British Airways launches a status match – but only for US and Canadian residents

Well, after years of telling people that British Airways never does status matches, British Airways has launched a status match.

The bad news for the 90% of HfP readers who outside North America is that you don’t qualify. You must have a US or Canadian address to take part.

There is no fee to apply.

How does the British Airways status match work?

British Airways will match your status with seven airlines, as per the table below:

Airline	Gets you BA Silver:	Gets you BA Gold:
Delta	Gold	Platinum
Air Canada	50K	75K and Super Elite
Lufthansa	Senator	Hon Circle
United Airlines	Premier Gold	Premier Platinum, Premier 1k
Air France / KLM	Gold	Platinum
Scandinavian Airlines	Gold	Diamond, Pandion
Virgin Atlantic	Silver	Gold

How long do you keep your British Airways status?

Six months, unless …..

How can you keep your status for longer?

You will receive your status for the usual period of time (eg until 31st March 2025, with a card expiry date of 30th April 2025) if you take two qualifying one-way transatlantic flights – so one return flight – within six months.

To qualify, these flights must:

• be a British Airways-marketed flight in business (Club World) or First
• be operated by British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia or Finnair
• originate from the US, Canada or Mexico
• land in Europe, Norway or Switzerland*
• be eligible for earning Tier Points and collecting Avios (ie are not reward flights, staff tickets etc)

(It is ba.com that says ‘Europe, Norway or Switzerland’. As the latter two are obviously in Europe, this implies BA means ‘EU, Norway or Switzerland’ – but what about the UK in that case?)

If you do not complete two one-way transatlantic cash flights, you will be downgraded after six months.

I am assuming that – if you are matched to Gold and do the qualifying return flight – you will receive the usual soft landing to Silver for one year (to 31st March 2026) and then Bronze for a further year (to 31st March 2027).

If you are matched to Silver and do a qualifying return flight, I assume that you will receive the usual soft landing to Bronze (to 31st March 2026) even if you don’t requalify.

What are the benefits of British Airways Gold and Silver status?

We covered the benefits of British Airways Gold status in this article.

We covered the benefits of British Airways Silver status in this article.

How do you apply for a British Airways status match?

Go to this page of ba.com. It explains what documentation is required.

Your account will be upgraded within five business days after your documentation has been checked.

I strongly recommend that UK members of BAEC do NOT switch their account address to the US to take advantage of this, because it will mess up a lot of things including your ability to hold a British Airways American Express card.

The deadline to apply is 7th May.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open 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.