Jan 1, 2018, 5:20 am
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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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
Advanced Promotion Fares
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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:
Please see the links at the bottom of the wiki for archives of runs from previous years.
From Europe
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Historic information
2017 Archive
2016 Archive
2015 Archive (6 months Jul to Dec)
2015 Archive (6 months Jan to Jun)
2014 Archive
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Historic information
2017 Archive
2016 Archive
2015 Archive (6 months Jul to Dec)
2015 Archive (6 months Jan to Jun)
2014 Archive
BA Tier Point Runs | 2018 master thread
Jan 26, 2018, 11:26 am
#856
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: London Town
Programs: BA Silver, AF Silver
Posts: 465
There were quite a few posts following your last post with suggestions which could be searched via google flights. The start of this thread offers links explaining ITA Matrix (there are lots of screen shots in the preceding pages) or just google ITA Matrix and there are YouTube videos explaining how to use it. Remember most ‘sale’ fares you are looking for to the West Coast don’t start until Easter and only are valid for a narrow window around then.
Pilot37
Jan 26, 2018, 11:42 am
#857
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Spire Ambassador, Le Club Platinum
Posts: 62
Pleaee check out the PHX do thread. We are there on 25/8. There will be others on your flights no doubt.
PHX mini DO Aug 2018
B2B at OTP should be fine. It’s the same aircraft. I’m doing the same.
Will definitely join you guys on the mini DO!
Jan 26, 2018, 1:26 pm
#858
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
It is becoming very apparent that we have a number of ambitious TP runners, who in particular seem to be taking advantage of the OTP-PHX F or J fares (very widely discussed in this thread). One question I am getting many times over by PM is how can additional TPs be generated whilst in the US, and the obvious candidate of LAX-PTY comes to mind. I thought it would be wise to lay out some options for those wanting to make their trips into more lucrative runs.
The LAX-PTY is a well trudged route, with a varying number of AA sectors between the two points yielding different amounts of TPs. This itinerary will maximise the possible TP yield to 840 TPs over 16 sectors in ~3.5 days, for a grand total of £730, or £0.87/TP which is the cheapest possible at present.
Of course, you will have to position your self from PHX to LAX and back to start and finish this run (in full). This could be done with cash (more TPs) or a handful of Avios.
The optimum itinerary seems to be something like the following - giving plenty time on the Saturday morning to position to LAX (from PHX, in the case of the OTP-PHX runners) and time after the last sector to position back to PHX on the Tuesday evening (in preparation for the OTP-PHX runners to get back to PHX to start their return journey to OTP):
There are literally countless combinations to this fare, in order to maximise TPs, but I have tried to consolidate it into taking the least (but sensible) time possible. Only 2 overnights are required to complete this - one in PTY and the other in RDU. Note, there are plenty of ways to go in and out of PTY on the same day also, should you wish.
The search query for this routing is as follows (routing codes pasted below, since the input fields block the majority of important text):
(Copy/paste these into the respective search fields)
Outbound routing codes: AA LAS AA453 PHX AA2026 PHL AA2001 RDU AA657 CLT AA1887,AA2005 TPA,MCO AA2636,AA1061 MIA AA959
Outbound extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
Return routing codes: AA960 MIA AA1061 MCO AA727 CLT AA765 RDU AA4737,AA782,AA2001 PHL AA2022,AA793,AA659 PHX AA1888,AA5942,AA453,AA560 LAS,TUS,SFO AA2384,AA6037,AA1101,AA6007,AA131
Return extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
This gives plenty of different options on the return to choose your departure time from RDU (either early or later) and to route via either LAS, TUS or SFO towards the end of your journey. Also, you can have the option to spend the day in LAS on the way out, should you wish to hit the casinos for a few hours
Booking is best done by using ITA Powertools, porting your booking over to AA.com US version for easy payment (and seat selection). Other booking and payment options are in post 4 of this thread.
