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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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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
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BA Tier Point Runs | 2018 master thread

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Old Jun 26, 2018, 3:06 am
  #2776  
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Originally Posted by stijnec
I would try a less sophisticated search in Matrix, i.e. requesting a return from OTP to PHX, just putting the intermediate airports in advanced controls instead of specific flightnumbers.
Matrix is showing GBP 1552, see below

That would look at direct JFK/HEL. To do the route to and from HEL and LHR you do need to look at multicity.

But I agree that specific flight numbers are not helping at this stage as this may have limited availability.
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 3:43 am
  #2777  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 453
Any ideas for 24-36 hour long, points run staring in New Work in early November? as always as cheap as possible and as many points as possible. I am in NY for 6 days and I think I can get away for about 2 of them.
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 3:57 am
  #2778  
 
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Originally Posted by wytco0
Any ideas for 24-36 hour long, points run staring in New Work in early November? as always as cheap as possible and as many points as possible. I am in NY for 6 days and I think I can get away for about 2 of them.
perfect. was looking for something like this too - september end
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 4:01 am
  #2779  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
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has anyone recently done the PEN-KUL-KTM run? trying to get myself to understand the fare rules/ restrictions
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 4:30 am
  #2780  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Turku/Edinburgh
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Explorer/Flying Blue Petroleum Club
Posts: 149
I am considering a CE flight HEL > LHR > EDI return EDI > LHR > HEL in October its showing up right now for 535GBP so roughly 2.23GBP/TP

Is this a good deal or should I hold off in the hope that BA get the finger out and give us a sale??

the 240TP will take me to Silver BAEC
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 5:04 am
  #2781  
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Originally Posted by Colnic2011
I am considering a CE flight HEL > LHR > EDI return EDI > LHR > HEL in October its showing up right now for 535GBP so roughly 2.23GBP/TP

Is this a good deal or should I hold off in the hope that BA get the finger out and give us a sale??

the 240TP will take me to Silver BAEC
I can get you to HEL/LHR/DUB for €440 so a cheap flight needed to EDI.
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 5:07 am
  #2782  
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
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Originally Posted by jiteshjerome
has anyone recently done the PEN-KUL-KTM run? trying to get myself to understand the fare rules/ restrictions
Haven't done it but did look into it and I found the biggest issue is the minimum stay especially as the fare doesn't work in reverse so you really don't get the benefit of a nested ticket either,

MH in general do not like you "flying out of sequence" e.g nested tickets and there has been chat on here before about them cancelling the legs as it's in their terms so also bear that in mind, If you were to do the above, take a few days in Kathmandu and return I see no issue and might be a good way to break up a trip. (Usually LGK works in PENs timing is poor)
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 5:12 am
  #2783  
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
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Originally Posted by stijnec
I would try a less sophisticated search in Matrix, i.e. requesting a return from OTP to PHX, just putting the intermediate airports in advanced controls instead of specific flightnumbers.
Matrix is showing GBP 1552, see below

I see the poster above this example is double backing in HEL which is allowed but is likely an availability problem and causing the price to jump

e.g OTP-LHR-HEL-LHR-JFK-PHX r/t rather than OTP-LHR-HEL-JFK-LAX-JFK

Edit: Damn page refresh @madfish beat me to it
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 8:46 am
  #2784  
 
Join Date: May 2018
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Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Explorer/Flying Blue Petroleum Club
Posts: 149
Originally Posted by madfish


I can get you to HEL/LHR/DUB for €440 so a cheap flight needed to EDI.
Wow that sounds really good actually what's the final TP for this run? also 240 I am guessing?

was this on the MATRIX??
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 9:13 am
  #2785  
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Originally Posted by Colnic2011
Wow that sounds really good actually what's the final TP for this run? also 240 I am guessing?

was this on the MATRIX??
Yes, I did a search on matrix using HEL/DUB routing through LHR. I selected calendar view and 1-7 days. It brought up availability for the whole of September (the month I choose at random). It was priced in GBP at £405 but there are some additional fees included in this. There is a Saturday night stay required as far as I can tell.

