BA Adds Tier Point Bonuses From Next Month, Including American Airlines Flights

The British Airways Club has been under constant scrutiny since the announcement of its rebrand at the end of 2024.

As of April 2025, earning elite status became harder and much more expensive, which was the major pain point for most regular travelers. However, the British flag carrier has quietly updated its website with information about new Tier Point bonuses that will take effect on April 1, 2026.

Tier Point bonuses will also be introduced on flights operated by American Airlines and Iberia.

Let’s take a look at the details of this significant (and positive) update.

You’ll Earn Bonus British Airways Club Tier Points From April

As of April 1, 2026, British Airways will award its Club members with bonus Tier Points, making changes to a program overhaul introduced last year. The comedy factor of British Airways always choosing April Fool’s Day for these updates is not lost on me.

The number of bonus Tier Points members will earn per flight depends on the distance, cabin class, fare type, and airline. No bonus Tier Points will be awarded for booking Basic Economy fares — British Airways’ cheapest ticket.

Flights With British Airways

Let’s start with flights operated by British Airways.

Tier Point bonuses for short-haul flights range from 75 to 375 — offering the least for a Euro Traveller (economy) Plus ticket and the most for a fully flex Club Europe (business class) ticket.

Let’s take a look at an example to see what that means in reality.

A popular route for Brits and visitors to Europe is between London and Barcelona. One of the cheapest return Economy Plus fares costs £129.65 ($173). As the 1 Tier Point per £1 spend is only awarded for the fare and carrier-imposed charges, not any taxes or fees, the total number of Tier Points earned without the bonus would be 75.

From April 1, 2026, outbound and return flights will each earn a bonus of 75 Tier Points. That brings the total Tier Points for this flight to 225 — 3 times the amount that is awarded under the current system.

You’d still need to book this particular trip 34 times to hit BA’s Silver status — the second level that starts to unlock more valuable perks like lounge access.

As you’d expect, the new Tier Point bonuses are higher for long-haul flights, and increase more as the cabin class gets more premium. Here’s what long-haul flights earn:

Let’s take a look at another real-world example using the long-haul bonuses.

The lowest round-trip premium economy fare from New York to London I could find is $1,668. As the base fare and carrier-imposed charges on this ticket come to £897 ($1,179), 897 Tier Points would be awarded under British Airways’ current system.

As of April 1, British Airways will award a bonus of 275 Tier Points in each direction for this ticket, bringing the total to 1,447 Tier Points. This return flight would earn 20% of the Tier Points needed to reach British Airways’ Silver elite level.

Flights With American Airlines and Iberia

Despite awarding its Club members Tier Points when flying all of its fellow Oneworld member airlines, British Airways has decided to extend the new bonus Tier Points to flights operated by only American Airlines and Iberia. This is great news for U.S.-based members of the British Airways Club.

The number of bonus Tier Points will be awarded per distance and cabin class. Unlike for British Airways-operated flights, fare type won’t be considered.

As with British Airways-operated flights, the bonuses are awarded per flight.

What does that mean? Let’s say you travel to Europe with a mixture of American Airlines and Iberia once per quarter, giving you 8 total flights (4 to Europe and 4 back to the U.S.) during the year. By adding your British Airways Club number to the bookings, you’d earn a bonus of 4,000 Tier Points. Factoring in the regular Tier Points you’d earn for the ticket itself, that’s likely to be more than enough to hit BA’s Silver status.

Final Thoughts

I’ll give credit where it’s due. The British Airways Club has, in some way, redeemed itself. Frequent short-haul economy flyers who were hardest done when the new program launched will actually benefit the most from the new Tier Point bonuses. That said, a lot of flying will still be required, even with the bonuses.

However, the move shows that British Airways has reconsidered its initial elitist tactic of making earning status achievable only for Club members with the biggest bank balances or those whose companies pay for their expensive premium tickets.