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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Aug 1, 2018, 12:19 am
  #3166  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA Gold and Virgin Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by gcuk


Care to share the detail of the low £200 to NYC?
Thinking tactically, a weekend shopping in NYC might be the first step to getting Mrs gcuk on a TP run in the future 😉

Simple search on Skyscanner for 12-19th March was bringing up a fare of £223 DUB-NYC. Some of the fares are in and out of SWF so not the regular NYC airports connecting in PHL. Still in my window to cancel but have booked with BA direct for 306 EURO for these dates and want to fit a TP run round it.
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davy1974 is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 12:36 am
  #3167  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Beijing
Programs: SK EBG, BAEC Gold
Posts: 932
Originally Posted by staticx813
fare enough. i would assume that the fare rules were pulled from EF. but how would one go about pulling this specific fare rules?? where would you even start??
IS this be a multi city segment search to achieve this MPM?
Thanks!
I first saw the restriction on AA tickets not allowing the transfer through HNL a couple of years ago - before that I was able to ticket a couple of US trips with PEK-TYO-HNL-LAX-CLT-XXX type routings

The full fare rules (including the specific part on ""IF THE FARE COMPONENT INCLUDES TRAVEL FROM/TO/VIA HNL etc." can be seen using an ITA matrix search - no need for ExpertFlyer for that as far as I recall. ExpertFlyer (or direct GDS access) is needed though to see the >routing< rules (which in this case indicate that this a MPM routing with no specified routings - other than the restrictions in the fare rules and the maximum milage).
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Old Aug 1, 2018, 2:18 am
  #3168  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: BRU
Programs: * Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 292
DCA-PHL-CLT-TPA-MIA-LGA-DCA mid September First class I fare. 240 points for 583$ or 2.43$/ points or 1.85£/ points

It requires a night in TPA for which i used Marriott points
FCO36 is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 2:20 am
  #3169  
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,426
Originally Posted by GinFizz
I first saw the restriction on AA tickets not allowing the transfer through HNL a couple of years ago - before that I was able to ticket a couple of US trips with PEK-TYO-HNL-LAX-CLT-XXX type routings

The full fare rules (including the specific part on ""IF THE FARE COMPONENT INCLUDES TRAVEL FROM/TO/VIA HNL etc." can be seen using an ITA matrix search - no need for ExpertFlyer for that as far as I recall. ExpertFlyer (or direct GDS access) is needed though to see the >routing< rules (which in this case indicate that this a MPM routing with no specified routings - other than the restrictions in the fare rules and the maximum milage).
Indeed. Though unless pressed for TPs I would want to avoid the stop in HNL due to product flying there from LAX and jet lag timing.
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Old Aug 1, 2018, 3:08 am
  #3170  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,295
Originally Posted by staticx813
fare enough.
I see what ya did there ^
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Surgee is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 9:48 am
  #3171  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 93
I'm looking at a trip in F to the U.S next April. Heading to the west coast and including the Transcon in F also.

This is the best I can come up with so far:

https://www.google.co.uk/flights/#fl...59*.GBP.232669

This works out at 920 tier points if I am correct.

Some points:

1. I can't depart before 6th April.
2. I'd like to have a few days out there and not just turn around and come home after a couple of days which is why the itinerary is like it is.
3. I'd rather do the LHR-JFK leg on BA metal and get into JFK a bit earlier if possible.
4. I appreciate I could probably add a connection at the end to BHD/INV/MAN etc., however I'm not sure I will withstand it after an entire day of flying!
5. Is it possible to do the LHR-INV the day before?
6. My main aim would be to reduce the fair if possible and perhaps add a short flight between LAS/LAX/PHX/SFO whilst maintaining the transcon in First Class.

Can anyone do any better?

Thanks in advance.
Mr.JimmyFlyer is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 1:34 pm
  #3172  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 68
I am 6 days away from losing my first ever silver card and I would really like to get myself back there ASAP!

Would it be realistic to earn the 600 TP’s for around the £1k mark? I could realistically travel any time in September....

Any my suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Clareym66 is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 1:42 pm
  #3173  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 928
Originally Posted by Clareym66
I am 6 days away from losing my first ever silver card and I would really like to get myself back there ASAP!

Would it be realistic to earn the 600 TP’s for around the £1k mark? I could realistically travel any time in September....

