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Tier Point Bonuses to Become Permanent
From Tuesday, 25th November, the British Airways tier point bonuses, currently running as a promotion, will become permanent.
This is almost certainly a reaction to the backlash over the overhaul of the loyalty programme and the sheer number of status holders who’ve already jumped ship to other schemes. Add to that the success of Iberia Plus’s bonus Tier Points model, and it’s no surprise BA is being pushed into action.
At TLFL, we’ve been saying since day one of The Club that BA would end up regretting those unbelievably high thresholds, and this is the first clear sign that we were right. Permanent bonuses feel like a sticking plaster; they should have simply lowered the thresholds in the first place.
We suggested early on that BA would eventually start rolling out regular or even permanent offers, including things we’ve never seen before, such as AMEX spend counting towards Tier Points, and it seems that’s exactly the direction of travel. The problem is that it becomes almost impossible for customers to plan their year or predict what they need to do to reach their desired status.
The current setup is clearly hitting BA financially, so I expect we’ll see further changes to simplify earning potential. If they don’t, those who’ve already defected to other loyalty schemes may well stay put; it’s just too difficult to plan ahead under the new system.
To be fair, since The Club was announced, there have been several positive improvements across the airline, including new lounges in Dubai, Miami and soon Heathrow, as well as upgrades to the crew and onboard soft product.
Extra Tier Points will now be added to ALL qualifying flights and holiday packages.
You will earn the following per individual flight:
- Euro Traveller – 75
- Club Europe – 175
- World Traveller – 150
- World Traveller Plus – 275
- Club World – 400
- First – 550
This means you could earn up to 1,100 extra Tier Points on a return flight.
As a reminder, the Tier Point thresholds are currently:
- Bronze – 3,500
- Silver – 7,500
- Gold – 20,000
Examples
A Club World return flight from Heathrow to Dubai for £3,000 (assuming eligible spend = £3,000) would earn a total of 3,800 Tier Points: 3,000 from spend (£1 = 1 Tier Point) plus a 400 Tier Point bonus each way.
A Club Europe return from Heathrow to Zurich for £450 would earn 800 Tier Points: 450 from spend plus a 175 Tier Point bonus each way.
From 25th November
From 25th November, you will no longer need to register to earn extra tier points. They will be awarded automatically on all qualifying BA-marketed flights. Economy Basic, reward flights and Avios upgrades remain excluded.
This will likely not make a huge difference to the number of Tier Points earned next year, as the extra tier points offer has already been running since December 2024. However, if the programme was not going to be viable for you without the bonus, you’re in luck. This permanent bonus will make status more attainable, but still not in the way it was before the programme overhaul.
What do you think of this change? Let us know in the comments below
Wine Flyer Black Friday Offers
These fantastic Black Friday deals are available until 2nd December. You’ll now earn quadruple Avios on almost everything at The Wine Flyer – 20 Avios per £1 spent, instead of the usual 5 Avios per £1.
For example, if you were to purchase the Italian Mixed Selection for £139.99, you would earn 2,800 Avios as a Blue member, plus extra Avios added to the base rate based on your BA Tier.
When you purchase any 10 bottles from the selected range, you will receive two complimentary bottles of La Gioiosa Frizzante. You MUST include the code FREEFIZZ at check-out. There are 24 bottles eligible for this offer.
Some cases have been reduced, so each bottle comes to £9.99, with cases starting at £119.49.
In addition to all these offers, the number of Avios needed to redeem has been reduced in some cases to £6.49 plus 19,570 Avios.
Just note that some products are excluded but clearly marked. No Avios will be earned on delivery.
This is a great range of Black Friday offers. Now is the perfect time to get the drinks in for Christmas.
British Airways to Add Two Destinations from Heathrow
BA has just announced two new short-haul destinations for summer 2026. Both of these routes will be the only direct routes from Heathrow.
Tivat, Montenegro
This route will be seasonal, available only during the summer. Flights will depart from Terminal 3 starting on 14th May 2026.
| Flight | Route | Aircraft | Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA 624 | Heathrow to Tivat | Airbus A320 | Tuesday: 08:45-12:45
Thursday: 10:10-14:10 Saturday: 11:10-15:10 |
| BA 625 | Tivat to Heathrow | Airbus A320 | Tuesday: 13:35-15:45
Thursday: 14:55-17:05 Saturday: 15:55-18:05 |
Montenegro is the ideal place to head for mountain scenery, beach trips and historical sites. Tivat is well located for reaching some of the top coastal areas, including the Bay of Kotor and luxury resorts like Porto Montenegro.
Club Europe fares range from £292 to £498 each way.
Guernsey, Channel Islands
This will be a new year-round route. Flights will start on 19th April 2026 and depart daily from Terminal 5.
| Flight | Route | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| BA 1344 | London Heathrow to Guernsey | 11:55-12:55 |
| BA 1345 | Guernsey to London Heathrow | 13:50-14:55 |
Guernsey has 28 miles of cliff paths, incredible views, plenty of water activities and ample historical sites.
