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Old Jan 4, 2019, 9:09 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: jfkeze
Welcome to the thread. This is a continuation of the highly popular 2018 Tier Point thread (found here). 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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.

A new guideline thread for TP meetups has been created on 31 March 2020. If you would like other members to join your TP, or if you want to organize a TP run with other members. Please visit there. From the first few posts over there you could see the active ( confirmed ) TP meetings and the links to their relevant discussion threads, connect with other members and learn the details about the run. Click here to access that thread.

Current Promotions of Interest
Sale Fares
Advanced Promotion Fares


See here in post 9 for a 2019 archive of exEU sale fare, and see this post in the 2018 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

15 Oct £0.96/TP £154 160 TPs LHR-SOF (2021 dates)
24 Feb £1.90/TP £152 80TP MAD-FRA Z/Z LA (available Feb-Mar 2019, immediate turnarounds possible)
10 Aug £2.06/TP £329 160TP LHR-MAD-RAK RAK-MAD-LHR I/I/I/I IB (available August, Sat night stay) BA.com, note hotels on offer until 26 March
3 Jul £2.99/TP £2,758.45 920TP DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL-LAX-JFK-LHR-DUB J/I/I/I/I/I/I/J Fare basis INX4C3S4 and INN4C1S4. Booked on AA via ITA Matrix Powertools script
18 Dec £1.90/TP £1370 720TP DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-LAS-LAX-JFK-LHR-DUB All I class Flights 25 December to 31 March 2020, transatlantic Mon to Thur. Offer to 18 Dec. ITA details booked by TA Propeller
27 Apr £2.29/TP £640TP BEG-DOH-KUL-PEN-KUL-DOH-BEG I / I / I / I / I / I Fare IJR2R1RE Bookable on QR.com

From North, Central and South America
10Jan £1.52/TP £668 440tp JFK-BOS/CLT-LAX-LAS-LAX-BOS/CLT-JFK I / I / I / I / I / I HPN-HRL AA (find with ITA; probably have to book via a TA)
12Apr £0.90/TP £215 240tp DCA-ORD-CLT-RDU-CLT-ORD-DCA I/I/I/I/I/I/I AA Found with ITA, booked on the AA site with BookWithMatrix
23Apr £ 0.76/TP £ 182 240TP DCA-PHL-CLT-RDU-CLT-ORD-DCA I / I / I / I / I / I AA Found with ITA Matrix, Book on AA.com via BookWithMatrix or PowerTools
24Apr £ 1.04/TP £ 459 440TP YVR-LAX-CLT-ATL-CLT-LAX-YVR I / I / I / I / I / I AA Found with ITA Matrix, Book on AA.com via BookWithMatrix or PowerTools
23May £ 0.70/TP £ 169 240TP EWR-ORD-CLT-RDU-CLT-DFW-EWR I / I / I / I / I / I AA Found with ITA Matrix, Book on AA.com via BookWithMatrix or PowerTools
24Jun £ 0.52/TP £ 128 240TP LAX-DFW-PHX-SJC-PHX-DFW-LAX I / I / I / I / I / I AA Found with ITA Matrix, Book on AA.com via BookWithMatrix or PowerTools

From Middle East, Asia and Australasia

04/01 £0.95/TP £479 560tp AUH-CMB-CGK-CMB-AUH I / I / I / I cgtechuk UL
1FEB £1.49/TP £1,673 1,120tp PER-SYD-SIN-TYO-BKK Return (All book in I Class) timcjp BA (Ticket sold by BA, flights are on QF, BA & JL and lie flat seats available for all sectors)
23/04 £2.07/TP £2,112 1020TP CAI-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL-DFW-ORD-LHR-CAI I/R here (All flights must be BA numbered)

From Africa
04/01 £1.80/TP £721 400tp CPT-JNB-GRU-JNB-DUR-CPT I / Z / Z / I / I ubiest LA

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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 (here), 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 BA flight out on a Saturday, airport hotel and return on 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
2018 Archive
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 | 2019-20 edition

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Old Jan 28, 2019, 2:07 pm
  #586  
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold / OW Emerald
Posts: 753
Belgrade to Guangzhou or Shanghai on Qatar
- BEG-DOH-CAN/SHA £1,187 560 TP £2.11/TP
- BEG-DOH not on a lie-flat, but rather on the QR A320
- 3 days + Saturday stay required
- 3 days advance purchase
- Seems available for pretty much any dates
ifearn0thing likes this.
thebigben is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2019, 2:37 pm
  #587  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 247
Originally Posted by maxpedals
Looking to go away on 18th > 22nd April departing from BRU, a TP run would be useful!

