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BREAKING: British Airways increase tier points again + other changes and Avios Shop Increases Redemption Limit to 50%

British Airways increases tier points again

For the second time since Tiermageddon in December 2024, British Airways has announced changes to how they award tier points. Previously, they announced a temporary bonus based on the cabin travelled, which was then made permanent. Now they are adding extra tier points depending on the fare category, as well as some other changes. I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks this smacks of “Tell me you made a mistake by setting the tier points levels too high, without admitting you made a mistake”. I wonder if they will just keep tinkering until people start to come back? 

British Airways The Club cards

Some people may have received an email; so far, I am not one of them, so don’t worry if you haven’t gotten one yet. 

 

Cabin bonus tier point increases

Here are the new tier point level “bonuses” based on the cabin AND the fare basis:

As before, you won’t receive any bonus for hand baggage only fares.

 

Cabin bonus on American Airlines and Iberia

American Airline B777-200

There are also new bonuses on American Airlines and Iberia flights. Since the changes, the earning rate for many partners has been very low, so this is a potential improvement, although for some routes, like a transcontinental US flight, it may be worse than the original rates. 

Here is what you will earn on AA and Iberia in terms of a cabin bonus each way:

This includes flights taken as part of a British Airways Holidays package, but does not include Basic Economy fares.

  • Economy short haul: 75 tier points
  • Business class short haul: 175 tier points
  • Economy long haul: 150 tier points
  • Premium economy long haul: 275 tier points
  • Business class long haul: 500 tier points
  • First class long haul: 650 tier points

If you normally travel on the cheapest fares, you are unlikely to see any difference when flying BA. Those who spend more cash on flexible fares will benefit more from the change and get more tier points. This seems a very odd way to tackle the issue: BA has alienated previously loyal leisure travellers, or those who had a small amount of business travel and topped up the rest of their tier points with their personal travel. Since the majority of these people CHOSE BA, unlike business travellers who often have no choice in who they use, this doesn’t benefit the people who have been most affected by the changes. There are some smaller businesses that have also moved their business away from BA due to the changes, which may benefit, but I am failing to see who else it is going to entice back to BA?

 

SAF – double the TP and buy up to 2000 tier points per year

The third change will be useful for those who are close to making status but don’t want to take a flight. When The Club was first announced, you could earn up to 1000 tier points from buying SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel). You used to earn 1 Tier point for every £1 you spend on SAF and 10 Avios. SAF contributions will now be capped at 2,000 tier points per membership year from 1 April 2026. You will also earn 2 Tier Points per £1 spent. You can buy SAF here.

Finally, you will earn 2 tier points for every £1 spent on baggage and seating, double the previous 1 TP per £1.

You can find all the official details here on the BA website.

What do you think of the changes? Does it make you reconsider whether to fly with British Airways? Let us know in the comments below.

 

Avios Shop Increases Redemption Limit to 50% 

Avios Shop, the online retail site from Avios, has announced that it is increasing the redemption limit for its products to 50%.

If you are not familiar with Avio Shop, you can use your Avios to discount popular products and accessories in ‘The Edit’ from Avios Shop by up 50% of their retail price. This is an increase from the limit of 25% set when the retailer launched last year. 
Here are some examples of the rates of Avios you would need to get 50% off:
Those purchasing items from ‘The Edit’ by Avios Shop will also continue to collect 2 Avios per £1 on the cash element of their shopping, including when using Avios as part payment. 
Launched in 2025, ‘The Edit’ by Avios Shop offers a range of travel, technology, and wellness products which can be paid for in part with Avios, or with cash. The full range of brands and products available to purchase can be viewed and purchased via the Avios App or at www.avios.com/en-GB/avios-shop  
 
The key question is, is it a good use of your Avios? The short answer is no. Taking the cheapest item they have, an AirTag for £29, you can spend 2440 Avios to save £14.50. I’m not normally one for valuing Avios exactly, but the general wisdom is that an Avios should be worth around 1p as a minimum redemption value. If you were sticking to a 1p valuation, you should only be spending 1450 Avios to save £14.50. However, with some companies like Apple, the price of new items is usually the same everywhere (except when included on a phone contract), so at least you are unlikely to be overpaying on the full cash price.
 
