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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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
Jan 4, 2019, 4:58 pm
#46
Join Date: Mar 2009
Programs: BAEC Gold; Le Club Accorhotels Plat; Marriott Gold
Posts: 371
Jan 4, 2019, 6:29 pm
#47
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,806
I have a proposed convoluted route to get me to Kuala Lumpur for a conference in the middle of August this year and I was wondering if the collective wisdom here on FT could give me any suggestions or changes/improvements or things that I may have missed:
A) 13/08 - LHR-KBP BA882. Dep: 08:20, Arr: 13:35. Economy: 10TPs
--- 10 hr layover ---
B) 13/08 - KBP-DOH QR298. Dep 23:40, Arr 05:05(+1). Business: 140TPs
--- 21 hr layover - take advantage of Qatar Plus offer of a hotel to visit friends in Doha ---
C) 15/08 - DOH-CAN QR874. Dep 02:05, Arr: 15:30. Business: 140TPs
--- 23 hr layover - spend the night in Guangzhou on 24 hour free transit visa ---
D) 16/08 - CAN-KUL MH377. Dep 14:35, Arr 18:40. Economy: 5TPs
--- 1 week of conference and 1 week of visiting family in SIN & KCH (fly using Avios?) ---
E) 02/09 - SIN-KUL-CAN MH602 MH376. Dep 06:40, layover 1hr 20min, Arr 13:15. Economy: 5+5=10TPs
--- 12 hr layover (not sure what to do with this!) ---
F) 03/09 - CAN-DOH-KBP QR875 QR295. Dep 01:35, layover 1hr 40min, Arr 12:20. Business: 140+140=280TPs
--- 1hr 45min layover ---
G) 03/09 - KPB-LHR BA883. Dep 14:25 Arr 16:05. Economy 10TPs
This consists of three tickets:
Ticket 1: Flights A & G - £170 (economy plus)
Ticket 2: Flights B, C & F - £1230 (to be booked by company TA -- hope can still do Qatar Plus deal with that, from reading on the Qatar forum, it seems that I can)
Ticket 3: Flights D & E - £228 (found on ITA, forcing not to price in Q bucket (=0TPs))
Total cost: £1628, Total TPs: 595, £/TP: 2.74.
[Although with Ticket 2 booked by my company, in theory, I am getting a £/TP of 0.67 on my own money.]
This is going to be the first proper TP optimised routing that I have ever done, and I am looking to get the most out of it, and hope that I can!
Thanks in advance for any comments!
A) 13/08 - LHR-KBP BA882. Dep: 08:20, Arr: 13:35. Economy: 10TPs
--- 10 hr layover ---
B) 13/08 - KBP-DOH QR298. Dep 23:40, Arr 05:05(+1). Business: 140TPs
--- 21 hr layover - take advantage of Qatar Plus offer of a hotel to visit friends in Doha ---
C) 15/08 - DOH-CAN QR874. Dep 02:05, Arr: 15:30. Business: 140TPs
--- 23 hr layover - spend the night in Guangzhou on 24 hour free transit visa ---
D) 16/08 - CAN-KUL MH377. Dep 14:35, Arr 18:40. Economy: 5TPs
--- 1 week of conference and 1 week of visiting family in SIN & KCH (fly using Avios?) ---
E) 02/09 - SIN-KUL-CAN MH602 MH376. Dep 06:40, layover 1hr 20min, Arr 13:15. Economy: 5+5=10TPs
--- 12 hr layover (not sure what to do with this!) ---
F) 03/09 - CAN-DOH-KBP QR875 QR295. Dep 01:35, layover 1hr 40min, Arr 12:20. Business: 140+140=280TPs
--- 1hr 45min layover ---
G) 03/09 - KPB-LHR BA883. Dep 14:25 Arr 16:05. Economy 10TPs
This consists of three tickets:
Ticket 1: Flights A & G - £170 (economy plus)
Ticket 2: Flights B, C & F - £1230 (to be booked by company TA -- hope can still do Qatar Plus deal with that, from reading on the Qatar forum, it seems that I can)
Ticket 3: Flights D & E - £228 (found on ITA, forcing not to price in Q bucket (=0TPs))
Total cost: £1628, Total TPs: 595, £/TP: 2.74.
[Although with Ticket 2 booked by my company, in theory, I am getting a £/TP of 0.67 on my own money.]
This is going to be the first proper TP optimised routing that I have ever done, and I am looking to get the most out of it, and hope that I can!
Thanks in advance for any comments!
Jan 4, 2019, 9:25 pm
#48
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver (for now)
Posts: 1,000
Has anyone had any success booking an elaborate routing through BA holidays?
Id like to go for the Miami ex-Stockholm discussed a day or two back adding a weeks car hire on.
Obviously when booking for 4 it’s a significant chunk of cash that I can hold onto until a couple of months before departure.
Id like to go for the Miami ex-Stockholm discussed a day or two back adding a weeks car hire on.
Obviously when booking for 4 it’s a significant chunk of cash that I can hold onto until a couple of months before departure.
