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What are the current rules for the BA Holidays ‘double tier points’ offer?

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The BA Holidays ‘double tier points’ offer has, for many HfP readers, been a game changer in how they earn British Airways status since it launched during the pandemic.

Even someone with no tier points at all could earn themselves Silver status in British Airways Executive Club with two European breaks, as long as you flew in Club Europe to cities which earn 160 tier points.

If you’re heading to Asia, a British Airways Gold card will be nearly yours with just one Business Class return trip, as long as you book on Qatar Airways as a BA codeshare. You’d end up with 1,120 tier points (140 tier points from each of the four flights, given the aircraft change in Doha, doubled) out of the 1,500 required for Gold.

BA Holidays continues to ‘tweak’ (or ‘mess with’, depending on your view!) the rules of this offer so I thought I’d run through it again today.

BA Holidays double tier points offer

IMPORTANT: The rules of this promotion have changed multiple times since it was launched. If you reading this article after the 15th December 2023 publication date, I strongly recommend checking the latest situation on this special page of ba.com.

How does ‘double tier points’ work?

The headline deal is:

If you book a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package via British Airways Holidays for at least five nights, and travel by 31st December 2024, you will receive double BA tier points on your flights.

There’s small print though, which I will cover below.

For clarity, ALL travellers on the booking receive double tier points.

Double tier points do NOT arrive with the tier points from your flight but post separately within 14 days.

BA accepts no responsibility if the double tier points do not arrive in time to post in your current membership year. If they are delayed then you are stuck – they will be backdated to your old membership year but BA will not re-open the calculation on whether you earned status or not. For this reason I strongly recommend that you do NOT book your BA Holidays trip at the very end of your membership year.

This offer applies to solo travellers as well as couples and families.

You can find out more on the BA Holidays website here.

How many tier points would you need for BA status?

Thresholds have now returned to their pre-covid levels:

  • Bronze status in BA Executive Club requires 300 tier points
  • Silver status in BA Executive Club requires 600 tier points
  • Gold status in BA Executive Club requires 1,500 tier points

Remember that – as well as hitting the tier points target – you need four BA or Iberia cash flights (codeshares with a BA or IB flight number count) in your membership year to get promoted to Silver, or two flights for Bronze.

You could get very close to a Silver card from scratch in one trip. For example, booking London to New York in Club World, you would get (140 + 140) x 2 = 560 tier points.

This HfP article shows you the number of tier points earned from BA flights. The rules are different for partner airline flights and you need to use the calculator on ba.com here. In simple terms, the cut-off for a partner flight to be treated as long haul is 2,000 miles.

BA Holidays double tier points offer

What does the small print now say?

BA Holidays has changed the small print for this offer multiple times. To be fair, this was generally done as the result of ‘abuse’ by passengers, although whether this was actual or just perceived abuse is a different question. There were also ambiguities over partner airline flights which have now been clarified.

It is very easy to fall foul of these rules because BA Holidays will still accept your booking even if you break them. The first thing you will know about not getting double tier points is when they don’t turn up!

Let’s look at the key rules:

Where do you live?

You must a UK or US resident to take part in this offer, which probably means ‘your BA account must be UK or US registered’

(Whilst the promo website only says UK residents can take part, this wording changes if you access the page from the US.)

What counts as a ‘holiday’?

You must book a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ or ‘flight and hotel and car’ package via the BA Holidays website.

You cannot book a flight via the main BA website and add a hotel or car during the check-out process. Your booking must be made via the BA Holidays site. (EDIT: there is some disagreement here. If you book a flight at ba.com and add the required car and/or hotel at the same time it seems that it may be OK, but NOT if added later. It’s not clear why you’d do this given the bonus Avios earned for booking via the BA Holidays site.)

You must book at least five days of car hire or five nights in a hotel, but you do NOT necessarily need to book the car or hotel for your entire stay.

Your holiday must not be for more than 30 days.

RULE CHANGE: The car hire or hotel nights must all take place between your flight dates. If you start your trip in London, you can no longer book a hotel at the airport the night before you fly or after you arrive home and have that count. It is not clear if an airport hotel in London before/after a domestic connection counts.

RULE CHANGE: You will lose your double tier points if BA Holidays finds out that you did not collect the car (or you returned it early) or did not check into the hotel (or checked out early).

BA Holidays 'double tier points' offer

What flights qualify?

With British Airways no longer flying to key holiday destinations such as Thailand, it is important to understand whether your flights on partner airlines will earn tier points and will be doubled.