I then reverted to BA.com and used multicity to search using the flights I choose on matrix. However, ba.com does not like flights with less than 120 minutes connection at LHR so had to make sure I exceeded this. From this I could price it up at 440euro for 240TPs.

There are also some decent prices starting in DUB as well.
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madfish is offline  
Old Jun 26, 2018, 9:14 am
  #2786  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: BCN
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Posts: 582
Originally Posted by cgtechuk
I see the poster above this example is double backing in HEL which is allowed but is likely an availability problem and causing the price to jump

e.g OTP-LHR-HEL-LHR-JFK-PHX r/t rather than OTP-LHR-HEL-JFK-LAX-JFK

Edit: Damn page refresh @madfish beat me to it
it seems that it is OTP-HEL on 24/Aug is causing the problem. If OP can fly OTP-HEL on 23/Aug then he can get the A350 both ways.

Edit: at the price of 1650 GBP

Last edited by ubiest; Jun 26, 2018 at 10:30 am
ubiest is offline  
Old Jun 26, 2018, 9:18 am
  #2787  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Turku/Edinburgh
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Explorer/Flying Blue Petroleum Club
Posts: 149
Originally Posted by madfish
Yes, I did a search on matrix using HEL/DUB routing through LHR. I selected calendar view and 1-7 days. It brought up availability for the whole of September (the month I choose at random). It was priced in GBP at £405 but there are some additional fees included in this. There is a Saturday night stay required as far as I can tell.

I then reverted to BA.com and used multicity to search using the flights I choose on matrix. However, ba.com does not like flights with less than 120 minutes connection at LHR so had to make sure I exceeded this. From this I could price it up at 440euro for 240TPs.

There are also some decent prices starting in DUB as well.
Thank you very much for the advice, it's something I will definitely consider before booking I seen DUB > EDI return for under 50GBP so looks well worth it.

Then again is it really worth not spending the extra 100GBP to go via DUB catch 22 haha
Colnic2011 is offline  
Old Jun 26, 2018, 11:04 am
  #2788  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Surrey
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 211
Took my first step to moving up a tier. Booked LGW-JER, JER - HEL(via LHR) and HEL - LHR. £496 and 240tps. I’m not too sure if that’s the best route within Europe, or even the cheapest but it should level me up.
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Old Jun 26, 2018, 4:03 pm
  #2789  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Reading
Programs: BAEC GOLD HH GOLD
Posts: 21
Originally Posted by 1flyer
320 TP can be had for EUR 600, flying PE ex FRA through CLT or DFW to SFO or SEA. Together with your positioning flights (which you could upgrade to CW), you should be able to hit (or come very close) to your target.

EDIT: Sorry, I now realize a previous poster pretty much suggested as much.
So originally I needed to get 470 pts flying out before the 8 Aug. However my work has asked me to travel out to Seattle around the 18th/19th July for 3-4 days. As they are paying result, however, I want to take my 8 yr old daughter with me. Her doing the same trip would make her Silver in her own right which will come in handy at xmas when we go to SEY with my parents. I am thinking is there a cheap way to get to SEA on those dates via AMS or FRA for both of us and then maybe take a few days/weeks holiday and either fly out of somewhere like SFO or YVR and get a bit of a road trip in. Any ideas welcome - I have looked but can't see anything remotely within a sensible price.
ukdelinquent is offline  
Old Jun 27, 2018, 7:29 am
  #2790  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 453
Originally Posted by wytco0
Any ideas for 24-36 hour long, points run staring in New Work in early November? as always as cheap as possible and as many points as possible. I am in NY for 6 days and I think I can get away for about 2 of them.
I have been doing a bit of searching and failed to find anything that works from NYC, i was hoping that the Panama run from LAX could be used but with a start in NYC I cant find anything for my dates.

Any pointers for further searches would be appreciated.
wytco0 is offline  


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