How to earn BA tier points and Avios with Malaysia Airlines, including in the current sale

The Malaysia Airlines New Year sale is still on, offering promotional fares in both Economy and Business Class to 37 destinations in South East Asia and Australasia.

You need to book by 22nd January for travel between 1st February and 30th November 2024.

Business Class flights from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur start from £3,359. Beyond Malaysia you can get to Sydney for £4,519, Perth for £4,359 and Tokyo for £3,689. I admit these aren’t 2019 prices but that’s the market at the moment.

You get an extra 3% off for flights purchased in their app.

If you are flying Economy, you can reach Kuala Lumpur and Bali from £679, Bangkok from £639, Hong Kong for £839 and Melbourne from £919.

The Malaysia Airlines website with all the sale prices and destinations is here.

Remember that Malaysia Airlines is a British Airways Executive Club partner

This is a good enough time to remind you that you can earn both Avios and British Airways tier points by flying with Malaysia Airlines, thanks to their oneworld alliance membership.

Sometimes, you can actually earn more tier points by flying with Malaysia Airlines than you would with British Airways, because you will be changing aircraft in Kuala Lumpur. Two flights in each direction means two lots of tier points ….

How do I earn tier points flying with Malaysia Airlines?

Malaysia Airlines has its own loyalty programme, Enrich, and its own loyalty currency, Enrich Miles.

However, because British Airways and Malaysia Airlines are both members of the oneworld alliance, it is also possible to credit your Malaysia Airlines flights to your British Airways Executive Club account.

You can add your British Airways Executive Club number to your Malaysia Airlines ticket during booking, on their website after booking or at check-in. The Avios and tier points will be automatically sent across to your BA account after your flight.

How many tier points will I earn by flying with Malaysia Airlines?

British Airways uses a simple distance based rule when awarding tier points for flights on all partner airlines, not just Malaysia Airlines.

The rules are:

• Economy flights under 2,000 miles – 5-20 tier points depending on fare type

• Economy flights over 2,000 miles – 20-80 tier points depending on fare type

• Business Class flights under 2,000 miles – 40 tier points

• Business Class flights over 2,000 miles – 160 tier points

• First Class (Business Suite for Malaysia Airlines) flights under 2,000 miles – 60 tier points

• First Class (Business Suite for Malaysia Airlines) flights over 2,000 miles – 240 tier points

The tier point rates above are per leg, not per complete trip.

This means that if you fly Business Class from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur and then connect in Business Class to, say, Singapore, you would earn (160 + 40 =) 200 British Airways Executive Club tier points each way.

You can work out how exactly how many tier points you will earn on the BA tier point calculator here.  Remember to search leg by leg if you are connecting.

You will see, for example, that London – Kuala Lumpur – Singapore on Malaysia Airlines is more lucrative (200 tier points in Business Class each way) than a direct London – Singapore flight on British Airways (160 tier points in Business Class each way).

To earn British Airways Executive Club elite status you need to earn, within your membership year:

• 300 tier points for Bronze
• 600 tier points for Silver
• 1,500 tier points for Gold

Note that you cannot earn British Airways Executive Club status purely from partner flights. Bronze status requires two cash flights taken on British Airways (any cabin, any fare) whilst Silver and Gold requires four cash flights on British Airways.

Remember that if you already have British Airways Executive Club status, you can use it when flying Malaysia Airlines to access – depending on tier – priority check-in, priority boarding and lounge access.

Can I earn Avios flying with Malaysia Airlines?

Yes. Here is the full chart of earning rates, sourced from the partner page of the British Airways website.

It is important to remember that whilst British Airways now awards Avios on its own flights based on money spent, Avios from flights with partners such as Malaysia Airlines continue to be based on distance flown. In Malaysia Airlines Business Class, this means you earn 100% (Z-class) or 125% (J, C, D class) of miles flown.

If you are not flying on an expensive flexible ticket, you may find that you will earn more Avios flying on a partner airline than with British Airways.

You can also redeem Avios on Malaysia Airlines

It’s worth a reminder that you can also redeem Avios on Malaysia Airlines. British Airways no longer flies to Kuala Lumpur and redemptions to Singapore are hard to get, since you are fighting with people who want to fly on to Sydney.

Malaysia Airlines offers a good alternative, with potential onward connections across Malaysia, the rest of Asia and Australasia. The only snag, of course, is that you can’t use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher or a Barclaycard Avios Mastercard upgrade voucher.

You can check availability on the standard Avios booking page of ba.com in the same way that you would search for British Airways flights.

What did we think of Malaysia Airlines business class?

We’ve done two Malaysia Airlines review trips in recent years, and we’ve always been very positive about them. Rhys is especially keen on the on-board satay as you will see.

Take a look at:

• Malaysia Airlines A350 Business Suite (the renamed First Class) review (2019)

• Malaysia Airlines A350 business class review (2022)

The Malaysia Airlines New Year sale ends on 22nd January. You can find out more here – although the app is 3% cheaper, remember.

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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (September 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th October 2025, the sign-up bonus on the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card is doubled to 40,000 Membership Rewards points. This would convert to 40,000 Avios! The spend target is changed to £5,000 within SIX months of approval. T&C apply. Click here to apply.

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express Credit Card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.