Jan 4, 2019, 9:50 pm
#49
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA Lifetime Gold 1.8mm, IC Spire Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold et al
Posts: 4,350
As a MAN based flyer myself I have found that maximising TP's Eastbound usually means flying on MAN-DOH-XXX on QR. Not only convenient but a great experience with multiple ex MAN departures. There is a suggestion that a QR sale is about to happen on or around 17 January (far from certain) so it might be worth holding off if you can to see if something comes along.
Jan 4, 2019, 10:00 pm
#50
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold, LH SEN , A3*G & others less exciting that don't fit in my wallet
Posts: 1,657
Apart from the general craziness of the route to KUL - but I guess (hope) you're not in a hurry - the last connection seems dodgy ... I guess you'll have luggage for the length of the journey and while Kiev is a fairly efficient airport a 1h45 ( or even 2h5 per the actual times you've written ) isn't really going to be comfortable to arrive ( immigration can be a bit slow ) do the baggage drop ( 60 min cut off?, I've only ever done Hand Baggage from Kiev ) .. even a short delay from Doha and you're stuck .. consider either booking the Air Ukraine ( they're okay ) to Gatwick in the evening instead or doing an open jaw on the Qatar Airways ticket coming back to somewhere with better connection options on the return.
Jan 5, 2019, 12:45 am
#51
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,806
Apart from the general craziness of the route to KUL - but I guess (hope) you're not in a hurry - the last connection seems dodgy ... I guess you'll have luggage for the length of the journey and while Kiev is a fairly efficient airport a 1h45 ( or even 2h5 per the actual times you've written ) isn't really going to be comfortable to arrive ( immigration can be a bit slow ) do the baggage drop ( 60 min cut off?, I've only ever done Hand Baggage from Kiev ) .. even a short delay from Doha and you're stuck .. consider either booking the Air Ukraine ( they're okay ) to Gatwick in the evening instead or doing an open jaw on the Qatar Airways ticket coming back to somewhere with better connection options on the return.
E) 02/09 - SIN-DOH-ARN QR947 QR169. Dep 21:20, layover 1hr 55min, Arr 07:15. Business: 140+140=280TPs
--- 6hr layover (option for earlier flight at 11:25am too) ---
F) 03/09 - ARN-LHR BA775. Dep 13:20 Arr 13:10. Economy 5TPs
This brings the totals to:
Ticket 1: Flights A & F - £150 (multi-city ticket)
Ticket 2: Flights B, C & E - £1315 (to be booked by company TA -- hope can still do Qatar Plus deal with that, from reading on the Qatar forum, it seems that I can)
Ticket 3: Flight D - £150 (found on ITA, forcing not to price in Q bucket (=0TPs))
Total cost: £1615, Total TPs: 580, £/TP: 2.78.
[Although £1250 of Ticket 2 booked by my company, in theory, I am getting a £/TP of 0.63 on my own money.]
This new routing also gives me the QSuites on SIN-DOH, which was one thing that I had hoped to get from this trip.
This is my last major trip as a PhD Student before I graduate and become an employee and am much more limited in my holiday allowances, so I am happy to spread the trip out and make it as crazy as possible!
Last edited by wilsnunn; Jan 5, 2019 at 1:13 am
Jan 5, 2019, 12:52 am
#52
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 175
B) 13/08 - KBP-DOH QR298. Dep 23:40, Arr 05:05(+1). Business: 140TPs
--- 21 hr layover - take advantage of Qatar Plus offer of a hotel to visit friends in Doha ---
Ticket 2: Flights B, C & F - £1230 (to be booked by company TA -- hope can still do Qatar Plus deal with that, from reading on the Qatar forum, it seems that I can)
!
--- 21 hr layover - take advantage of Qatar Plus offer of a hotel to visit friends in Doha ---
Ticket 2: Flights B, C & F - £1230 (to be booked by company TA -- hope can still do Qatar Plus deal with that, from reading on the Qatar forum, it seems that I can)
!
Jan 5, 2019, 1:00 am
#53
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,806
For the past few years it seems to have been extended, and if it isn't, I have friends with whom I can stop to have a rest with anyway. It is also not a "proper" overnight stop, arriving early morning I could rest in the (arrivals) lounge for a bit and freshen up before heading into Doha and then as the outbound is at 2:05, could get back to HIA not too late and relax in the departure lounge (is this possible?).
Last edited by wilsnunn; Jan 5, 2019 at 1:46 am
Jan 5, 2019, 2:31 am
#54
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,115
As a MAN based flyer myself I have found that maximising TP's Eastbound usually means flying on MAN-DOH-XXX on QR. Not only convenient but a great experience with multiple ex MAN departures. There is a suggestion that a QR sale is about to happen on or around 17 January (far from certain) so it might be worth holding off if you can to see if something comes along.
Jan 5, 2019, 4:17 am
#55
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Marriott Platinum, IHG Spire
Posts: 160
I had the same issue, it kept putting the return leg of LAX-JFK into economy. So I am not overly concerned with being on the transcon on the way back so I routed via Boston. Get to fly back on the 787 too which is a nice compromise.
