A beginner-friendly guide to British Airways Club Tier Points (TP) — how they're earned, why £/TP is the metric to watch, and what trips actually move the needle for status.
| TP | Tier Points — the status currency British Airways uses to qualify members for elite tiers. Separate from Avios (the spendable currency, which we don't track). |
| £/TP | Pounds spent per Tier Point earned — BA's efficiency metric. Lower is better. A £4/TP trip is more efficient than a £8/TP trip. |
| Eligible spend | The portion of a ticket that earns TP on revenue carriers — base fare plus carrier-imposed surcharges (typically YQ/YR). Government taxes and airport fees are excluded. |
| Revenue carriers | British Airways (BA), American Airlines (AA), Iberia (IB), and Aer Lingus (EI) — flying these on a BA-marketed ticket earns TP via the revenue model: eligible spend (£) × 1 TP/£, plus a per-segment cabin/zone bonus. |
| Distance carriers | Cathay Pacific (CX), Japan Airlines (JL), Finnair (AY), Malaysia Airlines (MH), Qantas (QF), Qatar Airways (QR), Royal Jordanian (RJ), Royal Air Maroc (AT), Fiji Airways (FJ), Alaska Airlines (AS), SriLankan Airlines (UL), Oman Air (WY) — TP on these partners is a fixed percentage of distance flown, varying by fare class. No additional cabin bonus. |
| Short-haul / Long-haul | BA classifies most segments under 2,000 mi (BA-operated) or 3,000 mi (other oneworld operators) as short-haul; everything longer is long-haul. The cabin bonus changes between the two. |
| Marketing vs Operating | Marketing carrier = whose flight number you bought (e.g. BA 1234). Operating carrier = the airline actually flying the plane. BA Club checks both to decide if and how a segment earns. |
| oneworld | The global airline alliance BA belongs to. Member airlines: American (AA), Aer Lingus (EI), British Airways (BA), Cathay Pacific (CX), Finnair (AY), Iberia (IB), Japan Airlines (JL), Malaysia Airlines (MH), Qantas (QF), Qatar Airways (QR), Royal Air Maroc (AT), Royal Jordanian (RJ), SriLankan Airlines (UL). Most BA Club partner earning is with oneworld members. |
£/TP (pounds per Tier Point) measures how cheaply a flight earns BA status credit. Unlike most earn-rate metrics, BA's efficiency metric runs in the opposite direction — lower is better. A flight that costs £4 per TP is twice as efficient as one that costs £8 per TP.
BA Club requires fixed Tier Point totals to reach each elite tier. The same status year, the same ticket count — but £/TP determines how much cash you spend getting there. A long-haul Business segment on the right cabin/zone can deliver 140 TP for the price of a few short-haul Economy tickets.
We sort the BA flight feed by £/TP ascending so the cheapest-per-TP deals surface first. The deal card colors (Great / Average / Low) use fixed thresholds — Great at ≤ £0.80/TP, Average at £0.80–£1.10/TP, and Low above that.
These thresholds are fixed — BA Tier Points don't scale with your elite tier, so the same cutoffs apply to everyone.
Great (≤ £0.80/TP) is where the best status-running deals live. Distance-earning partners — Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, and others — on business cabin typically land here. A long-haul CX or JL Business segment can deliver 100–150 TP for well under £0.80 per point.
Average (£0.80–£1.10/TP) covers solid deals worth booking. Revenue-carrier Economy on longer routes and mid-range partner fares tend to cluster here.
Low(> £1.10/TP) typically reflects revenue-carrier short-haul segments, heavily taxed routes, or discounted fare classes where eligible spend is low relative to the TP earned. Fine for flying, but not optimized for status.
When you fly BA, AA, IB, or EI on a BA-marketed itinerary, TP earn is built from two pieces: eligible spend at 1 TP per £1, plus a per-segment cabin/zone bonusfrom BA's published bonus tables.
Eligible spend = base fare + carrier-imposed surcharges (YQ/YR/Q/QO/QQ). Government taxes and airport fees do not earn TP. Award (Avios) tickets earn 0 TP.
On most other oneworld members and select non-alliance partners — Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, Royal Air Maroc, Fiji Airways, Alaska Airlines, SriLankan, Oman Air — BA publishes a fixed percentage of distance flown that earns TP, varying by fare class.
No cabin bonus is added on these partners — the published percentage already reflects cabin. If your fare class isn't on BA's chart for that carrier, the segment earns 0 TP.
Browse all British Airways flight deals →Every flight has a marketing carrier (whose flight number is on the ticket) and an operating carrier (whose plane you actually fly on). BA Club checks both:
Every Loyalty Run deal card shows both carriers (Opr / Earn), so you can sanity-check the combination before booking.
Multi-segment trips can mix revenue and distance segments. Each segment earns under exactly one model — there's no double-dipping. For revenue segments in a mixed itinerary, eligible spend is split proportionally by distance across earning revenue legs, then TP is calculated per segment.
If a segment's fare class isn't in the BA chart, it earns 0 TP — the rest of the trip still earns normally.
BA Club uses Tier Points to qualify members for four membership levels: Blue (no earn requirement) → Bronze → Silver → Gold. Each tier unlocks lounge access, priority services, and Avios-earning bonuses on revenue segments. The qualification year runs 1 April – 31 March; TP expire at year end and do not roll over.
Elite status does not change TP earn.BA's Tier Points are tier-invariant — a flight earns the same TP whether you're Blue or Gold.
| Tier | TP Required |
|---|---|
| Blue | 0 |
| Bronze | 3,500 |
| Silver | 7,500 |
| Gold | 20,000 |
BA refreshed its tier structure when British Airways Club replaced Executive Club. Thresholds, qualification windows, and Avios-multiplier rules are updated by BA periodically — verify current thresholds on BA's official tier pages:
BA Club Tier Points overview →Tier Points only matter if the status they unlock is worth pursuing. For travelers who fly BA and its partners regularly, it is:
All TP calculations are approximate. Our math is based on BA's publicly published earn charts, but actual TP credited can vary depending on fare rules, ticket coding, and program changes by BA or partner carriers. Always confirm the fare class, marketing/operating carrier, and cabin before booking — these determine whether (and how much) the segment earns.
For the official, up-to-date earn charts, see BA's site here.
Prices and availability shown are snapshots and may change at any time. We display prices in GBP using FX rates refreshed every 48 hours; final booking price on partner sites may differ slightly.
This tool is not affiliated with or endorsed by British Airways. See our legal disclaimer for full details.
