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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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Jul 21, 2018, 3:58 am
  #3046  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SXE
Programs: QF LTG, VA Gold, BA Gold, HH, SFSC
Posts: 502
Originally Posted by JessicaTam
And they have sales every month or so.
Speaking of which:

MH currently have a sale from MEL/SYD to Japan for AUD2790. 560TP with what looks like 2 days minimum stay. Book by 15 Aug, travel now to end June 2019.

£2.82 / €3.17 per TP
JessicaTam is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 2:03 am
  #3047  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Programs: BA/VS Gold, Marriott Plat, HH Diamond
Posts: 628
Hi everyone, I have business to conduct in New York and San Francisco and booked an ILN8T8S4 fare for TLL-HEL-LHR-JFK-SFO//JFK-LHR-HEL-TLL yesterday to kill two birds with one stone. All BA codes, but booked on AA.com (for around €2070) as that's what worked using ITA Powertools (BA.com didn't).

16 hours later the booking has not been ticketed yet, and that got me thinking: will AA actually agree to ticket this without any AA coded segments? My only prior exposure to such things is on an OWE ticket a decade ago. Back then, AA wanted some AA segments to agree to ticket.

My LHR-JFK and JFK-SFO are on AA metal, but BA codes.

Should I just wait, at least to the 24 hour mark? Or should I try to call AA and be proactive about this? If I call:

- Can they work with Amadeus PNRs as that's what I got from the European AA.com site? (I digged up an AA record locator for the segments on their metal, but they don't show the other flights, except for, curiously, the HEL-LHR leg. The status shown for that locator is "Unknown")

- Is there a better number than the standard reservation line for this?

Thanks!
Markonen is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 2:26 am
  #3048  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,481
Originally Posted by Markonen
Hi everyone, I have business to conduct in New York and San Francisco and booked an ILN8T8S4 fare for TLL-HEL-LHR-JFK-SFO//JFK-LHR-HEL-TLL yesterday to kill two birds with one stone. All BA codes, but booked on AA.com (for around €2070) as that's what worked using ITA Powertools (BA.com didn't).

16 hours later the booking has not been ticketed yet, and that got me thinking: will AA actually agree to ticket this without any AA coded segments? My only prior exposure to such things is on an OWE ticket a decade ago. Back then, AA wanted some AA segments to agree to ticket.

My LHR-JFK and JFK-SFO are on AA metal, but BA codes.

Should I just wait, at least to the 24 hour mark? Or should I try to call AA and be proactive about this? If I call:

- Can they work with Amadeus PNRs as that's what I got from the European AA.com site? (I digged up an AA record locator for the segments on their metal, but they don't show the other flights, except for, curiously, the HEL-LHR leg. The status shown for that locator is "Unknown")

- Is there a better number than the standard reservation line for this?

Thanks!
Has the money been taken?

I had exactly this issue, and spent quite a while on the phone resolving it as AA insisted I had booked through BA [all BA codes on AA metal, AA.com/de site] despite having a three way call with myself and a couple of fantastic agents in the BA call centre. Eventually they had to recreate at the original price, and ticketed it on AA codes [which I'm not best pleased by, but haven't had the self-loathing to spend hour five on the phone with them yet].

They also then randomly cancelled the tickets, but reinstated them without much fuss though at the cost of another hour on the phone.

I only got an Amadeus PNR on an email that did not contain the itinerary at first - I think the AA site is screwing up reservations with no AA codes. If I were you, I'd get on the blower now and keep pushing until you have tickets - bon chance!
etiene is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 3:32 am
  #3049  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Programs: BA/VS Gold, Marriott Plat, HH Diamond
Posts: 628
Originally Posted by etiene
Has the money been taken?

I had exactly this issue, and spent quite a while on the phone resolving it as AA insisted I had booked through BA [all BA codes on AA metal, AA.com/de site] despite having a three way call with myself and a couple of fantastic agents in the BA call centre. Eventually they had to recreate at the original price, and ticketed it on AA codes [which I'm not best pleased by, but haven't had the self-loathing to spend hour five on the phone with them yet].
I don't have real time visibility into whether I've been charged (no charge appears at Amex yet but that doesn't mean one hasn't been authorized).

I called AA and they can't access the Amadeus PNR and the AA locator only shows some of the flights. So they were reduced to commenting in general terms (that the "booking source", which they insisted wasn't AA, just probably isn't done with the booking yet and I should wait). The irony seems to be that I have a confirmed booking made by AA that they themselves can't seem to access.

