Thanks for your kind comment, I'm messing with the release date a bit at the moment and I was thinking of moving to Fridays, so it would still be fresh on Sundays if it was runs and prices and so on.
Brilliant. Half expected a well-known environmentalist to interrupt your spreadsheet and shout "how dare you!", but that give me all the more motivation to get more tier points!
I know what you mean, I've always tried to find tier point runs that were just holidays with status being the added bonus but it is getting increasingly difficult.
Many of us are in this reconsidered requalification strategy but live on the other side of the Atlantic. My year ends June 8th so decided to do the East Run (AUH-CMB-CGKx2 +CGK-HKG-TPE returns) in late May/early June plus four BA flights next month (DUB-LHR-GLA rtn) in Y upgraded with Avios. Using points to position to AUH from/back to YYZ and have previously booked a trip to DUB.
My TP year ends 8th of June. Didn’t realise I can start collecting against the new TP year as of 1st of April. Opens up a whole world of opportunities. Thanks for the insight.
Brilliant Phil. Good timing. We’ve got a couple of BA holidays booked in April , just to secure silver mind you. Glasgow - london 5 nights and Glasgow - Istanbul for 5 nights to secure silver. 30 April 2026 will be nice to hold that silver status. The lounge access, baggage and seat selection is def worth it. Gold would be nice but we’re happy with silver tbh
Thanks for your support, it's much appreciated. Planning is the key to earning status, if you're a few points short of Gold (or silver) then you may well have a wasted effort. Good luck with your status run and let me know how if goes, Phil
I’m doing Stockholm Lisbon via Helsinki return with a LCC positioning to Stockholm for 360 pts then home to Man via HEL for another 80 pts. Nice little 2 day adventure. I didn’t have the time for a BA holiday double up and needed a quick turnaround. The ARN HEL ARN adds a nice 80 pts.
@@idrewukoverall including hotels for the main run. £2.21 per TP. The whole trip inc the one way business class return to MAN included was £2.60 per TP. A little less efficient but the GUF2 it will bring is quite valuable for us……planning a SIN HKG open jaw in first…….
Phil. As informative as ever and packed with great ideas. As I write this I am sat in a coffeehouse ( Black Label) in Sofia on my last day of my 5 night holiday from Man-LHR-SOF rtn staying at the Novotel a very good trip that cost Just over £700. With another trip I did later last year Flights only, it will help me retain Silver. The Novotel is a small but clean and comfortable hotel but it is about 1hr 10mins walk from the main city. It is on a metro route though which takes about 20 mins if you don’t like to walk much😊 10 mins in a taxi from the airport at a cost of 10 levs or about £5. Still love the spread sheets, keep em coming. Steve. C.
Thanks for sharing your information on Sofia Steve, much appreciated. I think an hours walk would be interesting once, but not constantly, Metro sounds good though. Hope you're having a great trip, Phil
@stevecraven3502 I've stayed at the Novotel, had Gold and they gave me a suite, which was gorgeous. As you say, it's a bit remote from the city. I don't mind walking, but they don't like pedestrians :-) The biggest hassle was getting a taxi from SOF, because it's not very lucrative for them. Like you, I managed it for £5, but he wasn't happy. After that, I've used the Ibis at the airport, which has a chaotic shittle bus, but the staff are lovely and the bar/restaurant is open extremely late.
Cheers for this, good to see others ideas! Im not in the TP game at the moment, mainly focussing on getting some Avios and 241 vouchers going for a couple of nice anniversary LH flights next year with P2 in tow. Did see an interesting thread on FT Forums for BAH to Doha crop up - but thats almost more of a one and done for silver.
A question: is it within the BAH double Tier point rules to fly within the UK? Also do flights have to be 5 days apart as well as Car Hire in order to qualify?
Thanks for your question, firstly I want to say that the full terms and conditions are here: www.britishairways.com/content/executive-club/offers/holidays-double-tier-points#TnC And you should always check with BA if you're unsure, they are the final arbiters and they have changed the rules several times. The really short answer is if you're trying to game the system they've probably closed the loophole you're thinking of. However, I think you should be able to take a holiday in the UK, say flying from Manchester to London, and then renting a car, but it would have to be 5 days rental and you would have to actually pick up the car and then drop it off 5 days later. I'm not sure if this would help you get the tier points at under £2 per point though.
Stumbled on your page trying to find a way to renew my gold status without ruining us, as BA Holiday's screwed us by taking the rest of the world off the eligibility list for double tier points. Some interesting tips and ideas though, thank you!
Funny you should ask, ua-cam.com/video/Ua8Jw2fMQNs/v-deo.htmlsi=mrIVMB9OC355ug2f That video talks about the differences between Gold and Silver and the costs with some ideas. Thanks Phil
As a US resident, I've decided to do BA runs (instead of my usual RJ) for the next qualifying period! I realized while I was making my oneworld elite strategies video that I would need less than 2/3 the number of flights to reach Sapphire status using BAEC (19 or less) vs Royal Jordanian Royal Club (30) within a year. I just need to plan for holidays in Europe via London or Madrid to get those required native/internal segments in. So BA it is! POOOKE!!!
Thanks for another great video. I recently came back from a trip to Germany where I flew out but came back by train. Highlights will be uploaded in the coming weeks but I used points and only paid 50p for the flight but taking into account the points i got for everything else, hotels travel etc, i got 1.4p for my redemption. The novelty of using the business check in, fast track and lounge for such a cheap economy ticket was too much of a draw for me. My silver status runs to august next year so I intend to make the most of the perks. 🙂
I love priority check in, the longer the economy queue the more I love it (same way I love having a toll tag for the M6 Toll 😀) Enjoy your perks, you've earned them.
So this is my first year actually trying for any tier. If I’m correct in understanding by the end of Jan 25 I should have about 550 tier points. Close to silver will these tier points carry over to my 2025 total post April as that is when my current year also ends or will I need to fly before April to secure silver status for the following year
If you're current old school membership year ends on the 8th January, points earned after the 1st April 2024 will still be valid until 31st March 2025. At this point your tier point total resets to zero, so you need to get those 50 points before then.
Loving the vids thanks for the great content… don’t forget about newcastle (it’s where I’m from) anyone from London it’s great as you can get off and straight back on again. To make use of the tier points in this year and next I’ve managed to book a cheeky NCL-LHR-MAN-LHR-NCL for 160 and came in for under your price per tier point which is great but not the most exciting trip. Later in the year I’m going a bit mad and heading west rather than east but starting from Dublin NCL-LHR-DUB (to get to starting point)(40+40) DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-LAS 40+140+140+40 And then the same back again (880 for about £1600)
Well the go east section is pretty consistently priced all year round (with a few weeks advance booking). Another viewer commented on Flights in and out of Kuala Lumpur, flying with Malaysia to regional airports and to Taipei. Then the Jakarta / Taipei run is cheaper with Cathay if you start in Taipei, so getting to KUL cheaply and starting there can work. USA is can generate some excellent tier points, I would head over to Matts Planet and watch his most recent Matrix video on how to find, plan and book that one. Thanks, Phil
Quick question….my membership year runs to April 25. I’ll be going for silver next year - if I get silver in say Feb 26 do I keep silver for the next membership year from April 26 to April 27? So basically do you keep your status the year after you gain it or do you lose it as soon as your year ends ?
