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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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 May 21, 2018, 9:07 am
  #2401  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London, U.K.
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Posts: 3,370
Very good deal ex-KUL on MH with their current flash sale on the PER route. £409.10 in business (Z class) roundtrip will yield 280 tier points at approx £1.47 per TP. This fare is restricted, non-refundable and must be booked by 24th May. No minimum stay requirement. Yes, it is a shorthaul Boeing 737 on this route but the distance is roughly the same as Hawaii to California and seats are comparable to US carriers' domestic recliners.

Summary of fare rules from ITA:

Malaysia Airlines (MH) ZBTRT4MY KUL to PER

General notes
BUSINESS CLASS PROMOTIONAL FARES Z APPLIES FOR ROUND TRIP FARES FOR ADULT

Category 2: Day/Time restrictions
OUTBOUND - PERMITTED MON/TUE/WED/SUN.

Category 5: Advanced reservation/ticketing restrictions
RESERVATIONS FOR ALL SECTORS ARE REQUIRED AT LEAST 5 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE.

Category 14: Travel restrictions
VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/AFTER 16JUN 18 AND ON/ BEFORE 19NOV 18.

Category 15: Sales restrictions
RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE AND TICKETS ISSUED ON/AFTER 17MAY 18 AND ON/BEFORE 24MAY 18.TICKETS MUST BE ISSUED ON MH. NOTE - FORM OF PAYMENT -- AGENTS - INVAGT/CREDIT CARD MH OFFICES - CASH/CREDIT CARD

Category 16: Penalties
CHANGES ANY TIME CHARGE MYR 400 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION. NOTE - CHARGE MYR 400 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION --------------------------------------- WITHIN SALES PERIOD - CHARGE ABOVE CHANGE PENALTY PER DOCUMENT AND APPLICABLE FARE DIFFERENTIAL IF ANY. ---------------------------------------- AFTER SALES PERIOD - CONVERT TO NETT MARKET FARES NMF FARE DIFFERENTIAL AND ABOVE CHARGE CHANGE PENALTY. CANCELLATIONS ANY TIME TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF CANCEL/REFUND. NOTE - CANCELLATIONS ANY TIME TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF CANCEL/REFUND. ------------------------------------------------ TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF NO-SHOW. NOTE - TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF NO-SHOW.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:09 am
  #2402  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 58
Originally Posted by temppa
Something like this? You can build in some additional connections in BOS and DCA if you like.


The only difference was that I used the calendar view, and I got the higher price. I tried Kayak, and have a £1380 from BA on AA and AY flights so happy. Thanks for finding WAW for me . Still have no idea what I am doing wrong with Matrix, used it successfully before on more complicated routes.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:39 am
  #2403  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
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Posts: 7,328
Originally Posted by etiene
Might as well throw this one open for suggestions and see if something good comes up. I'm currently 120TPs shy of Gold, collection year Sept 8th. Have had a few looks around for things like LON-MAD-XXX rtn, which produced some possible options for a long weekend around £260pp [probably need to take the other half on that, bumping the cost up]. Didn't see any immediate turnaround options on those though.

Does anybody know of anything else other cost effective little jaunt, preferably avoiding taking leave...? I can also do AMS-LON/MAD-XXX-(MAD)?-LON pretty easily [especially leaving AMS on June 30th], but none of the options I've put through matrix have been less than about £500 there.
HEL-LON-AMS is available for £286 one way which will get you the 120TPs. You'll need to overnight at LHR to get the best fare and midweek flights are cheaper, so without taking leave you'll either need to pay more to do it on a weekend or choose a different route.
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Old May 21, 2018, 9:57 am
  #2404  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,472
Originally Posted by Wozza2404
HEL-LON-AMS is available for £286 one way which will get you the 120TPs. You'll need to overnight at LHR to get the best fare and midweek flights are cheaper, so without taking leave you'll either need to pay more to do it on a weekend or choose a different route.
Thanks, I saw that post but couldn't see a sensible way of putting it together into something useful. Matrix calendar is showing nothing lower than £353 through June and July at this point, either - possible it's gone already...?
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Old May 21, 2018, 4:15 pm
  #2405  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: London(ish)
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 565
Evening,

I need to do a tie point run in the next 4 weeks. I need 120 tier points for as cheaply as possible. Ideally just two flights but I know I may need 3.

