Planning for my Status Renewal - 6 Ways to Get Tier Points in 2023
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- Опубліковано 22 лип 2024
- I've made a number of videos about tier points and about getting status and I'm closing in on the end of my status year with British Airways which will bring an end to my Gold Status with them. I've been studying the various options I have to gather enough tier points to renew my status, but nothing has been really screaming to me as being the right option...
So in this video I'll talk about 6 ways of gathering tier points that you might consider with a view to efficiently getting status on British Airways. And I'll reveal what I am currently planning to do...
⭐ #TierPointRuns #GettingStatus #MattsPlanet ⭐
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1.47 - A few quick recaps...
3:20 - Grace Periods
4:43 - 1 - TPs from your job
5:15 - 2 - Optimise Planned Travel
6:08 - 3 - Tier Point Run
7:52 - 4 - BA Holidays
11:15 - 5 - Nesting
15:45 - 6 - Jakarta
19:35 - So what am I going to do?
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you. This video may not be copied or reproduced without written permission.
As has been pointed out in the comments, some Cathay flights book under a "P" fare bucket in business class. There's a weird anomaly in that these fares currently do not earn tier points or avios... A cheaper fare code - "I" - earns both, but BA's systems do not grant them on "P" coded flights. It's difficult to see the fare code you are booking through Cathay's website or App, but you can cross reference the fare through ITA Matrix and see the fare bucket there if booking a Cathay flight.
I booked a cp flight and had this issue, should of gotten 40 tp on return full flex ticket but was awarded only 5 for the first leg, will have to check why BA hasn't awarded my full points
Been waiting for this video, thanks for the info Matt!
I hope it was worth the wait Naveed!
Jajaja that face of surprise from the crew member when you get back on the same plane is unique. I have done that in three consecutives flights...
Three times! Not heard of that being done before!
Great info here thanks Matt, and your plans for 2023 sound brilliant :) looking forward to watching your progress. Cheers
Thanks Robin... It sounds like a big trip but I think I'm up to it!
Thanks Matt. You’ve inspired me - I’m going to have so much fun planning out routes!!
The planning can be almost as much fun as the trip itself!
Excellent video. I enjoy "sticking around" on Sunday for the new video of the week :)
Thanks! Who'd have thought I'd have ended up with a catch phrase!
A really interesting and informative video Matt. It’s given me plenty of food for thought. Thanks for sharing 👍👍
You are very welcome!
First of all congratulations on another milestone of getting over 10k subscribers Matt! I still remember when you were trying to get to 2k subscribers 🙂! This is another great video with lots of very useful information! I am looking forward to you doing the Sofia - Abu Dhabi - Jakarta tier point run video! It's also good to know about the tier point runs with Cathay and Malaysia Airlines. I hope to do a tier point run this year even just to get back to Silver and I'm sure the information you shared on this video will come in very handy! Thanks Matt!!
You are very welcome... Plan is still to do that trip but not booked it yet - prices are actually coming down at the moment!
Beltin’ video as always Matt, love all the content and some great ideas for TP runs 👍
Thanks David. Hope there was something in there to get you googling!
Another great video Matt, loving the more geeky stuff especially the BAEC videos as no one else does it. Why you haven’t got more subscribers is beyond me !
Thanks so much... The sub count does go up every day! No-one else does this as its probably really, really niche!!!
Fascinating as always! Much more illuminating than reading about it on Flyertalk.
Ha ha! I can wave my arms around... Which is tricky on Flyertalk!
Very informative video Matt.. thank you. A friend and I have 3 5-6 day holidays booked via BA to 80 point destinations. Giving us a good foundation of 1080 points... I live in the lakes so adding that return flight from Manchester....
1080 TPs is more than a good foundation! You're almost there with that many
Thanks Matt. My brain ow hurts but I love it !
Thanks Charles!