Thanks for your question, once you achieve any status level you have that status and all the benefits for that membership year and for the next membership year. So if you have no status and then go silver in February 2026 you will be silver until 31st March 2027. Then you would still get the grace period which would last until 30th April 2027. Then you'd soft land to Ruby. However, if you're able to time your trips earlier in the membership year, say in April, May and June, then you will have more time as a silver member. Best of luck, let me know how you get on and if you have any other queries please let me know, Thanks Phil
@@mygreygapyear fantastic thank you, sorry for the stupid question it’s only when you are actually doing something seriously these things pop up. Love the channel !
@@courtybellaroadmodelrailwa1906 Thank you for your kind comment, and I'm happy to answer all questions, the only stupid question here is the one you didn't ask 😊
Useful tips, I have 845 tier points with a year end 08 June and just debating whether it’s worth a couple of flights/runs to achieve gold again or just soft land to silver this year.
I think time and money come into the getting of the points, but if you do qualify then you'll get your status on the current/old system and you'll have gold benefits until 31st July 2025, but your soft land to silver will only take you to 30th April 2026. If you do nothing you've earned Silver this year, so you should remain silver until (I believe) until 31st July 2025, so in this scenario you could look to requalify between the 1st April 2025 and 31st July 2025 to requalify silver/gold before that status runs out. Good luck, Phil
As usual learned some things even though I try to stay on top of the tier point options! Didn't know about the domestic Malaysian or Morocan options\ However you did miss a few potential ones - there's a 140 TP option from Cairo to Madrid (and vice versa) on Iberia. It has terrible flight times but I reckon it's the most points efficient way to get to Abu Dhabi: London- Madrid-Cairo and then probably Etihad to Abu Dhabi. Another cheap points route that I found recently was El Paso->LAX->JFK->Mexico City, but this is only available in the US summer months but on the back of a ex-EU flight could get close to Gold in one trip.
Thanks for your comment and continued support, it's much appreciated. I think UA-cam has thrown a wobbler because I can't see my previous reply. I can't remember what I said exactly, but thank you for the tips Tim, much appreciated. I think Madrid to Cairo is an excellent idea, could be the new Abu Dhabi to Jakarta. I like the sound of El Paso->LAX->JFK->Mexico City for the sheer joy of it. Thanks again, Phil
Personally, I would look at a short haul plus holiday from a regional airport, you'd get 480 points and a brilliant holiday in a destination you probably wouldn't travel to. Although you're a little short of your target, you could pick up 20 points in economy, just check your ticket code. Alternatively, if you'd prefer to just fly from London then 320 points for your holiday, and then another trip but focused on flights, so short haul plus again. And finally, if you want to splash out on a proper holiday, a BA holiday to New York, Dubai or Doha would earn 560 points. Thanks Phil
Hi Phil. In the future, could you add more of your experience/plans regarding Finnair? Their wide-body business class looks like a really attractive product.
Good routes on Finnair for tier points that I've seen aren't on their new A350s with the new business seat, Helsinki - Malaga is over 2000 miles but has the European Business seat. I do want to try the A350 that flies between London and Helsinki though.
I'm hoping to generate gold in 2 trips and for about 2k. inv-lhr-tlv return witch car hire booked for 7 days 360 TP doubled because of the promo 720, do this trip twice (september and December) and a return INV to LHR gives another 80, totals 1520, the only trip i wouldn't be anticipating is the return inv lhr or similar, the TLV flights are planned already. Thanks for the great content!
Lovely video Phil. I’m sticking to Silver this year, but thinking of getting a premium status on the Star Alliance . Flying BA especially around in Europe is no fun, the seats are uncomfortable, the food is bad (recently flew to Istanbul, and me and three of my travel companions got sick), and the lounges are overcrowded. Planning to fly to Turkey again, but in a different airline.
Wow, got sick from the airline food, that is terrible. I've been thinking about Star Alliance too, I think from a video point of view Matt (Matt's Planet) nailed it and generally the best way for UK residents to get Star Alliance status is with Agean. I hope your upcoming trip to Istanbul is better, Phil
2 questions please : 1. You mentioned about the term and condition of being a UK citizen based on BA holidays criteria ? So you can't achieve gold status if you are not a UK resident using the formulas you proposed ? 2. Achieving 560 Tier points from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta, that includes booking everything on BA holidays and do the same thing 3 times in order to reach gold status ? The 3000 pounds cover the whole cost ?
Thanks for your questions. 1. The UK citizen criteria is part of the double tier points offer rather than a condition of being a member of the Executive Club, which anyone can join and get status with. 2. The Abu Dhabi to Jakarta run could be booked with Sri Lankan but then you would enter your executive club number on the Sri Lankan booking form. That run is about £800 per round trip at the moment, so £2,400 but I would have positioning costs to factor in too. Happy to help with anything else if you have any follow ups, all the best, Phil
Thanks for the kind explanation and the nice hacks. Once you achieve gold status, how many flights are required to maintain the gold the gold status ? Not really lifetime, because I saw you require 35000 tier points for lifetime gold but how many flights with british airways or its partners are needed before the validation date ?
@@theshieldhero7062 It is 35,000 for lifetime gold, but for everyone else, you're awarded the level of status you achieve as you achieve it and you keep that level for the rest of that membership year and the next membership year. If then you don't have enough tier points you soft land to down one level, so if you're gold you go to silver.
Having watched loads of TP videos I've come to the conclusion that if you're going to go on these holidays or catch these flights anyway then it's worth it to get the TPs to get status ... But if you're spending money just to get TPs ( Abu Dhabi to Jakarta )... Then getting AMEX platinum card with lounge access is a much better option ... But that's just my opinion... Good video and I enjoyed watching it
Thank you for your kind comments and for sharing your views, much appreciated. My view is similar to yours, I'm always looking for something beyond tier points when I plan my trips.
This looks so much fun! I was intending to do a first class flight (shortest and cheapest I could find) to ensure I continued in Silver, but it really doesn't look that hard to try to Gold given what you have shown here, and...who doesn't love another spreadsheet to play with!!!!! I do want to try first class once (looking at a cheeky trip to Egypt or Dubai to qualify)
Oh, I love a good spreadsheet. Good luck with your status chase, short haul plus business will give you better value than first, but I'd love to hear how you get on. All the best, Phil
Some good ideas there, many thanks. I shall certainly check out CX and MH. My personal preference is to do connection add ons to trips I was going to do anyway, and avoid back-to-backs. I'm happy to allow to cost of these to go a bit above GBP2/TP as I look at the incremental cost too. Starting out of AGP to HEL was giving me some reasonable collections when I booked in January, but they seem to have killed that off for now. Maybe worth keeping an eye on though. I too originally baulked at the Avios price of LHR-DXB/AUH, but I actually need to start that in Spain this time, and as I can combine two >24 hour stopovers in the UK, plus get free (or cheap? Can't quite work it out...) cancellation/changes with the Avios booking, it ups the value to somewhere around 1.78p/Avios, at least v that exact route paid for in hard cash. And being cancelable I can risk waiting for a UL sale.
(Tongue in cheek response) Only when I'm feeling lonely at night 😀 Genuinely though, I look at every trip with the view to maximising my travel for the lowest possible cost, and I'm sure I'll be on American at some point.
