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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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Jan 24, 2018, 12:31 am
  #706  
 
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Good thing I didn't rely on the horse's mouth...


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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:33 am
  #707  
 
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Originally Posted by flyuk
That doesn't seem to be the case, this is November, I found it a couple of days ago.



Which matches:

PERMITTED 01JUL THROUGH 31AUG OR 22NOV THROUGH 30NOV
OR 18DEC THROUGH 02JAN OR 27MAR THROUGH 11APR FOR EACH
TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR. SEASON IS BASED ON TRIP DATE.
How many TP’s for this fare, 1000?
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:34 am
  #708  
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Originally Posted by flyuk
Good thing I didn't rely on the horse's mouth...


That’s right. They are sold as first but only earn business TPs. The run to PTY that used to earn 1260TPs now only earns 840TPs.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:34 am
  #709  
 
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Originally Posted by Yuff


How many TP’s for this fare, 1000?
I couldn't tell you anymore, it seems the BA calculator is duff.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:34 am
  #710  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Originally Posted by flyuk
Having a play, and found this one. Looks OK at £1790 for 780TP (I think) and most of a weekend in Hawaii. Any comments?
That works out at £2.29/TP which is not the greatest of value. Far better yield on one of the OTP-PHX fares.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:34 am
  #711  
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Originally Posted by Yuff


How many TP’s for this fare, 1000?
800

If you can fit in the LHR/HEL/LHR shuffle you’ll pick up another 160TPs each way although you would lose the Transcon and have to go from JFK to PHX Direct.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:39 am
  #712  
 
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Originally Posted by madfish
Without checking I suspect you are looking at the AA flights as earning higher TPs. These are domestic first and earn 40/140 TPs unlike international first which earn 210TPs. They did used to earn the higher rate until last January when they changed.

To earn more TPs you would need to split the outbound to be something like AMS/LHR/JFK/LAX/HNL which would be 460TPs each way.
Like this? Not much more for 920TP. Only 2 F legs though.

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Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:39 am
  #713  
 
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Originally Posted by flyuk
Having a play, and found this one. Looks OK at £1790 for 780TP (I think) and most of a weekend in Hawaii. Any comments?
To maximise the TPs, you need to route via LHR, an East Coast gateway and either LAX or Phoenix in each direction (because you get 140 TPs for flying between east coast destinations and LAX/PHX). That would give you (40+140+140+140) x 2 = 920 TPs. That routing is easy to price up on ITA.
Originally Posted by flyuk
Good thing I didn't rely on the horse's mouth...
The TP calculator is correct. You have to look at the booking class (in this case, I or D) and not the description ("First").
Yuff and flyuk like this.
Misco60 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2018, 12:44 am
  #714  
 
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Originally Posted by Misco60
To maximise the TPs, you need to route via LHR, an East Coast gateway and either LAX or Phoenix in each direction (because you get 140 TPs for flying between east coast destinations and LAX/PHX). That would give you (40+140+140+140) x 2 = 920 TPs. That routing is easy to price up on ITA.The TP calculator is correct. You have to look at the booking class (in this case, I or D) and not the description ("First").
I guess it's correct if you look at the booking class code, but not if you look at the actual booking class. Either way, I know now.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 1:44 am
  #715  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Originally Posted by flyuk
I guess it's correct if you look at the booking class code, but not if you look at the actual booking class. Either way, I know now.
The booking class code is the key indicator. The cabin name (Business/First/Premium/Super Premium etc) is irrelevant.
rossmacd is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2018, 1:50 am
  #716  
 
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Wink

Originally Posted by rossmacd
The booking class code is the key indicator. The cabin name (Business/First/Premium/Super Premium etc) is irrelevant.
To be fair, it's only irrelevant if you know it is. I've not been around for long.
flyuk is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2018, 1:51 am
  #717  
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Originally Posted by flyuk
I couldn't tell you anymore, it seems the BA calculator is duff.
it isn’t. It’s correct, you need to look at the selling class to see what you earn and that’s clearly listed in the example screenshot you posted. Looking at the itineraries above the AA domestic flight is marketed as first but books in to D selling class which earns 140 TPs.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 1:54 am
  #718  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
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*sigh*

Yes you're right. I'll get back in my box.
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 1:56 am
  #719  
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Originally Posted by flyuk
Like this? Not much more for 920TP. Only 2 F legs though.

Yes 920. You need to look at what AA claim to be F. Business on the Transcon is better than what they class as domestic F. Basically AA don’t offer F on domestic flights (except the Transcon)
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Old Jan 24, 2018, 2:01 am
  #720  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Originally Posted by flyuk
*sigh*

Yes you're right. I'll get back in my box.
Only trying to help There is no criticism, only trying to help you learn the ropes
KARFA likes this.
rossmacd is offline  


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