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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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Sep 15, 2018, 1:06 pm
  #3886  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
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I think you can squeeze 440 TP by trying a Spanish destination via LHR and MAD:

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Old Sep 15, 2018, 8:07 pm
  #3887  
 
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You can also do this ex Jer for about £100 on the fare. It's possible to arrange the first JER leg the evening before the HEL one which makes it a bit more leisurely.
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Old Sep 15, 2018, 8:27 pm
  #3888  
 
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Originally Posted by rossmacd
I am absolutely not putting words in nufnuf77's mouth, but what I understand he is saying that this thread, unfortunately, has become a bit of a spoon-feeding thread. The fare rules, dates and restrictions have been clearly posted so it really does not take much effort to find the fare/itinerary oneself. The truly excellent educational information (posts 1-9) compiled by KARFA with the support of many, many others give you everything you need (and more!) to successfully book this itinerary (it is a relatively easy one, versus some of the more complicated e.g. LAS-PTY with 16 sectors, CAI-HNL with multiple OJs/stopovers etc). Everything is laid out so clearly and logically already.

Ultimately, it is one of the reasons why I have been posting less in this thread over the last few months (that and certainly a busy summer travel schedule).
and the wiki!
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Old Sep 15, 2018, 8:43 pm
  #3889  
 
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Error, deleted

Last edited by bisonrav; Sep 15, 2018 at 10:15 pm Reason: Spanish domestic is 20 TP
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Old Sep 15, 2018, 8:53 pm
  #3890  
 
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IB domestic J is 20TPs, apart from to/from the Canaries.
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Old Sep 15, 2018, 10:14 pm
  #3891  
 
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Quite so, my mistake.
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Old Sep 15, 2018, 11:50 pm
  #3892  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Originally Posted by WickedStepMother


I was getting the same message when I first tried to recreate the fare (but using the website, not the app). Are you putting the following into the multi-city tool?
LHR->HEL, HEL->LHR, LHR->GIB, GIB->LHR, LHR->HEL, HEL->LHR

That was my mistake. Try the following instead (as specified by bisonrav) - i.e. put LHR HEL->GIB (and vice versa) as one journey on one date, not as two separate flights, and make sure you choose the same timed flights
LHR->HEL, HEL->GIB, GIB->HEL, HEL->LHR

I used the same dates to recreate the price than started playing around with dates and destinations. I got the price down to £602 for a weekend in November with a AMS as the final destination instead of GIB, which suits me better.
I presume there’s no way to force a B2B in HEL given MCT?

(I did try via ITA without success - unless Finnair and an extra £1800 qualifies...)
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 12:07 am
  #3893  
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Originally Posted by opalfruit
IB domestic J is 20TPs, apart from to/from the Canaries.
sadly also the canaries now too. See post 1, they were downgraded earlier this year
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 12:09 am
  #3894  
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Originally Posted by lorcancoyle


I presume there’s no way to force a B2B in HEL given MCT?

(I did try via ITA without success - unless Finnair and an extra £1800 qualifies...)
MCT I think is 30-40 mins on HEL for a BA b2b so less than the turnaround time. It should be bookable and should quote on itamatrix. However ba.co won’t quote it so you would have to call to book.
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 12:12 am
  #3895  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA


MCT I think is 30-40 mins on HEL for a BA b2b so less than the turnaround time. It should be bookable and should quote on itamatrix. However ba.co won’t quote it so you would have to call to book.
thanks. Will play around some more then
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 2:52 am
  #3896  
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Originally Posted by KARFA
sadly also the canaries now too. See post 1, they were downgraded earlier this year
Btw RAK which is nearer to MAD than TCI is 40TPs in J from MAD. Seasonal FNC is also 40.
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 3:41 am
  #3897  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 135
Time for me to give something back to the FT community.
I was able to book the trip below for me and me son a couple of days ago for 1.235 EUR each.
Not the best TP-ratio but also not too diffcult too achieve and - quite important these days - still a reasonble price to the east coast, I think.
INV-LHR-YUL-PHL-BNA-ORD-JFK-LCY





The price in the picture is a couple of euros higher, probably an exchange difference.
Now I will finaly be able to catch the famous babybus flight between JFK and LCY
TP wise it will give us 480 points


Stan
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 4:54 am
  #3898  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
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Originally Posted by linz36
I need some inspiration. For some reason we want to go to Vanuatu next year, around march-april-may. Our dates are flexible. Now Vanuatu has two international airports, VLI and SON, with flights to/from Sydney, Honiara, Auckland, Brisbane, although quite a few of those are operated by Virgin Australia, so it might be the case that the final BNE/SYD-VLI/SON leg will be on a separate ticket.
LHR-BNE business starts at 2.6k non-oneworld, and 3.2k oneworld.
OSL-BNE seems to be the cheapest OW C ex-eu at 2.3k.

I also have a 2-4-1 to use and HKG/TYO/SIN all have availability, but onwards business class tickets are still expensive at 1.4k+, and this might make it 3 separate tickets.

Basically, I need routing / fare suggestions for business from LHR/EX-EU to VLI / SON / BNE / SYD. Thank you!

edited to add: (Funnily enough, the cheapest EX-EU in Economy appears to be LHR-SIN-BNE on Quantas for 680GBP, and there are virtually no OW fares in Y to Vanuatu proper)
You did not get many responses to your query. Vanuatu is a great place to visit, and you do need to split the trip into two tickets.

Ticket #1 : Within the topic of TP Runs, you could get 920 TP (any maybe a bit more via SIN or KUL instead of HKG):



Ticket #2: You really should visit Efate (VLI) and Espiritu Santo (SON) once you are around. In order to get the domestic SON-VLI included in the ticket, Air Vanuatu (NF) will be the obvious choice. Both SON and VLI are, hmm, pretty exotic airports, contibuting to a nicely genuine Vanuatu experience. Maybe along the lines of this one (just forget business class travel in this context):



Note that NF flights from/to Australia are far from daily. In case of cancellations or schedule changes, you should have a reasonable buffer between the return flight from Vanuatu and the onward flight back home. ("Your flight to BNE is cancelled but we have booked you to our next BNE flight three days later..." )
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 6:02 am
  #3899  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 158
Originally Posted by timol
You did not get many responses to your query. Vanuatu is a great place to visit, and you do need to split the trip into two tickets.
Thank you for looking. The hop via Perth for an additional 120TP is a good idea. There doesn't seem to be a list of Australian routes >2000 miles, but I guess most flights from Australia are further than 2000 miles. Now I just need a good fare, maybe 1500€? :P

Originally Posted by timol
Note that NF flights from/to Australia are far from daily. In case of cancellations or schedule changes, you should have a reasonable buffer between the return flight from Vanuatu and the onward flight back home. ("Your flight to BNE is cancelled but we have booked you to our next BNE flight three days later..." )
Very good point, I will make sure there is enough buffer.
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Old Sep 16, 2018, 6:14 am
  #3900  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 453
Originally Posted by bras0978
I think WickedStepMother meant HEL->GIB and vice versa here, as in the example they gave.

I'm interested in this, particularly that it seems GIB is not the only option. AMS was mentioned above, I've also found BRU for £676 and CDG for £625 in November (on ITA Matrix, anyway, I've not tried on BA.com). Does anyone know of any other destinations that work with this?
Have these all gone, I cant get anything to price below about 1600GBP now.
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