Can I claim Avios points if I wasn’t a member when I flew?

In this article I want to look at whether you can claim Avios points if you were not a member of British Airways Executive Club at the time you flew.

For existing members of Avios, British Airways allows you to claim missing Avios and tier points online on completed flights if you believe you are entitled to them. Once you submit a claim it is reviewed and will automatically be applied to your Executive Club account if your claim is correct.

It is very easy if you booked your flights with British Airways and have a BA-prefixed flight number. To initiate the process all you have to do is fill out a simple form from your Executive Club menu online.

What happens if you were not a member of Avios at the time of flying?

The rules vary depending on who you flew with.

If you flew with British Airways:

If you flew with British Airways, you can retrospectively claim Avios for flights taken up to three months ago.

You can read more about how many Avios and tier points you should expect to receive for a British Airways flights here.

If you flew with a partner airline:

If you flew with a partner airline, such as Qatar Airways or American Airlines, you are stuck.  You must be a member of British Airways Executive Club on the day you flew to earn Avios.

How long do you need to wait to claim missing Avios?

If you flew with British Airways:

You must wait at least 3 days after completing the last leg of your booking before claiming. You will need your ticket number, which you receive in the confirmation email upon booking your flight with British Airways.

If you flew with a partner airline:

You can also claim missing Avios or tier points from flights with partner airlines. If you provide your Executive Club membership number at time of booking, these should automatically be credited (be aware, however, that earning rates for partner and oneworld airlines vary).

However, if they do not, you can claim 7 days after your last flight. Unlike for British Airways flights the claim form is a little more extensive, requiring dates travelled, arrival and departure locations, ticket number and flight class.  Even if you lose your boarding pass this information should be on the confirmation email sent to you when you first booked the flight.

(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 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.