Well, we finally get down to the business of actually earning Avios!


01 Calculated the base mileage your flight(s) will generate

First off, you need to actually work out how long a trip you’re travelling on. Karl Wartz’s Great Circle Mapper is great online tool for determining the distances between two points in general.

The distances aren’t exactly what BA use, but they are pretty accurate for the purpose of calculated the base mileage. For BA earning specifically, you can use BA's very handy Avios and Tier Point Calculator. Another useful tool is orudge's excellent Unofficial Executive Club Calculator.


02 Guide to earning Avios and Tier Points on partners, codeshares and partner codeshares

This is a little complex, so all the combinations are outlined as follows. There are two key concepts:

• The flight number/prefix. This can be the airline operating the aircraft, e.g. the BA005 from LHR to NRT or that of a codesharing airline who sell seats on the BA005 as the JL7080. As far as earning goes, it is the flight prefix in your booking that determines the number of Avios you will earn.
• The operating carrier (or metal). That is the airline who actually operate the aircraft. In the example above, that is BA.

Applying that, the following scenarios are possible:

• BA prefix, BA operated flight

  You earn Avios and Tier Points for a BA flight as per ba.com
• BA prefix, oneworld partner operated flight
  You earn Avios and Tier Points for a BA flight as per ba.com
• BA prefix, BA codeshare partner operated flight
  Where the partner in this case means a non-oneworld member e.g. Meridian, some flyBe flights. You earn as per a BA flight.
• BA partner airline prefix, BA partner operated flight
  
You earn as per BA flight but typically would receive Avios only and no Tier Points.
• BA partner airline prefix, BA operated flight
  
You earn in accordance with the relevant partner table. However the flight does count towards a BA metal flight needed to obtain status.
• BA partner airline prefix, non-BA partner operated flight
  As a general rule, these flights do not earn Avios or Tier Points. See QF prefix/EK operated exception below
• oneworld partner prefix

  You earn Avios and Tier Points in accordance to the relevant partner table. As an example, a Cathay Pacific (CX) flight will not earn you any status bonus and the class of service bonus is lower (25% for J, 50% for F). However, one exception to this rule exists with Finnair marketed, BA operated transatlantic services which earn Avios and Tier Points accordance with the BA earning table
• oneworld partner prefix, oneworld partner operated flight
  You earn Avios and Tier Points as per the flight number you have bought. So if you bought a CX flight number on AA metal, you'd earn as per a CX flight.
• oneworld partner prefix, non-oneworld operated flight 

  For example, an AA flight number on HA. You earn nothing. The rule is that both the flight number and the operating carrier have to be in oneworld to earn. Some have successfully had Avios and Tier Points awarded in this instance but that is the exception and very much not the rule.
• BA prefix, Vueling operated flight
  You earn Avios and Tier Points
• QF prefix, non-oneworld operated flight
  Flights booked under the Qantas code (QF) operated by a non-oneworld airline will earn Avios and Tier Points in all applicable QF selling classes (see below) unless operated by Jetstar in a class other than L class.

Some selling fare classes do not earn Avios and/or Tier Points. The tables below indicate the fare classes that do earn so if your fare code is not listed then it probably will not earn Avios or Tier Points. Also, award fares do not earn Avios or Tier Points at all. With BA, these are tickets booked into X, P, U and Z.

The actual number of Avios Points you earn on a flight is dependent on three factors:

• Sector distance
• Status
• Class of service (or more importantly the booking class, also referred to as selling class)

Look at the examples below illustrating two sample boarding passes. One for a BA prefix, BA operated flight, the other for an AA prefix, BA operated flight. In fact they both relate to the same flight, Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow.

As a Gold Card holder, Mr Wilkinson will earn a tier bonus for these flights at 100% of the sector distance, which in this case is 3,950 miles. Tier bonuses only apply to BA, AA, IB, and QF coded flights.

In addition to the tier bonus, as Mr Wilkinson travelled in Club World he will earn a cabin bonus. The multiplier does vary dependent on flight code.

The cabin bonus for the BA coded flight is 150%, but is only 25% for the AA coded equivalent. Even if the flight is operated by BA, the cabin bonus calculation follows the flight prefix. Here, Mr Wilkinson will earn a cabin bonus of 5,925 Avios Points by flying Chicago to London on a BA coded ticket but only 988 Avios Points on an AA coded ticket.

