NEWS: British Airways annual Tier Point reduction extension

British Airways Tier Point reduction extension 

The BA Tier Points requirement reductions for Covid have always been a bit confusing, well now just to confuse you further, BA has changed them.

You can find the official announcement on ba.com here.

Here is what the BA website says,

Tier Point threshold reduction extended

In addition, we previously reduced the amount of Tier Points needed to renew or upgrade each Tier by 25% until June 2022. We have now extended this by another six months, so that the reduced thresholds are now applicable for all Members until 31 December 2022.

Currently, the 25% reduced Tier Point thresholds apply to all Members until 31 December 2022 as follows:

• Bronze: 225 Tier Points or 18 eligible flights
• Silver: 450 Tier Points or 37 eligible flights
• Gold: 1125 Tier Points

From 1 January 2023, the Tier Point thresholds will revert back to normal i.e:

• Bronze: 300 Tier Points or 25 eligible flights
• Silver: 600 Tier Points or 50 eligible flights
• Gold: 1500 Tier Points

Members with a Tier Point collection end date up to June 2022 can benefit from the reduced Tier Point thresholds to upgrade their Tier status.

Members with a Tier Point collection end date between July 2022 and December 2022 can benefit from the reduced Tier Point thresholds to retain, or upgrade, their Tier status.

Members with a Tier Point collection end date in 2023 can benefit from the reduced thresholds to renew or upgrade their status for the following membership year, if they earn the required number of Tier Points by 31 December 2022 only. From 1 January 2023 the reduced Tier thresholds will no longer apply.

Please note, Members with a Tier Point collection end date in 2023 will see the normal Tier Point threshold in the ‘My Account’ area on ba.com and the British Airways app from the start of their Tier Point collection year.

If your Tier Point collection end date is in 2023 and you are eligible to upgrade your Tier status under the reduced Tier Point thresholds, your membership will automatically be upgraded once you have earnt the required number of Tier Points. There is no need to contact us to arrange this.

If your Tier Point collection end date is in 2023 and you are eligible to renew your Tier status under the reduced Tier Point thresholds, your membership will be automatically renewed in January 2023. There is no need to contact us to arrange this.

Please note, you will still need to have flown the minimum number of British Airways or Iberia flights to qualify, which is two flights for Bronze membership, and four flights for Silver and Gold membership.

Key points TLDR:

• All reduced tier point thresholds end on 31 December 2022
• Even if that’s partway through your TP year, you will have to get all the TPs to renew or get higher status by 31 December 22 or the usual tier points will apply from 1 January 2023 for the rest of your TP year. 
• Your TP year will not show the reduced tier points in your account if your renewal is January 23 onwards but the above still applies. 

So what does this actually mean for renewals?

So let’s take my own year as an example. As a Gold Guest List (GGL) I need 3000 points normally to renew. On the reduced threshold, it’s 2250 TPs. My tier point year starts on 9 March 2022, ending 8 March 2023. If I manage to get 2250 by the end of December 2022, I’ll get the lower renewal threshold and I’ll requalify for GGL. If I don’t make 2250 by the end of December then I will have to get the usual 3000 tier points by March 23. However, my tier point qualification in my account will still say that I need 3000 TPs. Once I make 2250 TPs by 31 Dec 22, it should automatically renew me at GGL. 

If I was a lower tier such as silver and wanted to make Gold this year, I’d also need to collect all the reduced level of points (1125) by 31 December 2022. If I got to 1 January and only had 1100, then the requirement would go back to 1500 to be collected by 8 March 23. 

So basically to qualify for the reduction, you need to have got all the reduced threshold tier points shown above by 31 December 2022. Luckily for me, I should manage that which is great news! Obviously, if your year starts in October for example, it will be a lot more of a struggle to get your tier points in less than 3 months! 

If you have a tier point year from July to December 22 it means that for the year 21/22 you get the reduced tier points and then your new year from 22 to 23 you need to earn all the tier points by 31 December to get the reduction or it will be the usual tier point targets. 

Therefore it could be a good year to consider getting a higher status with the reduced thresholds and travel looking like it will be much more normal by summer. For example to get silver you could do one of the longer-range European destinations on the BA Holidays double tier points offer and get 320 TPs out of 450 with one 5-night trip. 

Thanks to Kevin for spotting this.