Receiving my bronze baec welcome pack has given me the hunger to reach silver
Jul 4, 2018, 8:51 am
#46
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 46
Don’t forget to check IB EDI-MAD. It will only get you 40 tps each way in business (you can usually book on BA website) and the price can be reasonable. I got round trip tickets for just under £200 per person recently!
Jul 4, 2018, 8:53 am
#47
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA, Hilton
Posts: 2,091
Fair enough, would maybe be more practical if you were somewhere between the two but that's why I questioned it - agree nesting would work better in this instance. Sounds like you've got it covered anyway, and I would take newyorklondon's advice just in case there is any "gotchas" that people can flag.... (though you can always cancel up to 24 hours after booking anyway)
Jul 4, 2018, 8:57 am
#48
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 756
You don't even have to nest a separate ticket, could even fly an EDI-GLA as one. I don't know if your location is such that getting home from GLA later at night would be an issue, but you could do e.g. this, for 160TP:
(I admit the short connection time at LCY surprised me, seems they will support as little as 30 minutes). But as newyorklondon says, you have lots of options if you do nest one within the other, and I'd give consideration to JP Flyer's PMI suggestion to for that real TP running feel
(I admit the short connection time at LCY surprised me, seems they will support as little as 30 minutes). But as newyorklondon says, you have lots of options if you do nest one within the other, and I'd give consideration to JP Flyer's PMI suggestion to for that real TP running feel
Jul 4, 2018, 9:06 am
#49
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: BA Exec Club - Gold
Posts: 171
I guess it sort of depends how much you want to spend. For around £745 you can do EDI -> TLL going out on the Thursday and back on the Friday for around £745. Or if you wanted you could nest tickets to do 1 return journey in July and 1 return journey in Feb next year so you get the points either side of your renewal year.
All booked in business, this would net (I believe) 40 + 80 + 20 + 20 + 80 + 40 so 280 TP's for each return trip. So you could get your silver this year in July and then be well on the way to Bronze (and a good chunk of the way to Silver) in Feb or Jan next year.
£2.66 per tier point roughly. (More seasoned TP runners than me and those better with Matrix might have better options!)
All booked in business, this would net (I believe) 40 + 80 + 20 + 20 + 80 + 40 so 280 TP's for each return trip. So you could get your silver this year in July and then be well on the way to Bronze (and a good chunk of the way to Silver) in Feb or Jan next year.
£2.66 per tier point roughly. (More seasoned TP runners than me and those better with Matrix might have better options!)
Jul 4, 2018, 12:21 pm
#50
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: British Airways | Executive Club silver
Posts: 104
well i have to decided to spread my hunt for silver over several weeks/months
starting next week as i have booked a day return to gatwick in business and used a few avios to price down to £193 80tps
will look at looking again in a few days at booking a another trip for weekend starting 20th july
starting next week as i have booked a day return to gatwick in business and used a few avios to price down to £193 80tps
will look at looking again in a few days at booking a another trip for weekend starting 20th july
Jul 4, 2018, 1:42 pm
#51
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 756
well i have to decided to spread my hunt for silver over several weeks/months
starting next week as i have booked a day return to gatwick in business and used a few avios to price down to £193 80tps
will look at looking again in a few days at booking a another trip for weekend starting 20th july
starting next week as i have booked a day return to gatwick in business and used a few avios to price down to £193 80tps
will look at looking again in a few days at booking a another trip for weekend starting 20th july
Jul 4, 2018, 1:43 pm
#52
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 219
If it was me, I'd turn the Silver target into an excuse to go somewhere new / nice for a little trip away.
With being Edinburgh based, how about a trip to MIA in November? Premium Economy return would give you 200 TPs and sort you out.
With being Edinburgh based, how about a trip to MIA in November? Premium Economy return would give you 200 TPs and sort you out.
Jul 4, 2018, 1:58 pm
#53
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: LHR
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 484
There are a lot of assumptions in some of the other posters comments, but on the whole I think they are just providing a sanity check. I am about to do my fourth TP run of the year to hit GGL and even I’ve questioned the logic and don’t tell most of my friends about them, as doing a return air flight with no time spent at the destination does seem a little deranged and I know that not everyone would get it.
I complete one a year and love every minute but I know what you mean - very few understand the logic !
Jul 4, 2018, 2:00 pm
#54
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Gosport, uk
Programs: Baec Bronze
Posts: 40
i just finished my TP Holiday run for silver from a lowly blue start i now want to go for gold but the coffers are a little bit depleted. so will have to wait until next year to go again for silver and perhaps Gold finances permitting but the extras and effort was and still are well worth doing but don't forget that just being at silver the Avios points are so much more providing even better ways to regain status but it is still quite a push to get to gold from blue on a budget.