Your flights must start from, and end in, the UK

Your trip must start and end here. If you want double tier points, you cannot save money on Air Passenger Duty or the flight cost by booking, say, Dublin to Heathrow to Singapore.

Your flights must have a British Airways flight number

This isn’t an issue if you fly with BA. If you are booking with another airline, such as Qatar Airways, you must ensure that you are booked on a codeshare and that your booking shows a BAXXXX flight number.

You will find that British Airways does codeshare with its oneworld alliance partners on key leisure routes, but there is no central list that I am aware of. Some Qatar Airways destinations, to use Qatar Airways as a random example, may not be part of the BA codeshare arrangements.

If the BA Holidays website only shows QR flight numbers on Qatar Airways flights, you need to keep fiddling with dates to try to force a BA flight number – or give BA Holidays a call and see if they can force a codeshare booking. The allocation of seats given to BA as part of the codeshare arrangement is limited.

Your flight must earn tier points in the first place

This may be a statement of the obvious, but it’s easy to be caught out.

BA Holidays sells flights from Aer Lingus, China Southern and LATAM. BA Holidays states that these flights do not earn British Airways tier points, irrespective of whether your booking has a BA flight number or not. Double nothing is still nothing. (A codeshare with a BA flight number would normally earn tier points so this could be an error in the rules.)

RULE CHANGE: You cannot combine two separate trips as one ‘holiday’

Some people were gaming the system by booking multiple 2-3 night trips in one transaction to reach the five nights of hotel stay required.

The rules now say “Bookings can only contain one flight departing the UK, multiple journeys from the UK within one booking will not qualify.”

BA Holidays double tier points offer

The other BA Holidays benefits are still in place

As well as the double tier points offer, BA Holidays is running various other offers which will all stack together:

  • booking a ‘Flight and Hotel’ or ‘Flight and Car’ package can be cheaper than booking a flight on its own, since British Airways will often use BA Holidays as a way of quietly selling seats without cutting its headline flight prices
  • you earn an additional 1 Avios per £1 for every £1 you spend at BA Holidays
  • you only need to pay a deposit now with the balance not due until a few weeks before departure

The only real downside is that BA Holidays flights do not earn On Business points in the SME loyalty scheme, assuming that the On Business website ever comes back.

Conclusion

I think it is worth having a serious think about how you can use this BA Holidays offer to put yourself well on the way to Executive Club status next year.

Remember that the rules are constantly being tweaked. Check the current rules before booking and consider taking a screen shot on the day you book in case they later change in a negative way.

You can learn more about the double tier points offer on the BA Holidays website here.

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Comments (156)

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

  • Patrick says:
    15 Dec15 December 08:46

    I’m not sure this is correct ‘ You cannot book a flight via the main BA website and add a hotel or car during the check-out process. Your booking must be made via the BA Holidays site.’ – unless it’s a new rule ?

    I always book flights with BA as normal and add hotel on during checkout, as I find this far simpler and more intuitive, and I have always had double TP post. The standard email says at the bottom that your contact for queries when you return is BA Holidays and your are given the BAH duty number for whilst you are away.

    If this has changed then I have a lot of trips to cancel and re-book !

    Anybody else concur ?

    • Rob says:
      15 Dec15 December 08:48

      I’m just telling you what the rules say.

      • Fruitcage says:
        15 Dec15 December 08:50

        Don’t see this in the rules. Where are you looking, Rob?

        • JDB says:
          15 Dec15 December 09:02

          It’s term 2. Essentially, it ceases to be an eligible package for double TP if you can see the price of the individual components, even if it’s not too difficult to work them out. As Rob says, those are the rules, but you think they don’t apply to you, that’s up to you. It’s also not to say it’s impossible you will get double TP but if you don’t, there’s no recourse.

          • Fruitcage says:
            15 Dec15 December 09:16

            Nope- if you add hotel or car before paying it becomes a single transaction, a package as defined by ATOL.

          • JDB says:
            15 Dec15 December 09:24

            @Fruitcage – in the scenario you describe, your trip becomes a Linked Travel Arrangement, not a Package. They are not the same thing.

    • JDB says:
      15 Dec15 December 08:51

      The rules are crystal clear on that point, so not a wise course to follow if you want or need the TP.

    • Gordon says:
      15 Dec15 December 08:51

      “Shoot the messenger” springs to mind!

