British Airways Executive Club

British Airways is the flagship carrier of the United Kingdom and a member of the oneworld airline alliance.

British Airways Executive Club is the airline’s loyalty program, with British Airways Avios serving as its currency for award flights on both British Airways and its partner airlines.

While British Airways offers excellent connectivity between North America, Europe, and beyond, it’s important to note that carrier-imposed surcharges on award tickets can be quite high. However, a key advantage of British Airways Avios is how easily points can be earned, along with the flexibility to transfer them to other Avios programs in which they can be redeemed for valuable rewards.

Earning British Airways Avios

To start earning British Airways Avios, you’ll need to first register for a British Airways Executive Club account, which can be done directly on British Airways’s webpage.

Note that British Airways Avios will expire if there is no activity in your account or your Household Account (we’ll discuss this feature later) for 36 months. However, as long as you earn or redeem miles during this period, your points will remain active.

Let’s go over some of the best ways to earn British Airways Avios.

1. Flying with British Airways and Partner Airlines

You can earn Avios by crediting any paid flights with British Airways or other partner airlines to your British Airways Executive Club account.

On British Airways-marketed flights, you’ll earn Avios based on the amount you spend in British pounds (GBP) on the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges. In addition, you’ll earn Avios on ancillary costs such as baggage, seat selection, and cabin upgrade fees.

The number of Avios you’ll earn on British Airways flights depends on your British Executive Club status level, with the levels and corresponding earn rate as follows:

• Blue: 6 Avios per £1 spent
• Bronze: 7 Avios per £1 spent
• Silver: 8 Avios per £1 spent
• Gold: 9 Avios per £1 spent

With partner airlines, including oneworld alliance carriers, the number of Avios you earn on any given booking depends on several factors, including the class of service flown, the fare booked, and the airline with which you flew.

There’s a handy calculator on the British Airways website which you can use to help determine how many Avios you’ll earn on a British Airways or oneworld airline flight.

2. Transferring from Other Loyalty Programs

The best and easiest way to earn Avios is by transferring points from another partner loyalty program. British Airways Executive Club is a transfer partner of many bank and hotel loyalty programs in Canada, the United States, and across the world.

You can transfer points from these loyalty programs into the British Airways Executive Club at the following ratios:

Banks:

• American Express Membership Rewards (Canada): 1 point = 1 Avios
• American Express Membership Rewards: 1 point = 1 Avios
• Bilt Rewards: 1 point = 1 Avios
• Capital One Miles: 1 point = 1 Avios
• Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1 point = 1 Avios
• RBC Avion: 1 point= 1 Avios
• Wells Fargo Rewards: 1 point = 1 Avios

Hotels:

• Marriott Bonvoy: 60,000 points = 25,000 Avios
• Accor Live Limitless: 4,000 points = 2,000 Avios
• MeliáRewards: 100 points = 30 Avios
• Choice Privileges: 5,000 points = 1,000 Avios
• Hilton Honors: 10,000 points = 1,000 Avios
• IHG® One Rewards: 10,000 points = 2,000 Avios
• Radisson Rewards: 2,000 points = 200 Avios

Additionally, many of these Canadian and US banks offer transfer bonuses. These bonuses can be anywhere from 10–50%, but a 20–30% transfer bonus is the most common.

For example, the RBC Avion program also has a solid lineup of credit cards that earn Avion points, which can be converted into British Airways Avios. The most popular card is the RBC® Avion Visa Infinite†, which consistently offers a welcome bonus of between 35,000–55,000 Avion points.

A welcome bonus of 55,000 RBC Avion points could be converted to 71,500 British Airways Avios if transferred during one of the many 30% transfer bonus periods.

These bonus offers tend to come around a few times a year, and if you’ve got your eye on a redemption from your Executive Club account, it’s a great way to maximize your account balance.

It is worth nothing that although a number of hotel programs partner with British Airways Executive Club, you can usually get better value by redeeming your hotel loyalty points for hotel stays; therefore, unless you’re in urgent need of Avios and have no other way to earn them, it’s likely best to save points for hotel stays instead.

3. British Airways Credit Cards

British Airways has its own co-branded credit card in both Canada and the US.

On the Canadian side, RBC also offers the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† Card. You’ll earn Avios through the card’s welcome bonus and through everyday spending.

The welcome bonus for this card has consistently been around 60,000 Avios and offers the following earning rates:

• Earn 3 Avios per $1 (CAD) spent on British Airways and British Airways Holidays†
• Earn 2 Avios per $1 (CAD) spent on dining†
• Earn 1 Avios per $1 (CAD) spent on all other qualifying purchases†

On the American side, Chase offers the co-branded British Airways Visa Signature Card which typically comes with a welcome bonus of up to 75,000 Avios.

