Originally Posted by HalfAVegan

I'm a total newbie and I'm interested in going gold for BA Executive Club as cheaply as possible. My year starts on 8th July so looking to make bookings now for July onwards. I 'm travelling to Australia this year to visit family, that will be in October for about a month, I don't think business will be tier point optimal but you may have other ideas. Planning to see the world a bit this year on top of that Australia trip so I don't really mind where I go and I am quite flexible on time too. I've been watching Matt's World YouTube channel on tier runs and I've been using Google Flights and Matrix ITA. Also read the thread on here about BA Executive Club.

Flights to the US seem high based on Matt's videos, about £1.90 per tier point and his video was looking at £1.50 or under. So I've cast the net and read some more articles on different routes. I have some ideas and want to run them by everyone here if that's ok.

1: Abu Dhabi to Jakarta in Business with Sri Lankan Airways for £755 return. I'm seeing this price from August onwards, so I could make a pure round trip on the way to Australia in economy. I'd even consider doing 2. I have hotel points with IHG from a former life so I could probably use those if hotels are expensive.
I have looked at onward routes from Jakarta in Economy for £500 and from Colombo but it looks like it will be more effective to go round trip to Abu Dhabi and on to Australia from there.
I have a few questions, Is this still 560 tier points round trip? Also, if I book through Sri Lankan Airways website will I get BA tier points. And finally, £1.34 per tier point seems good, is this worth booking in?

2. Gatwick to Catania (CTA) I'm seeing £264 with BA 7th to 14th September this year. On Matrix it's listing a lower price in the monthly grid (£217) but then showing higher prices when I click through (£350)
This seems simpler, from the thread on BA points CTA is shown as a short haul plus for 80 points each way so £1.65 per point seems ok. If I did 2 runs like this early in my membership year then I'd get Bronze and the additional avios and check in perk, plus I'd have my BA flights for qualification out of the way.

Right now I'm thinking of 2 round trips each for Short haul plus (CTA and Sofia) and then do 2 round trips from Abu Dhabi on the way to Australia. Does that sound feasible or are the obvious flaws that I'm missing. Some feedback would be really appreciated. That is unless some US trips come down in price.