at the end of your membership year. This is because elite status at British Airways is based on a year-to-year basis.

That means that you must surpass the minimum requirements for Bronze, Silver and Gold status within the year, before your tier points are reset. You will need to earn 300 tier points, as well as taking two one-way British Airways or Iberia cash flights, to earn the lowest level of elite status – Bronze.

It is possible to get a two week extension of your British Airways membership year if you are close to the next tier threshold as this article explains.

If you fail to earn enough British Airways tier points to retain your status, you will get a ‘soft landing’ which is explained here.

However, in addition to tier points, you will also see your lifetime tier points displayed on the Executive Club website. This is the cumulative balance of your tier points, and counts towards achieving British Airways lifetime status, which you can read more about here.

(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.