Old Jan 1, 2018, 5:20 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: OWBA
Welcome to the thread. This is a continuation of the highly popular 2017 Tier Point thread. We keep track of other prices, as well as useful reference information for those planning tier point runs.

Please read the first few posts in this thread first as it contains lots of information which may answer your question.

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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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
Sale Fares
  • from JER to PDX IKN8T1S6 reported in this post, e.g. PDX 1,082, needs to be booked by 8 May, see linked post for details

Advanced Promotion Fares
  • from OTP to PHX ILN8C8S4 reported here, e.g. PHX - 1,296, see linked post for details
  • from AMS to BKK INCEU60 reported here, e.g. BKK - 1,340, see linked post for details

See here in post #9 for a 2018 archive of exEU sale fare, and see this post in the 2017 thread for last years archive of exEU sale fares.

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

Please note that current availability is not guaranteed and 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.

Please see the links at the bottom of the wiki for archives of runs from previous years.

From Europe
Code:
3Feb 200TPs DUB-LHR-HEL/HEL-LHR all I class ba.com
From North, Central and South America

23Sep 1.48/TP 650 (US$853) 440 TPs JFK-CLT/BOS-LAX-LAS and return all I class aa.com
6Sep 1.50/TP US$457 240TPs RIC-CLT-DCA-BOS, BOS-LGA/PHL-CLT-RIC all I class aa.com
Jan/Feb wide open 1.94/TP 700(US$883) 360 TPs SEA-CLT-MCO-PHX-SEA all I class aa.com



From Middle East, Asia and Australasia
18Jan 1.58/TP 883 560 CMB-xHKG-CGK return I cathaypacific.com ermen CX
28Feb 1.44/TP 575 400 MCT-DOH-BKK-DOH-MCT A/R/R/A travel.americanexpress.co.uk QR
21Feb 1.53/TP 860 560 HKG-CMB-MEL return I Expedia.com.hk Firemin UL
16Mar 1.22/TP 687 560 CGK-CMB-DXB return I srilankan.com Firemin UL
01Apr 0.87/TP 314 360 PEN-KUL-KTM return Malaysian.com cgtechuk MH
01Apr 1.19/TP 335 280 KUL-PER return Malaysian.com cgtechuk MH
01Apr 1.28/TP 335 360 PEN-KUL-PER return Malaysian.com cgtechuk MH
05Apr 2.00/TP 320 160 CAN-HKG-TPE return CathayPacific.com littlevoices CX/KA (flexible fare, bookable up to 24 hours in advance, allows stopovers, book with CX directly)

From Africa


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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. Some information on how to use ITA matrix is in post #4 of this thread (or just click 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 fewer
Club Europe return somewhere close by is best - DUB, AMS and JER usually cheapest along with UK domestic returns. Additionally you may find that trips in to mainland Europe require a one night stay whereas the cheapest domestic CE returns do not have any minimum stay so can be booked as a same day return. If doing a back to back AMS and JER can be easier than DUB for an immediate turnaround - more information can be found in the back to back thread listed in the forum dashboard. 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). Alternatively, booking a return to one of the 40 tier point destinations with one way in CE and the return in ET (or vice versa if cheaper). UK domestic route, Bilbao, Jersey and Amsterdam seem the most cost effective for this.

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 of this thread, 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 VNO via HEL will get you 240 TPs, as will JER-LGW/LHR-HEL e.g. LHR-HEL-OSL for 520.
DUB-LHR-HEL return (or return to LHR) is currently a very efficient way of hitting 200-240 TPs
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Historic information
2017 Archive
2016 Archive
2015 Archive (6 months Jul to Dec)
2015 Archive (6 months Jan to Jun)
2014 Archive
Print Wikipost

BA Tier Point Runs | 2018 master thread

Old Jan 5, 2018, 12:56 pm
  #136  
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Cambridgeshire
Programs: Varies
Posts: 1,281
I'd like to reach silver by the end of May - my year end is April 8th and my current silver status expires at the end of May. I only have 40 tier points and 1 BA flight under my belt at the moment, and don't have any spare time until the end of April - so I'm more or less limited to travelling within the month of May. My OH would prefer a run to the US/Canadian West Coast (incl Hawaii), spending a few nights there. I'd prefer not to spend more than 1400 each on the flights. I haven't seen anything posted here that works for me when I play with the matrix - I'm getting 1700+ for everything I try. Have I missed something, or would it be better to wait a while to see if anything else crops up. Or am I kidding myself?