    • The other Kevin says:
      15 Dec15 December 09:10

      If you select a flight first then add a car during the checkout phase then the next page displayed is a BA Holiday page of flight + car, so probably same for adding a hotel during checkout.

  • Gordon says:
    15 Dec15 December 09:08

    Thanks for this Rob,I am loosing silver this month, I will be taking advantage of this for status once again over the next year, as I only have one redemption flight booked so far and that’s for NBO August 24 (Club suite if it’s not changed).
    I had AMS in my sights next year anyway so just need to tweak another flight or two to get back to where i was. No doubt the lounges will be busy for the next few years!

  • corking says:
    15 Dec15 December 09:24

    I already have a BA Holiday to the USA booked (flight and hotel booked as a holiday and deposit paid – and paid about 50% of it so far as i go along). I did not need 5 nights hotels (i had booked some with points) so at the moment it only have 3 nights of hotels and no car in my booking. I did not book a car at the time as car rentals were crazy prices when i had the booking but look more acceptable now. Are you allowed to add to an existing BA holiday booking and do you think the booking would then be eligible for double points?

    • L Allen says:
      15 Dec15 December 09:57

      I don’t think you can – my understanding is that you can’t add extra elements to a booking to make it meet the rules. Worth giving BAH a call though to double check.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:14

      Never pay off the balance as you go. It complicates the booking and things like refunds or abandoning the booking in favour of a cheaper one and just losing the deposit

      But I do think that amending the booking by adding elements won’t make it qualify for the offer.

  • Jill Kinkell says:
    15 Dec15 December 09:31

    My TP year ends in March but card expiry end of April. Currently silver but will drop, so have several BAH booked for March April and May – all different celebration trips, so will retain silver quickly and be almost gold. Looking forward to our various mini hols to RAK, ATH and FNC…..all planned to get me there and back in a day without overnight stays.

    • Mikeact says:
      15 Dec15 December 10:56

      I suppose day trips, some would call a holiday !

      • Jill Kinkell says:
        15 Dec15 December 12:50

        I meant ..well I suspect you know….that it’s not a day trip! Means I can connect domestically without having an o/n at Heathrow, which is what happened recently with schedule change.And I am still waiting for BA to shell out.

        • Gordon says:
          15 Dec15 December 14:43

          “ I am still waiting for BA to shell out”

          You will be lucky as they have £7bn to folk out for their improved transformational plan!

        • LK says:
          15 Dec15 December 14:47

          I couldn’t work out what you meant! Thought you meant a day trip.

  • kevin says:
    15 Dec15 December 09:50

    On my most recent SOF TP run I went to “collect” the rental vehicle and as I approached the desk, the agent said, “let me guess, you don’t need the car”. Got chatting to him, nice man, and I told him I do need the car, I want to collect the car but also want to park it in Avis car park for the next 5 days. He gave me a wink and said, “no problem sir”.

    And TPs posted 1 day after each flight. They then doubled 48 hours after my last flight of that trip.

    • Jill Kinkell says:
      15 Dec15 December 10:14

      Well @kevin, maybe with BAs improved transformational £7bn plan to sort out all the many problems, they will suss out this sort of t&cs interpretation by customers trying to flout the system and also fire the winking Avis agent. Why can’t you just play the game nicely and properly?

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
        15 Dec15 December 11:12

        Actually Kevin is as fully in compliance with the revised T&Ca of the offer which says the car or hotel must be “used” as in collected / checked in as approved.

        There is nothing that says he has to drive the car anywhere or do a minimum number of miles.

        The original T&Cs made no mention of actually collecting the car.

        • JDB says:
          15 Dec15 December 11:44

          It does actually say:- “car rental hired for the full booked duration”

          • Jill Kinkell says:
            15 Dec15 December 13:02

            But he’s clearly no intention of using the car as he’s leaving it with Avis and the agent is supporting this. Clearly not what BA intended and no wonder they are changing t&cs as behaviour like this goes on and boasted about. Just look out for the next revision of t&cs!

          • Gavin says:
            15 Dec15 December 14:01

            @Jill, it’s not up to you to interpret what BA means by their T&Cs and admonish other customers for not following your interpretation. If they wanted, BA could specify that a minimum distance of 100km (for example) needs to be driven in the rental car. They have not done so.

    • Gordon says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:03

      Consider yourself told off Kevin!

