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Old Jan 2, 2015, 8:37 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: theultimateflyer
Welcome to the thread — please read the wiki first as it contains lots of information which may answer your question. We keep track of other prices, as well as useful reference information for those planning tier point runs.

This is a community-maintained wiki post. Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below!


Current Promotions of Interest
  • from DUB to US IJN8S4Z1 reported here, e.g. JFK - €1,074, MIA - €1,119, LAS - €1,224, LAX - €1,296, HNL - €1,623, needs to be booked by 2 February, for outbound travel over Easter and summer 2016, see linked post for details
  • from DUB to US ILN8S4Z1 reported here, e.g. JFK - €920, MIA - €958, LAS - €1,048, LAX - €1,110, needs to be booked by 2 February, for outbound travel over November and Christmas & New Year 2016, see linked post for details

  • from DUB to US ILR28AP reported here, e.g. JFK - €1,538, MIA - €1,601, LAS - €1,751, LAX - €1,854, HNL - €1,834, this is an advanced purchase fare so no book by deadline, no stopovers, see linked post for details
  • from DUB to US ILN8S4E1 reported here, e.g. JFK - €1,538, MIA - €1,601, LAS - €1,751, LAX - €1,854, HNL - €1,834, this is an advanced purchase fare so no book by deadline, allows stopovers for €75, see linked post for details

  • from CPH to US ILR21AP reported here, e.g. JFK - £890, MIA - £1,132, ORD - £942, LAX - £1,277, HNL - £1,361, this is an advanced purchase fare so no book by deadline, no stopovers, see linked post for details
  • from CPH to US ILN2S4E1 reported here, JFK - £890, MIA - £1,132, ORD - £942, LAX - £1,277, HNL - £1,361, this is an advanced purchase fare so no book by deadline, allows stopovers for €75, see linked post for details

  • ILN2S4Z1 from OSL to HNL (19.5k/21.5k NOK (£1,520/£1,675) via. LON or via. HEL & LON)
    PERMITTED 23NOV 15 THROUGH 28NOV 15 OR 22DEC 15 THROUGH
    01JAN 16 OR 27MAR 16 THROUGH 31MAR 16 ON THE OUTBOUND
    TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR.

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This thread lists attractive tier point (TP) runs under £3 per TP grouped within different (departure) geographies

Please note the following:
  • Current availability is not guaranteed.
  • All prices include taxes.

Please use the following convention when adding tier point runs to this wiki post:

Date fare checked | Price per Tier Point | Total Price | Total Tier Points | Route | Booking Classes | Booking Channel | Credit | Notes (if applicable) | Airlines

Please remember to:
  • Convert currencies to GBP, rounding to the nearest pound.
  • Post full routes and full booking classes.
  • Note any restrictions on booking in the Notes section.
  • List in order of price per tier point within the relevant departure area.