Happy to help those who need some support to take advantage of this fare
The LAX-PTY is a well trudged route, with a varying number of AA sectors between the two points yielding different amounts of TPs. This itinerary will maximise the possible TP yield to 840 TPs over 16 sectors in ~3.5 days, for a grand total of £730, or £0.87/TP which is the cheapest possible at present.
Of course, you will have to position your self from PHX to LAX and back to start and finish this run (in full). This could be done with cash (more TPs) or a handful of Avios.
The optimum itinerary seems to be something like the following - giving plenty time on the Saturday morning to position to LAX (from PHX, in the case of the OTP-PHX runners) and time after the last sector to position back to PHX on the Tuesday evening (in preparation for the OTP-PHX runners to get back to PHX to start their return journey to OTP):
There are literally countless combinations to this fare, in order to maximise TPs, but I have tried to consolidate it into taking the least (but sensible) time possible. Only 2 overnights are required to complete this - one in PTY and the other in RDU. Note, there are plenty of ways to go in and out of PTY on the same day also, should you wish.
The search query for this routing is as follows (routing codes pasted below, since the input fields block the majority of important text):
(Copy/paste these into the respective search fields)
Outbound routing codes: AA LAS AA453 PHX AA2026 PHL AA2001 RDU AA657 CLT AA1887,AA2005 TPA,MCO AA2636,AA1061 MIA AA959
Outbound extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
Return routing codes: AA960 MIA AA1061 MCO AA727 CLT AA765 RDU AA4737,AA782,AA2001 PHL AA2022,AA793,AA659 PHX AA1888,AA5942,AA453,AA560 LAS,TUS,SFO AA2384,AA6037,AA1101,AA6007,AA131
Return extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
This gives plenty of different options on the return to choose your departure time from RDU (either early or later) and to route via either LAS, TUS or SFO towards the end of your journey. Also, you can have the option to spend the day in LAS on the way out, should you wish to hit the casinos for a few hours
Booking is best done by using ITA Powertools, porting your booking over to AA.com US version for easy payment (and seat selection). Other booking and payment options are in post 4 of this thread.
Happy to help those who need some support to take advantage of this fare
Jan 26, 2018, 1:26 pm
#859
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver, VS Silver
Posts: 5
Hello FlyerTalkers, I’m after some help if you don’t mind please.
I am lucky enough to be going on gardening leave for the next few months. In time for my new start on June 1, I’d like to get myself back to BA Gold...so it’s time for a trip away & tier point run.
I’m after 1160 tier points so was thinking heading from LHR out to an ex-eu then onward LHR-NYC-LAX-HNL and back?
Currently can’t seem to work ITA Matrix well enough to pull anything better than £3415 right now. Looking really at any dates March & April excluding the Easter hols.
I’m not tied to HNL and would love some other ideas...it’s just I’ve been watching Hawaii Five-O so thought it be cool to see some of it for myself 😉. I was thinking of talking 48/72 hours at the destination with a 24 hours stop once on the way and once on the way back.
Thank you so much for any help or advice you can offer.
I am lucky enough to be going on gardening leave for the next few months. In time for my new start on June 1, I’d like to get myself back to BA Gold...so it’s time for a trip away & tier point run.
I’m after 1160 tier points so was thinking heading from LHR out to an ex-eu then onward LHR-NYC-LAX-HNL and back?
Currently can’t seem to work ITA Matrix well enough to pull anything better than £3415 right now. Looking really at any dates March & April excluding the Easter hols.
I’m not tied to HNL and would love some other ideas...it’s just I’ve been watching Hawaii Five-O so thought it be cool to see some of it for myself 😉. I was thinking of talking 48/72 hours at the destination with a 24 hours stop once on the way and once on the way back.
Thank you so much for any help or advice you can offer.
Jan 26, 2018, 2:03 pm
#860
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
Hello FlyerTalkers, I’m after some help if you don’t mind please.
I am lucky enough to be going on gardening leave for the next few months. In time for my new start on June 1, I’d like to get myself back to BA Gold...so it’s time for a trip away & tier point run.
I’m after 1160 tier points so was thinking heading from LHR out to an ex-eu then onward LHR-NYC-LAX-HNL and back?
