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You need 3,500 Tier Points for BA Bronze, 7,500 for Silver and 20,000 for Gold, earned between 1 April and 31 March. From 1 April 2027 Silver rises to 8,000 and Gold to 21,000, with Bronze unchanged. Each level adds perks such as priority boarding, lounge access and extra baggage.
Checked against British Airways published terms, November 2026.
Tier Points needed for status in one collection year
The collection year runs 1 April to 31 March. Bronze and Silver can also be reached on flight count instead: 25 eligible flights for Bronze, 50 for Silver, whichever comes first. From 1 April 2027 the Silver threshold rises to 8,000 Tier Points and Gold to 21,000. Calculate the Tier Points on a specific fare.
The basics, fast
BA Tier Points decide your status level in The British Airways Club. Avios are what you spend on reward flights. You earn both on the same paid booking, and they're counted separately.
Decide what perks you get
Decide where you go using reward flights
Chasing status only pays off if you can actually find the reward seats to spend the Avios it earns you.
Working out the Avios cost of a specific route instead? Use the Avios Calculator for exact Avios and taxes, or the BA Tier Points Calculator to turn a fare into a Tier Point figure.
The four tiers
Thresholds, flight alternatives, oneworld equivalents and Avios earn rates for each BA status level.
| Tier | Tier PointsTo 31 March 2027 | Tier PointsFrom 1 April 2027 | Flights alternative | oneworld Tier | Avios per £1(BA or AA) | Avios per €1(Iberia) | The benefit that matters most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 0 | 0 | Join the Club | None | 6 | 5 | Household Account, pool Avios with up to six people |
| Bronze | 3,500 | 3,500 | 25 eligible flights | Ruby | 7 | ||
| Silver | 7,500 | 8,000 | 50 eligible flights | Sapphire | 8 | ||
| Gold | 20,000 | 21,000 | No flight count route | Emerald | 9 |
Thresholds and Avios rates are British Airways published figures. Whichever you reach first counts, so 25 eligible flights (flights with a British Airways flight code) takes you to Bronze even if you are short of 3,500 Tier Points. There is no flight count route to Gold.
Your Tier Point balance resets on 31 March, but your membership year runs to 30 April. Because of that overlap, a new tier earned mid-year lasts for the rest of the current membership year plus all of the next one up to 13 months of benefits from a single qualifying year.
Earning rates
Since 1 April 2025 Tier Points follow spend rather than distance and cabin bands. Every £1 of eligible spend earns at least one Tier Point, and some spend earns two.
| What you spend on | Rate | Annual cap | What counts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eligible flights | 1 per £1 | None | Base fare plus carrier imposed charges on flights marketed by British Airways |
| Cabin and fare bonus | 75 to 1,250 per flight | None | A fixed bonus on top of the per £1 rate, set by cabin and fare flexibility |
| Seat selection and extra bags | 2 per £1 | None | Paid add ons bought from British Airways, including on a reward booking |
| Sustainable Aviation Fuel contributions | 2 per £1 | 2,000 | Contributions made through BA’s SAF programme, from 1 April 2026 |
| British Airways Holidays | 1 per £1 | None | The whole package, split between the passengers on the booking. Infants under two do not earn |
| BA Amex Premium Plus card | Threshold based | 2,500 | 750 at £15,000 spend, a further 750 at £20,000, a further 1,000 at £25,000. Premium Plus only, registration required |
Government and airport taxes, credit card surcharges, service fees and change fees never earn Tier Points. Neither do reward flights booked with Avios.
Cabin and fare bonus
This is the part most guides leave out. Alongside the 1 point per £1, every British Airways flight pays a fixed bonus set by the cabin and how flexible the fare is. A cheap Club World seat and a fully flexible one earn very different bonuses on the same route.
| Cabin | Base fare | Semi flexible | Flexible | Fully flexible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Euro Traveller | 75 | 175 | n/a | 275 |
| Club Europe | 175 | 275 | n/a | 375 |
| World Traveller | 150 | 250 | 350 | 450 |
| World Traveller Plus | 275 | 375 | 475 | 575 |
| Club World | 500 | 700 | 900 | 1,100 |
| First | 650 | 850 | 1,050 | 1,250 |
Flights marketed by American Airlines and Iberia use a lower table: 75 for short haul Economy and Premium Economy, 175 for short haul Business and First, and 150, 275, 500 and 650 for long haul Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First.