Any tips on which routes I can do for as cheaply as possible?

Thank you in advance.
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Old May 21, 2018, 4:20 pm
  #2406  
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Posts: 17,912
Originally Posted by eugegall
Evening,

I need to do a tie point run in the next 4 weeks. I need 120 tier points for as cheaply as possible. Ideally just two flights but I know I may need 3.

Any tips on which routes I can do for as cheaply as possible?

Thank you in advance.
Hi,
How about one of the 80tp CE routes ( for 160 in total)

Examples might be ATH, HEL, Malta

Regards

TBS
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Old May 21, 2018, 4:32 pm
  #2407  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,115
Originally Posted by eugegall
Evening,

I need to do a tie point run in the next 4 weeks. I need 120 tier points for as cheaply as possible. Ideally just two flights but I know I may need 3.

Any tips on which routes I can do for as cheaply as possible?

Thank you in advance.
Spain via LON-MAD/BCN-XXX usually a good option - £265 to SVQ available, but you may want to do Saturday night so ~£300 more realistic

all in the wiki though hotel inclusive may be harder outside promotion periods

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
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Old May 21, 2018, 6:07 pm
  #2408  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Executive Club
Posts: 124


Hi all. Can anyone explain the minimum rule to PTY found from the above fare quote? My interpretation of it is that you cannot begin your return flight in less than 3 days from your departure from LAX. Thanks.
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Old May 21, 2018, 7:30 pm
  #2409  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Beijing
Programs: SK EBG, BAEC Gold
Posts: 932
Originally Posted by onobond
Yes, PTY runs to the previous ~$1K price is no more . ...
A bit annoyingly I will be in the US for work from Aug 6 - 13, so (i) the TPs for the trip get split over two collection years (my TP year ends Aug 8), and (ii) I can only manage a week extra in the US afterwards, so I'll just miss the PHX do by about a week .

As consolation for that I have been looking into the LAX-PTY fare also the last few days.... The fare isn't quite dead - but it is, it seems, rather bloated, after perhaps too many ice-cream sundaes and packets of chips/nuts/crisps ...

The best I could price up for the dates I have available was 1184 USD for a 14 segment trip (will upload screenshot later - no VPN at the moment). In the end I paid about 200 USD more than that as I wanted to add in a stop in SFO near the end of the trip (not possible on this fare - so instead I went with a LAX-PTY/PTY-SFO combination).

Originally Posted by AlphaXray
Hi all. Can anyone explain the minimum rule to PTY found from the above fare quote? My interpretation of it is that you cannot begin your return flight in less than 3 days from your departure from LAX. Thanks.
I read this as meaning "if there is a stopover then the return date must be at least 3 days after departure from the stopover. In all cases the return must be >24 hours after arrival".

A quick search for a simpler routing of LAX-MIA-PTY//PTY-MIA-LAX indeed shows that you can depart from PTY only 2 days after leaving LAX for the same price (as long as the >24 hour rules is satisfied). The rules also limit the stopover to the US gateway, so what it means in practice is that you can't use the fare for trip to MIA with a quick turn around in PTY to bring down the price.
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Old May 22, 2018, 12:11 am
  #2410  
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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Posts: 6,428
Originally Posted by cgtechuk
Seeing £1.6k certain dates if you play with Matrix what did you pay in the end?
£1850 including TA fee for GUF and exceeding MPM, my route is CAI-LHR // BCN-LHR-MIA-LAX-HNL-LAX-PHL-LHR // BCN-LHR-CAI with MIA-LAX and LAX-PHL on lie flat widebodies.
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Old May 22, 2018, 12:18 am
  #2411  
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Posts: 10,076
Originally Posted by GinFizz
A bit annoyingly I will be in the US for work from Aug 6 - 13, so (i) the TPs for the trip get split over two collection years (my TP year ends Aug 8), and (ii) I can only manage a week extra in the US afterwards, so I'll just miss the PHX do by about a week .

As consolation for that I have been looking into the LAX-PTY fare also the last few days.... The fare isn't quite dead - but it is, it seems, rather bloated, after perhaps too many ice-cream sundaes and packets of chips/nuts/crisps ...

