STILL ON: Get British Airways Silver or Bronze equivalent if you have status elsewhere

Now that British Airways Club is up and running, you may be thinking about how you can earn BA or another oneworld alliance status going forward.

Whilst we haven’t mentioned it for a few months, you can still get a de facto British Airways status match via Royal Jordanian.

If you have airline status with most major carriers outside the oneworld alliance, Royal Jordanian will match it.

You can apply here.

You must either live in the UK or Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Netherlands, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey or the UAE to take part.

An application fee of $49 (BA Bronze equivalent) or $149 (BA Silver equivalent) is payable.

Royal Jordanian is a BA partner in the oneworld alliance

British Airways may refuse to do status matches, but Royal Jordanian has different ideas.

Royal Jordanian is a member of the oneworld alliance, alongside British Airways. If you have Gold Sparrow status with Royal Jordanian, you will receive virtually all of the benefits of British Airways Silver status when you fly with BA.

• BA lounge access for you and a guest? Tick
• Extra baggage allowance? Tick
• Use business class check-in desks? Tick
• Free seat selection? Tick
• Priority boarding? Tick

Priority security is NOT a oneworld Silver benefit but you will get it when flying with British Airways. You need to check with other oneworld carriers.

Your Royal Jordanian status will also be valid when flying with all of the other oneworld carriers – Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, American Airlines, Qantas etc.

Which airline statuses is Royal Jordanian matching?

You can match status from the following programmes to Royal Jordanian. I have listed the status level you need to get Gold Sparrow status with Royal Jordanian, which is equivalent to British Airways Silver.

Silver Jay status with Royal Jordanian, equivalent to British Airways Bronze, is also available if you have the next lowest elite tier with any of these programmes.

To get British Airways Silver equivalent status (ie Royal Jordanian Gold Sparrow) you must have:

• Air Europa (Gold, Platinum)
• Air France KLM (Gold, Platinum, Ultimate)
• Egyptair (Elite, Gold, Platinum)
• Emirates (Gold, Platinum)
• Etihad (Gold, Platinum)
• Gulf Air (Gold, Black)
• Kuwait Airways (Gold, Platinum)
• Lufthansa et al (Senator, HON Circle)
• Middle East Airlines (Gold, Platinum, Presidents Club)
• Oman Air (Gold)
• Saudia (Gold)
• Scandinavian Airlines (Gold, Diamond, Pandion)
• TAP Air Portugal (Gold, Navigator)
• Turkish Airlines (Elite, Elite Plus)
• Virgin Atlantic (Gold)

You can’t get top tier status via this match

Before I go on, you need to know that Royal Jordanian has different status tiers to British Airways. When I talk about ‘Gold’ or ‘Silver’, you need to note which airline I am discussing.

Royal Club, the Royal Jordanian programme, has three elite levels:

• Platinum Hawk is the same as British Airways Gold

• Gold Sparrow is the same as British Airways Silver

• Silver Jay is the same as British Airways Bronze

Here are the two key things to note about this match:

• Royal Jordanian is not matching anyone to Platinum Hawk. If you are top tier with another programme, you will only get Gold Sparrow. This still gets you lounge access with British Airways.

• If you have a lower elite tier with an airline listed above, you should be eligible to receive Silver Jay. This is not a lot of use, in the same way that British Airways Bronze status isn’t too valuable. It doesn’t offer lounge access and only offers free seat selection on BA seven days before departure. That said, you may consider the $49 fee for Silver Jay to be worth it for the seat selection benefit when flying BA.

How long will my Royal Jordanian status last?

12 months.

Do I need to put my Royal Jordanian status in my British Airways bookings to get my benefits?

You will definitely need to put your Royal Jordanian number into future BA bookings to get free seat selection.

You may NOT need it for lounge access, priority boarding etc because much of the time you can show one card to an agent and keep a different number in your booking. At airports with automated gates you may need to have your Royal Jordanian number in your booking to access priority security lines.

You would need to swap the frequent flyer number in your booking at check-in to earn Avios and tier points. You could also do it in the lounge if there was a BA ticket desk.

The bottom line is that you need a boarding pass in your hand at the time of boarding which shows your British Airways Club number if you want to earn Avios and tier points, instead of Royal Jordanian miles and tier credit.

That said, you may want to credit your flights to Royal Jordanian long term. Following the British Airways Club changes, it is the easiest way to earn BA Gold-equivalent on segments. Credit 46 one way BA flights to Royal Jordanian and you get Platinum Hawk top tier status, equivalent to BA Gold.

Is there a fee for the status match?

Yes. There is a $149 application fee for Gold Sparrow status.

Silver Jay, equivalent to British Airways Bronze status, has a lower $49 fee.

The terms state that your match will be processed within five business days.

How do I apply?

There is a special website for the status match which is here. I recommend you read the FAQ and T&C before proceeding.

You will need to sign up for a Royal Jordanian account before applying for your match. There is a link on the status match site.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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.

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.

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