The extra Tier Points above depend on when you booked as well as when you fly. You earn these rates if your flight departs before 1 April 2027 or you booked before 25 November 2026. The new rates apply only when both are true: you booked on or after 25 November 2026 and you fly on or after 1 April 2027. British Airways sets this out in its Tier Points terms.
Milestones
Passing certain Tier Point totals pays a bonus Avios reward, whether or not you reach the next Tier.
| Tier Points reached | Bonus Avios |
|---|---|
| 5,500 | 2,500 |
| 11,000 | 4,000 |
| 16,000 | 5,000 |
| 35,000 | One Gold Upgrade for Two voucher |
| 50,000 | Two Gold Upgrade for One vouchers |
Upgrade vouchers only pay off if you can find upgrade availability on the route you want, which is what a reward seat Alert is for. From 1 April 2027 the first three milestones move to 5,750, 12,000 and 17,000 Tier Points.
Want the number for a specific booking rather than the rules? Put your base fare, carrier charges, seat fees and bag fees into the BA Tier Points Calculator and it will tell you exactly what that flight earns.
The short answer
No. British Airways does not sell Tier Points, and the Club terms and conditions are explicit that Tier Points, including lifetime Tier Points, must be earned by the member and are not transferable.
What you can do is turn money into Tier Points without getting on a plane. These are the only two routes British Airways actually offers, and both are capped.
From 1 April 2026 a SAF contribution earns 2 Tier Points per £1, capped at 2,000 Tier Points per membership year. A £1,000 contribution therefore earns 2,000 Tier Points, which is more than half the way to Bronze without a single flight.
The Premium Plus card pays 750 Tier Points at £15,000 of eligible spend, another 750 at £20,000 and another 1,000 at £25,000. You have to register, and the free BA Amex card is not included. From 1 April 2027 this changes to 1 Tier Point per £10 of spend, capped at 3,000 a year.
Stack both routes at the cap and you get 4,500 Tier Points a year, enough for Bronze and most of the way to Silver, for £26,000 of card spend plus a £1,000 contribution. Nobody reaches Gold this way. Treat both as a top up on flying, not a substitute for it.
The long game
Your annual balance resets on 31 March. Your lifetime balance never does.
Every Tier Point you earn is added to a lifetime total that sits alongside your annual count. Reach 550,000 lifetime Tier Points and British Airways awards Gold membership for life, which keeps First lounges, First check in and the Gold reward seat benefits whether or not you fly again.
No. Gold for Life is the only lifetime tier in The British Airways Club, and it takes 550,000 lifetime Tier Points. Silver and Bronze have to be requalified for every collection year.
When the spend based system started on 1 April 2025, existing lifetime balances were converted proportionally rather than reset. Members who already held Gold for Life kept it, and received the greater of their converted balance or 550,000.
Because lifetime Tier Points now accrue on spend rather than distance, high value premium cabin travel builds the lifetime balance far faster than a large number of cheap short haul flights, even where both produce the same annual Tier.
British Airways also operates an invitation level above Gold, commonly reported to require around 65,000 Tier Points a year. British Airways does not publish the qualifying figures on its public Club pages, so treat any number you read for it, including that one, as community reported rather than confirmed.
Before you book
More status runs are wasted on ineligible spend than on bad routing. These are the exclusions that catch people out.
Where a discount code reduces the fare, Tier Points are calculated on what you actually pay after the reduction. Where Avios reduce the fare on a part payment booking, they are calculated on the full fare before the discount. Same saving, different Tier Point outcome.
Tier benefits
Thresholds are per collection year, ending 31 March.
0TP
Free to join, entry level from day one
6 Avios per £1 with BA or American Airlines · 5 per €1 with Iberia
3,500TP
Or 25 eligible flights · oneworld Ruby
7 Avios per £1 with BA or American Airlines · 6 per €1 with Iberia
7,500TP
Or 50 eligible flights · oneworld Sapphire
8 Avios per £1 with BA or American Airlines · 7 per €1 with Iberia
20,000TP
No flight count route · oneworld Emerald
9 Avios per £1 with BA or American Airlines · 8 per €1 with Iberia
Gold’s additional availability and Priority Reward only help if you are looking on the right day. British Airways guarantees at least four Club World, two World Traveller Plus and eight Economy reward seats on every long haul flight, released around 355 days out, and those go quickly. Reward Flight Finder shows every open British Airways and Iberia reward seat on your route in one view and Alerts you when a new one appears.
