- Mr Plane Guy
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
British Airways Tier Points: Bonus System Explained
By Mr Plane Guy | Plane Travel News & Reviews with Altitude
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and buy, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you it keeps this blog flying high (and fuels my airport coffee habit).
British Airways has just confirmed some big news for frequent flyers: the bonus tier points offer first launched in December 2024 is now permanent.
And the best bit? From 25 November 2025 you’ll earn these extra tier points automatically no more opting in.
If you fly BA for work, or you’re planning a long-overdue holiday, these changes make it meaningfully easier to climb the British Airways Club tiers and unlock benefits like lounge access, priority security, extra baggage and those all-important BA Silver perks.
For my full guide to Avios 👉 The Plane Guide to Avios: How Avios Actually Work
What Are BA Tier Points?
Tier points are BA’s status currency, completely separate from Avios. Think of tier points as your ladder to better travel:
Priority check-in & boarding
Free seat selection
Extra luggage
Lounge access (from Silver)
Better reward availability (Gold)
Your membership resets every year on 30 April, but once you earn a tier you keep it for the following full membership year.
Tier requirements (2025 onwards):
Tier | Tier Points Needed | Alternative Qualification |
Blue | 0 | Instant |
Bronze | 3,500 | 25 eligible flights |
Silver | 7,500 | 50 eligible flights |
Gold | 20,000 | 5× Club World flights or 6 CW returns + BA Holidays week |
The New BA Bonus Tier Points (Permanent From 25 November)
From 25 November 2025, all BA Club members will automatically earn extra tier points per flight, depending on cabin.
No registration. No promo page. It’s built in.
Extra Tier Points Per Flight
Cabin | Extra Tier Points |
Euro Traveller | 75 |
Club Europe | 175 |
World Traveller | 150 |
World Traveller Plus | 275 |
Club World | 400 |
First | 550 |
These bonus points stack on top of the tier points earned from your eligible spend.
How You Actually Earn BA Tier Points in 2026
1. Earn Tier Points on Your Flight Spend
BA now awards 1 tier point for every £1 of eligible spend:
Flight fare (minus taxes)
Seat upgrades
Paid seats
Paid checked bags
Fees and ancillaries (Not included: taxes and government fees)
Example: A return World Traveller Plus flight to New York with £1,120 of eligible spend earns:
1,120 tier points from spend
+275 bonus tier points= 1,395 tier points total
2. Earn Tier Points on BA Holidays Packages
This is the underrated fast track.
You now earn 1 tier point per £1 on the entire package price of:
Flight + Hotel holidays
Flight + Car holidays
No minimum nights. Tier points are split between all travellers (excluding infants).
Example: A £5,448 Flight + Hotel booking for two earns:
2,724 tier points per person
bonus tier points (275–550 depending on cabin)
3. Earn Tier Points With the BA Amex Premium Plus Card
If you enrol by 25 January 2026, you can earn up to 2,500 tier points from your spending until February 1, 2026:
750 tier points after spending £15,000
+750 after £20,000
+1,000 after £25,000
Total possible: 2,500 tier points
BA Silver: Why It’s the Easiest to Reach in 2026
BA Silver benefits include:
Business-class lounge access (global Oneworld Sapphire)
Priority check-in & fast-track security
Priority boarding
Extra baggage allowance
Free seat selection at booking
10% discount at The Wine Flyer
The tier threshold is 7,500 tier points, or 50 BA flights.
With the new bonus structure, hitting Silver is noticeably easier. especially if you mix one BA Holidays booking with one or two long-haul flights.
Bonus: Milestone Avios Rewards (New From April 2025)
Hit these tier point thresholds in any membership year and you’ll unlock extra Avios:
Tier Points | Bonus Avios |
5,500 | 2,500 |
11,000 | 4,000 |
16,000 | 5,000 |
This is BA’s way of tying the tier points system back into Avios, nice touch if you’re working toward a redemption.
Tracking BA Reward Seats the Easy Way
Plan Smarter: Find Avios Reward Seats Without the Stress
If you’re hunting for Avios redemptions especially Club World, you’ll know BA’s site can feel like a maze.
Instead of checking daily at midnight, Reward Flight Finder does the work for you.
Reward Flight Finder searches up to 355 days of Avios seats across British Airways and Qatar Airways in seconds. You can:
Set Instant Seat Alerts for hard-to-find BA redemptions
Use the Worldwide Map to see where your Avios can take you
Search All cabins on one clean page
Upgrade to Silver or Gold plans with a 7-day free trial
👉 Try Reward Flight Finder free for 7 days here
More Plane Reads
Check out lots of Airport Lounge Reviews
Read my Flight Reviews
Why are so many British Airways flights being delayed and cancelled?
How I turned £34 of Tesco Clubcard points into a flight from London to New York
How I went from zero Avios to a Qatar Airways Business Class upgrade in 3 months
Find cheap flights fast, without endless searching
Free Flight Upgrade with Avios? Here’s How the Barclays Voucher Really Works
📩 Get Next Week’s Tip First: Sign up to Plane News Weekly for early access to the Plane Avios Tip of the Week, plus flight deals, lounge news and Plane Honest takes.
Final Boarding Call: Is the New BA Tier Point System Better?
In truth:The spend-based system is still harder for the average traveller, but the permanent bonus tier points do smooth the edges.
If you combine:
one BA Holidays booking
one long-haul flight in any cabin
one Reward Flight Finder seat alert
and your BA Amex spending
Hello, I’m Paul a professional jet-setter and all-around plane travel pro. After 15 years working in and around planes, I became a flight delay expert at a London Airport and mastered plane travel hacks, a PLANE flight expert with BIG travel plans but small carry-on.
Now, I share PLANE travel news, tips, reviews, and deals with honesty, humour, and zero baggage! Thanks for reading British Airways Tier Points: Bonus System Explained.
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