Earning tier points should be possible using your Amex card
When British Airways made sweeping changes to their Executive Club, there were a few positives. One was the ability to earn tier points from your credit card. This would get you closer to, but not quite at, Bronze level. However, the reality is that the scheme simply hasn’t launched, nor have they even talked about how it will work.
What was promised?
Back in 2024, BA ran a promotion with American Express, and to my knowledge, it was the first time they did something like this. If you hit certain spend levels on your card during a set date range, then you’d earn tier points. Prior to this, the only way to earn tier points was to pay cash for flights or by booking a holiday with BA.
When the Club launched, BA promised that you could earn up to 2,500 tier points per year based on your spend on your BA Amex card. You need 3,500 tier points to get Bronze. It felt like an olive branch for fliers who wouldn’t collect the required tier points from flights alone.
There were no more specifics, other than “More details of this offer will be announced closer to the offer launch date.”. The launch date for The Club was the 1st April 2025. We are now two months past that date. There has been no announcement, nor has the tier point scheme been introduced.
Technically, BA haven’t missed their deadline. Their release states that the scheme will happen “in 2025”. However, it’s mighty strange that all of the other elements of the new frequent flyer scheme launched on the 1st April, and nothing has been said about tier point collecting via Amex.
Why has the tier point earning been delayed?
Given that BA launched the changes to the Executive Club in late 2024, that should have given them ample time to work out how the scheme would work and to launch it. Some system changes would be needed. They have previously run a tier points earning offer with Amex, so you would hope that the work done on that could be reused in whole or part..
There are two potential reasons why the scheme has gone AWOL
- It’s possible that this is a much bigger technical challenge for both Amex and BA, and they’re still working on how it would operate.
- It’s also possible that they are reconsidering the scheme and are parking it until they make a final decision.
- Finally, they may never have intended to launch the scheme early in the year. They just floated it during the Club changes to appease people.
My money is on the third option, although given the negative feedback from flyers, they would have been better off being open about an H2 launch.
Overall, it’s deeply disappointing. This was one of the few positives when BA made significant changes to their frequent flyer scheme. Those changes alienated a LOT of travellers. Visits to the story we ran on it, and to our social posts, went through the roof. It hurt a lot of loyal BA customers, and delaying the launch of the tier points scheme just makes it worse.
What do we really want to know?
The main bit of information that everyone is waiting on is how much you have to spend on your card to earn the tier points. We know that the maximum allowed will be 2,500 points, but is that on £20k spend, or £50k spend? That’s a critical point.
Is there any other way to earn Tier Points?
You can earn BA tier points by:
- Taking a flight with BA that you pay for in cash, or taking a flight with a partner airline using your BA frequent flyer number
- You earn 1 tier point per £1 you spend,
- Booking a holiday with BA.
- You’ll also earn 1 tier point per £1 you spend, across the entire cost of the holiday not just the flights.
- At some point in the future you’ll be able to earn them from credit card spend.
- You can also earn tier points (and Avios) by contributing towards sustainable aviation fuels.
That last point was a surprise when BA announced the changes. In reality you’re just buying tier points from BA. You’ll earn 1 tier point and 10 Avios for every £1 you contribute. You can contribute a maximum of £1,000 per year, and therefore earn 1,000 tier points.
BA do have a dedicated portal for buying tier points this way. It’s uncertain how many people would actually go through with this.
