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BA has finally revealed the Amex spend for reward scheme tier points
British Airways has finally revealed details of how frequent flyers can earn extra status points via their American Express credit card spend, six months after the airline announced it was changing its loyalty scheme.
Flyers who hold the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card, which comes with a £300 annual fee, can earn up to 2,500 'tier' points — which confer perks such as lounge access and priority boarding — when they spend £25,000 on the card between today and next February. In addition, all cardholders will be given 500 extra tier points this month.
If cardholders spend the full amount in the next seven months it will give them a 3,000-tier point bounce meaning that they could almost reach BA bronze status without flying a single mile. However, spend isn't backdated to when the Club relaunched in April — cardholders will need to start from scratch today, June 18.
At the end of last year the flag carrier announced it was switching its loyalty scheme, now called the Club. In a move that irritated frequent flyers, BA said that tier points, or status points, would instead be awarded on spend with the carrier, rather than distance flown, which it argued brings it into line with most other airline loyalty schemes. Tier points, or status points, would be given at a rate of one point per £1 of net spend with the airline; as a result BA adjusted the thresholds required to achieve bronze, silver and gold status (3,500, 7,500 and 20,000 tier points respectively), which many argued made them much harder to reach.
Broadly, it means that for frequent flyers to achieve silver status — which offers lounge access, a beloved perk for many — members need to buy the equivalent of either an uber-luxury BA Holiday to the Caribbean for one or, for example, more than eight return flights to Cape Town. Flyers must spend each year to retain their status, the collection for which runs from April to end-March. The new Club came into effect from April 1; some frequent flyers even held a mock funeral for the old scheme.
At the end of December, BA also announced various other ways to earn tier points, including spending on extras like seat selection and baggage, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) credits, and holiday packages including hotels and car hire. In a nod to its longstanding partnership with Amex, BA said it would announce details of how many tier points would be earned via Amex spend 'closer to the launch date' — which was not, as most assumed, the launch of the Club in April. More than ten weeks after the official relaunch of the Club, it has finally revealed the details.
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Premium cardholders can earn up to 750 tier points when they spend £15,000 on their card between today and next February; an additional 750 when they hit £20,000 spend; and an extra 1,000 tier points when they reach £25,000 — totalling 2,500 status points. An extra 500 tier points — which BA says is a 'thank you for their loyalty' — means they can get 3,000 additional tier points in all.
With bronze set at 3,500 tier points, flyers need to spend only an extra £500 on BA products — which crucially doesn't include taxes and fees on flights — to reach the lowest status tier, which offers perks such as priority boarding and special customer service phone lines until the collection year renews in April. The 3,000 Amex tier points also go more than a third of the way to reaching silver.
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Reaction to the Amex spend offer from frequent flyers has been muted, with many concerned about the impact on companion vouchers — a BA perk for Amex cardholders that is a two-for-one flight deal. The companion vouchers expire a year after the moment a cardholder triggers them by spending £15,000 on their credit card, which means many frequent flyers delay using their card until they want to use the voucher. Companion vouchers for Premium Plus Card holders have a two-year expiry.
Rob Burgess, founder of the frequent-flyer website Head For Points, says the BA Amex offer caters to a 'niche market', appealing only to travellers who can get bronze by 'topping it up with the card'; although Gilbert Ott from the loyalty website God Save The Points calls it a 'meaningful new addition' for 'anyone not obsessed with gold'.
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Cardholders have to sign up for the offer to be eligible. Note that this is a temporary offer running until next February — although it's expected that BA and Amex will roll out a similar deal from next April, which marks the start of the next point collection year. The airline has promised there will be 'further opportunity to earn tier points using the card starting in April 2026', but wouldn't provide further details.
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