Damien Davis

I've been a BA silver for the past 2 years. My TP collection ended on 8th May 2017. My Silver card will expire on 30th June as I didn’t quite get enough TP points to retain silver. Consequently, I will be given a ‘soft landing’ to Bronze. I considered doing a TP run, but didn't really have time to get one in and I couldn't find any reasonable enough deals to consider doing it.

However, I’ve calculated that by 16th July (just over 2 weeks after my silver membership expires) that I will have 660 TP (accrued since my TP were reset), thus bumping me back up to silver. So there's only 1 set of return flights where I will actually be Bronze (and thus no lounge access).

So, with hindsight, I allowing my points to expire actually works out to be a pretty good move on my part. When I get bumped back up to silver, I've calculated that I will retain silver status until June 2019 (current membership year + the following year).

I'm interested to learn if any other FT members in my position may have done it differently (so I can learn from other experiences). Thanks in advance!

dougzz

This is essentially the same situation for me. The only 'loss' I could see is in bonus Avios for the flight taken as bronze rather than silver.

dougzz

I think also this is the way to go, I'm not sure about the value of hanging on to a status, when the alternative is to gain that status early in the new TP year, which is what you're doing, and thus gaining the status for two years not one.

Scallywag72

I would do it no differently and the 'loss' of one flight's worth of Avios as a bronze rather than a silver is well worth it!

Damien Davis

Thanks guys, initial responses would suggest I did the right thing. I'm not too fussed about the 'loss' of bonus Avios at this stage. My Avios balance is looking quite healthy right now.

MrMutton

This is exactly my plan between now and the end of my TP year; I am Gold but dont have to do much flying so am able to push a holiday into the next year when I am in a new TP year but still holding my Gold Card. I then will need only another 400TP or so across the rest of the year as a SCH to reach 1500 again. The 7 week sweet-spot of retaining status but earning towards next year is an understated resource, I feel!^

Cap'n Benj

How can you get to 660 points with just two flights and not have lounge access?!

if it's some hellish 10 odd sector economy jaunt, lounge access may be very much appreciated!

Jimmie76

I would suspect that the majority of the flights will occur after the membership year ends but not before the card expires. Therefore would have lounge access through the card until that expires, the two flights mentioned are in between the expiry and will gain sufficient tier points to reach silver. Just a guess though.

dougzz

That's exactly how it worked for me. I typically holiday in Florida in April, my TP year ends April 8th, with the card expiring end of May. I did the flying out to Florida in the old year, and back in the new year, so immediately had 260, 40+40+140+40 (MCO-MIA-JFK-LHR-DUB). I then did a Tallinn jaunt in May, getting me to 460, and have a 3 day Tallinn weekend in late June, thus regaining the silver very quickly. Tallinn is a nice place and worth a visit, regardless of TPs and absolute cost. In fact with other flying I'm likely to hit gold this year for the first time. I suspect that'll just increase my need to be gold, rather than a proper reason. I'm not sure if this forum has saved me money, or just given me an appetite to travel more often and in better classes. Regardless it's all good.

Cymro

Good move but I might even consider trying to get past 600 TP before 30 June - any cheap upgrades going? I suppose the return pair could be long-haul premium economy, which would make it difficult to get 180-odd TPs but if, e.g., it's a TATL in discount Y
with 35TP each way, so you'd only need 10 TPs to hit silver before you soft land... not so much.

T8191

In our case, certainly the additional travel in premium cabins!

Over the last 3 years we've been racking up 4-5 holidays a year, instead of the 2 we used to do. And travelled further, and to new places as well. Thanks to FT, we seem to be able to sustain this level of activity AND a positive domestic P&L each year, as well as reaching (and renewing) Gold.

Hey, we are a long time dead ... so we're doing it while we still can

Damien Davis

Exactly that. My TP membership year ended on 8th May, but my Silver card expires 30th June. Since 8th May, my flights are varied (class/cabin) and I've calculated the following TP...

14-May LGW AMS 80TP
29-May LHR FRA 15TP
31-May LHR VIE 20TP
02-Jun LHR DUB 40TP
02-Jun DUB BOS 390TP
12-Jun LHR PAR 20TP
26-Jun LHR STO 15TP
16-Jul LGW AMS 80TP

Excluding the last flight, I'll be on 580 TP by 26th June. My next flight (16th July) is Club Europe, so I'll get Lounge access anyway + that takes me above 600 points to silver.

Damien Davis

Updated itinerary since my TP reset on 8th May...

14-May LGW AMS 80
29-May LHR FRA 45
31-May LHR VIE 20
02-Jun LHR DUB 40
02-Jun DUB BOS 390 (First/Club combo)
07-Jun LHR AMS 20
12-Jun LHR PAR 20
26-Jun LHR STO 15
05-Jul LCY AMS 15
16-Jul LGW AMS 80
Total = 725 by 16th July.

Perhaps I should go all out and aim for gold? (Never ever made gold status before, always been happy with 600-700 a year and retaining silver). But with my TP collection ending on 8th May 2018, I could well be in with a shot this year!

T8191

These days, Gold does offer some benefits over Silver [with which we used to be perfectly happy] after BA stripped some Silver benefits. 100% Avios bonus, F check-in, baggage allowance, Gold phone line, Lounges across OW Alliance, etc.

The issue I see with your plan is that there's too much short-haul stuff. Handy for a nice weekend, but that doesn't really feature in the earning stakes. We have an Hawaii trip coming up later this year that, even with the AA devaluation of earnings on 2000+ mile sectors, will still clock up 860TP (JER-LGW/LHR-DUB-CLT-LAX-OGG) for under £2k each in Business/US Domestic First. For Gold you need to put yourself about a bit

Food for thought?