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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 Please add important information to it or correct outdated information by clicking the "Edit" button below.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 22, 2019, 11:42 am
#481
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: BA exec, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 556
Just wasted 45mins on the phone to IB , utterly useless agent , we don’t / can’t ticket this ( spoke my supervisor etc...) offered £4K fare.
anyone had good/ bad/ positive experience with IB on the phone booking?
anyone had good/ bad/ positive experience with IB on the phone booking?
Jan 22, 2019, 12:42 pm
#482
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Germany
Programs: BA GGL, CCR - TK G
Posts: 809
Punch it into priceline. Com Or get the matrix script that does it for u.. That's how I got mine
Jan 22, 2019, 12:49 pm
#483
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: London
Programs: BAEC bouncing from Blue to Gold to Blue VSFC Red CXGreen Club Accor Platinum Hilton Silver.
Posts: 914
John
Jan 22, 2019, 1:23 pm
#484
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,955
This is something I was wondering with these IB fares. What’s the general advice for those looking to book? Use a TA like propeller? call ba?
Jan 22, 2019, 1:46 pm
#485
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Germany
Programs: BA GGL, CCR - TK G
Posts: 809
If not send an email with the itinerary to propeller.
They will do it for u with a little surcharge
Jan 22, 2019, 1:49 pm
#486
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,955
The cheapest but a bit tricky is to install that script so you matrix transfers the itinerary into priceline . Ota.. That gets me the same price as matrix. IF the price then is really available ..
If not send an email with the itinerary to propeller.
They will do it for u with a little surcharge
If not send an email with the itinerary to propeller.
They will do it for u with a little surcharge
Jan 22, 2019, 2:36 pm
#487
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver (for now)
Posts: 1,000
I’m looking at Barbados and BA have some Club fares for £1,700 which looks good.
Any suggestions for a routing that can achieve more than the standard 280 TPs? My preference would be elaborate outbound and direct inbound, ideally getting close to 500 TPs. Is this possible?
Any suggestions for a routing that can achieve more than the standard 280 TPs? My preference would be elaborate outbound and direct inbound, ideally getting close to 500 TPs. Is this possible?
Jan 22, 2019, 3:52 pm
#488
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 484
AMS-SMF £2/tp
I am planning a late summer trip to Sacramento and the best fares I've found are from AMS (if anyone knows of anything cheaper I am interested). I am actually planning to travel AMS-LHR-LAX-SMF for about £1450 (1630 euro) and apologise for mentioning such a direct route in this thread. In my defence I have a GUF burning a hole in my pocket that I plan to use.
However, just for amusement I looked at whether I could be earning more TPs and I got to 720TPs no problem. Haven't really looked at the timings in the example but there seemed to be multiple combinations of flights.
I am a bit hazy on the whole fare rules thing but I think I have worked out it is ILN8C1S4, that it needs to be booked by 31/01 and the outbound journey has to be before 31/08.
However, just for amusement I looked at whether I could be earning more TPs and I got to 720TPs no problem. Haven't really looked at the timings in the example but there seemed to be multiple combinations of flights.
I am a bit hazy on the whole fare rules thing but I think I have worked out it is ILN8C1S4, that it needs to be booked by 31/01 and the outbound journey has to be before 31/08.
Jan 22, 2019, 4:33 pm
#489
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,955
I am planning a late summer trip to Sacramento and the best fares I've found are from AMS (if anyone knows of anything cheaper I am interested). I am actually planning to travel AMS-LHR-LAX-SMF for about £1450 (1630 euro) and apologise for mentioning such a direct route in this thread. In my defence I have a GUF burning a hole in my pocket that I plan to use.
However, just for amusement I looked at whether I could be earning more TPs and I got to 720TPs no problem. Haven't really looked at the timings in the example but there seemed to be multiple combinations of flights.
I am a bit hazy on the whole fare rules thing but I think I have worked out it is ILN8C1S4, that it needs to be booked by 31/01 and the outbound journey has to be before 31/08.
