Apologies if this is old hat, but I wanted to share a working method to double the miles/tier points normally accrued with companies interested in purchasing cheapest fare possible (travel policies vary but cheaper is always better for the company).

Normally you would try and fly direct with your preferred airline as this is the easiest way to do it, but if you are prepared to introduce a connecting flight then you could find a cheaper way to get there with a partner airline, fly through that country, and even upgrade the class thereby increasing the miles/point gain.

Let me give a working example.

I had to fly to Korea. My preferred airline is BA (Oneworld). Flying WT+ via say HKG with Cathay would have netted me a total of 180 tier points.

It was actually cheaper to fly Finnair (also Oneworld) business class via Helsinki which actually got me 360 tier points. Since this was the cheaper option, there was no problem with getting this ticket.

The same also applies if you are flying direct and can find a cheaper option in a higher class going via the host airline's country. This works and the only downside is having to make an additional stop. For long haul flights, the additional stopover may or may not be convenient, but it doesn't hurt to check out alternatives like this.

There are many times where it is not possible to do this, however when it is possible, I think it is worth the research.

Ok now I have looked around, this is old hat, sorry, and there looks like ways to maximize points that almost feel like cheating too which I found amusing.

I don't think you are off base to suggest this, I've used the AY I fares several times ex-YVR (using BA metal on YVR-LHR) to a range of places. It's far less restrictive than most I fares (only 7 day advance purchase), cheaper than BAs I fares and does give you those extra TPs for the HEL segments. It works to Europe as well as Asia, some extra travel and sometimes tough to synch flights thru without an overnight, but if you want the TPs, it's a great deal. For Asia it's (120+60+120+120+60+120) or 600 TPs if you route YVR-LHR-HEL-Asia and return. For EU destinations it's (120+60+40+40+60+120) or 440 TPs.

If you are looking at these from LAX/SFO, have a look at the YVR fares, they are often $1k or so lower and with a cheap AS or AC roundtrip they work well.

The only downside is that if you are BA Gold, you dont get the 100% Gold mileage bonus, even on the BA metal, with the AY coded flights.