From Europe
17DEC | £0.75/TP | £909 | 1200 | DUB-LHR-JFK-PHX-HNL-PHX-JFK-LHR-DUB | I/I/A/A/A/A/I/I | aa.com | perthflyer | BA AA
30JUL | £0.93/TP | £335 | 360 | JER-LGW-SSH-LGW-JER | J/I/I/J | ba.com | dom462 | CE | BA
01 NOV | £0.99/TP | £1343 | 1360 | CPH-HEL-LHR-JFK-PHX-HNL-PHX-JFK-LHR-HEL-CPH | I/I/I/A/P/P/A/I/I/I | ITA Matrix | MrMutton
19 AUG | £1.01/TP | £1,375 (1938 EUR) | 1360 | DUB-HEL-LON-JFK-PHX-HNL-PHX-JFK-LHR-HEL-DUB | IIIAAAAIII | OttoMH | J/F | AY BA AA
16 AUG | £1.22/TP | £1,675 (21.5k NOK) | 1360 | OSL-HEL-LON-JFK-PHX-HNL-PHX-JFK-LHR-HEL-OSL | IIIAAAAIII | OttoMH | J/F | AY BA AA
16 AUG | £1.27/TP | £1,518 (19.5k NOK) | 1200 | OSL-LON-JFK-PHX-HNL-PHX-JFK-LHR-OSL | IIAAAAII | OttoMH | J/F | BA AA
14AUG | £1.31/TP | £470 | 360 | OSL-HEL-AGP-HEL-OSL | I-I-I-I | ITA | Flythe96flag | SH J cabin + possible red-eye (!) | AY
04 SEP | £1.31/TP | £1,220 (1681 EUR) | 910 | DME-MAD-JFK-LAX-MIA-MAD-DME | all in I | iberia.com | henkybaby | J | BA AA IB | works till 6/16 so far
23AUG | £1.34/TP | £1148 | 860 | DUB-PHL-PHX-LAS-PHX-JFK-LHR,LCY-DUB | I/P/P/P/P/I/I | ticketed on aa.com | megaloman | AA & BA (UD on 747 JFK-LHR)
17AUG | £1.67/TP | £1408 |840 |BHX-JFK-PHX-LAS & back | I-A-A-A-A-I | aa.com |Swiss Tony | AA ski slope bed on TATL | AA
26JUL | £1.81/TP | £72.70 | 40 | MAD-FRA | Z | lan.com | Prospero | 787 flat bed | LA
23NOV | £1.89/TP | £377 | 200 | DUB-LHR-MAD-SVQ r/t | I-I-I-I-I-I | ITA | Lorcancoyle | IM0B IB DUB to SVQ | BA and IB flights (I2 for domestic under IB code), random dates in December available, A340 on some dates (helpfully pointed out by Temps that domestic Spain is only 20 TPs)
17 AUG | £1.89/TP | £1818 | 960 | OSL-LON-KUL//SIN-SYD/SYD-PER/PER-SYD-SIN/SIN-LHR-OSL | BugAlugs | J | BA QF | INCSALE ended 14thSep - (Applied GUF via TA (moves J to F on BA longhaul and scores 1260 TPS in total)
31 DEC | £1.91/TP | £1220 | 640 | AMS-LHR-MIA-SCL // EZE-JFK-LHR-BCN | J/I/I-I/I/J | AA.com | nufnuf77 (can also return to LHR for £20 less but 40TP less
13NOV | £2.56/TP | £410 | 160 | LHR-HEL | ? | BA.com | Lorcancoyle | wide open as flight+hotel, can reduce with TCB cash back | BA
1JAN | £1.85/TP | £444 | 240 | JER-LGW/LHR-HEL | J/I/I/J | ITA Matrix | flatlander | Available most weekends first half of 2016, fare IM0R
24NOV | £1.91/TP | £765.00 | 400 | BUD-DOH-SHJ | I/A/I/A | QR.com | Wozza2404 | A320 | QR
7DEC | £2.24/TP | £942 | 420 | MAD-MIA-SXM-CLT-JFK-LHR | I/I/I/A/I | ticketed on aa.com | megaloman | other routings possible earning more TPs could have lower the price with added LHR-CDG leg to £865 (£2.06/TP)
22JAN | £2.29/TP | £640 | 280 | FCO-CMB-FCO | I/I | book on SriLankan website | theultimateflyer

From North, Central and South America
31JUL | £0.39/TP | £484 | 1240 | HNL-LAX-BOS-MIA-BAQ-MIA-PHL-LAX-HNL | AAAIIAAA | ITA Matrix | Pawel Siewko | AA
16OCT | £0.55/TP | £298.50 | 540 | JFK-LAX-DEN-LAX-JFK | P-P-P-P | aa.com | Calum | AA A321t F seat between JFK & LAX (FARE GONE)
16JUL | £0.57/TP | £554 | 980 | LAX-LAS-PHX-PHL-CLT-TPA-MIA-PTY-MIA-PHL-PHX-LAS-LAX | PPPPPPIIPPPP | aa.com | Airprox | AA + US
27JUL | £0.80/TP | £15.94 | 20 | VVC-BOG-MDE | A | lan.com | JohnnyColombia | A is economy on LA | LA
08NOV | £0.84/TP | £772.50 | 920 | KOA-LAX-CLT-SJU-CLT-LAX-KOA | AAIIAA | aa.com | Lappe | Same day turnarounds available
30SEP | £0.87/TP | £808.00 | 920 | BOG-MIA-LAX-HNL-LAX-MIA-BOG | I-P-P-P-P-I | aa.com | JohnnyColombia | No comments
20SEP | £1.00/TP | £663.20 | 660 | LGA-BOS-LAX-PHX-LAX-BOS-LGA | P-P-P-P-P-P | americanairlines.co.uk | njf63 | TCON on 737 so not too comfortable but good availability next Mar/Apr
21AUG | £1.05 | £253 | 240 | BOS-PHL-PIT-PHL-BOS | PPPP | aa.com | Simon Schus | AA op by US
02NOV | £1.27/TP | £1250 | 980 | MCO-MIA-LAX-HNL | A | AA | Mr 1A
05AUG | £1.37/TP | £578 | 420 | LAS-PHL-LAS | A/P | aa.com | Lucanesque | First | AA op by US
28JUL | £1.43/TP | £400 | 280 | SCL-IPC-SCL | Z | lan.com - Chilean version | moonman85 | 787 flat bed | LAN
06NOV | £1.67/TP | £66.00 | 40 | JFK-YYZ | Z | tam.com.br | frb98mf | Fifth Freedom flight every Wed/Fri/Sun, 767 flat bed
13NOV | £1.06/TP | £705 | 660 | RIC-CLT-PHL-PHX-PHL-CLT-RIC | A | AA.com | wenzlydale | 2 trips this year - mixture of A320s and B757s not a lot of food offered but all the G&Ts you could wish for
07JAN|£1.24/TP | £668 | 540 | SEA-MIA-ATL-CLT-SEA | P/P/P/P | aa.com | EsherFlyer | 24h transcon bounce. All I could fit in...