BRU doesn't seem to get great ex-EU rates unfortunately!
I just managed to book a decent fare to icn on those very dates. Enough for a nice long weekend
Solblanc is offline  
Old Jan 28, 2019, 3:29 pm
  #588  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 136
Originally Posted by bl4nk_u5ername
I've read US TP runs can sometime be as little as £0.40/TP so ideally I am looking at around that mark.
How old was that thread/post? Even trawling back to the 2014 archive the absolute cheapest is around £0.60/TP and that was when US domestic F earnt 210TP.

These days the only 210TP is a 3-class F between JFK-LAX/SFO with other 2000mi+ 2-class routes earning 140TP.
This makes it a lot harder and even at £1/TP, those deals are rare.

Assuming you've budgeted around £600 (1500 x 0.40), it would be a push to retain/gain Silver.

This is a good reference on what some people have spent to earn/keep Gold
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1953013-ba-gold-4379usd.html

​​​​Good Luck!
craigthemif likes this.
BA707 is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 2:08 am
  #589  
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold / OW Emerald
Posts: 753
BA707 is correct here - with hotels and positioning I believe one should budget £2/TP to achieve Gold.

Personally I do it a bit differently and budget £1/TP for the first 1500TP each year and 1p per Avios, and then subtract that from the cost and then see if the £ to fun ratio makes sense for a given TP run, or any other flight really. So I have one "status" budget item, and one "vacation" budget item and the tickets come from both buckets
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 2:14 am
  #590  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 8
Thanks BA707 and Big Ben.

Im happy to go up to £1/TP. I’m hoping someone a lot more knowledgeable than me knows of the best route
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 2:19 am
  #591  
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold / OW Emerald
Posts: 753
Originally Posted by bl4nk_u5ername
Thanks BA707 and Big Ben.

Im happy to go up to £1/TP. I’m hoping someone a lot more knowledgeable than me knows of the best route
GOT-MIA would've been it if you value Avios at 1p each, it's gone now though. Right now I don't think there is anything but keep your eyes peeled.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 3:26 am
  #592  
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Join Date: Aug 2011
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Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,045
Originally Posted by bl4nk_u5ername
Thanks BA707 and Big Ben.

Im happy to go up to £1/TP. I’m hoping someone a lot more knowledgeable than me knows of the best route
1500 TP quite frankly is not a holiday, especially when sleeping on planes or in airports to stay within £1/TP. And 45 organic TPs is not taking advantage of the status you do have. I'm in a position to say this because I was one of those who did multiple PTY runs in the £0.5-0.6p range and it was not only painful, but Gold simply hasn't proven to be worth it for me any more.

Find a cheapish Qatar Airways J fair to Asia from Scandinavia. 4 QR flights should get you 560 TPs. Position to Scandinavia creatively on BA to get your 4 BA flights and the missing 40 TPs. Enjoy a proper holiday and 2 years of Silver status...
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 3:39 am
  #593  
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold / OW Emerald
Posts: 753
Originally Posted by craigthemif
1500 TP quite frankly is not a holiday, especially when sleeping on planes or in airports to stay within £1/TP. And 45 organic TPs is not taking advantage of the status you do have. I'm in a position to say this because I was one of those who did multiple PTY runs in the £0.5-0.6p range and it was not only painful, but Gold simply hasn't proven to be worth it for me any more.

