alex67500

Ah perfect, it was still 180 when I checked yesterday, I have a bit more time then. thanks!

ISTFlyer

The Malaga fare has 2 variants. A cheaper one with a 180 day APEX and a slightly more expensive one ( about €200 ) with a 120 day APEX

Jaenks

INX1C1S4

LancashireFlyer

This is a strange one. Rang BA Holidays up yesterday to sort out a TP run (cancelled JFK-LHR had basically got the whole booking rebooked onto direct LHR-SFO-LHR flights). The girl was quite bemused when I first told her what flights I wanted to have, but then asked if it was a points run, and soon warmed up.

I did a fake booking on the BA site to verify it was a permitted booking, and gave her all the BA flight codes. She rebooked me onto them, confirmed them by reading them back.

When I got the new E-ticket through, I'm flying the same sectors, but on completely different flights (times) . Its not an issue as they're all BA codes, but for example I'm on an earlier flight from Heathrow so I won't get to enjoy the lounge really as its a tight connection, and flying back from JFK it's booked on an AA flight instead of the BA I requested.

How does that happen when the advisor confirmed the flights to me?

NA-Flyer

For those who enjoy traveling in the luxury of BA First class while doing a TP Run: YYZ-(ORD or MIA or JFK)-LHR-DXB and back in F for CAD$ 5666 or USD$ 4,500 loading 920 tier points. F sectors are all booked in A class fare bucket.

You can fly BA A380 on the MIA-LHR-MIA route and also LHR-DXB-LHR route during DEC 2021 and Jan 2022.

BTW I grabbed a ticket at this price for my next month trip to DXB

Flyertalker001342

I've got you beat! In ~3 weeks I'm going BOI (Boise)-LAX-JFK-LHR-GVA (and return), all in first except for the AS BOI-LAX (counts as J) and LHR-GVA (also J), combination AS AA BA, $3800 USD, 1000 TP. I'm going on a trip I would have done anyway, with 11 days in France, then at the end since I'll need 2 more BA metal flights to make gold, I'm doing an economy GVA-LHR-GVA for ~ CH 150 (bit more than $165 US). As a bonus I'm going to get to see the old JFK TWA terminal on the way back, which has now been transformed into a hotel.

Jaenks

Those fares are far from to be in BA Tier Points run thread, maybe a Premium deals could be more specific thread. 4,89USD and 3,80USD per 1 TP. Would like to see that Mileage Runner, who pays that price per TP and flies to BOI to start.

Flyertalker001342

Extenuating circumstances in my case were (1) I was going to take the trip anyway, prefer 1st Class when available, and had I booked in 1st and gone "the normal way," it would have cost close to $5K USD, and yielded 580 TPs (BOI-SEA-LHR-GVA and return). Obviously not a TP run in the true sense.

On the other hand, I don't have the time nor the money to be flying around to places that don't interest me just so I can have lounge access when I normally get it anyway when I fly J or F. I'll never get enough TPs to have a CCR card. I think the whole idea of a TP run for someone who only goes to Europe a couple or 3 times a year doesn't make a lot of sense unless you can incorporate it into your usual travel.

Jaenks

USD4500 for 920TP is not a mileage run either. Obvious that you fly as and from you prefer, but those fares are far from Mileage Run fares, about that thread is. Enjoy your flights!

Flyertalker001342

I'm not doing either (920 TP nor $4500).

I'm fully aware of what a TP run is, what the normal parameters would be for an aficionado of same, and other than for the oddball situation have no inclination to do that.

On the other hand, you can plan a luxury trip in a way that it costs as little as possible, and produces the most avios and TPs as possible.

If a given person flies a lot for business, generally in the back, and wants status in order to have lounge access, seat selection, avios multipliers, etc., then an isolated TP run makes sense as it might be the cheapest way of getting these sorts of benefits for a person who is really going to benefit from them.

On the other hand, there are benefits to status for those who don't spend all of their time in the skies, and you don't necessarily have to program out some bizarre routing going to places in which you have no interest just to get the best ratio of GBP or $USD/TPs. If you are flying in a way to gain the most TPs for the $ spent while at the same time not wasting too much of your own time, that's a TP run of sorts as well. If all you are doing is trying to save money, then that's a deal and not a trip designed to maximize TPs, but that isn't what we are discussing here in any event.