Thanks for this information, I didn’t know the double tier points offer was extended until 30 June 2025. You missed out Aberdeen as a Hub, my ‘local’. I regularly fly to LHR & 99% of the time after booking a return BA then offer club upgrades for £79 singles, this is a cheaper way of flying club then booking club straight away 👍
Thanks for pointing out the missing Aberdeen airport, I am curious, do you get an email offering the Club upgrade, is there a particular place in the app of the website to upgrade? I've never been offered a paid upgrade so I'm interested.
@@mygreygapyearI’ve been offered upgrades since before Covid. Go into manage my bookings and it’s there along with change seats, add bag, print itinerary etc….rarely is it not there & when that happens, it then normally offers it when you check in via the app if there is still availability. I was still allowed to fly during covid & as you know, BA dropped the tier point levels. They use to be £69 upgrade singles then it was reduced to £59 so I achieved Gold before my year end and remained Gold May 21 through June 23. Return fares ABZ to LHR during Covid were never more than £70 along with £118 upgrades =£188 Club return.
Hi Phil, I thought I would nest this message here rather than on the latest upload so less people see it. Can you please blur and mute frame 0:55 in the latest upload, people can find you on Facebook and your posts security there needs tightening for better online safety. Have a great weekend handsome x
A question regarding the Malaga to Helsinki route with Finnair. Can the 280 tier points return be achieved in Business light? How to calculate the number of tier points per trip with Finnair?
I'm honestly not sure, but I imagine so. The thing here is to find the fare code when you book it and then check it on the BA website here: www.britishairways.com/travel/flight-calculator/public/en_gb
Sorry, just as I clicked reply I found the answer, I believe (he says absolving himself of all liability) that the answer is yes. On the BA website the booking class is I and on the BA website this shows up as 140 tier points, but if you're unsure then check with Finnair (not as easy as you might thing)
Hi Phil, I have a question that im hoping you might use as an interesting exercise in one of your videos. I fly to Japan quite a frequently but not quite enough to maintain gold. Do you think I could construct an interesting one off tier run journey whereby I hop, skip and jump my way to Tokyo HND via some of the places you mentioned in this video - Sri Lanka, Jakarta, Malaysia - and stack up the points. How close to gold could I get in one trip? Would they all be high tier earning / over 2000miles? Could I fly back to the UK direct? Id be really interested in hearing you discuss how you’d go about optimising the directions and destinations. 🩶
I think we're almost there in the Go East Section with the final destination being Taipei. Both Scoot and Jetstar run low cost flights between Taipei and Tokyo (NRT though). I think you're real issue here is if you're thinking about booking a one way itinerary, as full service airlines love to jack up the price on those. I'm not sure what your restrictions are but could you change airlines and fly with Malaysian via Kuala Lumpur, or with Qatar and break it up that way. It really is about finding the best way to segment that flight up into more flights and TP. Incidentally, the Jakarta to Taipei run was "traditionally" Jakarta to somewhere like Sapporo in Northern Japan via Hong Kong as each leg would then be over 2000 miles and earn 140 Tier Points. Good Luck and thank you for your support, Phil
Hi Phil, any tips to help me make Gold. I need 835 points before 31/03/24. Would prefer to do it in 1 or 2 trips, any suggestions would be great. Thanks, Andy
I'm going to make a video about this prompted from your comment Andy, but to get you started I think you'll need to go beyond the classic BA double tier points holiday offer although this is a good place to start. 1) So look for short haul plus destinations that you can make a holiday with, so Sofia with car hire (Cold though) or Bucharest with hotel (also cold but lots of Bars to enjoy). Tirana will be a little warmer and I'm off to Athens (not so cheap but somewhere I've always wanted to go). Also look at Istanbul in January. 2) Dublin to Cairo: This consistently offers 360 points for about £2 per point. 3) UK flights. When they were on sale (business class sale) Flights around the UK were under the £2 per point target but now they're a little over that. Newcastle is currently the best value 4) Now this is a goodie because you could get the points you need in about one week. And under the £2 target. So... 4a) Fly with Finnair from London to Stockholm via Helsinki (this will be more than £2 per point but will yield 160 points round trip) 4b) Fly with Finnair from Stockholm to either Malaga or Lisbon (this should be below £2 and will yield 360 per round trip) 4c) repeat 4b before you fly home. Total cost: Approx. £1,719 for 880 tier points (80 + 360 + 360 + 80). Good luck and let me know how you get on and have an amazing trip, Phil
Great video! I’ve just re qualified for gold (as of 08/03/24), I’ve been trying to get my head around the TP changes. Based on your video, if I re qualify again this year, do I keep status for 2 years?
I'm not sure it will be worth requalifying before the new rules kick in next year (1st April 2025), but it will depend on your current year ending month. However to answer your question, if you (re)qualify between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025 (the "Transition Period") you will keep that status level until 30th April 2026.
Thank you @justsomejo for your tip, that article can be found here (best to view it on a larger screen like a laptop or tablet in landscape), this shows tier points from London www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/24/how-many-tier-points-does-each-british-airways-flight-earn/ The other main thing to consider is the distance between destinations, so London New York is over 2000 miles so it's 140 TP, and so on. It won't take long for you to get a feel for distances. Good Luck, Phil
You're welcome...😉 Shame I'm still awaiting both MH and CX to credit me some of my flights...until they arrive I wont trigger my new Gold status. I did 7 flights with MH, mostly KUL-PEN over a 36 hour period (just 33 minutes in Kota Bharu too) and got to know the lounge staff at KUL very well. Also don't forget, MH from KUL to TPE is also worth 140tp and well priced to link up with these domestic hops after you've had your adventure in Taiwan. I also then completed TPE-HKG-CGK-HKG-TPE-HKG-CGK in one hit on Cathay...who have credited 4 of the 6 P fares but keep rejecting 2 sectors for unknown reasons...I keep fighting for answers. It should again be noted there are Indonesian visa costs of £25 on the CGK runs, and it's also a challenging getting all the boarding cards you need and to transfer at CGK if like me, you go straight back to HKG trying to avoid immigration. Happy travels 👍🏻
Thanks again James, I'm loving these runs to the far East, which I might need to reconsider, I've well and truly lost the holidays I was planning so Go East might be back on.
Just make sure if you include the TPE-KUL leg on MH for 140tp....avoid the A330-200. It was a shocking product...one of the worst seats I've ever sat in, and I would, in hindsight, much preferred the 737 regional product. Happy travels and keep up the good work 👍🏻
Why do you need to do a tier point run? If you fly enough normally to get status then you don't need and, and if you don't fly enough on a normal year, then what benefit does spending thousands to get lounge access give?