From Middle East, Asia and Australasia
18AUG | £1.25/TP | £440.00 | 360 | BKK-KUL-ICN Return | Z | www.malaysiaairlines.com | Wozza2404 | A330 Angle Flat for long haul sectors | MH
12OCT | £1.68/TP | £1,546 | 920 | TLV-MAD-LHR-JFK-LAX-JFK-LHR-MAD-TLV | I/I/I/I/I/I/I | iberia.com | frb98mf | Business (bonus: A330/A340 on the TLV legs!) | IB
24NOV | £1.43/TP | £803 | 560 | CTS-HKG-DPS-HKG-CTS | I/I/I/I | cathaypacific.com | zeltergiset | One 24hr+ stopover in HKG allowed | CX
06JAN | £1.86/TP | £856 | 460 | HND-HKG-DPS-HKG-CTS | I/I/I/I | cathaypacific.com | Gastrocnemius | One 24hr+ stopover in HKG allowed | CX
11JAN | £1.26/TP | £707 | 560 | KTM-KUL-TPE-KUL-KTM | D/D/D/D | malaysiaairlines.com | zeltergiset | MH
11JAN | £1.68/TP | £940 | 560 | TPE-KUL-KTM-KUL-TPE | D/D/D/D | malaysiaairlines.com | zeltergiset | MH

From Africa
11AUG | £0.89/TP | £748 | 840 | ACC-LHR-MIA-LAX-MIA-LHR-ACC | I/I/I/I/I/I/I/I | iberia call centre | njf63 | CW / AA J | IB
15NOV | £2.00/TP | £1200 | 600 | CPT-DOH-JFK-DOH-CPT | I/I/I/I | QR Website | Calum | QR J on the B788/A350 & 46hrs of flying | QR

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Need a year-end TP run (ex-LON) to make / retain status?

Some tips for searching for the year-end TP run for newcomers, the below is indicative only, but hopefully provides a bit of guidance for relatively straightforward runs ex-LON. Prospero's guide to using ITA matrix in post 3 (here along with these ideas, might come in handy. Feel free to share results, problems or general questions in the thread as these may not always work and there might be better deals out there...

For overnight trips remember to check BA and Iberia for their flights and hotel option as well, can get hotel for almost no extra cost at times

Need 80 TPs or less
Club Europe return somewhere close by is best - DUB, AMS and JER usually cheapest. AMS and JER easier than DUB for an immediate turnaround. The BA.com low fare finder can be very useful.

If you need as few as 45 TPs you might consider booking economy flights and hoping for a proactive online upgrade offer - but they're not guaranteed to materialise (so not one if you have no more time left in your TP collection year)

Or a slightly more interesting fun run

Need 85-120 TPs
Iberia flights via MAD to regional Spanish airports will get you 120 TPs as the domestic Spanish flights are 20 TPs in business. Under £300 including hotel can be available. Check BIO, GRX, VLC, BCN, SVQ etc. Example here

Need 125-160 TPs
Take a look at the shorthaul plus routes earning 80 TPs each way in business listed in the first post (here) MLA, IST, HEL and RAK are usually available. If time sensitive take a look at BA flight and hotel option to HEL, where you can usually get the last BA flight out on a Saturday, airport hotel and first return Sunday for well under £500.