Any my suggestions would be greatly appreciated
My suggestion and this is based on what I am doing is to do the 600 tpat the start of the next collection year and you will get the benefits of it for longer.

Remember you will get the silver benefits till the end of the month following expiry, eg expires on 8 August benefits to 30 September.

Someone far knowledgeable than me can advise on 1k for 600 tp.

Mine works out around £1500 which are actually holidays I want to go on which are INV-LHR-ORD-BOS-JFK-LHR-INV, and EDI-LHR-LUX return. The £1500 excludes the hotel cost but is fairly reasonable for me and is £2.50/tp

​​​
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Cw novice is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 2:13 pm
  #3174  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Surrey
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 211
Originally Posted by Cw novice
My suggestion and this is based on what I am doing is to do the 600 tpat the start of the next collection year and you will get the benefits of it for longer.

Remember you will get the silver benefits till the end of the month following expiry, eg expires on 8 August benefits to 30 September.

Someone far knowledgeable than me can advise on 1k for 600 tp.

Mine works out around £1500 which are actually holidays I want to go on which are INV-LHR-ORD-BOS-JFK-LHR-INV, and EDI-LHR-LUX return. The £1500 excludes the hotel cost but is fairly reasonable for me and is £2.50/tp

​​​
Should be able to kee it under 1k

A trip to HEL, JER, BOD, LUX or DUB should get you there via LHR or LGW
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FrogTastic is offline  
Old Aug 1, 2018, 2:31 pm
  #3175  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 68
Originally Posted by FrogTastic


Should be able to kee it under 1k

A trip to HEL, JER, BOD, LUX or DUB should get you there via LHR or LGW

I was looking at LHR-HEL-OSL-HEL-LHR bit was pricing up close to £500 (not including hotels) and only earned 240 TP’s so would have needed a few trips.

Am I totally going wrong somewhere?
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Old Aug 2, 2018, 9:34 am
  #3176  
 
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: 7,325
Originally Posted by Clareym66



I was looking at LHR-HEL-OSL-HEL-LHR bit was pricing up close to £500 (not including hotels) and only earned 240 TP’s so would have needed a few trips.

Am I totally going wrong somewhere?
Why would you pay £1000 for Silver status?

Genuine question. Are you commuting weekly on 5TP Y fares so you're using the lounge twice a week?
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Old Aug 2, 2018, 10:43 am
  #3177  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Surrey
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 211
Originally Posted by Wozza2404
Why would you pay £1000 for Silver status?

Genuine question. Are you commuting weekly on 5TP Y fares so you're using the lounge twice a week?
Silver seems to be the sweet spot for most leisure travellers. But I feel if you aren’t travelling 10-15 times a year, it may not be worthwhile to chase status.
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Old Aug 2, 2018, 12:08 pm
  #3178  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond *, IHG, Couples Romance Rewards
Posts: 2,346
Originally Posted by Wozza2404
Why would you pay £1000 for Silver status?

Genuine question. Are you commuting weekly on 5TP Y fares so you're using the lounge twice a week?
I'm doing the same to renew gold, but my calculations show that it is worth the cost of the extra avios I get plus the availability of V class redemptions and certainly saves on the amount I would otherwise pay for champagne for Mrs. firstlight and myself
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Old Aug 2, 2018, 12:10 pm
  #3179  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond *, IHG, Couples Romance Rewards
Posts: 2,346
Originally Posted by Clareym66



I was looking at LHR-HEL-OSL-HEL-LHR bit was pricing up close to £500 (not including hotels) and only earned 240 TP’s so would have needed a few trips.

Am I totally going wrong somewhere?
That's what I paid and it's what's shown on the TP wiki.
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firstlight is offline  
Old Aug 2, 2018, 1:00 pm
  #3180  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 68
Originally Posted by Wozza2404
Why would you pay £1000 for Silver status?

Genuine question. Are you commuting weekly on 5TP Y fares so you're using the lounge twice a week?
Do you know some magical way I can get it for free?

In all seriousness, I travel 6-7 times per year for work plus leisure travel. As I run my own business I try to keep costs minimal so travel on avios tickets as often as possible.... I’ve had silver for the last year and have really enjoyed the benefits, plus as my tier point year has just renewed i will be getting close to 2 years as silver if I can qualify sometime soon!
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