Currently can’t seem to work ITA Matrix well enough to pull anything better than £3415 right now. Looking really at any dates March & April excluding the Easter hols.
I’m not tied to HNL and would love some other ideas...it’s just I’ve been watching Hawaii Five-O so thought it be cool to see some of it for myself 😉. I was thinking of talking 48/72 hours at the destination with a 24 hours stop once on the way and once on the way back.
Thank you so much for any help or advice you can offer.
I am lucky enough to be going on gardening leave for the next few months. In time for my new start on June 1, I’d like to get myself back to BA Gold...so it’s time for a trip away & tier point run.
I’m after 1160 tier points so was thinking heading from LHR out to an ex-eu then onward LHR-NYC-LAX-HNL and back?
Currently can’t seem to work ITA Matrix well enough to pull anything better than £3415 right now. Looking really at any dates March & April excluding the Easter hols.
I’m not tied to HNL and would love some other ideas...it’s just I’ve been watching Hawaii Five-O so thought it be cool to see some of it for myself 😉. I was thinking of talking 48/72 hours at the destination with a 24 hours stop once on the way and once on the way back.
Thank you so much for any help or advice you can offer.
Failing that, I would invite you to consider the OTP-PHX F or J fare that has been widely discussed in this thread, if you can make the dates work for you.
If you are feeling more adventurous, the CAI-HNL fare is still available, which you can yield in the region of 1,280 TPs for approx £1,700.
Jan 26, 2018, 3:31 pm
#861
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Roswell, GA
Programs: BA Gold-Virgin Gold-Delta MM-Hilton Diamond-Hyatt Globalist-Marriott Gold-IHG Plat Amb-Accor Nobody
Posts: 259
A little bit of modification
It is becoming very apparent that we have a number of ambitious TP runners, who in particular seem to be taking advantage of the OTP-PHX F or J fares (very widely discussed in this thread). One question I am getting many times over by PM is how can additional TPs be generated whilst in the US, and the obvious candidate of LAX-PTY comes to mind. I thought it would be wise to lay out some options for those wanting to make their trips into more lucrative runs.
The LAX-PTY is a well trudged route, with a varying number of AA sectors between the two points yielding different amounts of TPs. This itinerary will maximise the possible TP yield to 840 TPs over 16 sectors in ~3.5 days, for a grand total of £730, or £0.87/TP which is the cheapest possible at present.
Of course, you will have to position your self from PHX to LAX and back to start and finish this run (in full). This could be done with cash (more TPs) or a handful of Avios.
The optimum itinerary seems to be something like the following - giving plenty time on the Saturday morning to position to LAX (from PHX, in the case of the OTP-PHX runners) and time after the last sector to position back to PHX on the Tuesday evening (in preparation for the OTP-PHX runners to get back to PHX to start their return journey to OTP):
There are literally countless combinations to this fare, in order to maximise TPs, but I have tried to consolidate it into taking the least (but sensible) time possible. Only 2 overnights are required to complete this - one in PTY and the other in RDU. Note, there are plenty of ways to go in and out of PTY on the same day also, should you wish.
The search query for this routing is as follows (routing codes pasted below, since the input fields block the majority of important text):
(Copy/paste these into the respective search fields)
Outbound routing codes: AA LAS AA453 PHX AA2026 PHL AA2001 RDU AA657 CLT AA1887,AA2005 TPA,MCO AA2636,AA1061 MIA AA959
Outbound extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
Return routing codes: AA960 MIA AA1061 MCO AA727 CLT AA765 RDU AA4737,AA782,AA2001 PHL AA2022,AA793,AA659 PHX AA1888,AA5942,AA453,AA560 LAS,TUS,SFO AA2384,AA6037,AA1101,AA6007,AA131
Return extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
This gives plenty of different options on the return to choose your departure time from RDU (either early or later) and to route via either LAS, TUS or SFO towards the end of your journey. Also, you can have the option to spend the day in LAS on the way out, should you wish to hit the casinos for a few hours
Booking is best done by using ITA Powertools, porting your booking over to AA.com US version for easy payment (and seat selection). Other booking and payment options are in post 4 of this thread.