Thank you for another great and interesting video. I'm doing my own TP run as such by going to Glasgow from London for a sporting event and back to Heathrow to Washington D.C for a holiday a few weeks later. On both trips I'm making use of the holiday offer from BA to get double tier points and after those I'll be in touching distance of silver. I'm more than happy with that status as I'm not a frequent flyer but I'll get access to the lounges, extra avios and pick my seat at booking which helps getting a window seat as I've now taken to filming my trips and hobbies.
I'm looking forward to flying in business class for the first time later this year! 😊
That's great - enjoy! It's a really addictive hobby!
Hi Matt, I was in Japan last week. Flew back with BA who were excellent as ever
Thanks. Good to hear a positive report about BA. There's not that many around!
Very interesting! thanks,
Thanks for watching!
Superb! This video (alongside its predecessors) must make you the undisputed number one expert on UA-cam for educating travellers on tier point accumulation and run planning. I’m really looking forward to your next steps of both booking and flying. Lyny x
Thanks Lyny!
Interesting, as always, Matt. I'm doing LHR-MIA-LHR in First on a BA holiday with a car, plus LHR-ATH-LHR twice over a 3 month period, again on a BA holiday. It's not the cheapest but effective when optimising existing holiday plans.
Fantastic! If you're optimising a trip already planned, that's perfect!
Great video Matt. I’m a little miffed at myself as I’m only going to make silver before my year ends in September. However before the end of the promotion double tps in December I’ll have renewed my silver and by taking the trips we have planned for 24, will be gold. Your silly point about travel is one of the things my partner is going to be doing later in the year hopefully, and moi as his wheelchair pusher get the benefit lol. Oh and it’s me that does the booking of flights etc 😂. I forgot to add every departure from the uk will be ex Inverness lol
Thanks! I knew point 1 would help someone even if most people think it's just a filler!!! Not done Inverness myself - last time I looked BA has raised the YQ supplement to equalise out the APD benefits so that may be something to look at... It's a pleasant place to start even so, in the Summer at least!
As BA and IB are sister airlines Under the IAG umbrella... you would hope for better.. but having.... seen your accounting it speaks volumes Matt. Good work- Thanks..
Thanks Richard
Thanks for another informative video Matt.....We decided to stick to Silver as we agree with you, the prices are too high to pursue Gold this year.......Two BA Holidays to Greece is our very simple strategy.🤣
Thanks Tim - 80 TPs double double doubled is all you need!
Hi Matt, thanks as always for an informative video. I'm only blue status so a long way to go to catch up with the experts here. I've got a sort of mini tier point run booked in April from Manchester to Frankfurt (via Heathrow) and return hopefully getting a couple of wide-bodied birds on the LHR-FRA legs. This will net me 160 tier points to add to my 75 points therefore taking me to 235. Still short of Bronze but hopefully if i can find a bargain business return flight (before July 8th) it should take me to bronze.
The biggie I have now booked is LHR to EWR in Premium Economy with a hire car (a BA Holiday) so that will get me 360 points straight off. Unfortunately the trip is August so too late for this year but should give me a big boost towards next years status.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks! Its an addictive, and expensive hobby!
I am restricted to booking during school holidays as I teach up in EDI, but I would happily use my holiday time to do something similar to what you suggested in this video if the prices weren't too inflated during peak travel times. I recall spending a full weekend planning the most extravagant west coast TP run (through ITA matrix) with the double points promo, only to remember that these trips need to originate in the UK for this to work. I will consider ex-Jersey for other trips. Thanks for all your advice in these videos.
You're very welcome.... I saw Simon Calder reminding people that Scottish school holidays are offset from England's so if you fly out of NCL or MAN when your holidays have started it can be much better value than EDI or GLA...
Clear, informative video, Matt. On the other side of the screen, my Blue status is safe and my Avios point run to Tesco has just got me another 15. Off to look at those BA holidays!
