BA Cuts Long-Haul Tier Point Bonuses by Up to 60% - and Raises Silver and Gold From April 2027

Two days, two hits for BA status chasers. Yesterday BA's About tier points page showed Silver going to 8,000 tier points and Gold to 21,000 from 1 April 2027. Today its tier points on flights page shows the other half: the extra tier points on long-haul premium cabins are being cut by up to 60%.

The good news is there's a window. Book by 24 November 2026 and you keep today's extra tier points, even for flights after 1 April 2027. Here's what's changing, who gets hit hardest, and what I'd do before that date.

WHAT // Since April 2026, every BA-marketed flight earns a fixed number of extra tier points on top of the 1 tier point per £1 you spend on the fare. From 1 April 2027, BA is cutting those extras on long-haul premium cabins. These are the per-flight numbers from BA's own page:

Every Club World fare loses 300 tier points per flight and every First fare loses 350. Short-haul (Euro Traveller and Club Europe) and long-haul economy (World Traveller) don't change at all.

American Airlines and Iberia flights take a similar cut: long-haul premium economy goes from 275 to 175, business from 500 to 200 and First from 650 to 300. Short-haul and long-haul economy stay the same.

The booking rule: the new rates apply to flights from 1 April 2027 booked on or after 25 November 2026. Anything you book by 24 November keeps today's rates, whenever you fly. Flights between now and 31 March 2027 keep today's rates whenever you book them.

WHY IT MATTERS // A standard Club World return now earns 1,000 extra tier points. From April 2027, the same booking earns 400. Take BA's own Gold example: 5 Club World returns to New York for 18,034 tier points of spend, plus 5,000 extras, equals 23,034. Under the new extras (2,000) that drops to 20,034. That's not enough for the new 21,000 Gold threshold - 966 tier points short.

The cut lands on the same day as the new thresholds:

The flight-count routes survive: 25 flights with a BA flight number still gets you Bronze and 50 gets you Silver. BA's page doesn't mention Gold Guest List, so I'm not going to guess on that one.

Put the two changes together and a Club World flyer gets squeezed from both sides. Take a standard Club World return with £2,000 of eligible spend. Today it earns 3,000 tier points, which is 40% of Silver. From April 2027 (booked from 25 November) it earns 2,400, which is 30% of Silver. Meanwhile, a short-haul flyer on Club Europe or Euro Traveller loses nothing on the flight and only has the higher bar to deal with.

The BA Premium Plus tier point rules also change on 1 April 2027. Right now you earn up to 2,500 tier points in steps: 750 at £15,000 of spend, 750 more at £20,000 and 1,000 more at £25,000 (enrol by 25 January 2027, spend by 1 February 2027). From 1 April 2027, it becomes 1 tier point per £10 of eligible spend, up to 3,000 a year, with no enrolment. If you max it out, Silver needs 5,000 from elsewhere both before and after the change.

Full disclosure: I don't hold either personal BA Amex at the moment (I downgraded a while ago). If you want it, the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card currently offers 30,000 bonus Avios when you spend £6,000 in your first three months (eligible new Cardmembers only). It also earns 1.25 Avios per £1. Annual fee applies. Representative 135.7% APR variable.

There's one earning change on the Avios side, and it goes the other way. BA's BA Holidays Avios page says that packages booked from 12:00 GMT on 24 November 2026 earn 6 Avios per £1 on the whole package, split evenly between the travellers. BA's example is a £3,600 package for two members, which earns 10,800 Avios each.

That replaces today's set-up, where you earn Avios on the flight element and the lead traveller gets a separate bonus. Packages booked before that time keep the current structure. I'll go through the maths in more detail in a separate post, but the short version is: for a status chaser, 24 November is a busy day - the last day for the old tier point extras and the first for the new holiday Avios.

On its own, yesterday's threshold rise was a nudge. With today's cut, it's a proper devaluation for long-haul premium flyers - the people paying BA the most per seat. The logic, as I read it, is that a big Club World or First fare already earns lots of tier points from the spend itself, so BA thinks the extras matter less there. That's my reading, not something BA has said.

What's odd is the shape of it. Short-haul and economy keep everything, and the flexible fares lose less in percentage terms than the cheapest ones. If you're a frequent Club Europe flyer, you've barely been touched. If you collect status on sale Club World fares, the gap just got a lot wider.

On a personal level, I'm BA Silver right now, and most of my Avios come from business spend on my Amex business cards and Capital on Tap, which don't earn tier points. It's one reason I don't put all my eggs in one basket: my Flying Blue Platinum and Miles & More Platinum both came through status matches, and if you mainly want oneworld perks, Finnair Plus is worth a look as an alternative to the BA Club.

If you fly short-haul or economy, very little changes apart from the slightly higher bar. If you fly long-haul in Club World or First and you already know your 2027 trips, book them by 24 November and lock in today's extras.

I haven't seen a BA press release or member email about either change yet - both are on ba.com, which is why I've linked straight to BA's pages. I'll update this piece when BA confirms them, or if Gold Guest List moves too. For quick updates in between, follow us on Instagram.

That's all from me for now. Any questions, just hit reply - I read every email.

Safe travels,
Jack