If I can't reach silver in one run I'd be happy to split it into a couple of SH runs, starting from London or Birmingham, and ideally making it attractive to OH by including a short stay somewhere interesting.

I'll carry on looking but if anyone has any interesting ideas off the top of their head it would be helpful; I seem to be spending way too much time researching this.
ttama is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 1:02 pm
  #137  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: BHD
Programs: BAEC Gold, Radisson VIP, Hertz Gold, Accor Plat
Posts: 162
Originally Posted by ttama
I'd like to reach silver by the end of May - my year end is April 8th and my current silver status expires at the end of May. I only have 40 tier points and 1 BA flight under my belt at the moment, and don't have any spare time until the end of April - so I'm more or less limited to travelling within the month of May. My OH would prefer a run to the US/Canadian West Coast (incl Hawaii), spending a few nights there. I'd prefer not to spend more than 1400 each on the flights. .
My vote would be to see what the QR sale throws up in the next week or two, and be prepared to head East as opposed to West, and to have a positioning flight (on BA metal) to start the journey. This will help you hit the 4 flight requirement which you need to do anyway.

I believe at present you could get something in your price range if you were prepared to go East, but the sale is probably worth the wait.
phoneticduck is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 1:09 pm
  #138  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Berkshire
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold, GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Accor Plat, Pucci Fan Club
Posts: 1,778
Originally Posted by rossmacd
You can pay with a UK credit card on the AA site. When you click through from Powertools, choose the UK website:



Then you should be presented with the option to input a UK address:


This normally works, but sometimes there is a bit of availability/fare/currency fluctuation between ITA Matrix and the UK site availability (so just check you are happy with the price before committing)

I've just clicked through and it showed my itinerary with a 20p difference.

Thanks. I usually use bookwithmatrix and that defaults to the US AA site I think. I must give powertools a go next time!
oxtailsoup is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 1:19 pm
  #139  
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Cambridgeshire
Programs: Varies
Posts: 1,281
Originally Posted by phoneticduck
My vote would be to see what the QR sale throws up in the next week or two, and be prepared to head East as opposed to West, and to have a positioning flight (on BA metal) to start the journey. This will help you hit the 4 flight requirement which you need to do anyway.

I believe at present you could get something in your price range if you were prepared to go East, but the sale is probably worth the wait.
Most of my travel has been to North America; I'm so familiar with it that I rarely think of anywhere else. I also struggle in heat/humidity. But we honeymooned in Hong Kong many years ago (before the handover); I lasted a few days before coming out in heatrash so I guess it's an option
I really appreciate your suggestion - if I restrict my searches to QR deals it will mean less time for me at the computer, and we may end up enjoying somewhere new.
ttama is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 2:08 pm
  #140  
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Just booked OTP/PHX for August Bank Holiday. After playing about I managed to get both TATL on BA so able to UuA to F. Transcon 1 way as well. Fairly happy with that and gold line were very easy to deal with and were slightly cheaper than matrix.

Of course I now have the whole day tomorrow to fiddle whilst planning another TP run at the start of the summer.
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Old Jan 5, 2018, 2:09 pm
  #141  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Spire Elite
Posts: 1,712
Originally Posted by mindgraph
Short of being able to get Matrix Powertools working does anyone have some advice on being able to book OTP -> PHX via the AA or BA websites directly? I can price up in IA Matrix with an overnight in JFK and routing via LHR / JFK / LAX, but cannot seem to get the same price and routings on AA/BA websites.
i used multi-city on aa.com and it was really simple. I used the search by schedule option because I knew what flights I wanted.
BerksFlyer is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 3:15 pm
  #142  
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 732
Originally Posted by madfish
Just booked OTP/PHX for August Bank Holiday. After playing about I managed to get both TATL on BA so able to UuA to F. Transcon 1 way as well. Fairly happy with that and gold line were very easy to deal with and were slightly cheaper than matrix.