Larger avios haul from Sainsbury's these days! Thanks as always... Fully respect your desire for anonymity so I may have to make up a name for you.... Well Blazered Man... Well.. Welly... Willy?
@Matt's Planet See, I can't even get supermarket runs right!
The Sri Lankan CMB angle looks interesting, having done that in my pre-status-worry years.....will investigate.
I'm looking at it myself... Hard to get excited about an overnight in a non-lie-flat seat though!
Brilliant info as always Matt, I'd definitely add another option for a 2000+ mi TP run that's actually still intra-EU : Finnair business class from Helsinki to either Lisbon or Malaga. Both earn the 140 TP each way so could be good for a quick fix without having to venture too far away from the UK to do so. Just a thought 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks Matt. I was aware of the AGP-HEL flight but when I looked a couple of years back it was an overnight... Which doesn't really appeal! But if you want to stay close to home its a good'un!
Well we’ve flown NYC, L.A and San Francisco from blue to silver. One short trip to Copenhagen this august then will go up to gold for a trip to San Antonio in November
Congrats! Enjoy the experience... Then start planning the renewal!
Very interesting video and particularly as my year also ends in August this year. I’m also considering just living with Silver for next year since most of our travel is done LHR-AGP with the occasional US or Greek holiday in between. I wouldn’t miss the Heathrow 1st class lounge since the Amex lounge is, in my opinion, a more than acceptable alternative.
Might be a different story if Iberia flew direct to Malaga since choice of lounges at T3 is far far better. In particular Cathy Pacific’s and Qantas’s. Just returned from a short trip alone to AGP and due to the upcoming Easter break it was considerably cheaper to fly via Madrid on IB rather than direct on BA. I also got to try the above lounges plus BA’s 1st. The other advantage of this routing is that IB operates an A330 on one of the morning flights out. Free seat selection enabled me to grab an E+ seat; far more comfortable than BA Club Europe!
T3 does offer some advantages! And silver is really not a bad option... The question is whether things will be "better" next year...
Thanks for the info, currently at 1k tier from the JAL Xmas run and need to top it up to get gold before Oct, only issue is cost from SYD and choice of airlines
Getting in and out of Australia does seem to still be expensive - I have seen some promo economy fares down to Australia (the first I can remember since the you-know-what) but its still really tough.... A little easier once you're out though!
I really appreciate this video Matt, the number and cost crunching especially. Sometimes I find it difficult to tailor the journey I want to achieve my MR. For example, I can find the flight on ITA Matrix, but not through the airline. Do you know of a way to ticket the route that is a bit more complex (mad)? Perhaps an OTA that allows some flexibility.
I've not covered it in a video but there's a chrome add-on for Matrix called powertools which pushes something you find on Matrix into booking agents... I've dummy run a handful and it does work... Well worth a look.
Hey Matt, as always - love the videos. Curious though, how do you go about finding your exec club renewal date/month?
Thanks Jake - it'll be in the exec club app or online - should be quite easy to find. Will always be the 8th with the card you currently hold remaining valid until the end of the following month.
Good stuff.
Thanks!
Matt, new viewer here. I was, unfortunately, in PDX a couple of months ago, it's not very nice anymore. Great information. Thanks.
I've been a couple of times and its not a 5 day destination! Hope the video was helpful even if PDX isn't the one!
@@MattsPlanet I was in PDX recently, no Priority Pass lounge, so instead you get a $23 USD breakfast... terrible.
I'm not chasing BA status yet but I looked into it as someone who is based in the US and likes to visit Asia. In addition to domestic first class in the US, I've found it's also possible to get 40 tier points at less than 2 British pounds per point on quite a few domestic routes on Japan Airlines in class J.
Thanks - I've not looked closely at Japan as it hasn't been back to "normal" for long... Have a vague recollection that a paid upgrade can be laughably cheap there... Certainly something to bear in mind if your in that neck of the woods!