Find a cheapish Qatar Airways J fair to Asia from Scandinavia. 4 QR flights should get you 560 TPs. Position to Scandinavia creatively on BA to get your 4 BA flights and the missing 40 TPs. Enjoy a proper holiday and 2 years of Silver status...
Alternatively, if one wants to get Gold and benefit from it the easiest way is to upgrade / optimise trips one would do anyway. A TP run comes at £2/TP normally but upgrading and optimising a trip you'd be taking anyway would be a differential of £1/TP. If one doesn't travel enough to be able to do that - the need for status naturally comes in question.
thebigben is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 3:43 am
  #594  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: LHR
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 484
Not sure if these are still bookable but what about 2 x OTP-PHX basic runs (OTP-LHR-JFK-PHX-JFK-LHR-OTP) for 1440TP total can be had and your're virtually there. £1250 (ish) per go !!
THEOBCMAN is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 4:27 am
  #595  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 97
I'm looking for a TP run to New York or Philadelphia from anywhere in Europe for April or May. Only needs to be a few days long.

The best I can find is from Madrid for £1300 but its a direct flight and I was trying to maximise TP points with as many stops as I can.

Do you guys have any suggestions?
Thanks
Sparth3103 is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 4:57 am
  #596  
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold / OW Emerald
Posts: 753
Originally Posted by Sparth3103
I'm looking for a TP run to New York or Philadelphia from anywhere in Europe for April or May. Only needs to be a few days long.

The best I can find is from Madrid for £1300 but its a direct flight and I was trying to maximise TP points with as many stops as I can.

Do you guys have any suggestions?
Thanks
I've played with the ex-Spain fares (you can also do the same with Barcelona or Valencia) and you should be able to route them as follows:

AMS-HEL-LHR-BOS-CLT-JFK // JFK-CLT-BOS-LHR-HEL-MAD

Or something like that. You may have to play with the US segments to find something that you can fly in one day. (AMS-HEL-LHR being the day before, and LHR-HEL-MAD the day after). It seems it may be cheaper to start from Amsterdam and return to Spain, at least in some cases. I'm not sure why. Please do try both. BA 1/2 and HEL-JFK don't work with this fare or so it seems. I've posted an example of a fully optimised fare a couple pages back but to Montreal rather than JFK - but the result would be very similar for JFK. Either way, I am confident you should be able to extract 600 to 680 TP out of this.
thebigben is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 6:46 am
  #597  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 97
Thanks a lot for the advice and help! Im having a look around and will let you guys know if I find anything worthwhile
Sparth3103 is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 10:03 am
  #598  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: BAEC Silver, Avis Preferred, Hilton Gold
Posts: 521
Originally Posted by BA707
How old was that thread/post? Even trawling back to the 2014 archive the absolute cheapest is around £0.60/TP and that was when US domestic F earnt 210TP.

These days the only 210TP is a 3-class F between JFK-LAX/SFO with other 2000mi+ 2-class routes earning 140TP.
This makes it a lot harder and even at £1/TP, those deals are rare.

Assuming you've budgeted around £600 (1500 x 0.40), it would be a push to retain/gain Silver.

This is a good reference on what some people have spent to earn/keep Gold
BA Gold for 4379USD

​​​​Good Luck!
I think the absolute cheapest TP runs at the moment are AUH-CMB-CGK on MH. 560TP for ~£485 so about £0.87/TP.

You would still have to position to AUH and get your 4 flights + another 40TP for silver.

Alternatively, do it 3x for 1680TP, for £1455 for gold. Would still need positioning though.
mickeyjaw is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 10:12 am
  #599  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Originally Posted by mickeyjaw
I think the absolute cheapest TP runs at the moment are AUH-CMB-CGK on MH. 560TP for ~£485 so about £0.87/TP.

You would still have to position to AUH and get your 4 flights + another 40TP for silver.

Alternatively, do it 3x for 1680TP, for £1455 for gold. Would still need positioning though.
Aren't they on UL?
flashware is offline  
Old Jan 29, 2019, 10:30 am
  #600  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC | qantas | IHG | Hilton Honors | Priority Pass | Nandos
Posts: 868
Originally Posted by flashware
Aren't they on UL?
Yes.
peter h is offline  


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