Club Europe fares range from £152 to £286 each way.
These new routes will bring the total number of destinations to 100. Flights to Graz and Rabat have just launched.
14 comments
Well well….it’ll be interesting to see the lounges use in the coming year. I’ve managed to scramble to silver again this year but next year? Probably – just. But I ain’t going to spend for the sake of it and in any case we’re usually in club – mainly by avios use. It is the seat selection on booking that is the driving factor for me. It may be that in the future, I either take the rip-off cost of paying, or “risk it” in the last 7 days!
The problem is that it becomes almost impossible for customers to plan their year or predict what they need to do to reach Yes you got it 100% i gave up and status matched with AF KL LOTS of MAN flights to chose from Using my last companion voucher to tomorrow then my loyalty gone So gone
BA Club changes… not surprised. But, too little too late for me. I’ve moved loyalty (to Qatar Airways) and mostly shifted long haul travel away from BA. In fairness it’s not that much easier, especially now, to achieve Gold/Platinum with QR compared with if I’d stayed with BA but their attitude towards loyal customers just broke the magic for me a year ago. Well, I guess there hasn’t been “magic” for a while but still.
Also, whilst I (mostly) enjoy the BA Club product on short haul within Europe the long haul experience is now SO far behind competition in my opinion. Especially when it comes to food and service consistency!! All pretty sad and unnecessary really…
General question if someone knows – roughly what percentage of BA’s long haul planes now have the “new” Club suite product?
You are incorrect in assuming that extra tier points will be accrued on BA holidays. I, like thousands of bother loyal BA customers, have now moved on and won’t be enticed back by piecemeal offers after being told to go F^k ourselves by BA.
I have already stopped trying to renew membership with BA. I have been either Silver or Gold for years and it wasn’t too difficult to achieve because I always fly business for leisure. Occasionally, I would need an extra few points to get me over the line in which case it was an ad hoc weekend away using Club Europe. BA should love that! I get lounge access anyway through the booking so the only real benefit for me was advance seat booking. I am not prepared to spend lots of money with BA just to get status. After all, they are really not that good.
It wouldn’t surprise me that APD gets hammered in the budget, so some of us will be looking at ex-EU flights anyway. Bye bye BA.
And the example given, of 7600 tier points for the trip to New York, is only true if you go on the holiday alone.
BA wanted to thin out the numbers of people with status but, with so much of their business dependent on the shrinking TATL market, it’s no surprise this is backfiring.
The business class lounge at LHR T5 and free seat selection aren’t worth £7,500.
As soon as the BAEC/Club announcement was made, I understood that BA management considered me (a self-funding leisure traveller in J) to be “riff-raff”.
I’ve accordingly revised my ongoing travel itineraries and now only use BA when it’s convenient and the price is right. I simply will not be forced to spend over £7.5K p.a. to pander to them and pad out the P&L. My intention is to burn through my mountain of Avios and move on.
Consequently, I’m now trying a host of other non-BA/One World carriers and the comparisons can be quite revealing. I’m so looking forward to a future Capital Markets Day presentation when they try and explain just how (and why) they managed to trash their loyalty programme (and concomitant revenue stream) overnight.
On your example above it uses “eligible spend”. No mention for all the other taxes though which could be a significant addition to the total price. Obviously it’s variable for destination.
Is it more cost effective for TP accrual to always go through holidays where possible or is sometimes flight only more advantageous?
I’m riding BA on companion tickets earned in the last couple of years but am not buying to fly BA any more. I’m switching to Oman as we have family in BKK and Singapore.
I totally agree with what’s been said. I fly business for leisure and managed relatively easily to retain silver for years. I dropped to bronze with the changes so now like others, I’ll only use BA for companion voucher renewals.
I’ve no chance of even retaining bronze next year. I’m planning future travel with Qatar whose service has been head and shoulders above BA when I’ve used them.
I cannot disagree in any way with your summary of the BA Club. Its a pity that Economy Basic continues not to be counted in the bonus. I Use BA on domestic a few times a year on a ‘day return’ basis, the lowest fare without checked bags is what I need and can’t justify paying more. Fortunately, I qualify (just!) for Silver status for the year commencing April 2026. Beyond that uncertain!
Eugene, on GCI/LHR this is a reintroduced route for BA rather than new. I know probably before your time, BA operated this route until 1980 using the lovely Viscount aircraft.
I’ve got nothing but contempt for BA. I was Silver or Gold for about 25 years. I’ve been using other airlines and won’t be back. Too little too late! Its the sort of behaviour you’d expect if Trump was MD.
Agree with all the comments. Loyal to BA since it was BOAC & BEA , no longer. Only leisure flying these days & it’s all in business & not on BA eg KLM to AMS & beyond .Internally it’s Easy or Loganair.
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