Thanks Alex, I've always had the list of chapters in the description but I think I'd ticked a box that I should untick (or something), but any and all feedback is always welcome, especially constructive criticism that helps me improve. Thanks again, Phil
Excellent video, we managed gold last year... Qatar Airways from Oslo to Abu Dhabi was a particular highlight. Q Suites to Doha then first class to Abu Dhabi, which allowed us to access the first lounge in Doha, and the first class bus to the plane was brilliant. Sadly, Bankok was still restricted, which was our original destination. Also found a first class to SFO for £100 more than business and, of course, extra tier points.
Oh Colin, I am green with envy. I have a (hopefully) Q-Suite flight booked and I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you for letting everyone know that Oslo to Doha is scheduled to be a Q-Suite, I really appreciate it. SFO for business + £100 sounds like a bargain. Thank you again for your comments, please keep in touch, Phil
A very comprehensive guide. That was my pre-2020 budget, but an extra £1,000 for positioning hotels (B2B is too intense for me). They have also removed the SOF/OTP-HEL-RIX corridor - that was the sweet spot, 400 TP return. I'm off in a few days with BAH - £2 per TP, Silver's enough for me.
Thanks for your comment and support, it's appreciated. I want to try some back to backs but mostly because I think they'll make an interesting video. Have a good trip, stay safe. Thanks Phil
I’ve only just found your channel, fantastic stuff and extremely interesting! You’ve fired up my wife and I to try to get silver status as it works best for us more so than gold. Keep these types of videos coming there great !
Silver is the sweet spot for many people and I imagine it will be my sweet spot in the future, once the double tier points offer ends. I'm so happy to hear you're inspired by the videos as that is my motivation for making them, so you've made my day. Thank you for the feedback, Phil
Thanks Phil - as I remember from extracts from tax letters to HMRC, one to an Inspector concluded “ you explained that so clearly that I almost understood it “. Seriously, it’s helped me a great deal, as a Midlander, the Qatar flight option from BHX makes life a little easier.
Well hello fellow Midlander. Thank you for your comment, if HMRC could understand it then I consider this high praise 😂 BHX to Doha is a new route and there is some Avios availability in business from both Birmingham and Manchester. Thanks Phil
Thank you for your kind feedback, I was planning to make one when I book my own Gold requalification in January / February. Would you benefit from one between now and then? Do you have a date you want to book for? Let me know and I'll see if I can make a video for your booking date 😊
Hah my story will shock you. I’m 38 and have never left the U.K! I have just got an AMEX BA Platinum card and was looking for my first holiday and found your video when looking into the BA exec scheme. It’s making me consider taking a mid life gap year and following in your footsteps, I particularly enjoyed when you were looking at deals with hotels and business flights. I had no idea what could you could get for a few hundred quid! It’s making me wonder why I haven’t done anything earlier.
This is a brilliant video Phil. Something I'd sort of overlooked is how a hotel or car hire can really help rack up the TPs by doubling them. And the foresight to start booking trips early in the next Exec Club calendar year. £2/1TP sounds a very good target and Excel spreadsheet definitely required!
Thanks for your kind comments, BA currently make earning status simple and affordable if you pick the right routes at the right time of year. If you're going to go double tier points through BA holidays make sure you have a BAxxxx flight code (for your BHX flight). If it's a Qatar code then you don't qualify for the offer, but BA holidays tend to offer BA coded flights. Let me know how you get on, Phil
Love these videos, so informative. I must admit I'm a little in overload as this is new to me, but I do travel/cruise a lot, mainly solo like yourself, so probably missed a lot over the years through lack of understanding, , so am exceptionally interested - thank you again 🍻
Also, you should look into making this video (and the others) chopped up into shorts format and posting to YT shorts, your other social pages etc. Some programs out there to do this automatically for free - extra content for the same effort 👌🏻
Thank you for the kind comment Dean and thank you for the sub. I'm so happy the you got something out of the video, and although I don't really feel comfortable in front of the camera I do work hard to appear at ease, so it's nice to hear that it comes through to the viewers. Thank you again, Dean, you feedback means a lot to me, Phil
If you had a back to back Tier point run on different bookings and say your return inbound for example to LHR was late and you missed the flight even though you added in a good few hours would BA be responsible, therefore rebooking or accommodating till next day?