Nice update! If I were planning a late 2023/2024 run, I'd rely on the new pricing exclusively.
TLDR; I suspect flight prices won't lower again thanks to the rising costs of labor and fuel, even if fuel goes down again post-Ukraine. From carrier consolidation, route (or frequency) reductions for load management and cash hoarding rather than fuel hedging may govern the next several years.
Thanks Kevin... I'm one of those who doesn't feel that my income has gone up at the same rate as prices, so it all feels more expensive for me, but I think you're right that £508 to Jakarta is unlikely to return!
Hi Matt! First time commenter me! Newly discovered your amazing channel. I'm binge watching! Gone Tier point run mad, so must stop watching those for a bit! :) That said, planning to take my Mum LHR-IST for 320 points! *And nice holiday! W.R.T LHR-SOF, I couldn't book car in Nov or Dec so maybe availability will reappear at some point?
Thanks Imran.... I'm guessing you're not the former PM of Pakistan... I did struggle to see car pricing in Sofia in November too but didn't mention it in the video as I hope its a temporary thing... I can't believe all car hire companies have pulled out of Bulgaria!
Madness!
Good madness or mad madness???
Got a BA holiday booked later in the year. GLA-LHR-HEL-JFK-SFO-ORD-JFK-HEL-LHR-GLA. 2 nights in SFO and 3 nights in ORD. Comes out at £2700 for 1480TPs which I don’t think is too shabby! :-)
Is this in economy ?
@@rossvlogs3617 no, Business. No way you’d get that many TPs in Economy!
Thanks Matthew. Interesting to get that fare with a second stop in North America - that usually adds a supplement to the fare so £2,700 is very respectable for that sort of trip. Hope you have fun!
Great and when you live in Jersey no repositioning!
Get going!
Thanks Matt. Excited to see the videos. How much do you reckon the 1600 TP’s will cost doing this combo?
I'm hoping to get the flights for < £2,400... I should add hotels and other stuff to get a true valuation, but I'm going to take my time a bit so wouldn't be minimising the costs
Quality, as ever. What I have been curious about - if I want to book a BA holiday for the double TP bonus but want a specific set of flights (Ex: LHR-JFK-LAX-LAS instead of LHR-LAS or LHR-DFW-LAS), can you book that online? TP runs are not what they used to be price-wise, but can still be done. AGP-HEL-SIN will work, if you dont mind the flight times. Also have seen MAD-DOH-SIN on an Iberia codeshare (much less than on QR metal). If you want to fly QR, OSL-DOH-SIN can work.
BA Holidays will offer you a range of flights but rarely the bonkers sort of route we'd want to fly... So you need to call. But the BA Gold team can book them and they seem to be more switched on than the random holiday agent you get when you call BAH. I'll take a look at those ex-Spain trips too...
That Portland trip had some very squeaky bum connections (and I'm thinking with hand luggage only).
I hadn't optimised things! More of a proof of concept... But I can be quick over the ground when I need to be!
Fantastic content as always, thank you. I'm fascinated by the grace period detail in that you state that this sweet spot for travel doubles your length of status. Sounds like a no brainer if you can! On a call to BA I requested a tier point extension, to allow for the grace period, plus queried the extra status year. I was told to call back nearer my Oct 8 TP year end for the extension and they didn't seem to understand when I queried about the additional year that you reference nor can I find this anywhere in writing. BA didn't fill me with confidence.
So, as a SIlver member with 460 TP, I was thinking of doing a TP run w/c Oct 9 to benefit from the extension to Oct 2025... does this sound like a good call please?
Hi there. At the end of your year, on the 8th of the month, you'll reset to zero. This happens for everyone, every year. If you call to ask BA (and ask them nicely!) they'll allow points earned in the few weeks after your year end to be backdated into the last year. So if you ended the year on 1450 and only got the 50 you needed for Gold on (say) the 11th, you can ask them to backdate the points into the closed year and that will get you status. But that status will only last for the year you've just started. Once you've gone to 0, if you can get enough points for status within the grace period, you'll benefit from whatever status you had before the year ended (lounges, bonus avios etc) but your points will count towards the new status. That newly achieved status will then last for 2 years. I hope that clears this up.
