AGM_Cape_Cod

I fly British Airways for overseas business travel so joined their Executive Club. I don't do a lot of it -two or three trips a year. I have a flight to India coming up and went to see if I could use the lounge in Heathrow. No luck since I don't have enough Tier Points to get from Blue to Silver Tier. Does anyone know do you earn tier points? TIA.

Gardyloo

Read the information on the bottom of this page: http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_us

mztery

I think the question is, how to actually collect tier points, not what are the., Better explanation is here

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_gb

or here

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...g/public/en_gb

julia1

You get specific numbers of tier points for flying in specific fare classes. For example, transatlantic round trip in Traveler Plus will get you 150 tier points. Transatlantic RT in Club will earn you 240 points. If you fly coach, you probably don't have a chance of reaching silver because you probably purchase your tickets based on price, and you won't earn full tier points for flying on less expensive tickets.

You also earn tier points for flying to short-haul destinations, the number of points based on class of service and zone, which roughly equates to distance flown.

You need 600 tier points within a membership year to reach or retain silver status. That's four transatlantic RTs in Traveler Plus. Or 2.5 transatlantic RTs in Club.

I usually make two trips to Europe each year, purchasing Traveler Plus tickets each time and using miles (25,000) to upgrade to Club. For this I earn a total of 300 points.

I also earn tier points when flying American in the US - 240 points for a RT in Business/First from Portland (PDX) to Tampa. My family lives in Florida so I watch for lower Business fares and usually end up flying in First for about $1000-$1100 at least once each year, earning 240 tier points for the RT.

The other 60 or so points needed I earn with short-haul within Europe.

You also need 4 revenue flights on BA each year to reach silver.

AGM_Cape_Cod

I am flying to India in May. I have a flight from Boston to Heathrow in Economy Plus and then a second flight from Heathrow to Delhi also in Economy Plus. Will those count as four flights and give me the tier points I need? Will they not count as tier point until I use the tickets? Thanks for the help.

Gardyloo

You will get 4 x 75 TP for the flights, or 300 tier points total. You need 600 TP as a North American or UK resident to reach BA Silver status (Oneworld Sapphire.) You also need 4 flights on BA equipment to make Silver; you will have met this particular requirement with your round trip to India.

If you want to achieve Silver status (and read the web links for the benefits of BA Silver status) you can use AA domestic flights in the US to get the remaining 300 TP. Shorthaul flights in economy earn 20 TP, shorthaul first class earn 60; longhaul (over 2000 miles) earn 60 in coach, 180 in first class.

Many BAEC members use "Y-UP" K-UP" fares sold by AA (basically discounted first class) to quickly gain tier points; for example a round trip from the east coast to the west coast using nonstops (thus longer than 2000 miles) will earn 2 x 180 TP, which in your case would make your total 660, i.e. Silver.

julia1

Exactly as Gardyloo says: After your trip to India you will have four revenue flights on BA and a total of 300 tier points, or 75 points per segment in Plus. You will need another 300 points before your membership year expires to reach silver. You can check the expiration date on your BAEC card or on your EC welcome page when you log in to ba.com

You won't get the tier points until you fly, just as you won't get the miles until you fly.

If you really want to use the lounges at Heathrow, you might look into using miles to upgrade to Club. With three flights a day from Boston, there might still be some upgrade availability left. You can upgrade both Boston-LHR segments for 25,000 miles.

julia1

Not 25,000 miles each leg, but 25,000 total. Or you can upgrade the whole trip to Club for 45,000 miles. Chase is offering 50,000 miles if you sign up for the BA-branded credit card - earn 25,000 bonus BA Miles after your first purchase plus an additional 25,000 bonus BA Miles when you spend $2,500 in the first 90 days.

AGM_Cape_Cod

Well the good news is that my membership year expires in Dec which will be after the second return from India. So I might get into the lounge on the way back from that trip. So suppose that I manage to get into the Silver Tier by the end of my membership year does that mean when the year ends I start all over in the Blue Tier? Thanks for your help desciphering this plan for me.

julia1

When you first qualify for silver, your membership year is re-set to start anew on the date you reached silver. Your tier point total is re-set to zero. And you have silver status for the following 12 months.

You will also receive a silver card in the post, which will expire the end of the month following the first anniversary of the month you attained silver.

So, for example, if you attain silver on November 15, 2011, your new membership year will be (approx) 15 Nov 2011 through 14 Nov 2012. And your silver card will probably expire around 31 Dec 2012.