Jan 4, 2019, 9:09 am
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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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
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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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
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
BA Tier Point Runs | 2019-20 edition
Mar 5, 2019, 2:20 am
#932
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,293
Mar 5, 2019, 6:53 am
#934
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: LHR/BHD
Programs: BAEC (Blue, usually)
Posts: 40
I'm aware that JFK as a final destination doesn't seem to make for a great TP run in itself (cue being proved wrong... !) but given I need to head there anyway, does this look about as good as I'll get ex-MXP with today's sale? Not beautiful for 520TP at £2.37/TP before positioning.
Mar 5, 2019, 7:55 am
#935
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,293
I'm aware that JFK as a final destination doesn't seem to make for a great TP run in itself (cue being proved wrong... !) but given I need to head there anyway, does this look about as good as I'll get ex-MXP with today's sale? Not beautiful for 520TP at £2.37/TP before positioning.
Mar 5, 2019, 7:58 am
#936
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: LHR/BHD
Programs: BAEC (Blue, usually)
Posts: 40
That's a fair point — ideally I'd like to take one of the earlier flights so I would probably have a <24hr stopover worked in before LHR-JFK (I live in London, so not too much of an inconvenience) anyway. More just posted for the former point.
Mar 5, 2019, 12:27 pm
#937
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: BA Gold, IHG
Posts: 88
Based in US now and need 2 more of my 4 flights to re-qualify for BA status. I'm having a hard time finding any North/South American BA-codeshare flights much less BA-operated ones. The latter makes total sense, but on previous TP runs to OGG when I was LON-based, I could have had BA-codeshare flights left/right/center across the US. Has BA changed codeshare setup or is there some restriction that those codeshares only show up if you've connecting from BA longhaul across the pond?
Either way, any advice on most economical way to get 2 qualified "BA flights" when starting from Texas, US?
Either way, any advice on most economical way to get 2 qualified "BA flights" when starting from Texas, US?
Mar 5, 2019, 12:41 pm
#938
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Falkirk, Scotland,VS Red, BA Gold, HH Diamond,UK Amex Plat
Programs: Master of the Privy Purse des Muccis
Posts: 17,916
Based in US now and need 2 more of my 4 flights to re-qualify for BA status. I'm having a hard time finding any North/South American BA-codeshare flights much less BA-operated ones. The latter makes total sense, but on previous TP runs to OGG when I was LON-based, I could have had BA-codeshare flights left/right/center across the US. Has BA changed codeshare setup or is there some restriction that those codeshares only show up if you've connecting from BA longhaul across the pond?
Either way, any advice on most economical way to get 2 qualified "BA flights" when starting from Texas, US?
Either way, any advice on most economical way to get 2 qualified "BA flights" when starting from Texas, US?
The BA codeshare flights can only be bought in conjunction with a transatlantic flight ( There might have been a couple of standalone codeshare flights in SE asia but not sure if they still exist)
There are some flights in the carribbean that go to a second island before coming back and going back to london but not sure of the practicalities.
Regards
TBS
Mar 5, 2019, 1:56 pm
#939
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,190
T_B_S is correct and the logic is understandable from BA's point of view. If you won't do at least 2 round trips to/via the UK a year, then it is probably time to consider a different FF program.
rb211.
rb211.
Mar 5, 2019, 3:56 pm
#940
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: BA Gold, IHG
Posts: 88
Somewhat presumptious IMO. Being US-based for a year or 2 due to work does not mean I should switch FF programs from what I've flown for a decade or so.
Mar 5, 2019, 4:41 pm
#941
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,190
rb211.
Mar 5, 2019, 5:20 pm
#942
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 175
Hi,
The BA codeshare flights can only be bought in conjunction with a transatlantic flight ( There might have been a couple of standalone codeshare flights in SE asia but not sure if they still exist)
There are some flights in the carribbean that go to a second island before coming back and going back to london but not sure of the practicalities.