Thanks Matt, always inspiring. But I would like to add a cautious note regarding CX business class, a class P business ticket could get you 0 TP, and the CX webpage do not show you the fare class until you purchased the ticket (the mobile app will work, but only for a return ticket, no multi-city). A class P isn't even a Business Light as they called their cheapest ticket. My way is to check the ticket side-by-side with Expedia where they always provides the fare class. Nonetheless, there's still the risk that it might not be the same ticket.
That's brilliant David - thanks so much. I knew Lufthansa has a P class to be avoided and I will add Cathay to that list... You can see the fare class on Matrix ITA too so if I do ever book, I'll be sure to cross reference the price I'm being quoted to Matrix to make sure its a points earning one...
Unfortunately tried to do a dummy booking on the cathay app but can’t see the fare class anywhere, how frustrating, where is it in the app?
Super helpful video for a newcomer as well as now giving me some really great tips for planning my first ever tier run. Looking at a traditional west coast holiday, but now looking to break that journey up in order to maximise the tier points, so thank you. Reasonably new to UA-cam, so unsure where to post any questions, so apologies if this is the wrong place, but I was wondering though whether you can use an American Express Companion Voucher on a Tier Run? As you are paying for one full fare, would you still be eligible for the tier points (appreciate it would only be the paying traveller)?
No worries - thanks for finding me! I have another Tier Point Planning video coming out in a couple of weeks - hopefully that works with your booking timeline... As for the questions - I do my best here! Companion vouchers are redemption bookings - so you'd need the avios for the fare you're paying for and you'd get the companion for free and you'd both pay the taxes and fees. Redemption booking so no tier points so not a tier point run.
Thanks Matt great video, just got back to silver with a double tier points BA holiday to Chicago for st Patrick’s day celebration ( took 14 days for the extra points to appear) & going to BGI (econ) with a double tier point ( hire car) holiday in 2 weeks so looking to try & hit gold this year. Any suggestions for a cheap 600 pointer to get me there ?
Thanks Madds! St Paddy's in Chicago? Reminds me of a gag from years back... If they can make the Chicago river green for that day, why can't they make it blue for the other 364 days!!! 600 TPs is a tricky amount... JER-LHR-SOF done as a holiday is 480, then nest a trip back to LHR for another 160? Or BUD-LHR-JFK-LAX-LAS and back as a TP run is 720 which is slightly too many again...
Glad you saw sense and haven't got that Liverpool scarf in the background 😂
Still a fan though!!
@@MattsPlanet I was only joking 👌
👏👏👏👏👍👍👍 thanks Matt
You are very welcome Elaine!
Love this. Can you do a view on SkyTeam status? I now have silver by virtue of my Virgin Atlantic status and would be interested in your thoughts now there's a UK based SkyTeam airline
Skyteam has gotten more interesting since Virgin joined. I matched to ITA so haven't had to worry too much - they extended me for a year too which was nice of them! I will probably do a "Which SkyTeam scheme should you join" in the style of the Star Alliance one I did... Its a large project though so I need a clear window of time to do the research...
Picked up 580 tier points with 1 first class flight r/t jfk to ist. One more r/t business flight to dubai ill be in silver status. Only took BA 1 week to update the points & avois
The opportunities are there for quick status!
Hi Matt be careful when booking Cathay Pacific business class flights and avoid P class which is not recognised by BAEC. This sits in between I and D class. I class availability has been removed on many flights leaving D class as the cheapest BAEC recognised fare. Many folks have got caught on this.
Excellent point! Been trained to be wary of Lufty's P class fares... Need to extend that to others!
