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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 20, 2019, 1:07 am
#451
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 28
Ok good to hear and thank you.
No, not a B2B. Overnight Friday stay. I’m slumping it in a nearby hotel until tomorrow. I was at the gate 20 minutes before departure having cleared security with my digital boarding pass. Only to be told I still need to go to the check in counter first 45 minutes minimum before departure to validate my booking.
is this right, if anyone’s been in the same boat? Apparently it is for UL as CMB effectively denied me because I didn’t do this. I didn’t have to do this AUH-CMB outbound.
No, not a B2B. Overnight Friday stay. I’m slumping it in a nearby hotel until tomorrow. I was at the gate 20 minutes before departure having cleared security with my digital boarding pass. Only to be told I still need to go to the check in counter first 45 minutes minimum before departure to validate my booking.
is this right, if anyone’s been in the same boat? Apparently it is for UL as CMB effectively denied me because I didn’t do this. I didn’t have to do this AUH-CMB outbound.
https://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/copo...e-checkin-info
Jan 20, 2019, 4:40 am
#453
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: BA Exec Club - Gold
Posts: 171
Hi all,
Wondering if anybody is able to offer any words of advice with a current trip I'm looking at. Looking at heading to New York around the middle of Feb and wondering if it's possible to do a "mini TP run" at the same time. Obviously it's quite a short time over there as it is (3/4 days) so wouldn't want to go too crazy...
At the moment the cheapest "direct" I've found is out of Dublin - around £1800 - however that's not very TP run like! I've had a play and managed to do DUB>LHR>ORD>CLT>JFK and then via BOS on the way back instead of CLT. All in domestic first/business which I make around 520 TP's in total but at a price off £2,188 so a price of £4.20 per TP which isn't great!
I've tried optimising the EUR section - throwing in a HEL shuttle etc., but I can't seem to make it work without it being really expensive!
Is there a trick I'm missing or are there any "secret gems" I should try?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone is able to give!
Wondering if anybody is able to offer any words of advice with a current trip I'm looking at. Looking at heading to New York around the middle of Feb and wondering if it's possible to do a "mini TP run" at the same time. Obviously it's quite a short time over there as it is (3/4 days) so wouldn't want to go too crazy...
At the moment the cheapest "direct" I've found is out of Dublin - around £1800 - however that's not very TP run like! I've had a play and managed to do DUB>LHR>ORD>CLT>JFK and then via BOS on the way back instead of CLT. All in domestic first/business which I make around 520 TP's in total but at a price off £2,188 so a price of £4.20 per TP which isn't great!
I've tried optimising the EUR section - throwing in a HEL shuttle etc., but I can't seem to make it work without it being really expensive!
Is there a trick I'm missing or are there any "secret gems" I should try?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone is able to give!
Jan 20, 2019, 5:00 am
#454
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Germany
Programs: BA GGL, CCR - TK G
Posts: 809
If you look at the top line of matrix.. do you see the cheap fare as an AA fare? or a mixed fare?.. On my hawaii trip the mixed fare was cheap and the AA fare next to it was 300$ more. I could use power tools, but then got the AA fare.
For me priceline and that other OTA worked and I could book the mixed fare thru that.. did you check ?
Jan 20, 2019, 5:31 am
#455
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
Ok good to hear and thank you.
No, not a B2B. Overnight Friday stay. I’m slumping it in a nearby hotel until tomorrow. I was at the gate 20 minutes before departure having cleared security with my digital boarding pass. Only to be told I still need to go to the check in counter first 45 minutes minimum before departure to validate my booking.
is this right, if anyone’s been in the same boat? Apparently it is for UL as CMB effectively denied me because I didn’t do this. I didn’t have to do this AUH-CMB outbound.
No, not a B2B. Overnight Friday stay. I’m slumping it in a nearby hotel until tomorrow. I was at the gate 20 minutes before departure having cleared security with my digital boarding pass. Only to be told I still need to go to the check in counter first 45 minutes minimum before departure to validate my booking.
is this right, if anyone’s been in the same boat? Apparently it is for UL as CMB effectively denied me because I didn’t do this. I didn’t have to do this AUH-CMB outbound.
Jan 20, 2019, 6:22 am
#456
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London, Sth Africa or LAS
Programs: VS Silver, BA Blue - finally; but hotels.com Gold :)
Posts: 1,858
OTP-PHX rtn. AA ILX8C8C6. Ongoing queries
Great, many thanks.
I managed to load the software, which was excellent and no doubt will be very useful in the future!
However, the prices from the travel sites I checked were the same as AA, which was about £300 more than the quote on ITA matrix. Very frustrating for my friend.
I managed to load the software, which was excellent and no doubt will be very useful in the future!
However, the prices from the travel sites I checked were the same as AA, which was about £300 more than the quote on ITA matrix. Very frustrating for my friend.
I too am struggling to get aa.com to find the £1,287rtn fare (via LHR, HEL, LHR, east coast). It'll find the exact same flights under aa.com multi-city, but price comes in at USD2100 or so. American's uk site doesn't seem to find them at all.
Anyway, a little further digging indicates the difference under aa.com is purely in the fare (tf&cs seem to tie up). Is there any way to tell the fare basis aa.com is using?