Happy to help those who need some support to take advantage of this fare
The LAX-PTY is a well trudged route, with a varying number of AA sectors between the two points yielding different amounts of TPs. This itinerary will maximise the possible TP yield to 840 TPs over 16 sectors in ~3.5 days, for a grand total of £730, or £0.87/TP which is the cheapest possible at present.
Of course, you will have to position your self from PHX to LAX and back to start and finish this run (in full). This could be done with cash (more TPs) or a handful of Avios.
The optimum itinerary seems to be something like the following - giving plenty time on the Saturday morning to position to LAX (from PHX, in the case of the OTP-PHX runners) and time after the last sector to position back to PHX on the Tuesday evening (in preparation for the OTP-PHX runners to get back to PHX to start their return journey to OTP):
There are literally countless combinations to this fare, in order to maximise TPs, but I have tried to consolidate it into taking the least (but sensible) time possible. Only 2 overnights are required to complete this - one in PTY and the other in RDU. Note, there are plenty of ways to go in and out of PTY on the same day also, should you wish.
The search query for this routing is as follows (routing codes pasted below, since the input fields block the majority of important text):
(Copy/paste these into the respective search fields)
Outbound routing codes: AA LAS AA453 PHX AA2026 PHL AA2001 RDU AA657 CLT AA1887,AA2005 TPA,MCO AA2636,AA1061 MIA AA959
Outbound extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
Return routing codes: AA960 MIA AA1061 MCO AA727 CLT AA765 RDU AA4737,AA782,AA2001 PHL AA2022,AA793,AA659 PHX AA1888,AA5942,AA453,AA560 LAS,TUS,SFO AA2384,AA6037,AA1101,AA6007,AA131
Return extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
This gives plenty of different options on the return to choose your departure time from RDU (either early or later) and to route via either LAS, TUS or SFO towards the end of your journey. Also, you can have the option to spend the day in LAS on the way out, should you wish to hit the casinos for a few hours
Booking is best done by using ITA Powertools, porting your booking over to AA.com US version for easy payment (and seat selection). Other booking and payment options are in post 4 of this thread.
Happy to help those who need some support to take advantage of this fare
Jan 26, 2018, 6:35 pm
#862
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sapporo, Japan
Programs: Junior Jet Club, Nando's Card 1 Red Chilli, Tesco Clubcard, BAEC Gold, TK M&S Elite
Posts: 520
It is becoming very apparent that we have a number of ambitious TP runners, who in particular seem to be taking advantage of the OTP-PHX F or J fares (very widely discussed in this thread). One question I am getting many times over by PM is how can additional TPs be generated whilst in the US, and the obvious candidate of LAX-PTY comes to mind. I thought it would be wise to lay out some options for those wanting to make their trips into more lucrative runs.
The LAX-PTY is a well trudged route, with a varying number of AA sectors between the two points yielding different amounts of TPs. This itinerary will maximise the possible TP yield to 840 TPs over 16 sectors in ~3.5 days, for a grand total of £730, or £0.87/TP which is the cheapest possible at present.
Of course, you will have to position your self from PHX to LAX and back to start and finish this run (in full). This could be done with cash (more TPs) or a handful of Avios.
The optimum itinerary seems to be something like the following - giving plenty time on the Saturday morning to position to LAX (from PHX, in the case of the OTP-PHX runners) and time after the last sector to position back to PHX on the Tuesday evening (in preparation for the OTP-PHX runners to get back to PHX to start their return journey to OTP):
{image snipped for size}
There are literally countless combinations to this fare, in order to maximise TPs, but I have tried to consolidate it into taking the least (but sensible) time possible. Only 2 overnights are required to complete this - one in PTY and the other in RDU. Note, there are plenty of ways to go in and out of PTY on the same day also, should you wish.