It's a fair point, one I have explored in other videos and comments (I think the Q & A video might cover it: ua-cam.com/video/LL2L4AxBm9I/v-deo.html) But, to answer your question, there is an element of fun and challenge to it (why would anyone climb a mountain or do anything really) and there is a feeling of "beating the system" with taking flights that are just into one points bracket or a flight that costs very little but gets me lots of points. And to give you a thought on the "don't fly enough then what's the benefit?" point (again a fair and relevant point), I could take 100 economy flights in a year and not get status, but if I did take a few flights in business then I would be silver or gold and those flights in economy would be significantly more comfortable and enjoyable. I love food (you my have noticed) and I flew economy from Melbourne to London as a gold, I had a fine dining meal in Melbourne in the Qantas Lounge, fine dining in Kuala Lumpur (I wasn't flying with BA) in the Malaysian Lounge, I had the seat next to me empty on the long leg of the trip and I skipped the 40 minute check in queue. On the way to Australia I also took two suitcases with me, one for me, one full of stuff for my daughter. No additional cost. So for me, the benefits are two fold. I get some nice trips that are fun and exciting and I would be going on holidays anyway. But then I usually fly in the back of the plane in economy and those extra trips give me lots of benefits and make economy flying more bearable. Thanks for your question, if you'd like to know some more about the benefits then I talk about them in this video: ua-cam.com/video/j-828PrFd7g/v-deo.html All the best, I hope you have some amazing adventures in the future, Phil
@@mygreygapyear thanks for the really detailed answer. I’ve always wanted to know why people did these tier points runs and no one has ever given me a proper answer to this until now. Thank you! P.s this was the first video I had seen of yours - it just showed up on my feed so I wasn’t aware of you had already discussed this in another video
Ive considered man-lhr nesting back to backs. The only problem is getting back through security at Manchester. Its out of arrivals and back up the stairs, a five minute walk but the security queues are a lottery even with fast track on your business ticket.
@alannicol1223 it can't be done. There is no internal transfer facility. When you exit the aircraft, you are on the ground floor, departure is on the first floor. There is a lift at the gate between floors but it's used for wheelchairs to get to the jet bridge.
Thanks for the tip, Radisson Blu for 5 nights with flights in Club with BA from the 19th to the 24th May is £1,034 for 560 TP, or £1.85 per tier point. Thank you, Phil
I heard about the changes to the baec and booked dub-mad-cai return for the 1st of April. Iberia express booked through Iberia (important to have IB flight numbers!) for €780. All my research says this should net 360 tier points but I’m still a little apprehensive as BA only award 80 on the lhr-cai. If this works I’ll have gotten silver in 2 trips for €1150. Note: I’m based in Ireland so unless I reposition I cant avail of the holiday offer..
London to Cairo with BA is 80 Tier points (Short Haul Plus) but my research gets the same Tier Points as you for your trip, 360. Remember you'll need 4 qualifying flights to get silver though, will the Iberia flights count? Thanks for your support, I hope you have a great trip. Phil
@@mygreygapyear I’m not sure the Iberia sectors count as the minimum 4 BA metal flights. I think they might. Either way I’ve done Dublin to Istanbul on BA metal in January so have the 4 sectors covered.
@@mygreygapyearjust about to board the flight back to Dublin via Madrid. I can confirm on the way out I did get 140 tier points for the mad to cai sector. However Dublin to Madrid was not automatically rewarded so I will have to follow up with BAEC but I’ll do that once I’ve seen if both return flights get credited. Apparently issues are common when flying with Iberia Express. But all you have to do is book the flight on Iberia website and all should work out.
Thanks for your comment, there's two parts to this I guess. Part 1: for me the production is part of the fun and Part 2: Although lounge access is a big bonus, but there is more than just that ua-cam.com/video/j-828PrFd7g/v-deo.html
Fascinating and Frustrating I tried to run your searches just a few days after your post and could not match the prices (Sofia and Bulgaria around £200 more and Istanbul closer but still higher). I suppose it shows the dynamic pricing in action and so it is the luck of the draw as to when you search. Is there a best time of day and day of the week to search? If I get Gold then I think it will cost me more the £3000 as I just don't seem to be able to find these deals. ☹. I will continue my hours of searching!!
I've got a few good routes that are consistent on price if you're looking for some new ideas. Are you starting from scratch or do you need a set number of points. And what is the membership month end you're working on, are you leaning into April to March like me?
@@mygreygapyear My membership year end is July and so I am also looking at April and May. Pretty much starting from scratch. Not quite up to the go east option yet but considering short-haul plus routes. Thanks for any advice. I find I spend hours, literally, trying to search and compare routes on Google Flights.
@@mygreygapyearMy membership year end is July and so I am also looking at April and May. Pretty much starting from scratch. Not quite up to the go east option yet but considering short-haul plus routes. Thanks for any advice. I find I spend hours, literally, trying to search and compare routes on Google Flights.
If you're looking for BA holidays in the next couple of months then you might be disappointed. I look fairly regularly and flights up to October seem fairly steep. But once you duck into the holidays website you might find that BA have got some discounted fares in there, they often do.
Thanks for your comment, I can see your point of view on this but I do get a lot of value out of my status with BA, especially as my seat is usually in economy at the back.
@@alexarcher97 Thanks for sharing your views, much appreciated. I've actually explored Gold vs Silver in another video, so you might enjoy that, ua-cam.com/video/Ua8Jw2fMQNs/v-deo.html
You and Matt's planet posting on the same day 👍 Brilliant and informative as always.
Thanks for your kind comment, I'm messing with the release date a bit at the moment and I was thinking of moving to Fridays, so it would still be fresh on Sundays if it was runs and prices and so on.
Phil - stumbled across your channel and as another 50 something felt an immediate connection. Subscribed !!
Thank you for your kind comment and your support, it's much appreciated.
Brilliant. Half expected a well-known environmentalist to interrupt your spreadsheet and shout "how dare you!", but that give me all the more motivation to get more tier points!
I know what you mean, I've always tried to find tier point runs that were just holidays with status being the added bonus but it is getting increasingly difficult.
Many of us are in this reconsidered requalification strategy but live on the other side of the Atlantic. My year ends June 8th so decided to do the East Run (AUH-CMB-CGKx2 +CGK-HKG-TPE returns) in late May/early June plus four BA flights next month (DUB-LHR-GLA rtn) in Y upgraded with Avios. Using points to position to AUH from/back to YYZ and have previously booked a trip to DUB.
Nice work, good luck with your run
My TP year ends 8th of June. Didn’t realise I can start collecting against the new TP year as of 1st of April. Opens up a whole world of opportunities. Thanks for the insight.
My pleasure, thanks for the comment and support.
Brilliant Phil. Good timing. We’ve got a couple of BA holidays booked in April , just to secure silver mind you. Glasgow - london 5 nights and Glasgow - Istanbul for 5 nights to secure silver. 30 April 2026 will be nice to hold that silver status. The lounge access, baggage and seat selection is def worth it. Gold would be nice but we’re happy with silver tbh
Silver is an excellent sweet spot and will almost certainly be where I aim for in the future. I hope you have two wonderful trips.
Just started following you. Really helpful information I’ve just signed up to BA and got blue so will start totting it up.
Thanks for your support, it's much appreciated. Planning is the key to earning status, if you're a few points short of Gold (or silver) then you may well have a wasted effort.
Good luck with your status run and let me know how if goes,
Phil
I’m doing Stockholm Lisbon via Helsinki return with a LCC positioning to Stockholm for 360 pts then home to Man via HEL for another 80 pts. Nice little 2 day adventure. I didn’t have the time for a BA holiday double up and needed a quick turnaround. The ARN HEL ARN adds a nice 80 pts.
Nice trip, hope it goes well, all the best,
Phil
How much did this cost?
@@idrewukoverall including hotels for the main run. £2.21 per TP. The whole trip inc the one way business class return to MAN included was £2.60 per TP. A little less efficient but the GUF2 it will bring is quite valuable for us……planning a SIN HKG open jaw in first…….