This card offers the following earn rates:

• 3 Avios per dollar spent (USD) on British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia flights
• 2 Avios per dollar spent (USD) on hotel accommodations booked directly with the hotel
• 1 Avios per dollar spent (USD) on all other eligible purchases

Keep in mind that it’s also possible to earn more Avios on your day-to-day expenses by using the right American Express, Capital One, Chase, or Bilt card with some of their higher category multipliers, and then transferring the points over to British Airways Executive Club.

4. Transferring from Other Avios Programs

One of the unique characteristics of Avios is that there are other airlines programs which use their own version of Avios. These airlines either below to or are major shareholders of the International Airlines Group (IAG). 

As of 2024, aside from British Airways, the following programs also accrue Avios:

• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Finnair Plus
• Iberia Plus
• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Vueling Club

Avios can be transferred 1:1 between any of these programs that use them as currency. This means that if you’re sitting on a stash of Qatar Airways Avios, you can move them to your British Airways Executive Club account instantly, where they would become British Airways Avios.

5. Travel Bookings through British Airways

British Airways offers bonus Avios when travel is booked with a range of partners.
 For example, you’ll earn an extra 1 Avios per dollar spent through British Airways Holidays.

You can also earn Avios with a number of major hotel chains, including Accor, IHG, and Marriott, as well as on bookings made through the British Airways Hotels portal.

For Airbnb bookings, you can earn 3 Avios per US dollar/British pound/euro spent.

Budget and Avis also have a partnership with British Airways, and for car rentals with these partners, you’ll earn 5 Avios per £1 spent with Avis and 2 Avios per £1 spent with Budget.

6. Avios Shopping Portal

British Airways also offers the opportunity to earn Avios online through their shopping portal which features mainly European retailers.

By shopping through the portal, you can earn up to 10 Avios per dollar spent on eligible purchases.

7. Buying Avios

Lastly, the quickest possible way to rack up British Airways Avios is to purchase them directly from British Airways.

Generally speaking, there are two scenarios in which buying points might make sense.

First, if you’re a few Avios short for a particular redemption, you might consider buying points to top up your account so you can immediately enjoy the redemption you want.

Second, purchasing points and redeeming them for a business class or First Class flight can actually be cheaper than paying cash for the same ticket.

If you’re already planning to pay cash for a flight, it’s worth checking if you can save money by using points instead. Start by verifying award availability, then compare the cost of buying points against the price of the ticket to see if purchasing the points is a better deal.

8. Family Pooling with a Household Account

Finally, you can boost your Avios balance by pooling points with family members at no extra cost. British Airways allows you to combine your points with up to six family members who share the same address and are part of a Household Account.

Pooling points together makes it easier to keep track of all the points in your family as well as redeem them. Keep in mind that activity in any account within a Household Account will count toward the requirements needed to keep Avios from expiring for all members, helping ensure miles remain active across multiple accounts.

When taking advantage of this feature, there are a few key rules to be aware of:

• Members of a Household Account cannot redeem their Avios for anyone outside the account, except for up to five nominated individuals, who can be anyone you choose.
• The registered address of the Household Account can only be made once every six months.
• Executive Club Members must be 18 years or older before they can spend their Avios.

Redeeming British Airways Avios

The best way to maximize the value of your British Airways Avios is by using them to book flights. British Airways Executive Club uses a distance-based award chart for redeeming Avios on British Airways and partner airlines award flights.

1. Flights with British Airways

The greatest advantage of redeeming British Airways Avios on British Airways flights is that there is generally good award availability. British Airways guarantees that for any given British Airways flight, four business class, two premium economy and eight economy award seats will be released for redemptions when the booking calendar opens 355 days in advance.

The major drawback for redeeming Avios on British Airways is that they tend to come with prohibitively high taxes, fees, and carrier-imposed surcharges, particularly on long-haul international flights departing from London. By using British Airways’s Reward Flight Saver pricing, you can choose to redeem additional Avios to help cover these costs.

British Airways award flights are subject to peak and off-peak dates. Peak dates typically coincide with popular travel times, such as summer break, winter holidays, and other school vacation periods. Off-peak dates cover all other times throughout the year.

Unfortunately, British Airways no longer publishes an official award chart for its award flights which makes it tricky to calculate the cost of a redemption on a particular route. In the past, there were two separate charts: one for one-way flights booked with British Airways and another for one-way flights with most other partner airlines.

Below is an old chart for one-way redemptions British Airways which gives you a sense of the distance bands they use.

Head for Points has compiled a more up-to-date chart which lists all of the destinations that British Airways flies to and the number of Avios that you would expect to pay.

2. Flights with Partner Airlines

It’s often better to use British Airways Avios to book award flights with partner airlines. These would include airlines like Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and American Airlines. oneworld partner airline award bookings typically have a higher cost in points than with British Airways, but the taxes and fees tend to be significantly lower.