Thank you for your follow up question [LONG RESPONSE ALERT!] Short answer is almost certainly not, they'll wash their hand of you. Long Answer: I think the easiest way to look at this is, that for every flight you book you are responsible for checking in and getting to the gate on time. If you do this then the carrier is responsible for getting you to your destination. And I suspect the answer to your question is no, BA wouldn't be responsible for you missing your flight (but it might be). Typically if you do a back to back to somewhere like Sofia then you'd usually be on the same aircraft coming home that you went out on so if you're delayed out you'd be delayed back. You would need to be hand baggage only and then you'd check in on the app and you'd be at the gate on time because it couldn't board the return until you landed and disembark at the gate. To get the best prices you'd need to book the outward and return flights on separate tickets (different references for Manage My Booking) and in this case you BA wouldn't accept responsibility if you missed the flight because (in their view) you had failed to show up on time. On the video I talk about a Glasgow same day round trip that you can book with BA on the same booking reference. I think that in this instance BA *might* be responsible for you missing your flight and *could* help you out with a hotel, although in reality the outbound is more likely to be on time than the return and if this wasn't the case you'd need to consider abandoning the trip. Although BA provided me with a hotel when I missed my Athens connection this was because I was on a BA Holiday, passengers who were flight only had to fend for themselves unless they were Gold. I want to put a further example in here for anyone reading this comment, because this is an important point and I have read in the press about people getting caught out with this, If I booked a flight from London to Bali via Singapore as a single ticket (origin London and Destination Bali) and the flight to Singapore is delayed and I miss my connecting flight then the airline will have to get me to Bali. However, what if I decided to be clever and book two separate flights to get me to Bali via Singapore to save money. If my flight to Singapore was delayed and I missed my flight from Singapore to Bali then that is my tough luck. I didn't check in and clear security and get to the gate on time and that is not on the second carrier. There are (or certainly were) some booking websites that were selling these kinds of tickets with no warning to the unsuspecting purchaser. Another (among many) reason to avoid online booking engines for flights, it is a false economy. Thank you for your question, all the best. Phil
Hi Phil, very comprehensive response I was coming to same conclusion, I guess BA of old was different now it’s your problem not ours. I guess if you had the time and patience & not bothered about double tier points you could just do a mega multi city booking with hand luggage, maybe fun to work out best value & least flights way to obtain silver. Cheers Gareth
Great video, thumps up! I already did the Sofia and Bucharest trips (without BA Holidays), I really have an eye on the Jarkata thing, maybe I'll do that next year ;-) In the past I really liked the west coast trips from BUD, there were routings like BUD-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL, which gave 920 TP for about € 1.200,-, ok you had to fly to BUD, but that gave you just more TP's... Hope we see those offers again, haven't seen them for some time now :-(
Thank you for your kind comments. Like you, I yearn for those West Coast USA trips, I want to plan and book one of those trips, the geek in me demands it. I think Sofia 2024 is on the cards, do you have any tips on best places to eat or things to do? Thanks Phil
@@mygreygapyear unfortunately I haven't spent time in Sofia, as I did a back to back ;-) But next time I consider some more days to explore the city :-)
Thank you for a very informative video! I’m currently a Plat with Finnair Plus (OWE). Their scheme is changing dramatically in January, as they are adopting Avios as their currency and going all spend-based. I’m seriously considering jumping ships to BAEC, so this was extremely useful for me.
Thanks for your kind comments, I'm glad the video was helpful. I think all schemes will go spend based at some point which is why I'm planning to requalify as BA Gold this year rather than soft land to Silver.