Using Avios to discount goods has one good purpose: if you are not planning on flying BA ever again, then it is a good way to use up small amounts of Avios.  If you do plan to fly BA again, you can use Avios to offset smaller cost items such as food and drink in Eurotraveller, as well as seat selection, which should use up the spare Avios. 
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28 comments

  1. erm… there’s only 2 weeks left in the current Tier earnings year, how is this supposed to help rescue lost loyalty now BA? My flights for the next couple months are already booked – not on BA. Indeed I spent my last hours in the BA LHR Gold lounge last month signing up for the Lufthansa status match 🙂

    I’ll be dropping to BA Silver in April as I’m 2k Tier short of 20k Gold, but as Lufthansa Senator will now be flying Star Alliance a lot more. So the horses have already bolted, dear BA and McKinsey geniuses.

  2. Nah. I switched to Finnair Plus and will be Platinum by end of April, just as I lose BA Gold.

  3. BA still taking business advice from Gerald Ratner.

    PS: for those too young to remember, Gerald Ratner built the UK’s biggest jewellery chain, then destroyed it in a single speech by calling his own products “total crap.” The company lost ~£500 million in value, he was forced out, and the brand had to be renamed. He later rebuilt his career and his story became the definitive business cautionary tale about never publicly insulting your own customers.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    1. PS: I’m already Platinum (Emerald OW) with Qatar thanks to an Accor status match and my wife is not far away.

  4. I responded last night to thei email I received from BA saying they are 12 months (or actually 15 months late) with their “Tier points in 2026: what’s new”. It’s far too late for them to recover the damage done with the rushed and ham fisted introduction of the British Airways Club.
    I am done with British Airways and their Club, probably like many many more once loyal.BAEC members.

  5. Echo much of the above. I‘ve been loyal to BA throughout the years but have also completed my status match to LH and have booked most of my flights with them for the remainder of the year. Too little, too late.

  6. Made GGL for the first time this year thanks to the new scheme rewarding spend rather than trips. I know that doesn’t suit everyone but if the scheme is meant to generate revenue rather than points flying then it seems to be working?

  7. It would be fascinating to see the annual management bonus structures. I suspect they are all about cost savings and not about improving yields, performance kpi’s and customer satisfaction.
    I doubt BA directors ever mystery shop their own company or probably ever use the singularly worst and least reliable website site of any major airline.
    I despair.

  8. It would be fascinating to see the annual management bonus structures. I suspect they are all about cost savings and not about improving yields, performance kpi’s and customer satisfaction.
    I doubt BA directors ever mystery shop their own company or probably ever use the singularly worst and least reliable website site of any major airline.
    I despair.

  9. Too little too late.. being gold for years I gave up last year and actively avoid BA. I fly with them only if I have to. It is a full package: delays, dirty cabin, zero service and now rubbish membership. Thanks but no, thanks.

  10. Giving extra tier points for flexibility (fare class) simply goes to prove BA don’t understand their own system and also that they just want business travellers in their “club” – ironic when the new group drops “executive”.
    As tier points are based on ticket price you already get extra tier points according to fare class (flexibility)!!
    What complete idiots! Im looking forward to a really quiet F lounge in T5 when travelling in J when no cabin on the flight. It may be that the Concord Room is busier than the F lounge. 🤣

  11. Oh, Michele:
    “gotten one”
    Tsk. Are you based in Idaho these days?

  12. I am Silver but have given up on BA. All my future flights bar one are with other carriers. I now only do the 2 for 1 Avios flights with BA. I typified the points collecting leisure traveller and would add extra ‘tier run’ flights to maintain status but no more. The trouble is BA still think they are the world’s greatest airline…they are not. They are deluded and still living in the 90’s. Whoever thought this change was a good idea needs to go. I find it impossible to believe that they have increased revenue since the change.

  13. I got the email same day I cancelled my AMEX BA premium card. Been with both companies since the 1980s. Cards Now rendered useless by this gouging. I wrote to both companies and told them in no uncertain terms that after 40 years of premium tier membership that they could go f themselves.
    Interesting that Amex tried the usual bribery with various bribes culminating in 100,000. They tried that when I dropped my Black card for the BA one. I told Amex that had colluded with BA and they would never get my business again.

  14. I’m afraid it’ll do nothing for me. After years of business C I segued seamlessly to similar for leisure. The change gave the opportunity to realise a few hours of European LCC travel translates to a saving equivalent to Michelin meal. Won’t go back for a few more points. Thanks but….

  15. The way they have managed this Club fiasco is a microcosm of how they manage the whole airline.
    I was gold, then silver this year, bronze soon and then blue. Its pretty irrelevant really as I haven’t flown with them since they indicated to me that they didn’t value my custom.
    So yes, very little and a lot too late.

