Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Which partners should you fly under the new British Airways tier point system?

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The new British Airways system for earning status, outlined in detail here, seemed to signal the end of the tier point run.

With BA flights earning 1 tier point per £1 of net spending, a Silver card (£7,500 of net spend) would require around £15,000 of gross spend on economy flights or around £10,000 of spend on business class. This is totally out of reach for most people.

There are, however, interesting loopholes available which will help some flyers.

Earning British Airways tier points from airline partners

Except for flights flown as part of joint venture agreements (eg flying American Airlines across the Atlantic), British Airways does not see your fare data. This is why most flights on partner airlines will continue to earn tier points based on distance flown and travel class.

BA has tried to kneecap its partners by imposing caps on the tier points you can earn.

Take a look at the airline partner chart here.

Looking specifically at business class flights, you can split airlines into two lists:

Airlines to consider, where business class earns 25% to 50% of miles flown:

  • Aer Lingus
  • Finnair
  • Japan Airlines
  • Qatar Airways

Airlines to ignore, where business class earns 12.5% to 25% of miles flown:

  • Alaska Airlines
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Fiji Airways
  • Malaysia Airlines
  • Qantas
  • Royal Air Maroc
  • Royal Jordanian
  • Sri Lankan Airlines

American Airlines and Iberia will award tier points based on money spent.

Note that if you book a codeshare flight on ba.com which carries a BA flight number but is operated by a partner airline, you will earn tier points based on the BA model, ie money spent.

Earning British Airways tier points with partner airlines

Tier point arbitrage will still exist

The airlines in the top list above are where you should be looking to earn cheap(er) tier points. This means flying Aer Lingus, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways.

These airlines will offer you 25% of miles flown on restricted business class flights and 50% of miles flown on semi and fully flexible business class tickets. The latter are generally in D (cheapest), C and J sub-classes.

Let’s be clear. You are NOT going to get a bargain bucket Finnair or Qatar Airways flight for a couple of thousand pounds in D, C or J.

Heathrow to Bangkok on Finnair, for example, will be around £4,000 in D class. This will earn you just over 6,000 British Airways Club tier points in the new system.

In comparison, a BA flight to Bangkok costing £4,000 would, netting out taxes and charges, only earn you around 3,500 tier points at 1 per £1 spent.

I’m not sure this offers much respite to leisure travellers looking to retain status – it’s still an expensive way to do it.

However, if you are travelling for work and you are able to choose Aer Lingus, Finnair, Japan Airlines or Qatar Airways in a semi-flexible business class ticket bucket, you will increase your chances of earning British Airways status.

Leisure travellers on sale tickets could do well on very long trips, even earning just 25% of miles flown. For example, look at a deeply discounted Qatar Airways business class flight (I or R class) to Australasia. Pick up a deal out of Europe for, say, £3,000 in a sale and – at 25% of miles flown – you’d bank 5,000+ tier points, as well as the excellent Qatar Airways seat and service.

PS. We will, as April approaches, be running a series of articles on the other oneworld frequent flyer schemes and whether you would earn status more quickly with them. The answer is, obviously, yes.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (February 2025)

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 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 card

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Comments (81)

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

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