The search query for this routing is as follows (routing codes pasted below, since the input fields block the majority of important text):
{image snipped for size}
(Copy/paste these into the respective search fields)
Outbound routing codes: AA LAS AA453 PHX AA2026 PHL AA2001 RDU AA657 CLT AA1887,AA2005 TPA,MCO AA2636,AA1061 MIA AA959
Outbound extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
Return routing codes: AA960 MIA AA1061 MCO AA727 CLT AA765 RDU AA4737,AA782,AA2001 PHL AA2022,AA793,AA659 PHX AA1888,AA5942,AA453,AA560 LAS,TUS,SFO AA2384,AA6037,AA1101,AA6007,AA131
Return extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
This gives plenty of different options on the return to choose your departure time from RDU (either early or later) and to route via either LAS, TUS or SFO towards the end of your journey. Also, you can have the option to spend the day in LAS on the way out, should you wish to hit the casinos for a few hours
Booking is best done by using ITA Powertools, porting your booking over to AA.com US version for easy payment (and seat selection). Other booking and payment options are in post 4 of this thread.
Happy to help those who need some support to take advantage of this fare
The LAX-PTY is a well trudged route, with a varying number of AA sectors between the two points yielding different amounts of TPs. This itinerary will maximise the possible TP yield to 840 TPs over 16 sectors in ~3.5 days, for a grand total of £730, or £0.87/TP which is the cheapest possible at present.
Of course, you will have to position your self from PHX to LAX and back to start and finish this run (in full). This could be done with cash (more TPs) or a handful of Avios.
The optimum itinerary seems to be something like the following - giving plenty time on the Saturday morning to position to LAX (from PHX, in the case of the OTP-PHX runners) and time after the last sector to position back to PHX on the Tuesday evening (in preparation for the OTP-PHX runners to get back to PHX to start their return journey to OTP):
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There are literally countless combinations to this fare, in order to maximise TPs, but I have tried to consolidate it into taking the least (but sensible) time possible. Only 2 overnights are required to complete this - one in PTY and the other in RDU. Note, there are plenty of ways to go in and out of PTY on the same day also, should you wish.
The search query for this routing is as follows (routing codes pasted below, since the input fields block the majority of important text):
{image snipped for size}
(Copy/paste these into the respective search fields)
Outbound routing codes: AA LAS AA453 PHX AA2026 PHL AA2001 RDU AA657 CLT AA1887,AA2005 TPA,MCO AA2636,AA1061 MIA AA959
Outbound extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
Return routing codes: AA960 MIA AA1061 MCO AA727 CLT AA765 RDU AA4737,AA782,AA2001 PHL AA2022,AA793,AA659 PHX AA1888,AA5942,AA453,AA560 LAS,TUS,SFO AA2384,AA6037,AA1101,AA6007,AA131
Return extension codes: MAXCONNECT 1000
This gives plenty of different options on the return to choose your departure time from RDU (either early or later) and to route via either LAS, TUS or SFO towards the end of your journey. Also, you can have the option to spend the day in LAS on the way out, should you wish to hit the casinos for a few hours
Booking is best done by using ITA Powertools, porting your booking over to AA.com US version for easy payment (and seat selection). Other booking and payment options are in post 4 of this thread.
Happy to help those who need some support to take advantage of this fare
That is already of great help. I am no longer looking for this routing, but when I was trying for it yesterday the matrix kept timing out. I tried adding the intermediate hops individually but never really got the same routing and nowhere near the same price.
Jan 26, 2018, 10:22 pm
#863
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Jan 27, 2018, 3:15 am
#864
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,965
Jan 27, 2018, 3:27 am
#865
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Effectively grounded
Programs: BA GGL for a little while longer
Posts: 844
At a slight tangent, have any other UK-based users of the Matrix found any pattern so the timeouts ?
Jetlag has seen me wide awake and online at 3am GMT a few times recently and I still get the message (intermittently)...
Jetlag has seen me wide awake and online at 3am GMT a few times recently and I still get the message (intermittently)...