Hey Matt, great video as always. I just wanted to check with you if it's possible to earn tier points on avios paid for flights, from what I've read online it's not possible but I just wanted to check with you that there isn't any possible ways of earning tier points on avios paid flights even if it involves extra charges.
With BA, tier points are only earned on paid flights. Redemptions do not earn. It is a bit confusing as you can reduce the cost of a paid flight with avios, which will still earn you tier points. And if you make a redemption, you still have to pay some cash... But a ticket purchase earns, a redemption doesn't. On Virgin, both purchases and redemptions earn their variant of tier points. I think that makes sense! Cheers!
@@MattsPlanet Thanks for the quick response, cleared it up for me as the wording on the BA site is confusing at parts along with google providing the wrong responses. Will keep in mind reducing the price with avios in the future. Cheers :)
I did a very rough Tier Point Run last summer - AGP-HEL-LHR-JFK-LAX-SFO and return (although it was amended due to some schedule changes, this was the gist of it)... And I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. You of course, will have to like flying, and airports in general, and I have gotten quite some comments about how I flew halfway across the world and with a gazillion stops just for 1 day in San Francisco... But, I managed to see the city, and I had a blast flying around! The pricing was quite good, and with the positioning to AGP I managed to get 1130 TPs, which was just enough for Gold with the reduced treshold! As always, thanks for the video, always insightful!
Hi Kian, how much was that? And how far in advance did you need to book? I need 750 for gold by 8 July… so I may have to give gold a miss this year!
Thanks Kian. That AGP-HEL flight is a cheeky 140 TP'er within Europe - there's not many of them.... Awful flight times as I recall??? And as GG asks, would be nice if you could share how much the ticket cost you.... Nothing mad about a day in SFO!
@@MattsPlanet The alternative 140’er via HEL is Lisbon.
@@MattsPlanet The flight times was real awful! Departing AGP->HEL at 01:00 or something silly but that did give me a day in AGP to see the city after my positioning flight, landing in HEL for a quick stop to grab a shower in the lounge, then boarding the A350 to LHR... The fare had an 180 advance purchase rule, but you could do 120 days for a couple hundred quid more - the price was around 1500 quid give or take - I could have cut it down to 1300, but that required a few more days in SFO, so any savings would be eaten up by hotel costs at that point!
@@kianpapageorge8518 I'm of an age where losing a nights sleep (or even half a night!) really dents me the next day!
Interesting video, Matt! I'm in a similar position having dropped to Silver at the end of January (and having enjoyed the Gold benefits on a US trip in my grace period).
I've got a Qatar voucher that will yield some TPs heading to SE Asia, but your idea of nesting a Jakarta trip inside a Sofia 'holiday' is interesting. I did the Sri Lankan Airlines UAE to CGK trip a couple of times when chasing status in early 2019 - sadly the £495 (for 560 TP) I paid for the return from AUH looks like a thing of the past!
I think I commented here about my Amex 241 + BA GUF2 redemption trip from London to SOCAL in January - there was an unexpected surprise afterwards - I got the Avios and 350 TP credited to my account (but please don't tell anyone) 😆
Thanks Peter. A veteran of Srilankan to Jakarta! How awful was it?
@@MattsPlanet Not too bad! Jakarta isn't what I would personally call a holiday location, but I enjoyed wandering around. Sri Lankan is a lovely airline with great service and food (and tea). The worst part was some unsociable departure/arrival times.
@@peterhastings703 Thanks. Shame it doesn't look like you can force a stopover in Colombo as that's always fun! I think I'll try and play with my jetlag prior to the AUH-CMB leg so it doesn't feel like an overnight flight to my body....
@@MattsPlanet I didn't suffer from jet lag on that trip. I got into AUH just before midnight and got a good night's sleep in local time at my hotel followed by a day of bright sunshine in the city prior to my 11pm flight to CMB. The first leg was only 4-5 hours and I dozed a bit after the meal - the CMB-CGK leg was mainly in daylight. Jakarta was sunny as well, which helped my body clock to reset, I think.