@@dave518 I'm not sure consensus is the right word, but according to some on forums you can just go into the car hire and let them know it's a tier points run, they've heard it all before and it's routine to not get the car. However, you do always run the risk that it could invalidate your double tier points, so I'm not going to recommend it. If you go onto Expert Flyer you'll see a lot of information on there.
@@dave518 I do talk briefly about hotel "Bedroom Runs" briefly in a recent video. In the IHG scheme the best benefits are from nights stayed rather than money spent, so my recent stay in Jakarta earned me 6 nights towards status at £21 per night. This would have been the same if I was staying in a suite on Park Lane for £1,000 per night. But you have to check in.
Hi Phil and thanks for the great video. As I understand it clause 1f in the current Terms and Conditions of the BA holidays double TP "Bookings can only contain one flight departing the UK, multiple journeys from the UK within one booking will not qualify." will stand in the way of adding any leg within the UK to London (i.e. from Manchester or Edinburgh to London) to up the amount of TP you will receive with the BA Holiday Double TP promotion.
Thank you for that interesting question, that kicked my brain into gear this morning. My initial instinct was that Edinburgh flights *must* still qualify because "British" Airways can't suddenly start excluding all of Britain except London, but I've called the BA Gold line to check. This new clause brought in on 27th September is to close a loophole of multiple flights leaving the UK on the same itinerary For example, if I booked London to New York, New York to London, London to Madrid, Madrid to London with a hotel or car hire somewhere in there then this would previously have gained double tier points for all flights, but clause 1f closes this loophole because this is now "multiple journeys from the UK within one booking" To be clear, a holiday departing Edinburgh to Sofia would still get the 480 tier points. Thanks Phil
Please never apologise for asking an interesting question that benefits the community, I'm really glad you did and I was glad to help. If my tone in my response indicates otherwise then it's I who needs to apologise. Thank you again for your question and if you have any others please don't hesitate to ask them Phil
Positioning into Abu Dhabi can be done by booking an avios seat from eg Sofia or Bucharest with Qatar. As a Bruce bonus, If you book a business class seat, you will be booked onto first class between Doha and Abu Dhabi (as there is no BC seat) and will therefore have access to the first class lounge. Probably best done as part of an actual trip to Jakarta/Indonesia/Asia though, rather than a pure TP run
Thank you for your comment and suggestion. I do want to try out the first lounge in Doha it looks amazing. I agree with you on the Abu Dhabi to Jakarta run being better if you have plans to travel Asia. Thanks again, Phil
Really great, Phil! Would love to find the easiest way to go Gold with BA when having LHR on my doorstep! Travelling to/from MAN or EDI each time seems very wasteful despite the points opportunity, particularly if travelling as a family.
Thank you for your comment and thank you for the sub, it means a lot. You make a valid point about the trip up to Manchester being wasteful and if you have a young family then changing planes at Heathrow would be stressful. But, depending on your budget there may be a compromise, perhaps mix some long haul in there. Or you could start with a few days in Edinburgh and see the Castle or fly to Inverness and have a short break in the highlands? You would need 5 separate 5-night holidays at 320 points per holiday if you did round trips from LHR but if you had one trip to Edinburgh and a holiday from there your would come home with 560 points which is close to Silver and it might be the status level for you. Good Luck Phil
I have top tier status with two different airlines...United Airlines - 1K status (Star Alliance) and British Airways - Gold status (One World). I will say it was easy to acquire Gold Status with B.A., especially living in the U.S., and the fact I fly business class @ 140/160 tier points a flight leg. On an average I'lll get 360/380 tier points a trip. Four trips will give me gold status, so the rest is simply relaxing as I fly for comfort only! Harder to reach United Airlines 1K status, but being retired I do enjoy my Hollidays traveling the world!!...🌍Cheers🌎 I don't use Avios for flights nor do I use those "companion pass", given to me...in-fact I currently have (7) of those passes that expire by the end of 2024. Great video 👊respect👊
Thanks for your kind comments. I agree with you in that BA seems to be an easy scheme to qualify for even without the double tier points offer, the queues for status lounges in Heathrow are testimony to that. Surprised you don't use your Avios, you could probably find flights on American or Alaskan if you didn't want to fly in and out of London. Or transfer them to Qatar, even better. If you have a large quantity Qatar have "poor value" double the avios cost rewards, but if you have Avios sitting idle it could be a good way to use them. I've recently released a video about finding reward availability which you might find helpful Thanks Phil
Phil. Check out the KK Hotel Elisabeta for a stay in Bucharest. not expensive when I went last December and it's very central to the old town and is a very nice, friendly and comfortable hotel. Very friendly staff. Steve. C
I'm sure someone else has commented, but I think there is an error in Option 3, you have a flight from Manchester on the 15th, but you'd be in Athens until the 19th? Either way, excellent quality video, extremely helpful and we will be making use of your tips in 2024. I wish I had known about your channel before I booked our first class return to Sydney!