Phil. As informative as ever and packed with great ideas. As I write this I am sat in a coffeehouse ( Black Label) in Sofia on my last day of my 5 night holiday from Man-LHR-SOF rtn staying at the Novotel a very good trip that cost Just over £700. With another trip I did later last year Flights only, it will help me retain Silver.
The Novotel is a small but clean and comfortable hotel but it is about 1hr 10mins walk from the main city. It is on a metro route though which takes about 20 mins if you don’t like to walk much😊 10 mins in a taxi from the airport at a cost of 10 levs or about £5.
Still love the spread sheets, keep em coming.
Steve. C.
Thanks for sharing your information on Sofia Steve, much appreciated. I think an hours walk would be interesting once, but not constantly, Metro sounds good though.
Hope you're having a great trip,
Phil
@stevecraven3502
I've stayed at the Novotel, had Gold and they gave me a suite, which was gorgeous.
As you say, it's a bit remote from the city. I don't mind walking, but they don't like pedestrians :-)
The biggest hassle was getting a taxi from SOF, because it's not very lucrative for them. Like you, I managed it for £5, but he wasn't happy.
After that, I've used the Ibis at the airport, which has a chaotic shittle bus, but the staff are lovely and the bar/restaurant is open extremely late.
Cheers for this, good to see others ideas! Im not in the TP game at the moment, mainly focussing on getting some Avios and 241 vouchers going for a couple of nice anniversary LH flights next year with P2 in tow. Did see an interesting thread on FT Forums for BAH to Doha crop up - but thats almost more of a one and done for silver.
Thanks for your comment, hope you have some great trips with the two-for. I haven't seen that thread for BAH, sounds interesting.
Really insightful information, planning on doing this from next years tier window. Planning now so that it’s possible
Thank for your comments, much appreciated
A question: is it within the BAH double Tier point rules to fly within the UK? Also do flights have to be 5 days apart as well as Car Hire in order to qualify?
Thanks for your question, firstly I want to say that the full terms and conditions are here: www.britishairways.com/content/executive-club/offers/holidays-double-tier-points#TnC
And you should always check with BA if you're unsure, they are the final arbiters and they have changed the rules several times.
The really short answer is if you're trying to game the system they've probably closed the loophole you're thinking of.
However, I think you should be able to take a holiday in the UK, say flying from Manchester to London, and then renting a car, but it would have to be 5 days rental and you would have to actually pick up the car and then drop it off 5 days later. I'm not sure if this would help you get the tier points at under £2 per point though.
Stumbled on your page trying to find a way to renew my gold status without ruining us, as BA Holiday's screwed us by taking the rest of the world off the eligibility list for double tier points. Some interesting tips and ideas though, thank you!
Welcome to the channel and the community, thank you for your kind comments. All the very best with your run, let me know how it goes.
Great information Phil and well presented. Came to the comments to check NCL got a shout out as a provincial airport - not disappointed
Thanks for your support, the North East is getting a lot of love. Definitely on the Back to Back list.
Great advice! Do you have any ideas about achieving Silver?
Funny you should ask,
ua-cam.com/video/Ua8Jw2fMQNs/v-deo.htmlsi=mrIVMB9OC355ug2f
That video talks about the differences between Gold and Silver and the costs with some ideas.
Thanks
Phil
As a US resident, I've decided to do BA runs (instead of my usual RJ) for the next qualifying period! I realized while I was making my oneworld elite strategies video that I would need less than 2/3 the number of flights to reach Sapphire status using BAEC (19 or less) vs Royal Jordanian Royal Club (30) within a year. I just need to plan for holidays in Europe via London or Madrid to get those required native/internal segments in. So BA it is! POOOKE!!!
Great to hear you're coming to Europe for your qualifying flights, hope you have a great trip. Let me know if you fancy a cuppa
Thanks for another great video. I recently came back from a trip to Germany where I flew out but came back by train. Highlights will be uploaded in the coming weeks but I used points and only paid 50p for the flight but taking into account the points i got for everything else, hotels travel etc, i got 1.4p for my redemption. The novelty of using the business check in, fast track and lounge for such a cheap economy ticket was too much of a draw for me.
My silver status runs to august next year so I intend to make the most of the perks. 🙂
I love priority check in, the longer the economy queue the more I love it (same way I love having a toll tag for the M6 Toll 😀) Enjoy your perks, you've earned them.
So this is my first year actually trying for any tier. If I’m correct in understanding by the end of Jan 25 I should have about 550 tier points. Close to silver will these tier points carry over to my 2025 total post April as that is when my current year also ends or will I need to fly before April to secure silver status for the following year
If you're current old school membership year ends on the 8th January, points earned after the 1st April 2024 will still be valid until 31st March 2025. At this point your tier point total resets to zero, so you need to get those 50 points before then.
Loving the vids thanks for the great content… don’t forget about newcastle (it’s where I’m from) anyone from London it’s great as you can get off and straight back on again.
To make use of the tier points in this year and next I’ve managed to book a cheeky NCL-LHR-MAN-LHR-NCL for 160 and came in for under your price per tier point which is great but not the most exciting trip.
Later in the year I’m going a bit mad and heading west rather than east but starting from Dublin
NCL-LHR-DUB (to get to starting point)(40+40)
DUB-LHR-JFK-LAX-LAS
40+140+140+40
And then the same back again (880 for about £1600)
Thanks for the comment, I won't forget Newcastle 😀. Nice runs, I haven't been able to find anything reasonable to the USA and I do want to go that way
Always great videos. Thanks Phil. Any runs you've seen to explore more Asia or Americas ? Q3/4 2024?
Well the go east section is pretty consistently priced all year round (with a few weeks advance booking). Another viewer commented on Flights in and out of Kuala Lumpur, flying with Malaysia to regional airports and to Taipei. Then the Jakarta / Taipei run is cheaper with Cathay if you start in Taipei, so getting to KUL cheaply and starting there can work.
USA is can generate some excellent tier points, I would head over to Matts Planet and watch his most recent Matrix video on how to find, plan and book that one.
Thanks,
Phil
Quick question….my membership year runs to April 25. I’ll be going for silver next year - if I get silver in say Feb 26 do I keep silver for the next membership year from April 26 to April 27? So basically do you keep your status the year after you gain it or do you lose it as soon as your year ends ?
Thanks for your question, once you achieve any status level you have that status and all the benefits for that membership year and for the next membership year. So if you have no status and then go silver in February 2026 you will be silver until 31st March 2027. Then you would still get the grace period which would last until 30th April 2027. Then you'd soft land to Ruby.
However, if you're able to time your trips earlier in the membership year, say in April, May and June, then you will have more time as a silver member.
Best of luck, let me know how you get on and if you have any other queries please let me know,
Thanks
Phil
@@mygreygapyear fantastic thank you, sorry for the stupid question it’s only when you are actually doing something seriously these things pop up. Love the channel !
@@courtybellaroadmodelrailwa1906 Thank you for your kind comment, and I'm happy to answer all questions, the only stupid question here is the one you didn't ask 😊
Useful tips, I have 845 tier points with a year end 08 June and just debating whether it’s worth a couple of flights/runs to achieve gold again or just soft land to silver this year.