      • Jill Kinkell says:
        15 Dec15 December 17:21

        Well @Gavin, this site is littered with posters offering their interpretations on many things. And, I recognise that I am far from expert.., which is why I rely on @JDB to cast the measured voice of reason

  • Nick says:
    15 Dec15 December 10:13

    Hi again,
    Just spoke with BA Holidays and they have confirmed that if any flight on an itinerary they sell has a QR flight number the whole booking does not get double tier points. Feels incredibly unfair and they themselves sell the holiday and the banner shows the offer throughout the booking process. In essence, I either lose my deposit or have to pay £500 to change to a BA flight number. Madness really on behalf of BA as they have just lost a customer.

    • dougzz99 says:
      15 Dec15 December 10:22

      Nothing more reliable than a phone agent.

    • Harry T says:
      15 Dec15 December 12:14

      They are incorrect. You will receive double TPs for the BA flight codes if your booking fulfils the terms, and single TPs for the QR coded legs. I have personal experience of this.

      • memesweeper says:
        15 Dec15 December 12:44

        +1

        Thats what happened to me. The rules are inconsistently worded, but the IT system seems to just award single for non-codeshares and double for BA flights.

    • WorldTraveller says:
      15 Dec15 December 15:34

      You are wrong. I spoke to three different BA holiday agents and they checked with their managers etc so I am 100% sure you will get double TPs on all BA flights and regular TPs on the QR flight.

  • ianM says:
    15 Dec15 December 10:46

    Scotland to Tenerife poses a problem as there are no flights from Scotland to Gatwick, yet that’s where most of the TFS flights depart from.
    I take it this works for a EDI-LHR LGW-TFS holiday?? Does it matter if you have a stop over in London?

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:06

      Yes that would still qualify under the offer

    • NorthernLass says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:50

      There is a daily flight between LGA and TFS, but you need to play around to get it to appear as it won’t necessarily be possible to do both flights on the same day. You’d need to fly back from TFS then connect to GLA the next morning.

    • Harry T says:
      15 Dec15 December 12:17

      Should be fine. I’ve recently done NCL-LHR LGW-MLA.

  • Richie says:
    15 Dec15 December 10:46

    I have had enough of this offer, it’s a bit of a pain in the neck really and unreasonably skews fares. Roll on 2025. I also hope they announce in early January 24 inceases in thesholds for status, ie Silver to 700 TPs and Gold to 1750 TPs. I’ve had enough of riff raff in lounges and on planes.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:05

      Don’t be such a snob.

      If there wasn’t the double TP offer then BA would soon have others to generate bums on seats and revenue.

      • Richie says:
        15 Dec15 December 11:16

        I just have standards. easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, TUI and Wizz have plenty of space for the riff raff. If BA want to fill planes they should do it from their existing customer base with targeted promotions and upgrades.

        • Rob says:
          15 Dec15 December 11:47

          Jet2 is well ahead of BA in many regards. You give the impression of never having used them.

          • Richie says:
            15 Dec15 December 12:08

            Thanks for the information regarding Jet2 @Rob, I’ll still ignore them for what they did to Mr Huzar and his family at Alicante.

          • Harry T says:
            15 Dec15 December 12:19

            Jet2 are probably better than BA for economy and they are usually more punctual and reliable.

    • Gordon says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:09

      Maybe you should charter a private jet if you don’t like people! Just bear in mind you will have a pilot at the controls so you won’t necessarily be on your own!

    • VerdantBacon says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:52

      With FW check in, there’s no need to get to the airport too early, this means you dont have to spend that much time in the GCH lounge with all the “riff raff”

    • Rob says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:54

      We’re not in the 1960s anymore Richie, where doctors, headteachers etc owned all the nice houses and had all the cash. You have train drivers and plumbers on £100k, lots of social media influencer types hoovering up huge sums plus your usual City trader types and your usual London influx of bent foreign money. These probably all meet your definition of ‘riff raff’.

      The days when the only people earning decent cash were the presentable middle class types are gone. Not many GPs can afford to send 2-3 kids to private school and live in Chelsea these days. If you look at the data, it’s actually headmasters etc who have seen the biggest fall in relative incomes in the last few decades.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        15 Dec15 December 18:13

        My plumber drops his kids off at our local private school … in a Porsche. I don’t have a Porsche but do have more honorifics and post-nominals. Which of us is riff-raff? Please advise, Richie? 😀

    • Harry T says:
      15 Dec15 December 12:18

      I suspect this is just trolling.

    • His Holyness says:
      15 Dec15 December 14:15

      Richie, you’re most welcome to have my share of meat-free curry’s, carby slop trays and cakes made with hydrogenated vegetable oil. A British Original.

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