Known BA Tier Point Runs at less than £1.25 per point

[JonWB]

I found a cracking tier point run today that I've not seen posted before:

SFO-MIA-MCO-MIA-SFO all in AA F for 480 tier points at £411 or £0.85 per tier point.

As SFO is a favourite with the MFU from WT+ to CW, this is all the more convenient.

So I thought we should try and consolidate the best tier point runs in a thread with up to date prices etc. Disclaimer - prices move quickly, there is no guarantee that these runs will work for dates you have, but post questions and we as a community will try and help.

This is intended to be a starting point for finding tier point runs, you will still need to do some leg work to find the correct dates and flights. Also, don't forget that with some of these fares there will be a positioning cost associated to get to the start of the tier point run.

I will cross link to as much information as possible on tier points and past tier point runs as I find them (but this will take time, so bare with me on this).

I will try and run this thread like Tesco and BA thread which Raffles does rather well. I'll edit the first post to contain all the best known BA tier point runs. If everyone can just reply in this thread with any others they are aware of (at less than £1.25 per point) I'll put them in the first post.

I'm hoping this will be a useful resource.

For background information on tier points, please refer to post 9 in the Ultmate BA guide:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...14&postcount=9

To kick things off:

Route - Carrier - Class - Tier Points - Price - Price per Tier Point. Bold for best £ per Tier Point

BA Fifth Freedom Flights (prices from expedia.co.uk)

BAH-DOH-BAH BA F 360 Tier Points ~ £231 ~ £0.65 per point
DOH-BAH-DOH BA F 360 Tier Points ~ £237 ~ £0.66
AUD-MCT-AUH BA F 360 Tier Points ~ £396 ~ £1.10 per point
ANU-UVF-ANU BA J 240 Tier Points ~ £257 ~ £1.07 per point
[Note: limited flights, Wed out Sun return only]

With one GF(GULF AIR) leg (allowing MCT and BAH/DOH runs to be linked):

MCT-AUH-BAH-DOH BA/GF/BA F 360 Tier Points ~£359 ~ £1.00 per point
MCT-AUH-BAH-DOH-BAH BA/GF/BA/BA F 540 Tier Points ~ £449 ~ £0.83 per point

With one EY(ETHIAD) leg (allowing BAH/DOH and MCT runs to be linked):

DOH-BAH-AUH-MCT BA/EY/BA F 360 Tier Points ~ £420 ~ £1.16 per point

AA YUP Fares (prices from americanairlines.co.uk)

BOS-LAX-HNL-LAX-BOS AA F 720 Tier Points ~ £780 ~ £1.08
SFO-MIA-MCO-MIA-SFO AA F 480 Tier Points ~ £411 ~ £0.85
SFO-LAX-MIA-MCO-MIA-SFO AA F 540 Tier Points for ~ £421.20 ~ £0.78 thanks to djsteve
MCO-MIA-LAS-MIA-MCO AA F 480 Tier Points ~ £468 ~ £0.98 [paging flyclub ]
IAH-OKC-IAH AA ? 240 Tier Points for ~ £228 ~ £0.95 [thanks to thegoderic]
BOS-ORD-SEA-STL-BOS AA F 360 Tier Points ~ £315 ~ £0.87 [thanks to Fraser] This doesn't work now as BOS-SEA not listed as one flight number, thereby making legs <2000 miles

Tips: The key is to try and get sectors in AA F > 2000 miles for 180 tier points. You need to be careful about aircraft type, as some of the YUP fares will book into J on 3 class domestic AA services. See this post for details:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...4&postcount=15

YUP fares on AA are far from simple. Some are refundable, some aren't. Some book into P inventory, some book into A inventory.

See this thread from AAnother Forum for more details:

YUP variations: The BA board seeks your AAdvice

DFW-ORD-SJU-ORD-DFW AA I 360 Tier Points ~ £247 ~ £0.68 [Thanks to Fraser ] Here

JKT-HKG-DXB-DOH-BAH-DOH-DXB-HKG-JKT
fullfare YY in F 3046 US$ + 15 % milage = 3503 USD = 1.853 GBP or 1.71 per point.
with some fantasy and 3046 + 25% milage = 3.807 USD / 2014 GBP there are 2 more legs on BA possible. > 1,39 per point
JKT-HKG-DXB-MCT-AUH-DOH-BAH-DOH-AUH-MCT-DXB-HKG-JKT [Thanks to bertheike]

Enjoy!

JonWB

[AJLondon]

Good idea.

But when computing the costs per TP, you seem to be ignoring the "positioning cost" to get yourself to the starting point BAH/ANU/SFO etc. If one happens to be in those places and has free time, then that's a different story of course.

ex UK, (Even here an assumption is made that it's ex LGW/LHR. The fares from other points in the UK would be correspondingly higher), I can only think of the CE "I" class fares as anything remotely reasonable for a MR.

£180 for 80 TP's or £2.25 per TP.

[sdorling]

You are a legend Jon. I've been looking for a v. cheap 380 tier point run ex. SFO when i am there in early Oct to make BAEC Gold....so thank-you very much!

