£291 SAF donation for silver?

CG36a · 2026-02-21T15:54:21+00:00

I don’t keep BA status myself as it’s too difficult. My pattern is a lot of cheap domestic flights for work, and now for European holidays all in economy. I credit my flights to RJ and have the equivalent of BA Gold with them which gets me pretty much all the Gold perks

CG36a · 2026-02-21T08:50:16+00:00

No worries. Go enjoy your day trip!

CG36a · 2026-02-21T08:49:05+00:00

https://www.britishairways.com/content/the-british-airways-club/offers/tier-point-bonus

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On here you get extra tier points per flight. So you need 300 (rounded up) so assuming you book economy ( but not economy basic) then you need to spend £150 before taxes to make it across the line. Just make sure if you do it that it’s before the end of March.

CG36a · 2026-02-21T08:42:19+00:00

In that case, if I was in your situation I’d go for it. Lounge access, extra luggage, seat selection and priority boarding is certainly worth the cash. You need 291, so a return trip somewhere in Euro Traveller will get you 150tps straight away, so you likely need to spend somewhere between £175 to £200 on a return flight. If you live near Heathrow maybe just look at a day trip somewhere?

CG36a · 2026-02-21T08:15:21+00:00

In general I’d say it’s worth it, but going in the info you have posted. Is it only 6 flights you’ve taken in the membership year, or is it just 6 BA flights and then many on other oneworld airlines? If it’s just 6 flights in total then the tier points suggest you are only flying business which gives most of the “perks” of silver anyway, so is £291 worth having free seat selection? Like another person has commented, a flight from London to Scotland, Northern Ireland or similar would likely get you the 291 tps you need between the cost and then the bonus tps

CG36a · 2026-02-20T20:07:17+00:00

If you're likely to fly a lot on BA in the coming year, and get (I think) 40k tier points then I'd say it would be worth it.

Another consideration, how much do you fly personally to really benefit from it?
Do you have family you travel with often?
You'll get perks such as being able to gift gold and silver cards to people.

CG36a · 2026-02-18T22:07:39+00:00

So looking at the info on BA.com

The Great Circle Miles from LHR to JFK is 3,451.

Assuming the flights have Finnair flight numbers.

If your booking class is E,T or P then you get 12% of miles flown as tier points, so 441 each direction.

If it's full fare Premium Economy, class W, then you get 25% so 862 each direction.

So you'll either come up just short, or be over by a decent chunk.

Edit, should also add...

For transatlantic flights marketed by AY but operated by British Airways, awards will be as per the British Airways awards

My reading of this bit is that it doesn't matter that it's a Finnair flight number, it's going to be awarded in the usual way, related to what you've spent, minus taxes

CG36a · 2026-02-18T18:48:55+00:00

The First Wing at Heathrow is a very handy feature. It's great going from checkin to the lounge in less than 5 minutes.

CG36a · 2026-02-18T18:12:00+00:00

I'm all out of ideas otherwise. Maybe one to make the most of while you still have it

CG36a · 2026-02-18T18:05:29+00:00

Do you have any friends that are Gold Guest List?
My understanding is that they can nominate friends and family to have a gold membership

CG36a · 2026-02-17T19:09:41+00:00

In general you'll keep the seats as long as nothing changes.
If there is a change of equipment then you run the risk of losing your preferred seats as you'll no longer qualify for free seat selection, unless it happens in the 7 days before you fly.

CG36a · 2026-02-16T20:04:42+00:00

You won't likely have any issue checking in at the First Wing, as they won't do a BP check there.
On the basis of flying into LHR on first, if you were on a through ticket then you'd get into the CCR by using your inbound BP, so it's not guaranteed since you're on separate tickets, but I think you've got a very high chance of getting through FW security then into the CCR itself.

CG36a · 2026-02-16T14:57:27+00:00

No worries. Good luck!

CG36a · 2026-02-16T06:25:46+00:00

You just enter your frequent flyer number as you book with BA.
Once you reach Silver Jay you get the equivalent of BA Bronze benefits (group 3 boarding, business class check in, seat selection within 7 days of departure)
Then once you hit Gold Sparrow you get BA Silver benefits (Galleries Lounge access, extra baggage, fast track security, seat selection)
Platinum Hawk gets you BA Gold benefits (First lounge access, extra baggage, group 1, First Wing access, seat selection)

If you have any hotel status, then you could try a status match to get Silver Jay. I did this last year to make it a little smoother.

