AKA My First Tier Point Run...

I'd booked myself two CW holidays this year and then realised that I was in that awkward position of having around 1200 TPs, so did I 'waste' 600 TPs and stick with Silver or succumb to the temptation of 'going for gold'... A Silver card is perfectly functional for the majority of my flights (LGW-EDI commuting) and even on the few LH flights I take I'd still have access to a BA lounge. But... My inner magpie wanted that shiny, pretty gold card...

So I started looking for a 300-ish TP trip at a good price, and where else would one look but in F and J Deals thread of course! So I nicked a few ideas and came up with BCN-LHR-PHL-MIA-PUJ and back for 520TPs, posted my plans and asked the more experienced FTers to make sure I wasn't booking anything impossible. And back came the suggestion that if I did BCN-LHR-PHL-DFW-MIA-PUJ-CLT-IND-CLT-CDG I'd earn 640TPs for the same money. Thank you henkybaby!

OK, so instead of four nights in Punta Cana I'd only get two but with a night each in Dallas and Indianapolis instead. I've got a short attention span so two nights at a beach resort would be enough for me, and I've never been to Dallas or Indianapolis so that'd be something new to see. So after two or three days of dithering, I hit the 'pay' button and booked the trip with American Airlines. My colleagues think I'm crazy...


Flight 1: EDI-LGW Domestic Economy

My trip started on the Tuesday evening with my usual EDI-LGW commute with a cheap LGW-BCN on Vueling added on but as a mere Silver on a non-BA flight I haven't got any lounge access... but it turns it's possible to survive in an airport without access to free drinks. Who knew?? Anyway, I had a coffee... did some people watching... ate at Yo! Sushi... did some more people watching... got bored and went shopping... It would've been cheaper to buy lounge access...


Flight 2: LGW-BCN Vueling Self-Loading Cargo Class

Then it was time for my bargain basement Vueling flight! I paid a whopping £3.27 to move from E to D seat, which was a good choice as my original E seat was bracketed by two rather large gentlemen. There was absolutely no leg room but as I had the entire row to myself that wasn't a problem. We were running late by 40 minutes, which compounded with the wait for the hotel shuttle meant it was after midnight by the time I checked into the hotel.

I'd opted for the Tryp Hotel at the airport, and it was very nice apart from the loo, which hadn't been cleaned. My room had a separate seating area and was very modern and clean, shame I was only in it 5 hours!



I sorted myself out, set my alarm and went to bed. Luckily I woke up just before the alarm should've gone off, I'd left my phone in flight-safe mode it was still on UK time... oops, could've been expensive!

Check in was smooth, the desk agent printed off my boarding passes for the next 5 flights and then fast track security was all mine.

The airport was very quiet but it wasn't quite 6am yet, I've been to Barcelona several times but always by ship so I'd never seen the airport before.




I headed down to the lounge to find it shut and stood chatting to two American couples for a little while before a woman turned up at 10 to 6 and barked at us that the lounge doesn't open until 6am, she let herself in and made a point of glaring at us as she locked the door behind herself. Perhaps she was worried the five us were going to storm the front desk! As it was so early the staff were still setting up but I got a coffee and an orange juice, which was ample as I knew I'd got a CE breakfast to look forward to on the flight.




Flight 3: BCN-LHR BA0477 Weds 27th April

A320 G-EUUY Seat 04D, I totally forgot about being able to move seats at T-72 and row 1 was completely empty, so when the SCCM was doing her checks I asked if could move after take-off and she said no problem, just move now, so I got my 01F after all. We were a little late taking off due to some issue with checked bags, apparently two bags belonging to a passenger on board had been cancelled so the bags had to be off loaded and identified by the owner.

Listening to the voices in the cabin it would seem most of my fellow passengers in CE are American, perhaps Barcelona is a popular destination for US tourists

After breakfast the SCCM came to tell me there's had been an equipment change on my flight to PHL and there were no Business Class seats. I now know with hindsight and some FT help that what she was telling me was that Business had been oversold, but at the time I didn't quite understand that.

She gave me the option of either staying on the LHR-PHL-DFW I had but in economy (!!) or go LHR-DFW direct. Argh, what to do?? No FT at 38,000 feet! PHL-DFW is business class so that's only 40 points to lose rather than 100 for dropping to Y on LHR-PHL. In the end I opt for the LHR-DFW flight, the SCCM is so helpful finding out what time the new flight lands and explaining what I need to do at terminal 3 and that my bags will be re-routed. I explain I'm on a Tier Point run and ask if I'll get my original TPs credited.

OK, so I'm all happy now, bit disappointed about losing 40 TPs but I get into DFW 3 hours earlier which should give me time to get into Dallas proper and actually see something. Every cloud has a silver lining! I'd explained to the SCCM about doing a TP run and that I knew BA would do an ORC but I had no idea about AA as I'd never flown with them before. She returns to tell me that AA will give me my original miles (at the time I don't realise the significance of the wording and assume she meant Tier Points) and that my bag will be changed without me having to collect and recheck it. A very helpful lady and I'm very grateful.

We arrive in to LHR T3 which is somewhere I've never been before and I follow the signs to Flight Connections to get my new boarding pass. I queue up for 15 minutes before encountering a very bored agent who tells me it's nothing to do with her and I'll have to go to the gate to get a new pass printed. It's Gate 28, which is miles away... I get to Gate 28 where the first passengers for my original LHR-PHL flight are starting to queue up. I explain my situation to the gate agent but he doesn't seem to get what I'm asking for and can't understand why if I have a boarding pass for flight AA729 with seat 01A on it, why am I saying I have no seat on this plane and I need a new BP? He tells me that Flight Connections will have to deal with it, so back it go...