Thank you for your kind comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and managed to get something out of it. First Class to Sydney, that sounds absolutely stunning, forget about points and just enjoy the experience. Also, thank you for highlighting that issue, you're quite right, for option 3 to work I would have to do some more research on finding dates that would connect up properly (I could have just fudged the spreadsheet but really didn't want to). I think what I would actually do is two back to back, so fly from London, two trips out of Manchester then fly back to London. Then separately I would take one more BA holiday from London at 320 points and one short haul plus flight at 160 (no holiday). One trip would probably be a second Sofia trip later in April / May when it's warmer and the other would just be a trip that I wanted to do regardless of tier points. (TP would be 40 for LHR to MAN, 480 * 2 for Holidays, 40 for MAN to LHR, 160 Sofia flight, 320 BA holiday from London. Total = 1520) This would *possibly* take me over the £3k budget I set myself in the video but the additional trips would make that worthwhile. But it's an academic exercise because I live in the Midlands. Thank you again for your comments and your support for the channel, Phil
@@mygreygapyear What a wonderful reply. You inspired me to add 5 days of car hire to our upcoming flight to Sydney. I'm hoping that because we have added 5 days of car hire to the booking, that it may be eligible for double tier points? Our closest airport is London, but we're flying from Manchester, as for some unknown reason, business class there, and first class back was far cheaper from Manchester than from Heathrow, even with the additional flights. If we get the double tier points - it will all be down to you! You've got yourself a new subscriber for sure! You're a legend!
Interesting video-have booked double TP holidays for myself and wife and being Jersey beans we can get those to Europe for 320 points per trip-earning the other tps for gold is more difficult as that will only get us silver-have booked one Jersey Edinburgh for another 160 and looking at a couple of Bucharest for 240 each.
Thanks for your comment, I've heard of Jersey - London - Amsterdam runs but I haven't ever thought of trying a Jersey run and remaining in the UK before, thanks for the idea, much appreciated. Bucharest would get you 240 points each way if you took advantage of the double TP offer for sure. Good luck and thanks for the support, Phil
Excellent insight but is it worth it? I have been flying BA for years and almost never have an issue getting to gold. I travel premium economy for the most part but I very rarely get bumped to business….
Thanks for your comment, I'm not sure which question you're asking though? I do think gold status is worth getting if you regularly travel in economy and premium economy, but perhaps not for the hope of an upgrade, although I have had free upgrades in the past. Gold is most worth it when travelling economy and I get an empty seat next to me. I find this probably more comfortable that premium economy with someone in the seat next to me, because I'm short, so legroom doesn't matter to me. It also helps when I'm travelling and need additional suitcase space. All the best, Phil
@@mygreygapyear I think that’s fair as well when you are paying for the flight. I fly for work a lot of long haul, over the years this has changed to now through a provider so I have to play by those rules which also seems to limit what I can do with things like upgrading. I have found that although gold with BA my upgrade success rate with united has been 99% better. I guess I was asking in general is it worth it, your answer is great.