I think time and money come into the getting of the points, but if you do qualify then you'll get your status on the current/old system and you'll have gold benefits until 31st July 2025, but your soft land to silver will only take you to 30th April 2026. If you do nothing you've earned Silver this year, so you should remain silver until (I believe) until 31st July 2025, so in this scenario you could look to requalify between the 1st April 2025 and 31st July 2025 to requalify silver/gold before that status runs out.
Good luck,
Phil
I did Finnair Stockholm Helsinki Lisbon return for 360 points. I positioned to Stockholm for £18 with Ryanair from Liverpool. Great trip.
Nice, the £18 positioning cost is the real kicker.
As usual learned some things even though I try to stay on top of the tier point options! Didn't know about the domestic Malaysian or Morocan options\ However you did miss a few potential ones - there's a 140 TP option from Cairo to Madrid (and vice versa) on Iberia. It has terrible flight times but I reckon it's the most points efficient way to get to Abu Dhabi: London- Madrid-Cairo and then probably Etihad to Abu Dhabi. Another cheap points route that I found recently was El Paso->LAX->JFK->Mexico City, but this is only available in the US summer months but on the back of a ex-EU flight could get close to Gold in one trip.
Thanks for your comment and continued support, it's much appreciated. I think UA-cam has thrown a wobbler because I can't see my previous reply. I can't remember what I said exactly, but thank you for the tips Tim, much appreciated. I think Madrid to Cairo is an excellent idea, could be the new Abu Dhabi to Jakarta.
I like the sound of El Paso->LAX->JFK->Mexico City for the sheer joy of it.
Thanks again,
Phil
Hi Phil, any suggestions on cheapest way for me to get 500 tier points, which is what i am short on for gold? thx
Personally, I would look at a short haul plus holiday from a regional airport, you'd get 480 points and a brilliant holiday in a destination you probably wouldn't travel to. Although you're a little short of your target, you could pick up 20 points in economy, just check your ticket code.
Alternatively, if you'd prefer to just fly from London then 320 points for your holiday, and then another trip but focused on flights, so short haul plus again.
And finally, if you want to splash out on a proper holiday, a BA holiday to New York, Dubai or Doha would earn 560 points.
Thanks
Phil
Hi Phil. In the future, could you add more of your experience/plans regarding Finnair? Their wide-body business class looks like a really attractive product.
Good routes on Finnair for tier points that I've seen aren't on their new A350s with the new business seat, Helsinki - Malaga is over 2000 miles but has the European Business seat. I do want to try the A350 that flies between London and Helsinki though.
I'm hoping to generate gold in 2 trips and for about 2k. inv-lhr-tlv return witch car hire booked for 7 days 360 TP doubled because of the promo 720, do this trip twice (september and December) and a return INV to LHR gives another 80, totals 1520, the only trip i wouldn't be anticipating is the return inv lhr or similar, the TLV flights are planned already. Thanks for the great content!
Very nice, great tip, thanks
Another entertaining post Phil. Does this mean that your grey gap year will continue for another year? Here’s hoping.
I should have enough money to keep me travelling until September then we'll see 😀
Thanks for your support,
Phil
Lovely video Phil. I’m sticking to Silver this year, but thinking of getting a premium status on the Star Alliance . Flying BA especially around in Europe is no fun, the seats are uncomfortable, the food is bad (recently flew to Istanbul, and me and three of my travel companions got sick), and the lounges are overcrowded. Planning to fly to Turkey again, but in a different airline.
Wow, got sick from the airline food, that is terrible. I've been thinking about Star Alliance too, I think from a video point of view Matt (Matt's Planet) nailed it and generally the best way for UK residents to get Star Alliance status is with Agean.
I hope your upcoming trip to Istanbul is better,
Phil
2 questions please :
1. You mentioned about the term and condition of being a UK citizen based on BA holidays criteria ? So you can't achieve gold status if you are not a UK resident using the formulas you proposed ?
2. Achieving 560 Tier points from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta, that includes booking everything on BA holidays and do the same thing 3 times in order to reach gold status ? The 3000 pounds cover the whole cost ?
Thanks for your questions.
1. The UK citizen criteria is part of the double tier points offer rather than a condition of being a member of the Executive Club, which anyone can join and get status with.
2. The Abu Dhabi to Jakarta run could be booked with Sri Lankan but then you would enter your executive club number on the Sri Lankan booking form. That run is about £800 per round trip at the moment, so £2,400 but I would have positioning costs to factor in too.
Happy to help with anything else if you have any follow ups, all the best,
Phil
Thanks for the kind explanation and the nice hacks.
Once you achieve gold status, how many flights are required to maintain the gold the gold status ? Not really lifetime, because I saw you require 35000 tier points for lifetime gold but how many flights with british airways or its partners are needed before the validation date ?
@@theshieldhero7062 It is 35,000 for lifetime gold, but for everyone else, you're awarded the level of status you achieve as you achieve it and you keep that level for the rest of that membership year and the next membership year. If then you don't have enough tier points you soft land to down one level, so if you're gold you go to silver.
@@mygreygapyear Thanks a lot. Really appreciate your time and detailed explanation.
Having watched loads of TP videos I've come to the conclusion that if you're going to go on these holidays or catch these flights anyway then it's worth it to get the TPs to get status ... But if you're spending money just to get TPs ( Abu Dhabi to Jakarta )... Then getting AMEX platinum card with lounge access is a much better option ... But that's just my opinion... Good video and I enjoyed watching it
Thank you for your kind comments and for sharing your views, much appreciated. My view is similar to yours, I'm always looking for something beyond tier points when I plan my trips.
This looks so much fun! I was intending to do a first class flight (shortest and cheapest I could find) to ensure I continued in Silver, but it really doesn't look that hard to try to Gold given what you have shown here, and...who doesn't love another spreadsheet to play with!!!!! I do want to try first class once (looking at a cheeky trip to Egypt or Dubai to qualify)
Oh, I love a good spreadsheet. Good luck with your status chase, short haul plus business will give you better value than first, but I'd love to hear how you get on.
All the best,
Phil
Some good ideas there, many thanks. I shall certainly check out CX and MH.
My personal preference is to do connection add ons to trips I was going to do anyway, and avoid back-to-backs. I'm happy to allow to cost of these to go a bit above GBP2/TP as I look at the incremental cost too. Starting out of AGP to HEL was giving me some reasonable collections when I booked in January, but they seem to have killed that off for now. Maybe worth keeping an eye on though.
I too originally baulked at the Avios price of LHR-DXB/AUH, but I actually need to start that in Spain this time, and as I can combine two >24 hour stopovers in the UK, plus get free (or cheap? Can't quite work it out...) cancellation/changes with the Avios booking, it ups the value to somewhere around 1.78p/Avios, at least v that exact route paid for in hard cash. And being cancelable I can risk waiting for a UL sale.
Thanks for the comment, my £2 target is part of my personal challenge, and I agree with you that it really does come down to personal value.
Thank You ✈️. Do you ever think about American Airlines?
(Tongue in cheek response) Only when I'm feeling lonely at night 😀 Genuinely though, I look at every trip with the view to maximising my travel for the lowest possible cost, and I'm sure I'll be on American at some point.
I got two excellent holidays in Malta and Corfu which were really good deals. Plus a west coast point run.. so hopefully that will get me gold soon.