Jan 5, 2019, 4:23 am
#56
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: BA Exec Club - Gold
Posts: 171
Huge thanks to KARFA for setting up the thread! Looking forward to seeing what TP runs people get up to and become available this year.
That's a lovely little TP run! I think I'm going to try and do something similar - although probably with only 1 AUH - CMB - CGK run. However at the moment the positioning flights are coming up in the several thousands for me!
How did you manage to get the position flight in W so cheap? I'm only looking on GF rather than through ITA - would that potentially have something to do with it? (Assume the 2 runs AUH - CGK are 2 separate nested tickets? Easy to B2B there)?
AUH - CMB - CGK - £510 for 560Tps if you use an OTA via SkyScanner you can get it down to as low as £479
Cheapest and best value positioning I found was INV - LHR - AUH - LHR - GLA in W for £501 price promised down to £460
I ended up doing two of them in total so
INV - LHR - AUH - CMB - CGK - CMB - AUH - CMB - CGK - CMB - AUH - LHR - GLA for £1396 for 1320Tps for £1.06 / TP
Cheapest and best value positioning I found was INV - LHR - AUH - LHR - GLA in W for £501 price promised down to £460
I ended up doing two of them in total so
INV - LHR - AUH - CMB - CGK - CMB - AUH - CMB - CGK - CMB - AUH - LHR - GLA for £1396 for 1320Tps for £1.06 / TP
How did you manage to get the position flight in W so cheap? I'm only looking on GF rather than through ITA - would that potentially have something to do with it? (Assume the 2 runs AUH - CGK are 2 separate nested tickets? Easy to B2B there)?
Jan 5, 2019, 4:33 am
#57
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Marriott Platinum, IHG Spire
Posts: 160
Try picking the Economy option on the selection page and see how it prices. It returns a business cabin. It's yet another quirk of the optimally design BA multi city selector functionality.
EDIT: keep in mind anyway that this right now might be an early glimpse into the fare, it can only be booked on BA, online, with BA coded flights. Might be worth waiting a few days and seeing if this comes up with AA too, or with TAs, where we'd get a lot more flexibility.
EDIT: keep in mind anyway that this right now might be an early glimpse into the fare, it can only be booked on BA, online, with BA coded flights. Might be worth waiting a few days and seeing if this comes up with AA too, or with TAs, where we'd get a lot more flexibility.
Damnit! You are right, it does push it into Business!! Never mind.
Jan 5, 2019, 5:58 am
#58
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Cumbria
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 4,510
Huge thanks to KARFA for setting up the thread! Looking forward to seeing what TP runs people get up to and become available this year.
That's a lovely little TP run! I think I'm going to try and do something similar - although probably with only 1 AUH - CMB - CGK run. However at the moment the positioning flights are coming up in the several thousands for me!
How did you manage to get the position flight in W so cheap? I'm only looking on GF rather than through ITA - would that potentially have something to do with it? (Assume the 2 runs AUH - CGK are 2 separate nested tickets? Easy to B2B there)?
That's a lovely little TP run! I think I'm going to try and do something similar - although probably with only 1 AUH - CMB - CGK run. However at the moment the positioning flights are coming up in the several thousands for me!
How did you manage to get the position flight in W so cheap? I'm only looking on GF rather than through ITA - would that potentially have something to do with it? (Assume the 2 runs AUH - CGK are 2 separate nested tickets? Easy to B2B there)?
Use mulitcity and in advance routing use
f bc=t
for the long haul flights. Selecting economy in class rather than premium economy. This should then find economy flights on the domestic sectors and WTP on the long haul.
Jan 5, 2019, 6:39 am
#59
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Amsterdam and London
Programs: Mucci Platinum Hairbrush des Bonnes Nouvelles. BA LTG, Bonvoy LTP, AA LTS, KL LTPt, Easy Flight Club
Posts: 378
Just adding my own belated thanks to KARFA and the other contributors who make this such a great thread. I wish I was better organised to take advantage of some of the amazing offers I read about here. And Happy New Year to all. Cheers. Fritz
Jan 5, 2019, 10:12 am
#60
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Buckinghamshire
Programs: BAEC Gold Guest List, Hilton Honours Diamond, Accor Gold
Posts: 2,303
Here's what I have just booked which works out to 800 teir points and plus the positioning flights the day before and after get's me to gold again with 3 months to spare for €1239 and over 47000 Avios.
- BA0885 to London Thu 25 Jul 2019 07:55
- BA0177 to New York Thu 25 Jul 2019 13:10
- BA4310 to Los Angeles Fri 26 Jul 2019 06:00
- BA1741 to Phoenix Fri 26 Jul 2019 16:33
- BA5244 to Los Angeles Sun 28 Jul 2019 14:00
- BA2500 to Boston Mon 29 Jul 2019 09:54
- BA0202 to London Mon 29 Jul 2019 21:40
- BA0886 to Bucharest Tue 30 Jul 2019 11:40
- John