The old distance-based award chart for oneworld partner airlines can still be used as a guide, but keep in mind that the current values may differ. For example, in July 2024, British Airways increased the cost of booking Alaska Airlines and American Airlines flights with Avios in distance bands Zone 1 to 4 by as much as 94% compared to the costs in the chart below.

Zones 5 to 9 on the chart remain the same. For example, a flight from London to Tokyo on Japan Airlines would fall under Zone 7 (at 5,964 miles) and cost 92,750 Avios in business class.

It’s worth noting that the cost in Avios for flights with Iberia and Aer Lingus may differ than those on the above charts.

3. Flight Upgrades

You can also use Avios to upgrade an existing British Airways, Iberia, or American Airlines flight on cash or award bookings. This can be done at the time of booking or later on.

The number of Avios required is simply the difference in the cost of Avios between the cabin you want to upgrade to and the cabin you’re currently booked in.

You can upgrade a previously booked flight, or you upgrade at the time of booking with British Airways directly.

4. Other Ways to Redeem British Airways Avios

There are many other non-flight options for redeeming Avios; however, it’s worth mentioning again that this is not the way to get the most value out of your Avios by booking award flights.

That said, if you have no plans to ever fly again, there are options available for you to use up your Avios.

You can redeem Avios for hotels, car rentals, experiences, and more through British Airways travel portal.

When redeeming this way, you’ll get around 0.6 cents (USD) per Avios, which is significantly lower than our valuation of Avios at 1.5 cents (USD) each.

Lastly, you can also transfer Avios to another British Airways Executive Club member.

With this option, you can transfer up to 60,000 Avios at a time and up to 200,000 per year. Executive Club Gold members can transfer for free, and for other members, each transfer will cost 50 USD/GBP/EUR, depending on where your account is based.

British Airways Executive Club Sweet Spots

The British Airways Executive Club program offers up a ton of value and some incredible sweet spots.

In this section, we’ll go over some key areas you’ll want to be aware of if you’re hoping to maximize the value of your points.

1. Qatar Airways Premium Cabins

One of the most popular redemptions with Avios is to book business class and First Class flights with Qatar Airways.

Notably, partner redemptions on Qatar Airways don’t follow the partner award chart. Rather, since Qatar Airways joined the Avios program and Avios became transferable 1:1 between British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

This has led to some incredible redemption opportunities on Qatar Airways’s spectacular Qsuites business class.

To give you an idea of what type of Qatar Airways award flights are available, here are a few examples of potential bookings:

• One-way business class from North America to Doha for 70,000 Avios
• One-way business class from North America to the Maldives for 85,000 Avios
• One-way business class from the Middle East to Europe for 45,000 Avios

When booking award flights on Qatar Airways, it’s a good idea to compare pricing through both the British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club programs. Booking with the program offering the lowest cost usually would be the way to go, however keep in mind:

• Change and cancellation fees are generally lower with Qatar Airways if cancelled more than 24 hours before departure
• Infant fees are cheaper with British Airways Executive Club if you are travelling with a child under the age of 2
• Certain connections will show up on Qatar’s award search but not on British Airways Executive Club’s

The advantage of using British Airways Avios to book is that there more frequent transfer bonuses to the program than to Qatar Airways Avios which reduces the overall cost to book a Qatar Airways flight.

To book through Qatar Airways using Avios earned in your British Airways Executive Club account, you’ll first need to link the two accounts. Once linked, you’ll be able to transfer Avios freely between the two programs.

Additionally, you may find more award availability for Qatar Airways flights when searching through the Qatar Privilege Club booking portal. This can be particularly useful if you’re having difficulty finding availability through British Airways.

2. Short-Haul Flights

Another sweet spot with British Airways Avios comes when you redeem points for short-haul flights within Europe, Asia, and Australia. Due to the nature of the distance-based award chart, you’ll get the most value out of an award flight booking when the flight’s distance is close to the upper limit of any given zone.

It’s important to note that British Airways has updated the way it displays its short-haul award costs. Previously, taxes and fees were a fixed total separate from the Avios redemption amount, but it now appears the airline program gives you the choice to redeem more Avios and pay less taxes, fees, and surcharges. However, rather than showing the most optimal pricing that would maximize the value of your Avios, it defaults first to the lowest taxes and highest Avios redemption.

It’s only after you click ‘More pricing options’ that additional pricing options show up and you’ll find that these may offer more favourable Avios redemption rates, especially on short-haul redemptions.

Within Europe

If you’re looking to fly from London to Geneva on British Airways, you can either pay $148 (CAD) or 5,250 Avios and $41 in taxes, which is yields a redemption of 2 cents per Avios which is a good redemption based on our current valuations.

Within Asia

If you’re looking to fly from Hong Kong to Taipei on Cathay Pacific, you can either pay $254 (CAD) or 9,750 Avios and $76.10 in taxes, which is great value for getting around within Asia.

