MasterP0

Good Evening Folks,

I’m wondering if you can assist me once again?

For the first time ever I think I may hit Gold on BAEC, I always seem to miss out on it, so for the fun of it I want to actually achieve Gold Status.

I need to earn 300 TP, I have a free weekend coming up in November and would like to know, which would be the best way to do this without breaking the bank?
I live in BHX. I need to be in Dublin 17 November 2019 but back in London the following day (18 November 2019)

Current Tier Points = 840
SA December Trip = 360 TP (AMS - LHR - JNB - LHR - AMS)
Total = 1200 TP

**I have a trip to Bali late Jan but I’ve yet to purchase my ticket and might try another airline (not One World) depending on sale prices.

Many thanks.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

When does your mebership year end? If it is after your Bail trip you could fly via Doha on Qatar and get 4*140 tps for 560 total.
For your november trip is the 17th-18th your free weekend for this run?

Regards

TBS

MasterP0

Thank you for your prompt response.

1. Year ends April 2020
2. I need to fly to BKK for 3 nights then Bali for 7 nights in Jan.
3. I could start off the TP Run on Friday late afternoon/early evening Friday 15th November.

wilsnunn

Depends on how much you are looking to spend + the level of comfort that you are looking for during this trip.

If you wanted to use your Bali trip as an excuse to earn these TPs, you could do something like this: https://flights.app.goo.gl/bPag8 which nets 315 TPs without your positioning flights to BCN or the flight between BKK and DPS or from CGK to DPS.

UKtravelbear

Your earning year ends on the 8th March 2020.

Are you sure that Gold will give you all the benefits you really need over and above silver and is worth the extra cost of doing a TP run - especially if you could earn them from BA flights you could take (such as your ones to Bali)

Cymro

This is an easy case for booking a cheap Qatar fare to Bangkok or Singapore (or open jaw, if the fare rules allow), earning the 560TP that way and flying a local airline down to Bali.

MasterP0

Thank you all for your feedback.

I think I will follow your advice and maximise my Bali trip to get the necessary points.

You make a valid point, and as I tend to fly Business 90% of the time what added value is Gold going to add for me and the answer is not much, but I can use First Lounge even when flying Business? I just thought it would be fun to be gold for once!

Once again thank you.

Cymro

Honetstly, even if you are flying business a lot, there is value in being gold:

1. The Flounge - I'd value that at £5 per visit over and above the business lounges - so perhaps £60 in a year;
2. The extra avios - I'm assuming you're getting gold with 4 long haul business class trips on BA at an average of 8,000 miles return and 360 TP each, plus some odds and sods. So that's a minimum of 16,000 extra avvios, worth around £160 of extra value.
3. Gold avios availability in V class - makes a huge difference to the value of avios; or, if you're avios rich, double avios space release - got to be worth £100 per year and potentially much more as all my short-haul private travel to theUK is now on avios, which wouldn't be an option if I were silver;
4. Silver soft landing - so if your travel declines you will have a year's worth of lounge access in economy plus free seat selection
5. Gold line, subjectively better chance of upgrades (arguable), and generally better customer service treatment - ironically particularly if not on BA;

I rarely travel Club Europe now that I don't need the tier points so you can either soft land and keep silver, or just spend less on short-haul travel if that's your thing. Of course, the benefits of long-haul business class travel are obvious.

Mozart0815

I also recently discovered the pleasure of QR for collecting 560TP per long haul trip, just getting me over to Gold some weeks ago. The only downside is you collect significantly less Avios than with BA (no Silver/gold benefit, just 25% J).

Plus you're likely getting Qsuites, which are as close to F (or sometimes even superior compared to some older cabins elsewhere) as J gets.

MasterP0

Thanks for that Cymro....I have nothing to lose, so will aim for Gold, JUST BECAUSE!

chance88088

First wing. Getting through security quickly is huge for me.

Mozart0815

Out of curiosity, where do you have a security fast lane only for EC Gold that doesn’t allow J passengers as well?

AnttiV

LHR T5 First Wing.

HIDDY

Go for it and experince the benefits of having it. Then you can decide whether you wish to spend time and money keeping it if you can't retain it through 'normal' travel means.

DorsetKnob

Best benefit I've found is being able to get row 1 in CE & I love getting a full English on my early morning flights out of Heathrow & Gatwick