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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 3, 2019, 2:02 pm
  #5251  
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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Originally Posted by Lefly
I need a math check please.
OSL-HEL-LAX-HNL should earn 320 TPs, and If BA calculator says 0 for HEL-LAX it's just because the route is still to be "put in the database"... right?
Indeed. LAX will start later this year.
Lefly likes this.
florens is offline  
Old Jan 3, 2019, 3:38 pm
  #5252  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,705
Originally Posted by dolfinco
Huge apologies for hijacking this thread but can anyone help point me to the ITA MAtrix source code post that allows you to select the fare then pick the airline to go directly to the itinerary from ITA ? Thanks in advance
Try https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/26663221-post2377.html
flashware is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 1:05 am
  #5253  
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Between UK & US
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 184
Hi Guys,

I am looking for around 800-1000TP's in early March.

Any good options?

I'm slightly new to using the ITA, so if you could be a bit specific on what I need to put in it would be great!

Thanks
Neil
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Old Jan 4, 2019, 1:10 am
  #5254  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
Originally Posted by neiluk
Hi Guys,

I am looking for around 800-1000TP's in early March.

Any good options?

I'm slightly new to using the ITA, so if you could be a bit specific on what I need to put in it would be great!

Thanks
Neil
What have you found so far with your own searches? I am sure one of the very knowledgeable posters here will be able to help you improve it.
Gastrocnemius and Misco60 like this.
rossmacd is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 1:14 am
  #5255  
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Between UK & US
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 184
My challenge is a starting Airport.

So far I've got LHR -> JFK -> LAX -> ORD -> LHR and also LHR -> ORD -> AUS -> MIA -> JFK -> LHR.

But these are coming in fairly hefty around the £3.5K mark, and won't give me the points I'm looking for for the money.

Nx
Neil Scrivener is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 1:24 am
  #5256  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Vale of Glamorgan
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Posts: 2,988
Originally Posted by neiluk
My challenge is a starting Airport.

So far I've got LHR -> JFK -> LAX -> ORD -> LHR and also LHR -> ORD -> AUS -> MIA -> JFK -> LHR.

But these are coming in fairly hefty around the £3.5K mark, and won't give me the points I'm looking for for the money.

Nx
LHR is rarely going to be a suitable starting point for a TP run, and you should be looking for sectors of over 2,000 miles in the US, for which you will get 140 TPs rather than the usual 40. Take a look at the OTP (Bucharest) to PHX (Phoenix) options; these will give you at least 720 TPs, which can easily be increased to 800 TPs if routed via LAX and can be extended to as much as 1040 TPs if you include HEL in the itinerary. This can cost as little as £1,200. You'll find all the information in this thread.
Misco60 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 1:32 am
  #5257  
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Between UK & US
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 184
Hi,

Thanks for this.

Am I being dense, or have I put the data in correctly, as I'm getting no flights showing?

Thanks!
N

Neil Scrivener is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 1:54 am
  #5258  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: LON
Programs: BA GFL, OW Gold, CX/MP Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 258
Originally Posted by neiluk
My challenge is a starting Airport.

So far I've got LHR -> JFK -> LAX -> ORD -> LHR and also LHR -> ORD -> AUS -> MIA -> JFK -> LHR.

But these are coming in fairly hefty around the £3.5K mark, and won't give me the points I'm looking for for the money.

Nx
You will struggle leaving from LHR

I suggest you look at something like this instead...


IAANN is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:03 am
  #5259  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 136
Originally Posted by neiluk
Hi,

Thanks for this.

Am I being dense, or have I put the data in correctly, as I'm getting no flights showing?

Thanks!
N

For Flight 1, you have put "HEL" in the routing code so you're asking for it to show OTP-HEL-PHX. As there's no HEL-PHX direct, it's returning no results.

To show flights containing HEL as a connection point, you need to put X:HEL
If you know where to connect in the US (ie in JFK), you could put HEL JFK which says OTP-HEL-JFK-PHX

I would suggest clicking the ? next to Routing/extension codes which shows the syntax to use.
BA707 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:04 am
  #5260  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Helsinki
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by neiluk
Hi,

Thanks for this.

Am I being dense, or have I put the data in correctly, as I'm getting no flights showing?

Thanks!
N

Because you can't get to PHX direct from HEL. For the PHX TP run you need to add in LHR, JFK, LAX. If you want the added HEL points then i think you use LHR, HEL, LHR, JFK, LAX (I think).
offshore_bob is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:06 am
  #5261  
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I like the itinerary above, however the BA001 tends to take a sabbatical over summer so wouldn't get your hopes up flying that one
mikeyfly is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:08 am
  #5262  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,680
Neiluk. Start with a return flight OTP PHX searching calendar for cheap days, I think you’ll find nothing in March. Once you’ve got some idea of when it’s cheaper do a multi-city with something like, OTP to PHX with lhr jfk lax in the routing codes, and alliance oneworld as you already have. If you want to grab more TP for the HEL stop I think you need 4 entries as you can’t include same airport twice, so do something like,
OTP - HEL via LHR
and then
HEL - PHX via LHR JFK LAX

then repeat the reverse of this for coming home.
dougzz is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:13 am
  #5263  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 136
Originally Posted by offshore_bob
Because you can't get to PHX direct from HEL. For the PHX TP run you need to add in LHR, JFK, LAX. If you want the added HEL points then i think you use LHR, HEL, LHR, JFK, LAX (I think).
I don't mean to nitpick but the commas do matter and they need to be omitted in this case.

LHR JFK LAX is saying "route me OTP-LHR-JFK-LAX-PHX"

LHR, JFK, LAX is saying "route me from OTP direct to any one of LHR or JFK or LAAX then direct to PHX."
BA707 is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:21 am
  #5264  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 59
Does anyone know any decent ex-Bru routes for a weekend TP run? Would like to get Silver by September but sitting on 200TPs so have a bit of work to do!
maxpedals is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2019, 2:47 am
  #5265  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 136
Originally Posted by maxpedals
Does anyone know any decent ex-Bru routes for a weekend TP run? Would like to get Silver by September but sitting on 200TPs so have a bit of work to do!
For weekend trips you're probably limited to Europe so have a look at the SH+ routes to earn 80 TP each way
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25635346-post3.html

These aren't great £/TP wise (£2.26) but I do see 0-1 day weekend trips BRU-LON-XXX-LON-BRU in April/May to earn 240TP and no positioning.
SOF £543
OTP £544
KBP £559
RAK £571
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