At 10:05 timewise, what booking site did you use to get that travel itinerary? Is it the ITA matrix? Or. Cheers
That's matrix ITA which found the flights - I'd have used powertools to try to force the itinerary into a booking site, and if that failed I'd have rung BA with the flights I wanted. Cheers
Last year lucked out booking a trip from North America to BKK for about $2400: JFK-LAX-BOS-NRT-BKK rtn BKK-NRT-LAX-BOS-JFK (140+140+160+140=580 & 140+140+140+40=460 total 1,040 all in business AA & JL and upgraded the 3 AA transcons to layflat 1-1 cabin F using 15K AA miles…my BA metal flights were YYZ-LHR-MAN & MAN-GBL & GBL-LHR-YYZ to hit both the reduced Gold requalification as well as the normal 1,500 TPs). I’m good until July 2024 so working out strategies for 2023/4 so thanks for this recap.
Wow - JFK-LAX-BOS is a fantastic routing!!!
@@MattsPlanet Yes, a glitch permitted JFK to BOS via LAX on the basic fare JFK-NRT-BKK. And AA’s mileage upgrade permits more than one flight segment to be upgraded so we were able to upgrade J to F in both directions on the outbound. We could have done our LAX-BOS through PHL to pick up another 40x2 TPs but wanted the extra comfort/indulgence of the A321T premium cabin vs the old US A321s. Our BOS-JFK was also on the transcon version in the F seats albeit sold as business.
But like that New Years Eve 2018/9 CX F fare glitch across the Pacific ex-Vietnam, doubt that fare with those rules will ever return!
@@davidbalcon8726 Congrats for having spotted it, snagged it and optimised it! NYC to Boston via LA would be a great title for a UA-cam video... I'm jealous!
@@MattsPlanet IF you ever make it to YYZ, I'll introduce you to the friend who tipped me to this and is a total maniac in such deals and routings. Though this one was on FlyerTalk it takes a certain skill to book with all these intermediate flights. But I do enjoy such "out of the way" routings between two relatively close cities. When I moved from Edmonton to Toronto, I booked an award ticket from YEG-YVR-SYD-YVR-YYZ for a two week visit while my belongings made the truck trip between old and new homes.
Hi Matt - great video - how far are you from Life Time Gold - 35,000 tier points?
A very, very long way! I lived in Australia and the US from '99 to 2012 and only rejoined the exec club when I came back... Point previous to this were insignificant and were lost...
Camera quality looks good on this one Matt. Is this using your new camera?
It is indeed! Battery went flat half way though though, hence the change in framing!
I'm on the way to bronze with BA just earned 110TP (at the time of comment) keeping points how do you maintain Bronze/Silver.
Lastly the whole grace thing my collecting year ends on the 8th of Jan 24.
So basically you have a membership year - yours starts Jan 9th. In 365 days you gather tier points and move up the tiers as you reach each milestone. Any status achieved runs for the entirety of the following year. At the end of the year, the TP count resets to zero and you start again. If you have say Silver, you don't really need to worry about TPs quite so much as you have already secured status for the 2nd year. But... There's a 2 (ish) month grace period at the end of each year - yours would run until February 28th. In that time any status you had is retained. If you hadn't earned enough TPs to retain status in that 2nd membership year, you'll "soft land" a tier at the end of the grace period - so from Silver to Bronze. But that grace period gives you the benefits of the old status whilst allowing you to gather tier points towards a renewal in the new year. That may not be clearer, but its how it works!