  16. Now we need to see the BAPP card allow a higher TPs spend. Would make sense to up it to a 3.5k TP earn per club year. Something is definitely bothering them. They did not think this through. The original idiot was whoever introduced the DOUBLE TP holiday earn. That simply resulted in crowded lounges. All they had to do was stop that, and allow the club to continue. It would certainly have balanced out after a year or so. Crazy systems.

  17. TBH I’m quite pleased that BA has made the Flying Club less appealing – after all the mediocre loyalty scheme is now a better reflection of what is a mediocre airline in my view. We flew in the Club Suites a few days ago and it was such a depressing disappointment…I’ve finally had enough of being let down by BA’s dreadful value for money.

    …Anyway, no worries. We’ll transfer all our Avios elsewhere and say goodbye. I know we’ll be much happier.

    1. System all the way! I’m in the Philippines, heading back from SIN in J on Tuesday and I know it won’t be special, just as a F to Dulles recently was below mediocre- the food appalling and those A380’s are really ratty; the refurbs should have started a couple of years ago but you know, THEY COULD CARE LESS and that sums up the BA Culture.

  19. I operate a strict “ONE STRIKE AND YOU’RE out policy so when BA F us all, I status matched SKYTEAM Gold and I’m about to hit Platinum. It feels great! The Business Class product is better, all staff seem to try harder and I feel my business is appreciated. It’s a slight pain going via CDG but the lounges are way better than BA and the Champagne just flows. I’ve said this to you before Michele, BA don’t make you feel special- well, AIR FRANCE do! You may remember I worked all my career as n this wonderful industry at exec level so I know a lot of people. Apparently, BA are concerned about their decision, despite their great results. A mate who is senior at AF says they’re delight d at their UK outbound business and shocked at the forward loads on their new LGW connections and are considering adding an additional flight. I guess the same is true of Lufty with their new LGW FRA connections- let’s hope so. Going forward, I’ve a J class to Zanzibar via NBO and back from JNB, then LGW BKK ICN LGW, then NCL SIN, SGN LGW already booked. Most of this would have gone to BA but they poked the bear. It not really spite, it’s just a superior soft and hard product and nice things like points bookings counting towards sratus XP levels. Join me!

  20. BA shoots themselves in the foot and my loyalty oh too often. The backtracking actually makes me further discount my opinion of them. At this point I am a free agent when traveling. Will go out of my way to fly with airlines that value my business. In November we are adding an extra segment to go LHR to CPT via the Middle East instead of direct as an example.

  21. My wife and I made a decision a couple of years back to travel business class only so I don’t now give a fig about BA and their stupid club, as we get lounge access anyway. In fact, after they effectively stole several thousand pounds of my money at the start of COVID, I now have an ABBA (Anyone But BA) policy. Unfortunately, most of the trips we’ve made in the last couple of years have had to be on BA and one thing that really gets my goat is being forced to pay for seat reservations even when paying a business class fare. I think they are a not very funny joke and I will continue to try to find other carriers in preference.

  22. Another aspect of the change in the Silver Executive Club is that despite all accounts suppose to expire on the March 31 each year BA decided to downgrade me with effect from February 2. All future flights this year in Business will be with any other airline but BA and Virgin Atlantic which ran out of food on a flight to Delhi in November.

  23. United used to be the only airline I flew regularly, but when they started gutting their program, I moved my business elsewhere, including British Airways. I held BA Gold status for several years, but after “Tiermageddon” I adopted an ABBA policy, a great term from James Cadle.

    These days, the only program I actively use is Flying Blue because it simply makes sense. Otherwise, I’m a free agent and choose whichever airline offers the best premium value for each trip.

    What BA does not seem to understand is how much damage they have done to their credibility with frequent flyers. Even if they continue improving the program back to something close to its original form, the trust is gone.

    Even when I was BA Gold, I knew the seats and catering were not always the best. What kept me loyal was the overall value and the confidence that certain standards would be maintained. That trust made me choose BA even when I had other options.

    Those are exactly the standards they continue to erode, including smaller but telling changes like the reduction in Club Europe breakfast service. That is what pushes people to fly with other airlines.

    I recently booked LGW to BCN on Air France for almost double the price of BA. I did it because those segments help my wife requalify for AF KLM Platinum, a status that is actually useful, a mileage program that charges less in fees, and with an airline that still delivers consistent catering in European business class.

    BA clearly seems out of touch.

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