The best I could price up for the dates I have available was 1184 USD for a 14 segment trip (will upload screenshot later - no VPN at the moment). In the end I paid about 200 USD more than that as I wanted to add in a stop in SFO near the end of the trip (not possible on this fare - so instead I went with a LAX-PTY/PTY-SFO combination).



I read this as meaning "if there is a stopover then the return date must be at least 3 days after departure from the stopover. In all cases the return must be >24 hours after arrival".

A quick search for a simpler routing of LAX-MIA-PTY//PTY-MIA-LAX indeed shows that you can depart from PTY only 2 days after leaving LAX for the same price (as long as the >24 hour rules is satisfied). The rules also limit the stopover to the US gateway, so what it means in practice is that you can't use the fare for trip to MIA with a quick turn around in PTY to bring down the price.
Thanks for the update. Looks good on ITA again, but the calender search often returns prices in the $1.4K+ region. Hence, searching for specific dates cuts prices down to ~1K.

Besides PTY, other run destinations like SAL, LIR and BAQ are also back on track, albeit the latter losing the convenient timings for the dates I searched in November. The once-daily AA flight previously left MIA late morning and the return out of BAQ early afternoon. Now the plane stays overnight, arriving 20.32 and departing next morning at 08.40. Although personally never done a B2B here, it will not be possible with the new rules, as you also highlight, requiring 24+ h at turnaround, i.e. requiring two hotel nights.

Category 6: Minimum stay requirements
TRAVEL FROM LAST STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 3 DAYS AFTER DEPARTURE FROM FARE ORIGIN. AND - TRAVEL FROM TURNAROUND MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 24 HOURS AFTER ARRIVAL AT TURNAROUND. TRAVEL FROM LAST STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN THE FIRST SUN AFTER DEPARTURE FROM FARE ORIGIN. AND - TRAVEL FROM TURNAROUND MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 24 HOURS AFTER ARRIVAL AT TURNAROUND.
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Old May 22, 2018, 3:36 am
  #2412  
 
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 12
This forum is really amazing, very kind community.

Still looking for help on a trip I can do on a weekend (happy to include Friday or Monday) in late July ex LHR or nearby that can get me 650 TP.

Thanks in advance.
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Old May 22, 2018, 3:55 am
  #2413  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: BHX
Programs: BA GGL CCR GfL, SQ Gold, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat, Cafe Nero Loyalty Card (7 Stamps)
Posts: 7,328
Originally Posted by etiene
Thanks, I saw that post but couldn't see a sensible way of putting it together into something useful. Matrix calendar is showing nothing lower than £353 through June and July at this point, either - possible it's gone already...?
Still bookable. Try Kayak.

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Old May 22, 2018, 4:04 am
  #2414  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GGL, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 910
Originally Posted by dannyboy78
This forum is really amazing, very kind community.

Still looking for help on a trip I can do on a weekend (happy to include Friday or Monday) in late July ex LHR or nearby that can get me 650 TP.

Thanks in advance.
For this many TP's you're best doing some searching for OTP-PHX on Google Flights. There's plenty of dates available in July for that route. You need the multicity option. Comes in around £1313.

OTP-LHR will get you 80 TP's each way, then you need to add in LHR-XXX-PHX or LHR-XXX-YYY-PHX, where XXX and YYY are US gateways that connect to PDX. Since going direct LHR-PHX will only earn 140 TP's each way you want to do OTP-LHR-JFK-PHX-JFK-LHR-OTP at a basic level, which earns 720 TP's.

Last edited by David_Doyle; May 22, 2018 at 5:16 am
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Old May 22, 2018, 5:15 am
  #2415  
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 12
Hello everyone!
I am looking for a return flight ticket from YUL-PEK, on June to October. I am hoping that I can receive as many Tier Points as I can.
A few days ago, I was able to find out a return ticket, on Finnair.
June 19, YUL-LHR-HEL-PEK
Oct 1, PEK-HEL-LHR-YUL
I can receive 720 Tier points with the spend of 3332 Canadian dollars.
However, before I was trying to book the flight, I cannot find it on the official website now, and I don’t know the reason.
Are there any choices do I still have, around this schedule, and I can even have a close ratio of Tier Points per dollar, like the one I found a few days ago?
Thanks, everyone!
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