Alternative options include positioning to JER and flying JER-LGW-XXX (AMS usually works well and avoids switching airports)

Need more than 160 TPs
You'll most likely be heading north then - OSL or VLL via HEL will get you 240 TPs, as will JER-LGW/LHR-HEL e.g. LHR-HEL-OSL for £520
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Old Jul 10, 2015, 11:35 am
  #3256  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Spire Ambassador, Starbucks Gold,
Posts: 624
Originally Posted by Tom Elliott
Great - thanks for the ideas... you're a Gent - LAS happens to be one of my favourite destinations so this could work quite well.
You're welcome. I'm doing a very similar route on 5th Aug and will be in Vegas for the first time for 5 nights. If you do decide to go over those dates am sure we could fit in a beer!

MrM
MrMutton is offline  
Old Jul 10, 2015, 11:37 am
  #3257  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,120
I'm in LV from 17/8
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Old Jul 10, 2015, 12:51 pm
  #3258  
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Programs: Latinpass Million Miler. BA Gold.
Posts: 3,544
Originally Posted by njf63
BBA can you post details of that when you get a chance ? I can't get Matrix to allow it at all
Sorry - was away for a while - see below

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Old Jul 10, 2015, 3:35 pm
  #3259  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: @somewhere, if help needed use my email address [email protected]
Programs: BA & QR
Posts: 1,014
Originally Posted by njf63
BBA can you post details of that when you get a chance ? I can't get Matrix to allow it at all
Originally Posted by BlackBerryAddict
Sorry - was away for a while - see below


Be aware I class MH no TP's IIRC.

Last edited by dutch_122; Jul 10, 2015 at 3:37 pm Reason: adding
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Old Jul 10, 2015, 4:22 pm
  #3260  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Originally Posted by dutch_122
Be aware I class MH no TP's IIRC.
Aye that's true
Calchas is offline  
Old Jul 10, 2015, 5:46 pm
  #3261  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,115
Originally Posted by opalfruit
How are folk getting ITA Matrix to price these ex-GER BKK deals up with a stopover? Everytime I try I'm getting large numbers.

What am I doing wrong?
Try a stopover in BKK, then coming back via HKG
lorcancoyle is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 2:47 am
  #3262  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 135
Would like to do my first TP run but can't make a booking

Dear Experts,

obviously I'm doing something wrong when pricing / searching the ITA matrix and/or the ba.com / aa.com websites.

For the last couple of days I've been playing around with following route:

CPH - LHR
LHR - PHL
PHL - CLT
CLT - JFK
JFK - LHR
LHR - CPH

Initial price last Thursday was 918 GPB, currently priced at 930 GBP.

Itinerary

Copenhagen (CPH) to London (LHR) — Sat, Nov 28
American Airlines Inc. 6532

London (LHR) to Philadelphia (PHL) — Sat, Nov 28
American Airlines Inc. 729

Philadelphia (PHL) to Charlotte (CLT) — Sat, Nov 28
American Airlines Inc. 1795

Charlotte (CLT) to New York (JFK) — Sun, Nov 29
American Airlines Inc. 529

New York (JFK) to London (LHR) — Sun, Nov 29
British Airways 174

London (LHR) to Copenhagen (CPH) — Mon, Nov 30
British Airways 814

£929.99

I'm not able to make the booking on AA.com nor on BA.com

So I called the BAEC call center in Belgium (home) and I was switched to the The Netherlands.

They told me they could not get me the flights I was asking for, resulting in a +2000 EUR price!

I said I would do my homework again.

Came up with a new scheme (see above) and called BAEC in the UK this morning.

Although ITA gives me availability on the second leg (LHR-PHL), the woman on the phone said she only had economy space available!

What I am doing wrong here? Any idea why I can't find the applicable flight numbers on AA.com? Why is ITA giving me space and the call center agents can't see it?

Should I call another BAEC call center, call AA perhaps?

Thanks for helping me with me first TP run.

Regards,
Stan
StanStorby is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 2:59 am
  #3263  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,164
This is a point of sale issue for both the fare and availability.

