Oneworld alliance — a beginner’s guide to Tiers and benefits

You may be a signed-up member of the BA Executive Club and confident about how to collect Avios towards British Airways reward flights. You may even be working your way up the tiers with your eye on lounge access and other perks. But did you know you could also earn points with BA’s partners in the oneworld alliance, or that you might be entitled to enter their lounges?

It’s well worth maximising your Executive Club membership even when you’re not flying BA, so here’s the lowdown on what the alliance is all about and how it might help you towards more Avios reward flights or free lounge access.

What’s the oneworld alliance and who’s in it?

There are several airline alliances globally and BA is a member of oneworld.

These friendly tie-ups allow airlines that aren’t head-to-head rivals to help each other with reciprocal arrangements. For instance, they may ensure schedules align so that customers can make smooth connections between certain flights and check their luggage through to the end of their journey.

They may also run codeshare flights when one airline covers a route on behalf of its partner’s passengers besides its own by using two flight codes.

In oneworld, BA has a partnership with the following other members:

Alaska Airlines

American Airlines

Cathay Pacific

Finnair

Iberia

Japan Airlines

Malaysia Airlines

Qantas

Qatar Airways

Royal Air Maroc

Royal Jordanian

SriLankan Airlines

Fiji Airways is a oneworld connect member, meaning it has selected benefits, and Oman Air is set to join the alliance soon.

Together the oneworld alliance serves more than 900 destinations in 170 countries/territories. You can check the latest member and destination list here.

How does the frequent flyer programme work?

Oneworld has standardised frequent flyer perks across the alliance, making it a boon for anyone in one of its members’ frequent flyer programmes.

It means whichever of the member airlines you’re flying with, and even if you’re on Avios reward flights, if you’re a high enough status you could get extra baggage allowance and priority check-in (look for the oneworld logo).

If you’re in first or business class or have a high enough tier status then when you’re flying with any oneworld member you can also have your pick of oneworld members’ lounges — that’s a choice of hundreds across the globe.

You can check the lounges available to you by typing an airport or city into the find a lounge tool on the oneworld website. This is a great perk as quality and inclusions between lounges can differ and some may be busier than others.

When you fly with any oneworld member you can rack up Avios in your BA Executive Club account (or the equivalent currency in whichever loyalty club you use) helping you to more lovely Avios reward flights. You will also earn Tier Points, which improve your status (see more on advancing your tier status below).

How do you join?

There is no standalone oneworld frequent flyer programme, your status with the alliance is earned via one of its member airlines. Once you have built up to a relevant status in that airline’s own programme (starting with Bronze if you are in the BA Executive Club) you are automatically treated as the equivalent status in the oneworld programme.

You can use a dropdown menu on the travel benefits page of the oneworld website and select which airline programme you are a member of to check what status you have.

Note that you can’t pool loyalty points across several airlines to reach tiers in the oneworld programme; you can only use your status in one of the member airline’s schemes to get the equivalent on oneworld’s programme.

So, if you’re lucky enough to have status with more than one oneworld member, use the membership number /card for the one with the higher status to access your perks.

What are the tiers?

British Airways Executive Club has several equivalent tiers in oneworld with similar perks.

Executive Club Blue = no basic membership equivalent in oneworld.

Executive Club Bronze = oneworld Ruby

Executive Club Silver = oneworld Sapphire

Executive Club Gold = oneworld Emerald

Ruby tier benefits

The equivalent to BA’s Bronze, Ruby offers:

Business Class priority check-in

Preferred or pre-reserved seating (subject to the airline’s own rules)

Priority on waitlists and when on standby (subject to the airline’s own rules)

Sapphire tier benefits

In addition to the Ruby perks, Sapphire (the equivalent to BA’s Silver) offers:

Business Class lounge access (and the ability to invite one guest also flying with a oneworld carrier)

Priority boarding

Priority baggage handling (except on BA)

Extra baggage allowance*

* The extra benefit is not available on British Airways’ ‘Hand Baggage Only/Basic’ fares.

Otherwise, on international or domestic itineraries using the weight system, this is 15 kgs in addition to your ticketed economy class allowance. On international itineraries with domestic sectors using the ‘piece’ system, it’s one additional bag, weighing up to 23kgs (up to a maximum of two pieces total). On Domestic-only itineraries, one piece of checked baggage, weighing up to 23 kgs on tickets where you would normally have no free luggage entitlement.

If you’re travelling in the First and Business Class cabins you will usually receive an even greater checked baggage allowance.

Emerald tier benefits

In addition to the Sapphire tier benefits, Emerald (the equivalent to BA’s Gold) offers:

Access to First as well as Business Class lounges (and the ability to invite one guest also flying with a oneworld carrier)

First Class priority check-in

Fast Track or Priority Lane access at select airports worldwide

Extra baggage allowance*

*For Emerald this is upped to 20 kgs in addition to the ticketed cabin allowance or, where baggage allowance is allocated on a piece basis, one additional bag.

Advancing your tier status

You advance your oneworld tier status by advancing your status in whichever oneworld member loyalty club you’re in. Crucially, you can do so by flying any member of the oneworld alliance.

For instance, if you’re in the BA Executive Club and fly with another oneworld partner airline such as American, Cathay, Iberia, Qatar or Qantas you will gain Tier Points. Just remember to add your BA Executive Club membership number to each booking made with its oneworld partners to log your points.

Note that British Airways reward flights will not earn you any Tier Points. You only accrue these on flights you pay for.

So, checking who’s in the oneworld alliance when you book your travel can really help you boost your Executive Club status and help you to more perks with more airlines and airports.

Original Source — https://rewardflightfinder.com/news-and-advice/oneworld-alliance-a-beginner-s-guide-to-tiers-and-benefits