Within Australia

If you’re looking for fly from Brisbane to Sydney on Qantas Airways, you can either pay $142 (CAD) or 6,000 Avios and $48.20 in taxes.

Within North America

British Airways Avios used to be good for flights on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines within North America, but since the most recent devaluation, it’s not longer as good unless you can score a decent transfer bonus. The other strategy is to look at pricing using other versions of Avios which may offer more favourable award pricing.

3. Multi-Carrier Award Chart

British Airways has an entirely separate award chart for booking flight itineraries with two or more oneworld airlines.

The British Airways Avios Multi-Carrier Award chart is certainly more complicated to understand and book than a standard one-way flight; however, you can get a lot out of your Avios if you’re willing to spend the time searching for flights and then calling in to make the booking.

Tips & Tricks

There are a handful of things you can do within the British Airways Executive Club program to get the most out of your Avios. In this section, we’ll take a look at a few tips and tricks that can help improve your points experience.

1. Transferring Avios to Other Programs

By transferring Avios from British Airways to Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, Finnair, or Iberia Plus, you’ll have access to more redemption options.

For example, by transferring Avios and booking with Aer Lingus, you can‌ save on the heavy taxes and fees normally charged by British Airways. By transferring Avios to Qatar Airways, you’ll have access to more business class and First Class award availability with Flexi Awards. By transferring Avios to Iberia, you can book eastern North America to Madrid for as little as 34,000 Avios in business class.

That said, it’s always best to compare the prices between British Airways Executive Club and other Avios currency programs; often the prices will be similar across the programs, but sometimes it’ll make the most sense to book through a specific program.

2. British Airways Companion Award eVoucher

British Airways Companion Award eVouchers can be earned through select co-branded credit cards, and with a companion voucher, you can save a lot of Avios on award flights (but you’ll still have to pay the high fuel surcharges on long-haul flights!). In fact, despite the name, companion vouchers can be redeemed for a solo booking, reducing the cost in Avios by 50%.

For example, the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† awards an eVoucher when you spend $30,000 (CAD) on the card in a calendar year.

 

British Airways Executive Club Elite Status

British Airways Executive Club has four elite status levels: Blue, Bronze, Silver, and Gold.

Every British Airways Executive Club member start at the Blue level, and you can reach higher elite status by earning Tier Points and by flying on eligible flights.

The yearly requirements for each status level are:

• Bronze: 300 Tier Points and two eligible flights, or 25 eligible British Airways flights
• Silver: 600 Tier Points and four eligible flights, or 50 eligible British Airways flights
• Gold: 1,500 Tier Points and four eligible flights

Tier Points are earned when you fly on cash bookings with British Airways or with a oneworld airline partner, and you attach your British Airways Executive Club number to the reservation.

The amount of Tier Points you’ll earn will depend on the route, airline, and fare class. You can use British Airways’s flight calculator to figure out how many Tier points you’ll earn from any given flight.

In addition to earning Tier Points, you’ll need to fly on eligible flights, defined as:

• A flight operated or marketed by British Airways, including its franchisees, such as BA CityFlyer
• A flight operated and marketed by Iberia, including its franchisees, such as Iberia Regional by Air Nostrum

This means that even if you’ve earned enough Tier Points for a given status level, you’ll still have to fly with British Airways or Iberia to‌ earn the corresponding status, and unfortunately, reward bookings don’t count as eligible flights.

Each status tier comes with better benefits than the status before, and you can find all of the benefits, including priority check in, priority boarding, free checked bags, and much more.

Silver and Gold elite status members will enjoy lounge access when flying with British Airways and partner airlines.

Gold elite members have access to additional reward flight availability in economy and the use of First Class check-in desks in addition to other benefits.

Each Executive Club status tier also matches to a oneworld alliance elite status which comes with additional benefits when flying with partner airlines.

• Bronze members match to oneworld Ruby level
• Silver members match to oneworld Sapphire level
• Gold members match to oneworld Emerald level

Conclusion

British Airways Avios, when used strategically, is a powerful program—especially when taking full advantage of its oneworld partnerships and the ability to transfer between different Avios programs. With it vast global reach, easy accumulation methods, and a variety of ways to use the points, it’s a great program for frequent flyers and travelers looking to maximize the value of their loyalty points.

With its distance-based award chart, it provides a means to travel between neighbouring cities efficiently, in particular when buying a ticket with cash outright can be quite expensive for such a short flight. The ability to use British Airways Avios either directly or indirectly to redeem for Qatar Airways and try their Qsuites (touted as one of the world’s best business class products) is perhaps one of the biggest appeal for those who enjoy flying internationally in comfort.

Although some redemptions may require more Avios and higher taxes compared to other programs, the frequent transfer bonuses and the ability to pool points within a family make it still a worthwhile currency in these instances.