When I made the video I was getting £814 with Sri Lankan, I've just looked and I'm getting £809. So not cheap, with the double tier points offer I don't think it offers value by itself, you'd need a reason to be in Jakarta / Asia. If you're not getting that price try using an incognito window, it might be tracking you?
I have just come across your channel by chance Phil and have subscribed to it as I have enjoyed the few insightful vlogs I have watched as I am just about to soft land from Silver to Bronze with my year end as 30th June, want to be in the know. I think I have a grace period but not sure if you could advise. I am relatively new to tier point runs (though not hotel runs) and a bit confused about attaining Silver again with BA when you mention doing Tier point runs with Qatar and other OneWorld carriers. Can you confirm that I do not have to take all of my tier point run flights with BA to get Silver with them?
Thank you for your comment and welcome to the community, to requalify for silver you'll need 600 tier points and take 4 "eligible flights", which is pretty much BA flights (www.britishairways.com/travel/ecjoinbaflights/public/en_gb) and that is in any class. The tier points you earn with the eligible flights count towards your total and you can earn the tier points with any Oneworld Alliance member. So to answer your question directly, no you don't need to earn the tier points with BA just make sure you credit them to your BA executive club account when you book.
Thanks for getting back, but your use of "'pretty much' BA flights" has me confused😂. For example if I take two flights on, say, Qatar and two on BA that comes to 600 and link my Exec club number to the Qatar flights, I'm guessing that does not work. But, the tier points from the Qatar can go towards the BA Silver but not the flights, which have to be four on BA as a minimum. Have I got that bit right?
This link will explain eligible flights: www.britishairways.com/travel/ecjoinbaflights/public/en_gb and you need 4 of those to be silver. Tier points from your Qatar flights count towards the 600 tier points but don't meet the criteria for eligible flights. Hope that clears it up, but if not do please message again, happy to help out, Phil
It definitely is, but I think the BA holidays might not be such good value, BA have extended the offer but increased the prices on the bargain breaks. One excellent value trip is taking two round trips, Heathrow-Helsinki-Stockholm with Finnair. Then, also with Finnair fly Stockholm-Helsinki-Malaga. This should net you about 600 tier points for under £2 per point. The Stockholm-Helsinki-Malaga offers the better value so you could do this a few times from Stockholm and mix it up with your final destination being Lisbon rather than Malaga. There are some good ideas in this video ruclips.net/video/Xib5ngS8TIM/видео.html although the prices will have changed the ideas are still valid.
Great video Phil, thanks for all this. Can I ask, to get the double up points from going to a destination. For example Abu Dhabi to Jakarta via Columbo,do I have to book each flight separately ie. 1 flight from Abudhabi to Columbo and then another from columbo to Jakarta? Or if i book the complete trip with a layover in Columbo but on the same booking, does this get me the 2 flight tier points? Hopefully this makes sense.
Thank you for your question and your support. I'm assuming we're talking double points by breaking a flight into legs on a flight only trip rather than the BA holidays double points offer, which requires a 5 night stay in a hotel and a UK departure. So taking Abu Dhabi to Jakarta via Colombo, you would earn 560 tier points in business on a round trip assuming you flew with Sri Lankan Airways. Their hub is Colombo so you would fly in and out of there. In Google flights you need to search for Abu Dhabi to Jakarta and set the filter to Oneworld carriers and look for the Sri Lankan flight. It will have one stop in Colombo by default. By booking the two legs together you will get a better price and Sri Lankan will be responsible for getting you to your destination if you have a delay out of Abu Dhabi. Let me know if I can be of any further help, Phil
Great informative video. Is there any way of getting double Tier points taking a short hall holiday between Jan 25 and Mar 25. Before everyone gets realigned to 1st April as the start of a new Tier point collection year? I need to get 240 Tier points to get to Silver.......and time is running out....DOH!