Regards
TBS
The BA codeshare flights can only be bought in conjunction with a transatlantic flight ( There might have been a couple of standalone codeshare flights in SE asia but not sure if they still exist)
There are some flights in the carribbean that go to a second island before coming back and going back to london but not sure of the practicalities.
Regards
TBS
Mar 5, 2019, 8:28 pm
#943
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Westchester Co, NY or Rio Grande Valley, TX or ???
Programs: BAEC G, WN A-, Hyatt G, HH G, MAR T, Hz PC, was [UA2P, FL A+Elite, BD G]
Posts: 2,275
Based in US now and need 2 more of my 4 flights to re-qualify for BA status. I'm having a hard time finding any North/South American BA-codeshare flights much less BA-operated ones. The latter makes total sense, but on previous TP runs to OGG when I was LON-based, I could have had BA-codeshare flights left/right/center across the US. Has BA changed codeshare setup or is there some restriction that those codeshares only show up if you've connecting from BA longhaul across the pond?
Either way, any advice on most economical way to get 2 qualified "BA flights" when starting from Texas, US?
Either way, any advice on most economical way to get 2 qualified "BA flights" when starting from Texas, US?
In theory you could try to fly fifth freedom BA flights between Caribbean islands (e.g. UVF-POS), but a) these are only flown ~3x/week and b) the costs of positioning (unless you can redeem Avios) are generally so high that you would spend less money flying a return flight on BA from the US. Trying to get all 4 qualifying flights this way would be very difficult, as schedules do not allow for time-efficient "qualifying flight runs", but if you were considering tacking this onto a vacation in the Caribbean you might be able to get 2 qualifying flights in with minimal effort - if you want to do this, be sure that you can do back-to-back flights on the same plane or plan to spend a few days between qualifying flights.
My method to keep gold is to plan to spend some time in Europe at least every other year (near the beginning of my BAEC year) and get my 4 qualifying flights in along with as much TP running as I can fit in during the 7 week period after my gold expires. Sometimes I am able to get all the way back to gold in those 7 weeks; this year I can't get to Europe until 9 weeks after my gold expires, so I will have 2 weeks at silver (soft landing) but I will have earned 1480 TP by then and will only need my 4 qualifying flights to get back to gold.
I hope this helps!
Mar 6, 2019, 5:01 pm
#944
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: London (mostly), Albania, Georgia
Programs: Executive Club Silver, SG *G, TK *G
Posts: 40
Oneworld mileage run (280 TP) out of London May 1 - June 7
Dear All,
I have to admit I was lucky enough in my 5+ year BA Silver and LH Silver/Gold history never to indulge in tier point runs, but time
has come to try this to rescue at least my meagre BA Silver. I will need 280 TPs by June 8, I don't have any route or destination preferences
but having read the stories here I searched a couple of sites for Business fares (I would need to hit a 140 x 2 route or something similar) to
absolutely no avail, finding NYC fares for 5k and Beijing fares for 3k - how can I find those mythical 1 pound per TP tickets
(to be flown before June 7)?
Suggestions welcome, and thanks in advance for your patience (bracing for a barrage of 'you lazy git' answers)
Mel
I have to admit I was lucky enough in my 5+ year BA Silver and LH Silver/Gold history never to indulge in tier point runs, but time
has come to try this to rescue at least my meagre BA Silver. I will need 280 TPs by June 8, I don't have any route or destination preferences
but having read the stories here I searched a couple of sites for Business fares (I would need to hit a 140 x 2 route or something similar) to
absolutely no avail, finding NYC fares for 5k and Beijing fares for 3k - how can I find those mythical 1 pound per TP tickets
(to be flown before June 7)?
Suggestions welcome, and thanks in advance for your patience (bracing for a barrage of 'you lazy git' answers)
Mel
Mar 6, 2019, 5:20 pm
#945
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,120
Mel, if you want to make a holiday out of it then AMS - BKK is wide open in May for £1254. Also seeing ARN - BKK with QR for £1417 netting 560 TPs