Unfortunately, ba.com multi-city will find the schedule (but not the same flights!) but then won't return a quote anyways ... I managed to pick the routing from schedule and I even played along with 120 min+ connections
.I really don't want to go via TAs with the inevitability of schedule changes .. so just looking for any further hints as to what has worked for others in booking this ILX8C8C6 fare.
Jan 20, 2019, 6:35 am
#457
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Home: East Mids UK - Work (Base): Accra, Ghana.
Programs: BAEC: Silver - Marriott: Titanium
Posts: 12,086
Plumbed for a pretty easy LHR-DUB-LHR-JFK-LHR-DUB-LHR which, with a planned work trip, will pip me almost to Silver... Good fare of £1256 including positioning flights on a separate booking... At the end of March, which also helped with hotel costs as they are cheaper too 
Jan 20, 2019, 11:05 am
#458
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Executive Club
Posts: 124
If you look at the top line of matrix.. do you see the cheap fare as an AA fare? or a mixed fare?.. On my hawaii trip the mixed fare was cheap and the AA fare next to it was 300$ more. I could use power tools, but then got the AA fare.
For me priceline and that other OTA worked and I could book the mixed fare thru that.. did you check ?
For me priceline and that other OTA worked and I could book the mixed fare thru that.. did you check ?
Jan 20, 2019, 11:07 am
#459
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 833
Hi all, just booking my positioning flights to INV for my INV/LAS run.
I will have checked baggage - as I am making a holiday out of it. But I would like to check my bags for the LHR/JFK leg when I get to LHR the previous evening for the LHR/INV positioning flight. That way, my LHR/INV fare can be HBO, not to mention less hassle carrying around the luggage.
Can you still do this - I saw some posts about BA check-in agents struggling to do this the evening before due to a change in ticketing system.
My return positioning flight will be economy plus, as I will need a baggage allowance.
Thanks
I will have checked baggage - as I am making a holiday out of it. But I would like to check my bags for the LHR/JFK leg when I get to LHR the previous evening for the LHR/INV positioning flight. That way, my LHR/INV fare can be HBO, not to mention less hassle carrying around the luggage.
Can you still do this - I saw some posts about BA check-in agents struggling to do this the evening before due to a change in ticketing system.
My return positioning flight will be economy plus, as I will need a baggage allowance.
Thanks
Jan 20, 2019, 11:12 am
#460
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 12,251
If you can’t do this and time permits - go down to arrivals level and pay to store bags whilst you back to back.
When you arrive back at T5 grab them and lift up to departures
When you arrive back at T5 grab them and lift up to departures
Jan 20, 2019, 1:50 pm
#461
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: London
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Avis President's Club, BA GGL CCR, Amex Plat
Posts: 77
hi
I had this same issue even when using propeller travel they couldnt price it at the ita price. However someone pointed in a previous post that if you using Iberia flight numbers for the lhr to jfk part then it works however not by the website but by using a TA like propeller travel. I just posted my otp-lhr-jfk-lax-phx ita matrix screen with IB flight numbers into the site and they got me the tickets for about £1240 icluding fees.
Took time to find the flight numbers, i used IB7372 from lhr to jfk and IB7375 for the return. My dates were the end of August.
Hope that helps.
I had this same issue even when using propeller travel they couldnt price it at the ita price. However someone pointed in a previous post that if you using Iberia flight numbers for the lhr to jfk part then it works however not by the website but by using a TA like propeller travel. I just posted my otp-lhr-jfk-lax-phx ita matrix screen with IB flight numbers into the site and they got me the tickets for about £1240 icluding fees.
Took time to find the flight numbers, i used IB7372 from lhr to jfk and IB7375 for the return. My dates were the end of August.
Hope that helps.
Jan 21, 2019, 12:24 am
#463
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Executive Club
Posts: 124
hi
I had this same issue even when using propeller travel they couldnt price it at the ita price. However someone pointed in a previous post that if you using Iberia flight numbers for the lhr to jfk part then it works however not by the website but by using a TA like propeller travel. I just posted my otp-lhr-jfk-lax-phx ita matrix screen with IB flight numbers into the site and they got me the tickets for about £1240 icluding fees.
Took time to find the flight numbers, i used IB7372 from lhr to jfk and IB7375 for the return. My dates were the end of August.
Hope that helps.
I had this same issue even when using propeller travel they couldnt price it at the ita price. However someone pointed in a previous post that if you using Iberia flight numbers for the lhr to jfk part then it works however not by the website but by using a TA like propeller travel. I just posted my otp-lhr-jfk-lax-phx ita matrix screen with IB flight numbers into the site and they got me the tickets for about £1240 icluding fees.
Took time to find the flight numbers, i used IB7372 from lhr to jfk and IB7375 for the return. My dates were the end of August.
Hope that helps.
Jan 21, 2019, 2:45 am
#464
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, BA Silver, Hertz President's Club
Posts: 483
I booked one of the Vietnam-NA error fares with CX earlier this year; would it be worth adding to the wiki and the £/TP calculation 'for the record' or not, as no one can really book it anymore?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Jan 21, 2019, 2:53 am
#465
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 41
UL website clearly states you need to check in at the airport
https://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/copo...e-checkin-info
https://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/copo...e-checkin-info
On a more brighter note, UL's service is pretty good so that softened the blow somewhat.