I made this video on that very subject recently ruclips.net/video/mkX8pxofW8E/видео.html That should be of some help, I'm currently travelling and can't really do any more right now. Good luck, Phil
Hi Phil, when you calculate your cost per Tier Point do you include food expenses per day in your calculations? I ask because the double TP offers do require staying 5+ days at the destination which obviously means additional costs eating out etc. (I'm thinking about when the trip is more a TP run than a planned vacation).
Thanks for your question and your support. I think there's two aspects to this. Firstly, I don't count the increased cost of food when I'm calculating tier points but I do think about the value of the trip. So when I was considering the cost of Abu Dhabi to Jakarta I included all the associated costs because I was making that trip for tier points. On a double tier points trip I would be unlikely to take the trip unless I wanted to be there, I wouldn't just sit in a hotel in Sofia for 5 nights watching Netflix. Although with the Sofia trip, I could have 5 nights car hire, park the car and then fly to the UK, return to Sofia and return the car and fly back on the original holiday. One double tier point round trip, one regular tier point round trip. The other point is I can live for very little, I have simple tastes and can take great pleasure out of a bottle of local wine, bread and cheese. Most places have somewhere you can eat on a budget. Thank you for your excellent question, Phil
Great video. Very informative. Thank you. Currently trying to retain silver status. 8 Dec 23 expiry. What is the best way to achieve this if I am in the US?
Thank you for your question. Well I have to say I'm not 100% sure and it really does depend on where you are and how many points you need. Are you in the BA scheme or are you with AA and do you need all 600 points for silver? Off the top of my head one route that I've heard of but never tried to book or fly on is from the New York area or Washington to Raleigh Durham. This route can be segmented to make it 2 or 3 flights at 40 TP per flight in business (or is it called First in the USA?)at no additional cost and can cost around $200 - $300 and offers excellent value. I've also read that Alaskan Airways often have good routes that offer valuable points per dollar, it's a case of digging in and finding them. One good place for advice or help on booking this is on the FlyerTalk website, there is a tier point run forum. The more specific you are on there, the more people will be able to help you. Good Luck and all the best, Phil
Great video Phil! I have a question - let's say if I booked Manchester to Sofia via London as a single trip, will I receive 40+80 tier points each way, or just the 80 each way? Or do I need to book and pay for the Manchester to London flight separately in order to gain the additional 40 tier points each way? Thanks!
If you book Manchester to Sofia you will get 40+80 tier points each way. If you make it a qualifying BA Holiday by booking 5 days car hire or hotel at the time of booking (other t&cs apply so please read those) you'll get your tier points doubled. If you're going for the holiday it all needs to be booked together, if you book the Manchester to London bit separately then that doesn't get doubled.
@@mygreygapyear Thanks Phil! Having been inspired by you, I will try to achieve gold status some time in the future as well, so much to learn! Will be keeping an eye on all your videos thanks!
That's a really useful video. Thanks Phil. What interests me there is the BHX - BKK trip, but I've got no interest in staying in BKK for 5 nights. Been there loads, rather go elsewhere. So if I book the 5 night holiday through BA but don't bother going to the hotel, do you know whether the hotel would contact BA and tell them I was a no show and would that then invalidate the double tier points promo?
BA recently tightened the rules on the offer and now your car hire or hotel has to be during your stay, in the place you're going to and you have to collect the car or check into the hotel (I can only imagine how much people were taking advantage of this). So if you don't check in (and presumably check out) then you are in breach of the rules. But that's not your question. Do I think the hotel will tell BA you were a no show? I'm not sure. I suspect that BA's appalling IT won't manage that particularly well and the hotel telling BA that you didn't stay can't be in their favour so I can't imagine that the hotel would want to tell BA. Having said that it is a risk and I'm not sure I would want to take it. Maybe better to rent a car and just park it somewhere? Let me know how you get on. Thanks for your question, Phil
Love this video! Gonna use this for when I get married and go on trips with my wife :) just a question when you say book a flight from Edinburgh to Sofia with London stay, do you just book on Ba Edinburg to Sofia or do you book the tickets separately as in first you do Edinburgh to London and then London to Sofia as a different flight? Could you just clarify that for me thanks you ❤
Thank you for your kind comment and your question. You book the flight as a single trip from Edinburgh to Sofia through BA Holidays on a single ticket and because there isn't a direct flight from Edinburgh to Sofia then BA will book and price up the two flights on the holiday. You can edit the flights at the hotel page.
