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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 22, 2018, 6:13 am
  #3451  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: LON
Programs: BA GFL, OW Gold, CX/MP Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 258
Originally Posted by victairinternational
Just managed to book this for £901 on BA Holidays to include one night in PEN although the base fare is slightly lower

22Aug £1.31/TP £839 640 EDI-LON-DOH-PEN return I BA.com victairinternational

Managed to build in Q suites. Flights LHR-DOH are BA/QR operated, DOH-PEN is QR mainly A330 (787 until October)
FOR £20, you avoid the airport change in London, right?
Excellent deal ! Enjoy Penang, lovely place.


Last edited by IAANN; Aug 22, 2018 at 6:20 am
IAANN is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 6:18 am
  #3452  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 246
Originally Posted by IAANN
FOR £20, you avoid the airport change in London, right?
Excellent deal ! Enjoy Penang, lovely place.
It was slightly cheaper to go through Gatwick, but I wanted to try Q Suites, hence the fare difference.
victairinternational is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 6:19 am
  #3453  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 24
I need 320 TP by 8 September to retain Gold, and need to get to YYC around that date.

Does anyone have ideas for routing that would get enough points? Maybe something sensibly priced that gets me to the US west coast and then on to YYC on non oneworld metal.

Best I can do is DUB(-LHR)-JFK-SEA at around £2,200.
agduncan is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 6:22 am
  #3454  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: LON
Programs: BA GFL, OW Gold, CX/MP Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 258
Originally Posted by victairinternational
It was slightly cheaper to go through Gatwick, but I wanted to try Q Suites, hence the fare difference.
We have this one booked. with the QS also.

IAANN is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 6:41 am
  #3455  
Moderator: Qatar Airways
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,940
For those who have booked, by all means enter your dates here - https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qata...-fare-pen.html

M
msm2000uk is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 12:12 pm
  #3456  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA Gold and Virgin Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by victairinternational
Just managed to book this for £901 on BA Holidays to include one night in PEN although the base fare is slightly lower

22Aug £1.31/TP £839 640 EDI-LON-DOH-PEN return I BA.com victairinternational

Managed to build in Q suites. Flights LHR-DOH are BA/QR operated, DOH-PEN is QR mainly A330 (787 until October)

Fare is BA RNWC86S5 EDI to PEN
Can you post a link I cant get it priced up. Thanks








davy1974 is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 12:57 pm
  #3457  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 1,577
Originally Posted by davy1974
Can you post a link I cant get it priced up. Thanks
I'm afraid you missed it; was gone within a few hours.
armouredant is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 2:54 pm
  #3458  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,114
Originally Posted by armouredant
I'm afraid you missed it; was gone within a few hours.
They seem to be keeping these flash sales really short now! Second time the Malaysian route has come up in a few weeks and both times I’ve jumped online within a few minutes of an alert to find it’s gone or has disappeared by the time I put my card details in!
lorcancoyle is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2018, 4:17 pm
  #3459  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: LON
Programs: BA GFL, OW Gold, CX/MP Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 258
Originally Posted by lorcancoyle


They seem to be keeping these flash sales really short now! Second time the Malaysian route has come up in a few weeks and both times I’ve jumped online within a few minutes of an alert to find it’s gone or has disappeared by the time I put my card details in!
What alerts do you use? Maybe it's time to change service ha!
IAANN is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 1:42 am
  #3460  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Ireland
Programs: BA Gold,Amex Centurion,Marriott LT Plat Prem Elite +AMBASS,Hilton Diamond,Priority Club Plat,VS Gold
Posts: 371
Originally Posted by IAANN
What alerts do you use? Maybe it's time to change service ha!
May I ask what alert service you would suggest?
IrishStephen is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 2:00 am
  #3461  
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Programs: BA, LY, QF, UA, HH
Posts: 182
Any advice for turning a TLV - SYD trip in 2018/2019 into a good TP run?

Trying to find a way to get around 1500 TP, such as 10, long-haul J segments (i.e. TLV-LHR-JFK-LAX-PER-SYD). In previous years I've managed to pull off such a trip for around $4-5k USD with a few odd timed stopovers, but ITA Matix keeps getting upset with me and either finding no flights, or $10k+ itineraries when I look in January/February 2019.
expataus is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 2:06 am
  #3462  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver, HH Diamond, Avis President's Club
Posts: 1,219
Originally Posted by IrishStephen
May I ask what alert service you would suggest?
A lot of people use GoogleFlights alerts, which is why deals such as this can go under the radar for longer because less people will have set up alerts for Penang than for Bangkok or Singapore, for example.
Foltan is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 2:11 am
  #3463  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: London
Programs: Newbie BA Gold
Posts: 570
How does one setup alerts in GoogleFlights? Do you have to put in all the routes that you are interested in individually? And do you have to specify dates? Do you guys have loads of alerts?
benjai is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 9:22 am
  #3464  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: PHL
Posts: 71
I'm based out of PHL - I'm about 215pts away from a GUF. I should be traveling to India via CW at some point this fall before my membership year ends (Nov 8), good for 560TP on BA, 400 something on QR.
Just in case, I'm going to look into the time tested RDU/CLT routing to see if I can get these quickly on an upcoming weekend just in case. I only see that package starting out of DCA at the moment, so, need to decide if I want to make a train+flying day out of it or just hold out for flights originating out of PHL. Anyone know of any PHL based TP runs on AA? Happy to make 2 if I have to.

Originally Posted by benjai
How does one setup alerts in GoogleFlights? Do you have to put in all the routes that you are interested in individually? And do you have to specify dates? Do you guys have loads of alerts?
When you figure out where you want to go, on the last page (that shows prices), you'll see a "Track Prices" line with a switch at the end. Enable it and poof. If you're signed in w/ your google account, will automatically mail you.
ubiest likes this.
srcga is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2018, 9:27 am
  #3465  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Ireland
Programs: BA Gold,Amex Centurion,Marriott LT Plat Prem Elite +AMBASS,Hilton Diamond,Priority Club Plat,VS Gold
Posts: 371
Thanks for letting me know, I will have to expand my alerts
IrishStephen is offline  

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