Jan 27, 2018, 4:05 am
#866
Join Date: Sep 2016
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 87
Thanks to all on the forum as this morning i booked my first ever TP run! Went with the A fare for OTP/-PHX with a night stopover in JFK and a day stop over on the return back through JFK. Never flown first before and very much looking forward to it!
I was trying to route via EWR to get onto 787 but availability was very thin at this stage, especially with the 787 engine problems!
Think i'll need to pick up one of those cheap JER-LGW-BOD fares to get Gold. The LAX-PTY fare is a bit extreme for me.
Anyone know how i can get the BA flight into my BAEC account even though i've booked with AA in the end?
I was trying to route via EWR to get onto 787 but availability was very thin at this stage, especially with the 787 engine problems!
Think i'll need to pick up one of those cheap JER-LGW-BOD fares to get Gold. The LAX-PTY fare is a bit extreme for me.
Anyone know how i can get the BA flight into my BAEC account even though i've booked with AA in the end?
Jan 27, 2018, 4:09 am
#867
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Thanks to all on the forum as this morning i booked my first ever TP run! Went with the A fare for OTP/-PHX with a night stopover in JFK and a day stop over on the return back through JFK. Never flown first before and very much looking forward to it!
I was trying to route via EWR to get onto 787 but availability was very thin at this stage, especially with the 787 engine problems!
Think i'll need to pick up one of those cheap JER-LGW-BOD fares to get Gold. The LAX-PTY fare is a bit extreme for me.
Anyone know how i can get the BA flight into my BAEC account even though i've booked with AA in the end?
I was trying to route via EWR to get onto 787 but availability was very thin at this stage, especially with the 787 engine problems!
Think i'll need to pick up one of those cheap JER-LGW-BOD fares to get Gold. The LAX-PTY fare is a bit extreme for me.
Anyone know how i can get the BA flight into my BAEC account even though i've booked with AA in the end?
If you want you may also want to share your dates either by adding them to the airport meetup thread, on the PHX dobthread which is also hosting some others not doing the Do, and there is always ba97.com
Jan 27, 2018, 4:18 am
#868
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sapporo, Japan
Programs: Junior Jet Club, Nando's Card 1 Red Chilli, Tesco Clubcard, BAEC Gold, TK M&S Elite
Posts: 520
I got my BA reference from the Qantas website yesterday, worked flawlessly.
Jan 27, 2018, 6:46 am
#869
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 648
Hello FlyerTalkers, I’m after some help if you don’t mind please.
I am lucky enough to be going on gardening leave for the next few months. In time for my new start on June 1, I’d like to get myself back to BA Gold...so it’s time for a trip away & tier point run.
I’m after 1160 tier points so was thinking heading from LHR out to an ex-eu then onward LHR-NYC-LAX-HNL and back?
Currently can’t seem to work ITA Matrix well enough to pull anything better than £3415 right now. Looking really at any dates March & April excluding the Easter hols.
I’m not tied to HNL and would love some other ideas...it’s just I’ve been watching Hawaii Five-O so thought it be cool to see some of it for myself 😉. I was thinking of talking 48/72 hours at the destination with a 24 hours stop once on the way and once on the way back.
Thank you so much for any help or advice you can offer.
I am lucky enough to be going on gardening leave for the next few months. In time for my new start on June 1, I’d like to get myself back to BA Gold...so it’s time for a trip away & tier point run.
I’m after 1160 tier points so was thinking heading from LHR out to an ex-eu then onward LHR-NYC-LAX-HNL and back?
Currently can’t seem to work ITA Matrix well enough to pull anything better than £3415 right now. Looking really at any dates March & April excluding the Easter hols.
I’m not tied to HNL and would love some other ideas...it’s just I’ve been watching Hawaii Five-O so thought it be cool to see some of it for myself 😉. I was thinking of talking 48/72 hours at the destination with a 24 hours stop once on the way and once on the way back.
Thank you so much for any help or advice you can offer.
Jan 27, 2018, 6:49 am
#870
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ORD
Programs: BA, AA, SQ, UA, AC, WS, MR TIT
Posts: 8,659