Thanks for the video! But am I correct in thinking that BA have changed the way they assign avios and tier points and it is now based on how much youpaid for the fare?
Thanks for your question, the way tier points are assigned are still based on sectors and the mileage brackets, so Paris from London in Business still gets 40 tier points, short haul plus, for example Sofia and Bucharest, gets 80 points and over 2000 miles still gets 140 tier points. However, Avios earning has changed and that is based on spend, excluding fees and taxes. The bonus for status has also changed. This head for points article is a good explainer, www.headforpoints.com/2023/07/18/british-airways-elite-status-bonuses-cut/ Thanks Phil
If you want to use on a flight good luck getting one every time me and the wife want to use it there’s no seats available I’ve tried dozens of time over the years and nada!
The problem is not doing it one year. The problem is spending 3000 x 2 pax every single year. 😂😂 I normally spend more than 6000 a year in travel but on 5, 6 trips a year flying the cheapest of the cheapest in Economy so my chances of getting gold are none. 😢
If you're only planning on spending on Economy then you're right getting status is very difficult, but you don't have to renew every year. The BA status year runs from the 1st April to the 31st March. If you got Gold status in April or May 2025 you would have that status for the rest of that BA year and then also for the next BA year, until the end of March 2027. Then you'd have a grace period where you keep your benefits until the end of April 2027. Then you'd soft land to silver for a year.
@mygreygapyear oh its not easy, isn't it? i have a question then... I might actually reach Silver in February as per my calculations. So doesn't this mean that in 31/Mar I will loose all the tier points and go back to Blue?
@@yepthatsme83 Thanks for your question. When you hit a status level you remain that status for that year and the whole of the next membership year. So if you became Silver in February 2025 you will be silver until the end of March 2026. Then you will get a grace period where you still get your silver benefits for April 2026. After that you soft land to Bronze for a year, then to Blue
Hi Phil, thanks for the super informative video :) I need to go from Bangkok to Dubai to Manchester/Birmingham in November then back to Bangkok. I am currently Bronze & have 90 points & want to get to Silver on this trip. Any bright ideas how to get to silver for minimum cost/legs without doing any crazy side trips? thanks PJ - I forgot to mention I have flown zero BA flights so far this year, so need the 4 operated/marketed legs too!
Do you have to go via Dubai? If so, to keep things as cheap as possible you could do economy class with Emirates for BKK-DXB-MAN/BHX (no Executive Club points) and then return to BKK from MAN/BHX via DOH with Qatar in business class.