Called BA too to see if they would ticket this instead. Was quoted approx £2500 for the recreating the same itinerary, so that doesn't work.
Markonen is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 3:52 am
  #3050  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Oxford (&Western Isles )
Programs: BA GGL, CCR; RyanAir MillionMiler :( ;
Posts: 756
I usually try Priceline from ITA Matrix for this sort of thing, which normally works when the other options wont - 80% of the time it will go through and ticket for me. good luck.
wanderingjock is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 4:16 am
  #3051  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,481
Originally Posted by Markonen
I don't have real time visibility into whether I've been charged (no charge appears at Amex yet but that doesn't mean one hasn't been authorized).

I called AA and they can't access the Amadeus PNR and the AA locator only shows some of the flights. So they were reduced to commenting in general terms (that the "booking source", which they insisted wasn't AA, just probably isn't done with the booking yet and I should wait). The irony seems to be that I have a confirmed booking made by AA that they themselves can't seem to access.

Called BA too to see if they would ticket this instead. Was quoted approx £2500 for the recreating the same itinerary, so that doesn't work.
Yep, that sounds like the same issue - I had to escalate twice to get someone who sorted it. As I said- they had shunted me to BA claiming it was their booking, then we were on a three way while AA continually denied ownership - despite both other parties telling them it was the German AA site (which is the default euro option on power tools, I believe).

I would suggest escalating every time they insist it’s not their booking - they are apparently unwilling to believe that they might have a systems issue.
etiene is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 4:42 am
  #3052  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Programs: BA/VS Gold, Marriott Plat, HH Diamond
Posts: 628
Originally Posted by etiene
Yep, that sounds like the same issue - I had to escalate twice to get someone who sorted it. As I said- they had shunted me to BA claiming it was their booking, then we were on a three way while AA continually denied ownership - despite both other parties telling them it was the German AA site (which is the default euro option on power tools, I believe).
Thanks again etiene, definitely sounds like the same issue. Could you provide a couple of data points:
- How quickly did you start calling them?
- Were you charged immediately or only after you got the booking ticketed?

I'm still wondering whether this is not queued for someone's manual intervention on Monday.
Markonen is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 5:53 am
  #3053  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 106
I need 200 - 220 TPs and might find myself in LA in October. Any tips for quickest/cheapest routes from LAX to be looking into would be gratefully received!

Thanks all
JMS87 is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 6:20 am
  #3054  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Effectively grounded
Programs: BA GGL for a little while longer
Posts: 844
Originally Posted by JMS87
I need 200 - 220 TPs and might find myself in LA in October. Any tips for quickest/cheapest routes from LAX to be looking into would be gratefully received!

Thanks all
LAX-PHX-LAS has worked out OK for me in the past... good flight times, easy connection and decent price
OverTheHorizon is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 6:58 am
  #3055  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Manchester
Programs: BAEC (Silver), Hilton HHonors (Gold)
Posts: 312
I am in need of 260TPs and looking for some advice. I am relatively flexible but need to complete by early September.

Prefer to start at MAN but LHR would be fine also.

Any advice/suggestions welcome.

NV
northernvilla is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 7:18 am
  #3056  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,246
Originally Posted by northernvilla
I am in need of 260TPs and looking for some advice. I am relatively flexible but need to complete by early September.

Prefer to start at MAN...
Have a look at the weekend non stop CityFlyer CJ flights to AGP which net 80tps each way in CE. Add in AGP-BHX on a W pattern and you may get at least 260 TPs in 4 sectors.

Theres a MAN-DUB BA CJ operated flight on a Sunday if you want to position for the DUB-LHR-HEL-LHR run, with LHR-MAN at the end.

Last edited by FlyerTalker39574; Jul 22, 2018 at 7:50 am
FlyerTalker39574 is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 7:39 am
  #3057  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 106
Originally Posted by OverTheHorizon
LAX-PHX-LAS has worked out OK for me in the past... good flight times, easy connection and decent price
Thanks, £250 for 240TPs isn't too bad!
JMS87 is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 7:46 am
  #3058  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Edi
Posts: 2,203
Originally Posted by OverTheHorizon
LAX-PHX-LAS has worked out OK for me in the past... good flight times, easy connection and decent price
Is it possible to book this as LAX-PHX-LAS-PHX-LAX for the £250 price? All I can find is LAX-PHX-LAS-LAX, If I try to end is as LAS-PHX-LAX it goes up to £400.
FrogTastic likes this.
Calum is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 8:20 am
  #3059  
 
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 71
Originally Posted by JMS87
Thanks, £250 for 240TPs isn't too bad!
Would that not be 160TP (40x4)?
wingtip428 is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2018, 8:48 am
  #3060  
Hilton Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,428
Originally Posted by JMS87
Thanks, £250 for 240TPs isn't too bad!
It's not bad. I paid £555 for 840TPs today myself which I am very pleased about.
nufnuf77 is offline  


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