Which British Airways Club Europe routes earn 160 tier points?
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
Which British Airways Club Europe business class routes offer 160 tier points for a return flight?
We often get emails from readers who say “I need XXX tier points in the next few weeks to reach British Airways Bronze / Silver / Gold status – how can I do it?”.
If you need to earn a small number of tier points – between 80 and 160 – the easiest way is a weekend break to one of the few destinations flown by British Airways which offer 160 tier points return in Club Europe.
This is twice as many tier points as the usual Club Europe return which earns 80. On some routes, you won’t pay much more for a 160 tier point route than you would for one with 80 tier points.
You could even get 320 tier points for one trip
Until 30th June 2025, British Airways Holidays is offering double tier points when you book five nights of hotel or car hire along with your flights.
Full details are here on ba.com.
A relatively cheap holiday in, say, Malta would get you 320 tier points for the return flights.
How many tier points do you need for status?
This is what you will need to earn to get British Airways Executive Club elite status:
- Bronze status requires 300 tier points – key benefit is free seat selection from seven days before departure for your entire party
- Silver status requires 600 tier points – key benefit is lounge access for you and a guest and free seat selection at the time of booking for your entire party
- Gold status requires 1,500 tier points – key benefit is Galleries First lounge access for you and a guest, use of the First Wing at Heathrow Terminal 5 for you and a guest and access to Row 1 seating for your entire party
Which Club Europe routes earn 160 tier points for a return flight?
We introduced ‘the Head for Points BA tier point calculator’ chart – click here. This article listed every British Airways route together with the tier points it would generate in each class.
However, to save you having to sort that, I have published the full list of 160 tier point Club Europe routes below.
Remember that, as well as earning the required number of tier points, you need to have flown four segments (ie two return flights) on cash tickets on British Airways or Iberia planes (or codeshares with a BA or IB flight number) to get Silver or Gold, and two segments for Bronze.
You cannot earn status purely by flying on partner airlines such as Qatar Airways, even if you earn the required number of BA tier points, unless you booked under a BA or Iberia codeshare.
The price next to each city was the lowest fare showing on Friday (17th May 2024) in the ba.com Low Fare Finder for Club Europe flights over the next 12 months.
- Agadir (£396)
- Algiers (£359)
- Antalya (£466)
- Athens (£444)
- Bodrum (£612)
- Bucharest (£302)
- Catania (£458)
- Chania (£568)
- Corfu (£446)
- Dalaman (£452)
- Fuerteventura (£426)
- Funchal (£616)
- Gran Canaria (£500)
- Heraklion (£582)
- Istanbul (£424)
- Izmir (£600)
- Kalamata (£544)
- Kefalonia (£472)
- Kos (£516)
- Lanzarote (£430)
- Larnaca (£548)
- Malta (£534)
- Marrakech (£384)
- Mykonos (£530)
- Paphos (£486)
- Ponta Delgada (£628)
- Preveza Lefkada (£522)
- Reykjavik (£394)
- Rhodes (£594)
- Santorini (£534)
- Sharm El Sheikh (£762)
- Skiathos (£690)
- Sofia (£312)
- Tenerife (£500)
- Thessaloniki (£452)
- Tirana (£290)
- Zakynthos (£422)
Whilst Helsinki is still listed in Low Fare Finder, British Airways no longer operates this route. All flights are operated by Finnair and fares in Business Class are high. It will still earn 160 tier points return.
I ignored Amman and Cairo because, whilst earning 160 tier points return, they are technically long haul flights – albeit on short haul aircraft – and priced accordingly at £962 and £956 respectively. Tel Aviv will join this list from April 2025 when it drops to 160 tier points return.
Sofia, Bucharest and Tirana are the cheapest options at around £300 return on certain dates.
This list is more about convenience than price, however. After all, you could spend £320 on two x 80 tier point Club Europe return flights to Newcastle over two different weekends which would be a cheaper way of earning 160 tier points than many of the places above. This list is for someone who needs up to 160 tier points and wants to achieve it in one go whilst visiting somewhere different.
Don’t forget to look into the BA Holidays ‘double tier points’ offer before you book. Full details are here on ba.com.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 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:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
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.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
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.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
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.
American Express Business Platinum
Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
Jonathan 
John 
meta 
NorthernLass 
Steve 
Rob 
Elt164 
polly 
Mikel 
Amy C 
Jess 
David 
Londonsteve 
Jim Lovejoy 
John 
gillydee 
David Smith 
AJA 
Richie 
Martin 
CJD 
JP 
daveinitalia 
BA Flyer IHG Stayer 
Comments (63)