Call the BA Denmark number. You will be connected to the Scandinavian team out of Bremen, Germany. Even then you may need to HUCA because if they are all busy it may go to one of their German colleagues who may not have access to the fares if they remain logged into German origination.

I had the same issue this week with an ex-HEL itiniery. Did you check the price ex-HEL? For me it was almost the same but with the 80TP HEL LHR sector thrown in.

The price difference will be due to current EUR volatility.
Tafflyer is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 3:12 am
  #3264  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 135
Thanks for the quick feedback!
Using HEL - LHR makes is more expensive +237 GBP (slightly less when going over IAD but I want to avoid that)

I'll give the BA number in Denmark a try as soon as I have charged my phone
StanStorby is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 3:18 am
  #3265  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: London
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold & GGL & CCR, HH Diam, Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Spire, Tastecard
Posts: 7,549
BA Tier Point Runs | 2015 master thread

Can get LAX LAS one way in F for GBP 87 at the moment. Decent price for positioning hops and earning 60 TP.
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Old Jul 11, 2015, 3:19 am
  #3266  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Originally Posted by Tafflyer
This is a point of sale issue for both the fare and availability.

Call the BA Denmark number. You will be connected to the Scandinavian team out of Bremen, Germany. Even then you may need to HUCA because if they are all busy it may go to one of their German colleagues who may not have access to the fares if they remain logged into German origination.

I had the same issue this week with an ex-HEL itiniery. Did you check the price ex-HEL? For me it was almost the same but with the 80TP HEL LHR sector thrown in.

The price difference will be due to current EUR volatility.
I believe that you can also request that the point of sale be set to Denmark when on the telephone to another BA office. dutch seems to be able to do that anyway.
Calchas is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 3:25 am
  #3267  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,164
Originally Posted by StanStorby
Thanks for the quick feedback!
Using HEL - LHR makes is more expensive +237 GBP (slightly less when going over IAD but I want to avoid that)

I'll give the BA number in Denmark a try as soon as I have charged my phone
Matrix showed a much higher fare for me ex-HEL too, but BA.com showed much lower fares. I paid £1223 for HEL LHR JFK MIA LAS and back. 980TP
Tafflyer is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 3:42 am
  #3268  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 135
How did you get BA.com to price that route? Multi-city keeps complaining about no route, no network, Error Obtaining Price Quote, etc..

Both on the DK and the UK version...
StanStorby is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 4:07 am
  #3269  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,164
Originally Posted by Calchas
I believe that you can also request that the point of sale be set to Denmark when on the telephone to another BA office. dutch seems to be able to do that anyway.
Yes you can. However from the 5 agents I had on the phone, only 2 would see the flights and fares. The others could not and also made excuses when challenged. One even talked to her colleague and called me back to tell me the availability must have disappeared in the 15 minutes between being cut off from the first agent and calling again. And that while I could still see availability online.

Originally Posted by StanStorby
How did you get BA.com to price that route? Multi-city keeps complaining about no route, no network, Error Obtaining Price Quote, etc..

Both on the DK and the UK version...
I used the multi city booking tool. Problem is that only BA flight codes are presented. If you want AA or US codes for increased tier points, you need to call.
For you, just entering HEL to CLT will give you a return price indication online, then you know what the price is for those city pairs. +/- then for taxes and fees. Then call to book.
Tafflyer is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2015, 1:09 pm
  #3270  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 135
Following my quest to book CPH-LHR-PHL-CLT-JFK-LHR-CPH, I can now confirm that the tickets have been booked.

It took me quite some time and patience.

As already mentioned above, the first Dutch agent for BAEC was no success.
The second call went to AA in the UK, where a nice guy tried to sort out all issues but left me stranded when he was looking for technical help in the backoffice. After 25 min. of silence, HUCA
The third call goes to BAEC in Denmark where they only work during office hours :-(
And finally, my fourth call goes to: AA in the UK where a very helpful woman not only understood my problem, she actually found the missing flights. However, when pricing the whole itinerary, her best price was way above my best price on the matrix.

So I almost surrendered. But then I started playing around with the 'Search by Price' option on the AA.com site. I would normally automatically use 'Search by Schedule'. However by using 'Search by Price' combined with 50 flights and no stops, I found AND the missing flights AND the price suggested on the ITA matrix.

Finally :-)
StanStorby is offline  


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