Jul 4, 2018, 4:29 pm
#55
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: EDI
Programs: BAEC GGL
Posts: 181
Apart from being extremely jealous of four TP runs this year I’m just curious to know which ones you have done / booked ? Just interested to hear about other travels.
I complete one a year and love every minute but I know what you mean - very few understand the logic !
1) Instead of staying in the Hyatt for a night in Seattle, I flew SEA-CLT (Charlotte) then breakfast in the Admirals Club before heading back to Seattle to meet friends for lunch. Unfortunately I totally failed to read the advice on this forum and only got 140TP per leg which meant I paid a whopping £2.90 per tier point!
2) I had to go from EDI to London on a Thursday and then to Manchester for a meeting at 1pm on the Friday then back to EDI. So I bought my usual return to London (first thing Thursday, late Friday) through the company, earning 80TP for £223. I then paid for my own ticket and went to Malaga (AGP) via Madrid on the Thursday evening (60TP) followed by AGP-MAN (80TP). The company then paid for my CE ticket from MAN to LHR (40TP) where I got my flight home. End result 260TP
3) Took a Friday morning off and flew to Palma and back. 160TP
4) In two weeks I have a free evening/morning as part of a work trip so am flying Las Vegas to Miami and back.
What has made this more expensive than planned is that I failed to read the posts on here about American Airlines “First” on an I fare only giving Business Class Tier Points. So instead of earning 210TP per leg, I earned 140TP. I realised my mistake about a week after booking the AA flights and then rather than cancel them I decided to just go with it. I have a couple of US internal TP runs planned for a weekend where I’m in the US next year and I’m doing multiple short flights each earning 40TP and these will be much better value.
So, and here is the real confession, on top of my existing holiday and work travel I have bought about £1700 worth of flights just to get myself to GGL and the CCR card! Why? Well this is probably the only year of my life I was ever going to get over 4100TP and the only chance to qualify to get GGL with a bit of a push. I expect to be around the 2500-3000TP level for the next couple of years so staying in GGL should be fine. Also I love flying and am fortunate enough to easily afford this and also have the disposable income to be able to buy myself home if a Tier point run goes awry.
Finally, I have worthy recipients for the Gold and Two Silver cards. For at least two of these lounge access, luggage and boarding will make a real difference to some friends who travel a lot, but not on the fares where Silver or Gold will ever be achievable.
Jul 5, 2018, 2:27 am
#56
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: BA, Hilton
Posts: 2,091
ITA Matrix is showing EDI-PMI and PMi-EDI in CE on the 20th July for £330 and you’ll possibly get it for slightly less or if you book through BA you will be able to part pay with Avios with no loss of Tier Points (you’ll earn 160). If you are considering this then you should be aware that it is a 55 minute turnaround. It is on the same ‘plane, but as you are bussed to and from the aircraft you could miss it. Getting through PMI is incredibly easy and I did this run a few weeks ago from a delayed EDI-PMI flight and still made it in 20 minutes. I would suggest buying the £40 Ryanair Advanced purchase ticket on the 12:00 flight as an insurance policy if you are not up for just busking your way back. That Ryanair ticket would cost £170 if you left it until after you’d missed the return.
I've yet to do a "pure" TP run myself - when we've needed a few points, we've opted to combine a cheap CE fare with a visit to somewhere we'd like to see. However, this one has caught my eye and I'm trying to fully understand the risks here - perhaps it would be better in the B2B thread? I see that thread categorises PMI as almost foolproof.
I think the risk comes from the fact that you are bussed - so even though it is the same physical aircraft the risk is that the outgoing PMI-EDI passengers are herded onto a waiting bus (even tho the incoming is late) and the gate is closed. So although an incoming passenger would have time to be bussed to the terminal, turn around, and get onto the outgoing bus they will have closed the gate in preparation because they've managed to get everyone on the outgoing bus?
(I'm presuming of course that PMI supports OLCI so boarding passes etc are all to hand)
Or have I completely misunderstood something. Thanks in advance.
Jul 5, 2018, 2:45 pm
#57
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: EDI
Programs: BAEC GGL
Posts: 181
Bertie you’ve got that’s exactly correct. I was confident that they only had one aircraft so it’s departure would be delayed if it was very late inbound, but I stupidly forgot that PMI has more than one bus! Because of the aircraft used it will be a bus at each end, which can delay departure from EDI then delay getting to the terminal at PMI. I did consider asking if there was any possibility of just staying onboard, but decided that this would make me look even more stupid. The crew laughed their asses off when they saw me back on, but seemed intrigued, but slightly bewildered by the Tier Point run. They also asked if Gold Guest List was the same as Gold for Life.
If you are nervous about not being able to get home, you can buy the £40 Ryanair ticket, not expecting to use it.
If you are nervous about not being able to get home, you can buy the £40 Ryanair ticket, not expecting to use it.
Jul 6, 2018, 8:14 am
#60
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,145