The distinction can be summarised as follows:
03 Earning Avios on BA flights

Pay particular attention to the fare class, as this determines how many Avios points you will earn on each flight. Note the earning rates factor in the appropriate Cabin Bonuses. The minimum number of Avios collected will be pro-rated (calculated using the base distance x earning percentage) depending on the purchased fare class. The tier bonus is calculated as a straight forward percentage of the base distance.



04 Earning Avios on oneworld partner flights


At the beginning of 2018 there are thirteen active oneworld member airlines: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, SriLankan Airlines, and S7 Airlines.




























05 Earning Avios on EC partner flights







Globaliser kindly listed out the current earning categories for each airline partner, here


06 Earning Tier Points

Unlike Avios points which can be earned through a multitude of activities, Tier Points can only be earned through the pursuit of flying and are earned on all commercial BA and oneworld fares (subject to a few exceptions). In very general terms, the longer the flight and higher the fare class the greater number of Tier Points you earn on each flight. When crediting Tier Points to your account, the Executive Club tracks the flight prefix and booking code.

Refer to Section 02 for examples of ticket scenarios and to Section 03 partner tables for specific exceptions.



† This table now reflects our understanding that the TP earn rates for economy is applicable to non-BA flights as well as BA flights. The August 2015 update to the ba.com calculator has given us a clear indication that the Tier Point earning percentage now correlates with the Avios earning percentage for each economy selling class.

From April 2017, earnings on UK internal flights fall in line with standard ET and CE rates

Tier Points earned on flights operated by American Airlines within the United States are calculated per fare class rather than cabin. This means the Tier Points you earn for domestic First on AA two class services will be based on business class rates.


07 Earning Avios and Tier Points with upgrades

If you are travelling in a cabin higher than the original ticketed class, the number of Avios and Tier Points awarded for that flight does vary, depending on the circumstances of the upgrade. Here are some common upgrade examples and what you should expect to earn for each category:

• If you upgrade your ticket using Avios (UuA / MFU) then you get the Tier Points and Avios of the purchased ticket, so if you upgrade a World Traveller Plus ticket to Club World, you get the World Traveller Plus Tier Points and Avios.
• If you purchase an upgrade - either through Manage My Booking or at the airport, you will get the higher level of Tier Points. So going from World Traveller Plus to Club World, you would get the Club World Avios and Tier Points.
• If you receive an operational upgrade, you don't get the extra Tier Points and Avios of the upgraded sector, just those in accordance with the paid class of service.
• If you pay for an upgrade, and then get a further operational upgrade (e.g. World Traveller Plus to Club World to FIRST), you should receive the paid for Tier Points and Avios (here Club World).
• If you receive an operational upgrade and then pay for a further upgrade, you should only get the initial ticket level, in the above example World Traveller Plus Avios and Tier Points, but there are reports of passengers actually getting First Tier Points and Avios.
• If the upgrade is with a oneworld airline the same principles apply, however there are reports of AA not always granting these upgrades.

It is important to check your account afterwards since you may not be automatically awarded the correct amount, and you may need to make a claim for the missing Avios and Tier Points. Depending on where your BAEC account is based, there may be an online webform for submitting these claims. There is a separate webform for BA partner airlines. Alternatively, erroneous credits or credits that normally post automatically but have not may be corrected on request by contacting your local Executive Club service centre.

There is a known issue affecting flights Upgraded using Avios where the Avios and Tier Points do not post automatically. This issue is known to occur with bookings made through offline channels and/or when the booking has been changed after the booking has been upgraded. This can range from date and time changes to purchasing a seat number or adding/amending a special meal request. The problem here is with the booking system as it renders the keyword BA uses to track the flight booking unrecognisable. This is easily resolved post travel by contacting your local Executive Club service centre. After reporting this issue to the Executive Club, the correct Avios and Tier Points usually follow within ten working days.


Introduction and overview of the Executive Club | Avios and Tier Points explained | Membership Tiers | Earning Avios and Tier Points on flights | Earning Avios on hotel stays | Credit card partners | Earning through everyday spending | Exchanging other points for Avios