Live British Airways and Iberia reward availability, 355 days ahead, in one view. Set an Alert and we will tell you the moment a seat opens on your route.
Questions, answered
You need 3,500 Tier Points for Bronze, 7,500 for Silver and 20,000 for Gold in a single collection year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. Bronze and Silver also have a flight count alternative: 25 eligible flights for Bronze or 50 for Silver, whichever you reach first. There is no flight count route to Gold.
No. British Airways does not sell Tier Points, and the Club terms and conditions state that Tier Points must be earned by the member and are not transferable. What you can do is convert spend into Tier Points without flying. A Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution earns 2 Tier Points per £1 up to 2,000 a year, and the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card earns up to 2,500 a year at set spend thresholds. Both together cap out at 4,500 a year, which is Bronze and most of Silver but nowhere near Gold.
Yes. British Airways Holidays packages earn 1 Tier Point per £1 of eligible spend on the whole package, not just the flight, and the total is split between the passengers on the booking. Infants under two do not earn. Hotel or car components added separately in Manage My Booking, or added as individually priced items through the Shopping Basket, do not qualify. That makes a genuine family package one of the quicker routes to Bronze or Silver.
British Airways has granted status holds in exceptional circumstances such as illness or extended periods when travel is not possible. It is assessed case by case rather than being a published entitlement, so contact The British Airways Club directly rather than assuming it applies to you.
Your Tier Point balance resets to zero on 31 March, the end of the collection year. Your membership year is different: it ends on 30 April. That is why status earned part way through a collection year runs for the rest of the current membership year plus the whole of the next one, up to 13 months.
Bronze is oneworld Ruby, Silver is oneworld Sapphire and Gold is oneworld Emerald. Your benefits travel with you across partner airlines including American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.
No. British Airways states that you do not earn Tier Points on Reward Flights. Paid extras added to a reward booking, such as seat selection, extra bags or a cash upgrade, do still earn Tier Points at the usual rate. On a part payment booking where Avios reduce the fare, Tier Points are calculated on the full eligible spend before the Avios discount is applied. To check a paid booking, use the BA Tier Points Calculator.
You earn 1 Tier Point for every £1 of eligible spend, which British Airways defines as the base fare plus carrier imposed charges. On top of that you earn a fixed bonus for the cabin and fare type you book, from 75 Tier Points on a Euro Traveller base fare up to 1,250 on a First fully flexible fare. Government and airport taxes do not earn Tier Points. For the figure on a specific booking, use the BA Tier Points Calculator.
Every Tier Point you earn is added to a lifetime balance that never resets on 31 March. Reach 550,000 lifetime Tier Points and British Airways awards Gold membership for life. Lifetime balances were rebased proportionally on 1 April 2025 when the spend based system started, and existing Gold for Life members received the greater of their converted balance or 550,000. There is no lifetime Silver or Bronze.
Yes. Joining The British Airways Club is free and you start at Blue. You earn 6 Avios per £1 with BA or American Airlines, can pool Avios in a Household Account with up to six other people, and can claim Avios and Tier Points on BA flights taken in the three months before you joined.
Yes, on eligible flights marketed by qualifying partners and credited to your British Airways Club account. Flights marketed by American Airlines and Iberia use a separate, lower bonus Tier Point table, and deeply discounted fares and some codeshares do not qualify. Check the fare terms before you book. One thing to be clear about: Reward Flight Finder searches and Alerts on British Airways and Iberia reward seat availability. For award seats on Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific or Finnair’s own inventory, book through BA Club partner booking or the partner’s own programme.
See every reward seat open on your route right now.
How it works
Departure, arrival and cabin. Choose two passengers if you are planning to use a Companion Voucher.
All open British Airways and Iberia reward seats in one view, 355 days ahead. Book directly on the airline site.
We monitor your route and tell you the moment a seat opens up, by email or SMS.
| 6 |
| Business Class check in and priority boarding |
| 7 |
| Business lounges worldwide, whatever cabin you fly |
| 8 |
| First lounges and additional reward seat availability |