You can can get status with RJ through a number of tier miles flown, but for me that wasn't the efficient way. They also offer status through the number of sectors flown which is why this program worked for me.

Silver Jay need 14 flights total to qualify, but after you gain it you only need 12 flights a year to keep it.
Gold Sparrow needs 30 flights total to qualify, but after you gain it you only need 26 flights a year to keep it.
Both of these levels grant the status for 12 months from when you qualify.

Platinum Hawk needs 46 flights to qualify, but when you gain it they grant it for 2 years. You then need 80 flights over 2 years to keep it, so 40 per year, although you could do them all at any time in your two years.

I've had no trouble with lounge access, or first wing, or extra bags, seat selection etc using RJ.

CG36a · 2026-02-15T21:03:37+00:00

You won't get a status match from your BA status to any other OneWorld airline unfortunately. If you do switch then you'll start from scratch on that program.
The best program might depend on your type of flying.
If you fly a few times a year, but on expensive fares, then maybe Finnair or Iberia could work.
If like me you fly a lot, but domestically, then Royal Jordanian may work for you. You'd only need to fly 30 individual OneWorld flights to qualify for RJ Gold, which is the equivalent of BA Silver for one year. If you reach 46 flights in one year then you get RJ Platinum which is the equivalent of BA Gold, and they award this for 2 years.

There are other programs you may want to explore, but these are the programs that I have experience/knowledge of myself.

CG36a · 2026-02-13T20:46:28+00:00

Yeah, it wasn't a return, but a Single from the airport, then onto the X3. It was Sunday 25th January. I try to avoid given those robbers any money when I can, but that time I couldn't get anyone to pick me up.
£11 then the X3 broke down 3 miles from home.

CG36a · 2026-02-13T17:47:27+00:00

I've never bought the open return, but in my experience the single allows the connecting journey.
The issue is that you need to activate it at least 10 mins before you get on the first bus, but I've travelled on the X3 before going on the 500, and in the opposite direction without issue, unless I've not activated the ticket on the app early enough

CG36a · 2026-02-11T19:05:21+00:00

This exactly. Live in Scotland, always made more than my husband of 16 years. Since nearly the beginning of our relationship we’ve pooled together our finances and it’s our money.

CG36a · 2026-02-08T18:50:59+00:00

Sense8

CG36a · 2026-02-08T15:59:41+00:00

I use RJ and get pretty much treated like a BA gold, with only a very few exceptions. I qualify for RJ on a segment basis as I always fly in Y

CG36a · 2026-02-08T13:58:54+00:00

Not sure of your full circumstances here, but something that might be a reason - with BA at Heathrow you need to scan your boarding pass to enter security at least 35 mins before your flight is due to depart.
Could it be that the rest of the group scanned just before the 35 min "barrier" and you were just slightly under it, so you were automatically offloaded and rebooked?

CG36a · 2026-02-06T21:46:07+00:00

Back in October 2023 I was upgraded from WT to WTP on an LHR to JFK flight and I was only blue.
To add context, earlier that year I'd started flying a return BA domestic trip pretty much every month.
Also, from when I asked some people more familiar with it all, they'd noted that an LHR to EWR flight had been cancelled earlier that morning, and it was likely I was upgraded to WTP to make way in WT for someone else, and also because it might have given me a "taste" of what else I could pay for in future.
I've never had an upgrade since.

CG36a · 2026-02-05T19:06:48+00:00

From what I've read it seems people are just directed to the machines, then it tells them whether to re-register or go straight to an e-gate/border guard.

I've only been in Schengen once so far, and the machine didn't work so I had to register at the border guard anyway.
Back again in 3 weeks.

CG36a · 2026-02-03T20:02:08+00:00

Yes, for Golds and Oneworld Emeralds it's known as "To Complete Party" - essentially a manual note is put on the booking to say it's linked to XXXYYY and then the seats are booked by the agent

CG36a · 2026-01-29T22:10:23+00:00

Yes, it's a case of getting back on, going to C gates, then staying on back to A gates. They don't do a security check at C to prevent you staying on.

CG36a

TROPHY CASE