Well done you, I haven't seen anything that looks good to Greece or Malta. Good luck on your status chase, let us all know how you get on.
Thanks for this information, I didn’t know the double tier points offer was extended until 30 June 2025. You missed out Aberdeen as a Hub, my ‘local’. I regularly fly to LHR & 99% of the time after booking a return BA then offer club upgrades for £79 singles, this is a cheaper way of flying club then booking club straight away 👍
Thanks for pointing out the missing Aberdeen airport, I am curious, do you get an email offering the Club upgrade, is there a particular place in the app of the website to upgrade? I've never been offered a paid upgrade so I'm interested.
@@mygreygapyearI’ve been offered upgrades since before Covid. Go into manage my bookings and it’s there along with change seats, add bag, print itinerary etc….rarely is it not there & when that happens, it then normally offers it when you check in via the app if there is still availability.
I was still allowed to fly during covid & as you know, BA dropped the tier point levels. They use to be £69 upgrade singles then it was reduced to £59 so I achieved Gold before my year end and remained Gold May 21 through June 23. Return fares ABZ to LHR during Covid were never more than £70 along with £118 upgrades =£188 Club return.
It' so lovely to see you, you always brighten my day handsome Phil x
And you make me blush every time I read your comment
@@mygreygapyear can’t help being your biggest gay fan 😅🥰
Hi Phil, I thought I would nest this message here rather than on the latest upload so less people see it. Can you please blur and mute frame 0:55 in the latest upload, people can find you on Facebook and your posts security there needs tightening for better online safety. Have a great weekend handsome x
@@HaiderAlDelfi Do you mean my name being spoken and in print?
@@mygreygapyear just checked Facebook is much tighter now, nicely done 👍
A question regarding the Malaga to Helsinki route with Finnair. Can the 280 tier points return be achieved in Business light? How to calculate the number of tier points per trip with Finnair?
I'm honestly not sure, but I imagine so. The thing here is to find the fare code when you book it and then check it on the BA website here: www.britishairways.com/travel/flight-calculator/public/en_gb
Sorry, just as I clicked reply I found the answer, I believe (he says absolving himself of all liability) that the answer is yes. On the BA website the booking class is I and on the BA website this shows up as 140 tier points, but if you're unsure then check with Finnair (not as easy as you might thing)
Hi Phil, I have a question that im hoping you might use as an interesting exercise in one of your videos. I fly to Japan quite a frequently but not quite enough to maintain gold. Do you think I could construct an interesting one off tier run journey whereby I hop, skip and jump my way to Tokyo HND via some of the places you mentioned in this video - Sri Lanka, Jakarta, Malaysia - and stack up the points. How close to gold could I get in one trip? Would they all be high tier earning / over 2000miles? Could I fly back to the UK direct? Id be really interested in hearing you discuss how you’d go about optimising the directions and destinations. 🩶
I think we're almost there in the Go East Section with the final destination being Taipei. Both Scoot and Jetstar run low cost flights between Taipei and Tokyo (NRT though). I think you're real issue here is if you're thinking about booking a one way itinerary, as full service airlines love to jack up the price on those.
I'm not sure what your restrictions are but could you change airlines and fly with Malaysian via Kuala Lumpur, or with Qatar and break it up that way. It really is about finding the best way to segment that flight up into more flights and TP.
Incidentally, the Jakarta to Taipei run was "traditionally" Jakarta to somewhere like Sapporo in Northern Japan via Hong Kong as each leg would then be over 2000 miles and earn 140 Tier Points.
Good Luck and thank you for your support,
Phil
Hi Phil, any tips to help me make Gold. I need 835 points before 31/03/24. Would prefer to do it in 1 or 2 trips, any suggestions would be great.
Thanks, Andy
I'm going to make a video about this prompted from your comment Andy, but to get you started I think you'll need to go beyond the classic BA double tier points holiday offer although this is a good place to start.
1) So look for short haul plus destinations that you can make a holiday with, so Sofia with car hire (Cold though) or Bucharest with hotel (also cold but lots of Bars to enjoy). Tirana will be a little warmer and I'm off to Athens (not so cheap but somewhere I've always wanted to go). Also look at Istanbul in January.
2) Dublin to Cairo: This consistently offers 360 points for about £2 per point.
3) UK flights. When they were on sale (business class sale) Flights around the UK were under the £2 per point target but now they're a little over that. Newcastle is currently the best value
4) Now this is a goodie because you could get the points you need in about one week. And under the £2 target. So...
4a) Fly with Finnair from London to Stockholm via Helsinki (this will be more than £2 per point but will yield 160 points round trip)
4b) Fly with Finnair from Stockholm to either Malaga or Lisbon (this should be below £2 and will yield 360 per round trip)
4c) repeat 4b before you fly home.
Total cost: Approx. £1,719 for 880 tier points (80 + 360 + 360 + 80).
Good luck and let me know how you get on and have an amazing trip,
Phil
With regards to Morocco, no need to worry about visas… come and go as you please
That is great to hear, thank you for letting me know, much appreciated.
Great video! I’ve just re qualified for gold (as of 08/03/24), I’ve been trying to get my head around the TP changes.
Based on your video, if I re qualify again this year, do I keep status for 2 years?
I'm not sure it will be worth requalifying before the new rules kick in next year (1st April 2025), but it will depend on your current year ending month. However to answer your question, if you (re)qualify between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025 (the "Transition Period") you will keep that status level until 30th April 2026.
I find it very hard to see on BA’s website how many tier points a certain trip collects. Where do you find that information easily?
Check out today's (24th March) Head for Points article 'How many tier points does each British Airways flight earn?' - they have the latest table
Thank you @justsomejo for your tip, that article can be found here (best to view it on a larger screen like a laptop or tablet in landscape), this shows tier points from London
www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/24/how-many-tier-points-does-each-british-airways-flight-earn/
The other main thing to consider is the distance between destinations, so London New York is over 2000 miles so it's 140 TP, and so on. It won't take long for you to get a feel for distances.
Good Luck,
Phil
You're welcome...😉
Shame I'm still awaiting both MH and CX to credit me some of my flights...until they arrive I wont trigger my new Gold status.
I did 7 flights with MH, mostly KUL-PEN over a 36 hour period (just 33 minutes in Kota Bharu too) and got to know the lounge staff at KUL very well.
Also don't forget, MH from KUL to TPE is also worth 140tp and well priced to link up with these domestic hops after you've had your adventure in Taiwan.
I also then completed TPE-HKG-CGK-HKG-TPE-HKG-CGK in one hit on Cathay...who have credited 4 of the 6 P fares but keep rejecting 2 sectors for unknown reasons...I keep fighting for answers.
It should again be noted there are Indonesian visa costs of £25 on the CGK runs, and it's also a challenging getting all the boarding cards you need and to transfer at CGK if like me, you go straight back to HKG trying to avoid immigration.
Happy travels 👍🏻
Thanks again James, I'm loving these runs to the far East, which I might need to reconsider, I've well and truly lost the holidays I was planning so Go East might be back on.
Just make sure if you include the TPE-KUL leg on MH for 140tp....avoid the A330-200. It was a shocking product...one of the worst seats I've ever sat in, and I would, in hindsight, much preferred the 737 regional product.