There's quite a large queue by now at the AA desk so I ask one of the BA staff if they can help at all and I meet my first ever rude and unhelpful BA employee. I start to trudge back to the AA queue and a fellow passenger who's overheard me tells me that the Admiral's Club lounge can issue boarding passes and to just head there. Apparently this is where I should've gone in the first place as I'm greeted with "ah, Mrs Tiffywren, we've been trying to phone you." I have no idea who they were ringing because I've got no missed calls on my phone (and just for once I had actually remembered to switch it on!)

Anyway, I get my new BP, am assured I'll get my missing miles (miles again, note) and I trot off into the Admiral's Club lounge. Which I don't like very much, so I decamp to the BA Club lounge instead, order myself a glass of champagne and post on FT about the helpful SCCM who sorted me out because there's no Business Class on my old flight. A few minutes later there are a flurry of replies telling me that I've pretty much been involuntarily downgraded because my original flight was oversold. A friend on Facebook tells me to double check that I'll get the missing TPs as he knows I'm on an AA issued ticket not a BA one.

I head back to the AA lounge to check all this out, but the first agent I deal with doesn't understand at all what I'm going on about so her colleagues jumps in to help. There's a huge amount of confusion about missed miles, who issued my ticket, which loyalty programme I'm with etc. Initially she tells me I'll get the original miles credited, I now know this means AA miles not BA tier points so I say I'm a BAEC member not an AAdvantage one. She tells me I'll need to contact BA to get the Tier Points credited but I can't see why BA would (or indeed should) credit me points on an AA flight sold by AA. In between all this we're having a nice chat and I've told her about my airport runaround and how I didn't really understand what I was told as it's only the second time I've flown business/club and my first time on AA, and that I'm doing these flights just to gain points. She speaks to her supervisor and they agree that because they can't credit me the missed points and because I've been given a bit of a runaround (and possibly because we've discovered a mutual love of M&S cardigans) they'll give me a voucher for $800 as a goodwill gesture so I can book some AA flights and make the points up. Wow, I wasn't expecting that at all, it's very generous of them and I know that they didn't have to do it at all.

Now it's time to run back to Gate 28 and get on that flight to Dallas.

Flight 4: LHR-DFW Boeing 777-200ER seat 10A

Business class is a quite old-fashioned 2-3-2 arrangement rather than the individual seats I was expecting, but I don't have a seat neighbour so that's fine.





Wish this bird was still flying...

The woman across the aisle from me keeps complaining loudly about not being able to sit next to her husband and repeatedly telling the Flight Attendant (I don't really like that term but that's what they called themselves) to move me so they could sit together. I think she pissed the FA off because I was never even asked to move.

I had champagne of course (insert compulsory FT TR photo) and some warm nuts which I rather liked. I was surprised to have my tray table covered with a cloth before my meal was served which was a nice touch. The food was nice and the service was perfectly functional but it felt kind of cold and mechanical, the crew were professional but there wasn't a hint of the warmth that you get from a BA crew.





DFW and Regency Hyatt.

I was initially impressed with immigration at DFW, I was directed to one of the automatic machines and was through in about 3 minutes. Then I went downstairs to baggage reclaim and saw the enormous queues snaking round the hall... It took the best part of an hour to get to the front of the queue and get into America properly. I eventually found the shuttle to the hotel, nothing seemed to be very well sign posted, and after a bus ride and a walk across the Terminal C car park I realised I could've just walked from Terminal D in half the time.

Hyatt Regency, Terminal C, DFW

A very nice hotel, with clean, modern rooms and friendly staff. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the welcome tortillas dips, they looked nice but I'd no idea how long they'd been sitting out...


Dinner in Grapevine, TX

I knew I wouldn't have time to get into Dallas properly, but Guest Services told me about the shuttle to Grapevine and Grapevine Mills Mall. For $5 you get a hop-on, hop-off ticket direct from the Hyatt Regency





There's a slightly macabre display of 19th Century hearses and children's coffins at the town's funeral director but other than that, Grapevine is a lovely little slice of small town America with lots of independent restaurants and shops. It's definitely worth a visit if your DFW stopover allows.

Thursday 28th April

Flight 5: AA2345 DFW-MIA B767 Business Class

Had a biscuit for breakfast, never had one before, it was very nice, like a soft scone.



The other thing was a cross between eggy-bread and a pancake with an apple compote.

Miami Airport is rather nice, there's lots of arty things on the walls and the floor has pretty sea life decorations.





My middle nephew is a big fan of the Miami Heat basketball team so I make a quick stop to pick up some things for him and head to the lounge.


Flight 6: MIA-PUJ AA2468 B757 Business Class N181AN

Flight Attendant offers me a drink and I ask for champagne, she comes back to tell me the champagne is still frozen!! White wine it is then...



This tasted better than it looked!



Some stunning views on the flight down.

All in all a very pleasant flight, the AA short haul crews seem much friendlier and nicer than the LH ones, wonder why?

Landing at PUJ we were treated to a bit of engine porn...



None of the engine changes I've ever done have been in such nice sunny places!