NEW: Get BA tier points from your BA Premium Plus Amex spending for six months

For many years now we’ve been encouraging, via anyone who would listen, BA and American Express to start issuing British Airways Executive Club tier points on credit card spend.

We thought that 1 tier point per £100 of spending seemed fair. With capped interchange rates restricting the miles that can be funded, giving out status benefits seemed a better way to go. There are also a lot of people who are more interested in elite status than miles.

And – spookily – it has come to pass!

From today, you will earn British Airways Executive Club tier points when you spend on your British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.

There are strings attached, however, which make the deal less attractive than it could be.

As a reminder of how British Airways Executive Club status works:

• Bronze – requires 300 tier points and two cash segments on BA or Iberia – benefits include free seat selection seven days before flying, priority boarding and the use of business class check in desks
• Silver – requires 600 tier points and four cash segments on BA or Iberia – benefits include access to airport lounges, free seat selection at booking and additional baggage allowance
• Gold – requires 1,500 tier points and four cash segments on BA or Iberia – benefits include access to First lounges, First class check in and boarding, free seat selection at booking, additional baggage and additional reward flight availability

…. and as a reminder of how the British Airways Premium Plus American Expess card works:

How can you earn tier points from British Airways credit card spending?

This is how the offer will work:

You need to opt-in to this offer via the ‘Offers’ tab of your Amex account

If you don’t opt-in, you won’t receive any tier points. Only spend made after you have opted in will count.

You cannot opt in via the American Express app. It can be done on the website.

Only British Airways Premium Plus American Express members can take part

This offer does not apply to holders of the free British Airways American Express card. It also doesn’t apply to holders of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards.

You can only earn 200 tier points

The tier points are triggered like this:

• you will receive 100 tier points when you have spent £15,000 after registration

• you will receive a further 50 tier points if you spend a further £5,000

• you will receive a final 50 tier points if you spend a further £5,000, for a total spend of £25,000

You need to complete your spending by 21st May 2024

You will need to be careful with your timing

The tier points will be sent across to your British Airways Executive Club account on the same day as your base Avios are transferred. This is six days before your statement date.

You will need to look at your British Airways Executive Club membership year end and decide when the optimum time is to trigger the tier points. For me, with an 8th September year end, it makes no difference – irrespective of when I earn the tier points between now and 21st May 2024, the points will count towards my next requalification year.

If your membership year ends on 8th December, 8th January, 8th February, 8th March, 8th April or 8th May, you need to think about whether the tier points would be better credited in the current or your next membership year and try to time your spending appropriately.

Conclusion

I’m excited to see British Airways and American Express trialling the earning of tier points via credit card spend.

However, I don’t think that the balance is right, although they are heading in the right direction.

I think that:

• you should earn tier points starting at £5,000 of qualifying spend for 50 tier points – £15,000 is simply out of reach for many people over a six month period and will lead to a lack of engagement

• the number of tier points you can earn should be uncapped – if someone wants to spend £60,000 to earn a British Airways Executive Club Silver card from scratch, assuming they also fly four segments, they should be able to (and the same for spending £150,000 to earn Gold)

One option could be to give cardholders a choice – earn Avios OR tier points. Economically this would work for the airline because it would receive the equivalent value of selling 90,000 Avios to Amex in return for issuing a Silver card.

At the moment, this offer appeals to a niche which is simply too small – people who can spend £15,000 to £25,000 within six months AND for whom an extra 100 to 200 tier points would make a difference to their Executive Club status AND have an Executive Club year end with a suitable date.

It also creates problems for people who have spent £9,999 on their cards and are holding off spending more so they don’t trigger their annual 2-4-1 companion voucher unnecessarily early – although I published the obvious solution for that problem here. I spent nothing on my BA card between February 2023 (when I was above £9,500) and the last week of October 2023 because I wanted to ensure the 2-4-1 voucher would be valid for half term in 2025.

It’s a promising move, however, and hopefully we will see it rolled out permanently in 2024 with a few user-friendly tweaks.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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