Do British Airways tier points work on a calendar year or membership year basis?

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A common question I get asked is are British Airways tier points are earned on a calendar year or membership year basis? This is important to understand if you are targeting elite status.

If you’ve already read our introductory article about what British Airways tier points are, you’ll know that they’re a way of tracking your elite status with British Airways. The more tier points you have, the higher up the ladder you can climb and the more rewards are open to you, such as complimentary lounge access, seat selection and more.

It is impossible to spend tier points – they are not a reward currency like Avios – and, crucially, they are also reset at the end of your membership year. This is because elite status at British Airways is based on a year-to-year basis.

That means that tier points operate on a membership year – rather than a calendar year – and depends when you joined British Airways Executive Club. You can easily see your year end online in your Executive Club login.

You cannot change your British Airways Executive Club membership year end as we explained in this article. The best you can do is request a short extension to your Executive Club membership year which we explain here.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 1.8 million monthly page views. Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios? Click here to read our latest news stories, click here to join our email list and click here to read our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.)

How to get 20,000 Avios from Amex Gold or 30,000 Avios from Amex Platinum (December 2021 offer)

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