****Although.... i've just plugged the SFO-MIA-MCO-MIA-SFO run into americanairlines.co.uk in First with-restrictions for Oct flying between the 9th and 12th and it's come to an alarming £789.10 - i take it these magical prices are seasonal...For those of us who are tierpoint or mileage run virgins, are there any hints and tips as to when is the best time/season/days of the week etc... for these runs?

[jaguarpig]

Originally Posted by sdorling

are there any hints and tips as to when is the best time/season/days of the week etc... for these runs?

Just keep searching and book ahead, last easter we did bos-lax-hnl-lax-bos 720 tps for about £700,this year bos-lax-hnl-ord-bos was £800 for 600tps,could have routed back through lax for the same money but decided to come back on a 767 rather than the 757.Over Xmas sfo-bos-dfw-bos-sfo earnt 480tps but came in at an eye watering £1400.I really enjoy the AA domestic First class,out of 8 legs last year 7 were superb 1 was passable, not bad odds.

[awness]

I'm moving from *A so excuse the silly question, but for partner flights does domestic First on AA definitely receive First Class tier points and not Business?

[swissytrader]

Again good idea.

I know its a bit basic, but it may be worth pointing out in the opening thread that at least four sectors need to be flown on BA metal to achieve status.

[jaguarpig]

Originally Posted by awness

I'm moving from *A so excuse the silly question, but for partner flights does domestic First on AA definitely receive First Class tier points and not Business?

As long as you book onto the 2 class services yes you get FC miles and tps on AA

[ba bob]

Great idea! I'll be keeping a close eye on this one, but AJ is right, ex UK it's quite difficult to find a very cheap TP run. Pity the IB one will not work. Looks like I might have to join FlyClub on one of his next crazy European airport tours to achieve that elusive silver status.

[nomad1974]

Thanks to the OP. This is a great idea. I am still thinking of changing to OW from *A. Few quick hops in th Middle East sound tempting.

[SLF]

Excellent idea.

Originally Posted by AJLondon

But when computing the costs per TP, you seem to be ignoring the "positioning cost" to get yourself to the starting point BAH/ANU/SFO etc.

Highlighting this fact is good for the newbies, however I do think it is valid to do this. Otherwise, it would be an impossible task to document the positioning part too Sure, if you have to pay a regular fare to get to the start point, then the whole deal must be viewed in a completely different light and could well not be worth the effort.

[JonWB]

Agreed - updated the first post.

[JonWB]

Originally Posted by sdorling

You are a legend Jon. I've been looking for a v. cheap 380 tier point run ex. SFO when i am there in early Oct to make BAEC Gold....so thank-you very much!

****Although.... i've just plugged the SFO-MIA-MCO-MIA-SFO run into americanairlines.co.uk in First with-restrictions for Oct flying between the 9th and 12th and it's come to an alarming £789.10 - i take it these magical prices are seasonal...For those of us who are tierpoint or mileage run virgins, are there any hints and tips as to when is the best time/season/days of the week etc... for these runs?

Well - it worked for me!

Try multicity, then enter:

SFO-MIA Oct 9 Morning
MIA-MCO Oct 9 Morning
MCO-MIA Oct 12 Morning
MIA-SFO Oct 12 Morning

Search By: Fare
First/Premium: With Restrictions

Fare: £410.60 + £22.70 = £433.30

AMERICAN AIRLINES
480 SFO San Francisco 10/09/2006 07:00 AM MIA Miami 10/09/2006 03:22 PM 757


AMERICAN AIRLINES
1120 MIA Miami 10/09/2006 04:14 PM MCO Orlando 10/09/2006 05:12 PM 738


AMERICAN AIRLINES
703 MCO Orlando 10/12/2006 09:45 AM MIA Miami 10/12/2006 10:43 AM AB6


AMERICAN AIRLINES
1539 MIA Miami 10/12/2006 02:38 PM SFO San Francisco 10/12/2006 05:30 PM 757

[JonWB]

Originally Posted by awness

I'm moving from *A so excuse the silly question, but for partner flights does domestic First on AA definitely receive First Class tier points and not Business?

Nearly always - see the updated first post which refers to a post which details aircraft type.

[G-BOAC]

Excellent idea Agree with SLF above re the positioning costs - I can't think of any I class runs which would get such TP/mile costs...the best I can recall was the NCE ICLUBANs which were ~1.8 TPs per pound.

Should we reference this new thread in the sticky?

Phil

[BAGoldBoy]

Great idea

I have been looking into a EWR|LAX|SFO run later this year which is not as cheap at £680 but still good value. I wanted to add some more internal sectors, ideally PDX, as that's a cheap F route from SFO. However, I can't find any of the booking engines that will let me do a 4+ sector booking and/or return a decent price. The best is ITA but it throws out some really bizarre routings and despite having read the MR primer several times and used a variety of tools still can't get there, so any ideas welcome.

Another anomoloy was that booking the same flight through expedia came out at £1200+ regardless of changing the options and travelocity at $1200. The only reason for using these sites is because the flights will then appear in MMB.