Will you be offering, a video like this for 2024? or waiting for the exec club refresh next year? 😃
Not a bad idea.... I think there'd be a lot of overlap with this video as not a huge amount has changed, but we are starting to see some good deals coming back within Asia which are interesting add-ons to a Jakarta run
@@MattsPlanet that would be great to see, I have done some of my own calculations for matrix and google flights it seems some bargains from Jakarta but would be good to see your view :D
Apologies if this question is wide of the mark, but how can you actually book that hypothetical Portland trip through BA themselves (in order to do the holiday package) if they aren't selling them? I've tried with a similar setup and the system insists my flights found on Matrix are non-existent
Anything you find on matrix is bookable although you rarely can through anyones website as they don't think anyone would be mad enough to travel that way! I call BA and talk the agent through the legs and each time I've done so they've been able to match matrix. Annoying to not be able to do it online...
@@MattsPlanet oh that's good news. Thank you Matt!! 👍
Looking for suggestions for a 750 TP run to be completed by 4th November, if anyone can suggest?
6 months away so there should be some options....
Hi Matt, brill as always, i'll have 640 BA tier points halfway through my member year, and only really started traveling this year so the question is, is it worth going for gold?!
sorry meant to add my year will be May-May (have 2 5 day hols booked)
Only you can tell really.... It'll depend on how often you will travel with status to make it worthwhile... 860 TPs is quite a chunk to get before May if you've no/limited travel already scheduled... I'd question whether 860 is the goal as that'll give you a year and a bits status... If you dropped back to zero in May then got 1500 quite quickly you'd get status for 2 and a bit years
So staying at silver it is then 👍🏻I quite fancy a mad tier point run in 2024, I’ll have to learn how to book the mad multi stop journeys for then!!
@@marceldevaney472 Silver is not a bad level! Can be a bit crowded in Heathrow but its really not that different in most outstations... I have videos about more complex itineraries with more to come!
I have 120 TP now and when I come back from holiday in the end of April will have 280 (just 20 shy from retaining bronze)… but I have 9 days to get those 20 TP’s… I won’t be able to travel as I have exams for uni, so I will call BA and ask if they can extend my renewal deadline for a few more weeks !! Hopefully it’ll work as I called them and they said to call back when all my tier points are in… any suggestions if my plan doesn’t work out?
BA will usually allow you to push a handful of points back in time to secure status if you only get them after the collection year ends... There's no written policy on how many or how long after the end of the year you can travel, but it is a possibility. Not sure they'll commit to doing it if you call before hand but they are sympathetic... Calling beforehand will not hurt though!
How much do you reckon that entire tier point run would cost Matt? Will you be revealing? Am thinking of it in 2024.... so would be good to get an idea of whether it is worth it for me. . . thanks. Andy
I'll be transparent when I book!!! About £600 for Sofia, £826 for the Jakarta leg and I'd want to keep it
Can't you fly under any airlines under BA withing the group
Flights on any OneWorld airline can be credited to the BA exec club, if that's what you mean?
Hey Matt, I got an unexpected amount of TPs this year (It hickups working to my advantage) - Do you think it is feasible to get 750 points by the end of my renewal year (July)?
Absolutely! Certainly worth a look... Easy-ish to get 720 TPs from BUD or DUB which with positioning flights should get you there... The question is whether you have the time and the budget!
@@MattsPlanet Do you reckon I'd need to do a BAH to do this? I don't have much budgetary issues but time is a big constraint!
Hey Matt I did this…. But have not got double points…. How do I chase this…
If they've not posted within say 10 days of getting home, give them a call... You're sure it qualified as a holiday?
Yes hotel in NYC for seven nights and flights from Heathrow
So in point five this sample booking starting from Sofia - are all these legs booked into some business class fare category? As you mentioned economy would be a slog?
Yes Scott - that would all be in business.... Pretty good value actually!
matt love your channel .......... could you do me a favour and book all of this so i can get gold !!!! pretty please
Ha ha! Researching and booking is half the fun... I have thought about becoming a travel agent but the fees I'd have to charge wouldn't inspire many to use me!
@@MattsPlanet but you are so good at it !!!!!!!!