Happy travels and keep up the good work 👍🏻
Why do you need to do a tier point run? If you fly enough normally to get status then you don't need and, and if you don't fly enough on a normal year, then what benefit does spending thousands to get lounge access give?
It's a fair point, one I have explored in other videos and comments (I think the Q & A video might cover it: ua-cam.com/video/LL2L4AxBm9I/v-deo.html)
But, to answer your question, there is an element of fun and challenge to it (why would anyone climb a mountain or do anything really) and there is a feeling of "beating the system" with taking flights that are just into one points bracket or a flight that costs very little but gets me lots of points.
And to give you a thought on the "don't fly enough then what's the benefit?" point (again a fair and relevant point), I could take 100 economy flights in a year and not get status, but if I did take a few flights in business then I would be silver or gold and those flights in economy would be significantly more comfortable and enjoyable.
I love food (you my have noticed) and I flew economy from Melbourne to London as a gold, I had a fine dining meal in Melbourne in the Qantas Lounge, fine dining in Kuala Lumpur (I wasn't flying with BA) in the Malaysian Lounge, I had the seat next to me empty on the long leg of the trip and I skipped the 40 minute check in queue.
On the way to Australia I also took two suitcases with me, one for me, one full of stuff for my daughter. No additional cost.
So for me, the benefits are two fold. I get some nice trips that are fun and exciting and I would be going on holidays anyway. But then I usually fly in the back of the plane in economy and those extra trips give me lots of benefits and make economy flying more bearable.
Thanks for your question, if you'd like to know some more about the benefits then I talk about them in this video: ua-cam.com/video/j-828PrFd7g/v-deo.html
All the best, I hope you have some amazing adventures in the future,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear thanks for the really detailed answer. I’ve always wanted to know why people did these tier points runs and no one has ever given me a proper answer to this until now. Thank you!
P.s this was the first video I had seen of yours - it just showed up on my feed so I wasn’t aware of you had already discussed this in another video
@@cypher686 No worries, I'm always happy to help. Welcome to the channel
wot about newcastle as a starting point phil
Good shout and there are some good value fares from London for super quick tier points.
Thanks
Phil
Ive considered man-lhr nesting back to backs.
The only problem is getting back through security at Manchester. Its out of arrivals and back up the stairs, a five minute walk but the security queues are a lottery even with fast track on your business ticket.
Why go back through security? It’s an internal flight so just get back in line when you come out the gate on arrival.
@rogerwild1966 @alannicol1223 Thank you both for your comments and support, I might try book a Manchester back to back and film it 😀
@alannicol1223 it can't be done. There is no internal transfer facility.
When you exit the aircraft, you are on the ground floor, departure is on the first floor. There is a lift at the gate between floors but it's used for wheelchairs to get to the jet bridge.
Mega LHR DOH Exec fare today sub £1000 return many dates through the year. Make it a BA holiday and you're golden.
Thanks for the tip, Radisson Blu for 5 nights with flights in Club with BA from the 19th to the 24th May is £1,034 for 560 TP, or £1.85 per tier point.
Thank you,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear might see you there!!
I think it was an error fare, they're gone now for sure...
Argh what a shame
I heard about the changes to the baec and booked dub-mad-cai return for the 1st of April. Iberia express booked through Iberia (important to have IB flight numbers!) for €780. All my research says this should net 360 tier points but I’m still a little apprehensive as BA only award 80 on the lhr-cai. If this works I’ll have gotten silver in 2 trips for €1150. Note: I’m based in Ireland so unless I reposition I cant avail of the holiday offer..
London to Cairo with BA is 80 Tier points (Short Haul Plus) but my research gets the same Tier Points as you for your trip, 360. Remember you'll need 4 qualifying flights to get silver though, will the Iberia flights count?
Thanks for your support, I hope you have a great trip.
Phil
@@mygreygapyear I’m not sure the Iberia sectors count as the minimum 4 BA metal flights. I think they might. Either way I’ve done Dublin to Istanbul on BA metal in January so have the 4 sectors covered.
@@niklasW5 Can you let me know when you've flown them please?
@@mygreygapyearjust about to board the flight back to Dublin via Madrid. I can confirm on the way out I did get 140 tier points for the mad to cai sector. However Dublin to Madrid was not automatically rewarded so I will have to follow up with BAEC but I’ll do that once I’ve seen if both return flights get credited. Apparently issues are common when flying with Iberia Express. But all you have to do is book the flight on Iberia website and all should work out.
@@niklasW5 Thanks for letting me know, it's much appreciated.
Well, I’m from the US, so couldn’t do this, but my word… what a production just for lounge access. 🤦♂️
Thanks for your comment, there's two parts to this I guess. Part 1: for me the production is part of the fun and Part 2: Although lounge access is a big bonus, but there is more than just that ua-cam.com/video/j-828PrFd7g/v-deo.html
Fascinating and Frustrating
I tried to run your searches just a few days after your post and could not match the prices (Sofia and Bulgaria around £200 more and Istanbul closer but still higher). I suppose it shows the dynamic pricing in action and so it is the luck of the draw as to when you search. Is there a best time of day and day of the week to search?
If I get Gold then I think it will cost me more the £3000 as I just don't seem to be able to find these deals. ☹. I will continue my hours of searching!!
I've got a few good routes that are consistent on price if you're looking for some new ideas. Are you starting from scratch or do you need a set number of points. And what is the membership month end you're working on, are you leaning into April to March like me?
@@mygreygapyear My membership year end is July and so I am also looking at April and May. Pretty much starting from scratch. Not quite up to the go east option yet but considering short-haul plus routes. Thanks for any advice. I find I spend hours, literally, trying to search and compare routes on Google Flights.
@@mygreygapyearMy membership year end is July and so I am also looking at April and May. Pretty much starting from scratch. Not quite up to the go east option yet but considering short-haul plus routes. Thanks for any advice. I find I spend hours, literally, trying to search and compare routes on Google Flights.
If you're looking for BA holidays in the next couple of months then you might be disappointed. I look fairly regularly and flights up to October seem fairly steep. But once you duck into the holidays website you might find that BA have got some discounted fares in there, they often do.
Don’t forget Newcastle as a regional hub…
Another shout out for the North East, thank you and thank you for your support.
I would fly with you anywhere!
Thank you, you're very kind
So you're paying £2900 for what exactly?
If you'd like to know more about the perks of status you can find out all about them in my BA status video, ua-cam.com/video/j-828PrFd7g/v-deo.html
I know about them. Just can't see any of that being worth more than about £50...
@@turkeyphant Jon, I find you a truly fascinating person (accusations of dishonesty aside).
Just spend the money!!
👍
Hello sir Are you looking for a professional UA-cam thumbnail designer?
Please email me on phil @ my grey gap year . com with some examples of your work.
Thanks
Phil
@@mygreygapyear already send
@@mygreygapyear Hello
@@mygreygapyear already send
Gold pointless waste of time and money unless you achieve it naturally
Thanks for your comment, I can see your point of view on this but I do get a lot of value out of my status with BA, especially as my seat is usually in economy at the back.
Silver seems much better value for cost/value
Still get:
Lounge, priority check and board, free seat selection.
@@alexarcher97 Thanks for sharing your views, much appreciated. I've actually explored Gold vs Silver in another video, so you might enjoy that,
ua-cam.com/video/Ua8Jw2fMQNs/v-deo.html