Of course I now have the whole day tomorrow to fiddle whilst planning another TP run at the start of the summer.
What routing did you use to get the transcon?
Frequent flyer 101 is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 6:03 pm
  #143  
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Originally Posted by Frequent flyer 101
What routing did you use to get the transcon?
OTP/LHR/JFK/LAX/PHX/BOS/JFK/LHR/OTP

I wanted to do BA for the TATL so couldn’t get it to price for the Transcon on the return.

Just realised my OP makes it sound like I got F on the Transcon. This is not the case. I only upgraded the TATL.

madfish is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 8:47 pm
  #144  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 128
Can't route CAI-HNL through JFK

Originally Posted by catharsis
Dutch, Ross, Is it safe to assume that if I can piece together the itinerary I want using ExpertFlyer and confirming I availability segment by segment (and on the BA codeshares where necessary) that I can book an itinerary which combinesmaximising TPs using AA flights internal to NA with a stopover in Dublin(or london) and a stopover in LAX along something like the following lines?
Cai-LHR(STOPOVER, surface segment) DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL//HNL-LAX(stopover)LAX-JFK-LHR-CAI ?
I have not been able to force a connection through JFK, even when spoon-feeding BA flight numbers to ITA. On the other hand, when spoon-feeding the example previously given with YYZ, ITA gives an itinerary with the desired pricing.

For example, this (below) does not work, even with returns that have been previously tested. I verified all of the flights and dates in ExpertFlyer. There is I inventory.

mhaines94108 is offline  
Old Jan 5, 2018, 9:24 pm
  #145  
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ITA cannot price two BA codeshares within US, only the first connection can be a BA code on ITA, it does work when done through TA or BA though.
nufnuf77 is online now  
Old Jan 6, 2018, 2:00 am
  #146  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Marriott Platinum, IHG Spire
Posts: 160
I am in NYC for a week in Feb and wanted to see if I could do a TP run from there. Any ideas on possible starting itineraries? If possible would like to keep it to 1/2 days.
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Old Jan 6, 2018, 2:15 am
  #147  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: BAEC GGL/CR; Hilton Diamond; Mucci des Puccis
Posts: 5,517
Originally Posted by annihilation
I am in NYC for a week in Feb and wanted to see if I could do a TP run from there. Any ideas on possible starting itineraries? If possible would like to keep it to 1/2 days.
You can do a day trip - I'm doing one from Boston which goes to LGA and DCA, about 300 for 160 TP round trip, so chances are you can do something similar. But in principle you can extend the idea, just look for a city with a one or two stop hop and play with google flights around the dates you want to do it on.
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bisonrav is offline  
Old Jan 6, 2018, 4:13 am
  #148  
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Blue, IC Spire Ambassador
Posts: 5,210
I'm just about to book INV-LHR-Mct for c1700 in F in Nov for some sun - 500TPs! (Suspect come Nov it'll be revenue based and I'll be sulking). Can anyone think of a permutation for a similar price that would yield more TPs under the current system? And I've tried but can't seem to open jaw it to do AUH outbound for a day flight both ways. Are these sale fares all round trip? I thought if A class was available it would be ok but it adds about 1k onto the price. Obviously AUH and MCT have similar F promos.

Curious to try 789 in F!
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Old Jan 6, 2018, 4:38 am
  #149  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: BHD
Programs: BAEC Gold, Radisson VIP, Hertz Gold, Accor Plat
Posts: 162
Originally Posted by ttama
Most of my travel has been to North America; I'm so familiar with it that I rarely think of anywhere else. I also struggle in heat/humidity. But we honeymooned in Hong Kong many years ago (before the handover); I lasted a few days before coming out in heatrash so I guess it's an option
I really appreciate your suggestion - if I restrict my searches to QR deals it will mean less time for me at the computer, and we may end up enjoying somewhere new.
In May you won't need to worry about humidity in HK. Also Japan. Happy hunting

Suggest looking at AMS, BRU, CDG and the Nordics as jump off/positioning points for QR.
phoneticduck is offline  
Old Jan 6, 2018, 8:06 am
  #150  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: LHR
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 483
Anyone know if the LHR-HEL-TLL 200 ish J is still available and where to find it ?
THEOBCMAN is offline  

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