However, just for amusement I looked at whether I could be earning more TPs and I got to 720TPs no problem. Haven't really looked at the timings in the example but there seemed to be multiple combinations of flights.
I am a bit hazy on the whole fare rules thing but I think I have worked out it is ILN8C1S4, that it needs to be booked by 31/01 and the outbound journey has to be before 31/08.
In terms of your direct routing you are actually booking I assume you are booking the BA flights under the BA flight number and not under an AA codeshare? If you want to use the GUF they have to be booked under the BA flight number.
Jan 22, 2019, 5:38 pm
#490
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 172
1. Book with matrix to aa.com or for BA fares call them direct
2. Powertools to OTA eg Priceline
3. Propeller Travel
As I noted earlier AA are good in that if you have an AA reference you can call them direct to deal with schedule changes. As such I can live with OTA bookings. BA are terrible, recently I had the first 2 flights just drop off my itinerary, GGL line referred me straight back to the TA (Propeller) who were able to resolve. They have the benefit of being small scale, I would think the process would be much more painful with a major OTA.
As for Iberia just plugging in a simple return from origin to destination was throwing out a hugely increased cost vs ITA, so I am not surprised people have had no joy calling them.
I am intrigued as to whether anyone has successfully booked an IB fare through BA, that would be something I would definitely consider.
One final note of caution, I have spent many hours finessing an itinerary (AA not IB) in Matrix before only to find none of the above lead to a booking. Seems to be a function of married segment availability. I always think it’s worth testing the water first by dummy booking simple output from matrix before spending too much time getting best planes, desired stopovers, right codeshare flight numbers etc.
Jan 22, 2019, 5:42 pm
#491
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 172
Provided they have you Exec Club number and importantly no AA advantage number I have found they post without fail in a couple of days (although worth keeping boarding passes just in case). I have also successfully claimed ORC for AA same day schedule changes, important to keep a full record of original itinerary, new boarding passes etc to support this as there is no automated process as far as I know.
Jan 22, 2019, 9:20 pm
#492
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: American EXP; British Airways Gold
Posts: 1,896
Deleted.
Jan 23, 2019, 1:46 am
#493
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 484
AMS-SMF £2/TP (or more in my case)
@KARFA Yes, I can get this with all BA flight numbers for my itin even on ba.com but I'll probably phone to book to use GUF (and a Joker) I expect. Just trying to decide if I can justify the additional costs of staying a whole 3 weeks.
The conversion is coming out at £1440.62.
Incidentally, Google flights will show you a click through button which says this costs 2066 euro. I can't get any sense out of the BA button but going to aa.com via their button shows a bookable online price of 1630.68 euro.
aa.com will show me AMS-HEL-LHR-BOS-LAX-SMF/SMF-PHX-JFK-LHR-AMS for 1763.23 euro. 800TPs for £1.93/TP??
The conversion is coming out at £1440.62.
Incidentally, Google flights will show you a click through button which says this costs 2066 euro. I can't get any sense out of the BA button but going to aa.com via their button shows a bookable online price of 1630.68 euro.
aa.com will show me AMS-HEL-LHR-BOS-LAX-SMF/SMF-PHX-JFK-LHR-AMS for 1763.23 euro. 800TPs for £1.93/TP??
Jan 23, 2019, 4:04 am
#495
Join Date: Nov 2009
Programs: BAEC, SPG, Virgin Flying Club
Posts: 124
Personally where these type of complex matrix trips are concerned my approach has always been (in order of preference)
1. Book with matrix to aa.com or for BA fares call them direct
2. Powertools to OTA eg Priceline
3. Propeller Travel
(Snip)
One final note of caution, I have spent many hours finessing an itinerary (AA not IB) in Matrix before only to find none of the above lead to a booking. Seems to be a function of married segment availability. I always think it’s worth testing the water first by dummy booking simple output from matrix before spending too much time getting best planes, desired stopovers, right codeshare flight numbers etc.
I actually found propeller very good: their price including fee was lower than the ITA Matrix quite - I haven’t tested them out in an interruption, but their response time on the phone was very good