NA-Flyer

I consider that a great TP run for travelling in the luxury of First class with 4 sectors on the A380.

Not everyone would prefer TP run in J. Some HNW and travelers, of course who can afford it, would still like to make a TP run but in First class literally.

BTW you can add an additional 40 TP points by flying out of any European city like MAD or AMS or CDG and connecting via LHR on the way back to the US without incurring any additional fare charge.

Jaenks

I get your point, but Mileage run TP per amount spent has a certain value, regardless in class flown and it is definetly not 3,80USD per TP.

This thread is not about luxury of BA A380 First class but purely about Mileage Run deals. Your published fare is not that, even in F.
What comes to affordance to fly in F, I got a good laugh Relocating to BOI to start? :-) Additional 40TP in Europe in J does not takes your posted price per TP down to be a good Mileage run fare, but takes away the luxury of the First class travel because it is pseudo J class.
What is a good Mileage run fare in F? Go back in history and search PHX-DO fares. I did that and not because of Mileage run, but at first I met great persons from FT and excellent BA F and J crews(I know it could be a rare thing), needed to be in PHX, experienced first time BA B747 in the first row, BA A380 in F and AA A321T in F, to add the Flagship dining in JFK and Qantas F lounge in LAX. That was a Mileage run and luxury F travel combined with price of 1795€ for 870TP. Price was a lot cheaper in J, but fortunately I could afford that F fare

ISTFlyer

I wouldn't consider an ex-US F fare a Tier Point run, although, if someone is going somewhere: for example skiing to the Alps and flying to Geneva - it makes more sense to fly BOI-LAX-JFK-LHR-GVA rather than LAX-LHR-GVA for the same price.

Although it's not an optimal Tier Point run, these kinds of trips would be a bargain for someone living in the US as they would be at least progress towards their status by detouring and earn more lifetime Tier Points, getting them to that status earlier.

KARFA

If I can be permitted to quote myself

I don't want to stop people posting, it is just that this thread is best kept for TP runs rather than good value premium fares which you can tweak a little to increase the TP yield. Tbh this year it hasbn't mattered too much as there hasn't been much ability to travel, but as we go in to 2022 and refresh the thread (there will be a 2022 and I am working on it atm) it's best that the thread remains focused on what are considered TP runs.

If you find good premium fares do post them in the thread linked to above - it could use a little love and attention

Flyertalker001342

I agree that the entire concept of a TP run beginning in the USA is a bit of a non sequitur. The best pure TP runs I have seen reported tend to require a dead-head or positioning flight to a country in Europe or nearby Asia, which has a lower living standard that the US or Western Europe, and as a result (possibly combined with lower taxes also) has lower J fares and convoluted routing rules that can be exploited for TP and Avios point gain. In addition, unless the traveler frequently passes through Europe, a lot of the gains from status may be hard to actually benefit from, although there are benefits that permeate the OW Alliance that can be used.

Perhaps we need an additional category for trips taken to maximize TPs and/or Avios, that are not specifically "deals" in the sense that all you are getting is a cheap airfare for the distance flown, regardless of class; those trips already have a thread which has been referred to here as the "deals" thread. This other category would be a combination of a reasonable price (for what you are getting in terms of comfort) PLUS a lot of TPs and/or avios for what you are expending, kind of a combination of a "deal" and a TP run, and this could happen in any class of service as long as the return, in terms of comfort, points, avios, etc. represents a good return on the money expended.

Notwithstanding the difficulty of doing a true TP run originating in the USA, there are some advantages in TP accrual that can come from short hops in J on AA and especially AS.

This raises yet another question that I am grappling with and that is whether it makes any sense to attain status in TWO different OW carriers, in my case that would be AS and BA. I will soon have gold in BA which is Emerald, and recently attained MVP Gold in AS, which is Sapphire. Going forward it appears to make more sense just to credit all of my flying to BAEC. I'll be giving up a few free upgrades on AS, but since the short hop J flights I use AS for, if bought early enough, are cheap, having to buy them in J to begin with isn't a huge hit.