Following on from earlier articles by Michele covering a few TP (Tier Point) runs and where to stay hotel wise; I thought I would quickly break down a few runs available now for people stuck for ideas and hopefully to inspire a few! This is not an exhaustive list and is not the most optimised routes or timings. You can read the earlier guide to Tier Point Run basics here and see all the tier point run breaks destinations guides here.
This guide should serve to generate ideas. A longer basic ITA guide will be following in the next few weeks showing you how to find similar, and tweak to your wants and needs.
Tier Point runs usually involve manipulating a point to point fare and adding in more stops based on the fares rules or MPM (maximum permitted mileage). These can all be found on ITA Matrix and in more depth on expertflyer. More in the next guide.
Just to note the current thresholds on the British Airways Executive Club –
- 300TP for Bronze
- 600TP for Silver
- 1500TP for Gold
- 5000TP for Gold Guest List qualification and 3000TP for renewal.
So here we go building up in price and TP haul!
Luxembourg is always cheap in all classes and is a short hop from Terminal 3 and the great lounges there –
45TP for a shade over £150, but for only £30 you can increase that to 80TP –
Several other domestic locations can usually be had for similar prices – we are currently at £2.33/TP. Lets see if that drops as we increase the run size!
How about another 40TP on top of that and a beautiful Spanish city?
Again similar fares can be had for similar prices to other cities. Down to £2.20/TP. This particular one is also a great way to try longhaul planes like the British Airways 777 and Iberia A350 we have reviewed recently.
The next one follows the same strategy but adds another 80TP by starting and finishing elsewhere and not London.
£1.73/TP – notice a theme?!
Now this is where it begins to get pricey and the ratio drops back sadly –
360TP but at a rather awful £3.50/TP.
But can we do more on the same ticket?
Same route with an extra stop gives us 440TP at a more reasonable £2.93/TP.
Michele has always written about Phoenix and the fare is still around, albeit limited dates. So lets have a look –
A nice Business Class fare if TP’s aren’t of interest. If you are reading this article they are however hopefully!
So lets tweak it a bit!
£5 more and another 280TP! Thats 640TP at a cost of £2.05/TP.
But we aren’t done yet….
The same price – and 800TP! That’s a much better £1.66/TP.
The Phoenix fare can be stretched more but I shall save that for the ITA Matrix Guide coming where we will see how to create something like this….
And quickly….what equals good value? Well ultimately that depends on how many TP you need and if you will utilise the status that it may come with. I try not to pay much more than £1.70/TP myself. Anything close or less to £1 is a brilliant deal when chasing status.
I hope this has given you all some ideas and help. Happy Tier Point Running!
17 comments
This is a very useful and informative guide – it has inspired me to book a tier point run! However, most sites like BA only let you enter 6 flights on the multi trip option – how do you book your flights?
Some great examples of TP runs here.
Methods I’ve found to reduce prices, book fares when in the regular BA sales.
Use part pay with avios combined with the BA SALE prices.
For those not wanting to fly intercontinental let’s not forget the European king of them all, MALTA which dishes out 80TP each way/ 160 return in Club Europe. A FlyerTalk regular and I were chatting the other day & with a positioning flight from Jersey( taking it to 450 total) he realised 6 return runs a year would have you nearly at Gold. Malta is quite a nice place to boot but we’re talking about TPR’s here.
I am inspired to try a tier point run after reading your informative article; however, how do you find the price for these runs as BA and ITA both only allow 6 flights to be entered on the multi trip menu?
With ITA you’ll need to use the advanced routing codes…. So example a London to Seattle… advanced routing could include LHR JFK and LAX. More to come in following posts.
This is a great help. Thanks and it was lovely to have lunch with you at the London event a few months ago. Can you send me the Powerpoint file? 🙂
JER – LHR – AMS return is a good route also. ?
Thanks Tilly although it is worth pointing out it does involve getting from Gatwick to Heathrow.
Great piece, really informative for anyone just starting out as well as those with some TP runs already under their belt. Almost inspired me to search for more TP runs for us….and then I remembered I hate matrix so I’ll leave that to you ?
Glad you enjoyed Paul’s first post Suzie. I am sure his knowledge of TP runs and ITA will be of great use to the TLFL team.
LGW would be my departure to position at JER, works for me but not might for others based nearer LHR.
Help! I don’t get it!! I read the article 3 times but still can’t understand it. What points do you look at the fare between…and then how do you work out a permitted routings? Also how do you know what tier points you get for a particular routing? And where do I find the matrix?
Hi Victor. If we take the current Bucharest Phoenix fare as an example. You look at the direct route initially for the price. Google flights is a good start. Then you can do the same search on ITA to be able to see the fare rules such as how many legs you can add in. Just click on the fare you are interested in and then it will show a link to the rules. https://matrix.itasoftware.com
Ok! I love the matrix ? How do you book the fares. I mean do I log into BA.com and put the routing I’ve found? Or do I put the point-to-point destinations and hope it offers me that fare and routing?
And how do I find out about these good fares for tier point runs? Do you tell us about them here? ?
Hi Victor, Unfortunately, the flaw with Matrix is you can’t book directly from it. You then have to book with BA or a travel agency. You will need to input the exact routeing on the multi-city part of ba.com. If it is particularly complex you may not be able to do it so you would need to phone them to book. We will be covering tier point run fares on a regular basis on the blog.
This is very valuable and important info, thanks. Can’t wait to carry out a TP run next year. I’m very lucky I get to fly Business with my job and have a trip to Athens this weekend, Orlando in two weeks and Dubai in December all in Club. Silver is easy to achieve every year but Gold is just a little out of reach however now I’ve read your informative articles not anymore.
I love OneWorld and although BA need to up their game with their business class products I still love flying them. Qatar are superb and really have got a superb product, pity they fell out with the other Emirates otherwise LHR-DOH-DXB rtn was a lovely little earner with amazing food and drink to match. Keep the articles coming and thank you.
Hi Michele, Can you suggest a TP run to Fiji in Business/First June 2020 so that my husband and I can get BA Gold.
Comments are closed.