@@oliverbatt3559 Hey Oliver thanks for the reply. Yeah I have a work trip to Dubai then the UK after that. I forgot to mention that I also need 4 BA operated/marketed sectors in this trip to meet the silver card requirement. Paul
Thank you for your kind comments Paul, it's appreciated. If you'd like to go silver in this trip and you are anchored to Dubai with your business trip then I would consider Bangkok to Dubai via Doha with Qatar (400 points round trip) then Dubai to Manchester via LHR with BA (360 points round trip in business). This will give you enough points to get you silver and you'll have the 4 qualifying flights. This will be significantly more expensive than Oliver's excellent suggestion but if it's a work trip then you might not be footing the bill. Qatar out of Manchester and Birmingham (re)started this year and I've seen some good pricing in business and award availability. One thing to note, BHX to DOH is the old 787-8 seat (old pod style lie flat seat) but MAN to DOH is the new 787-9 closing door suite, designed especially for Qatar 787-9 fleet, apparently very similar to the new BA Club Suite but not as good as Q-Suite. Good luck Paul, and all the best Phil
@@mygreygapyear Hi Phil thanks for the suggestion. I am footing the bill unfortunately. Think I have cracked the code on this one... Sri Lankan Airlines business class (Bangkok to Dubai via CMB) - 180 Tier points,. BA premium economy Dubai via London to Manchester (100 Tier Points) - then Qatar Airways (Birmingham to Bangkok) booked with BA flight numbers - business class (280 tier points) - I already have 90 points. 610 points. Total cost is around 2000GBP (Sri Lankan 600GBP then BA 1500GBP/7000AED or so)
@mygreygapyear yes please. I'm planning to try and get to silver later this year or get my mum to gold as she's already silver. maybe if you can comment or video about travelling with relatives or partner and is it worth getting status for both or from a cost and economical point of view better to just have one person get status?
The important point here is that people who fly get tier points and you have to fly to get them. So you can't both fly and give the tier points from both flights to one person. So if you and your mum are travelling together you'll both be earning your own status. The other thing to consider if one of you is going to get status then if you travel without them you have no status, you'd just be a BA blue. There are also limits on "guest benefits", so a status holder can guest one person into a lounge but if there's three of you and one status holder then you might have a difficult choice to make. Although seat selection is free for the party at the time of booking for silver I think this is maxed at a party of six people. I'll try and do some proper research and put it in a future video. Thanks PHil
@mygreygapyear exactly for the guest benefits. if let's say I wasn't a frequent traveller but would be nice to experience the perks of silver or gold status.
Hi Phil, I was wondering if I booked a flight and hotel for 2 people, would I get the tier points for both? so London to Sofia is 80 points each way so 160 per person double to 320 with the double points offer, would i get 640 points? following on from this are the tier benefits shared with the people you bring on the trips? Thanks for all the videos!
Thank for your question and your kind comments. It is a great question but the short answer is no, you don't get the tier points for both passengers. Each passenger get's their own tier points for flying, so you would enter your Executive Club number and your travel companion would enter their membership number in the passenger details of "manage my booking". You would each earn tier points and status independently of each other regardless of who makes the booking or who pays for it. If you were flying with children they too would earn their own tier points and status if you enrolled them in the Executive Club. Thanks Phil
Phil. Ive checked out the Birmingham - BKK holiday you mentioned (it is standing at £2024) but it has offered me a travel class change from Business to Economy to make the deal cheaper, on the return leg from BKK to DOH. To change that to make it Business class, it wants +£380. did it do this to you? if you leave it as Economy from BKK - DOH, would it affect the tier points, or would you still get 140 from BKK-DOH, as its they who are changing it? Steve. C.
It did that to me Steve, I had to go in and change it from Economy to Business which gave me a price of £2198 after the change, this was on Friday 8th. The price must have moved. Unfortunately, you would only get economy tier points if you flew economy.
Google flights doesn't give you the mileage of a flight or the tier points available but you do very quickly get a feel for where you should be looking. Starting with Short Haul Plus is an easy way to begin especially while the double tier points offer is still available.
Have Family membership so can share Avios for my wife who resides in Argentina and difficult for her to use them. I pay for her ticked and based in UK and go to Argentina. Can I as family member share her Tier points. It’s all confusing
Thanks for your comment and question. Unfortunately you can only get tier points by flying and you have to fly to get them. So when your wife flies then she will get the tier points, there's no sharing those I'm afraid.
That is the unfortunate thing about these videos, they are quite time sensitive. If I put up a price on Sunday from earlier in the week it might already be unavailable for viewers. This video is quite old now and the prices for May will have gone up as we get ever nearer.
Hi and thank you for your comment, I don't currently have a grey gap year website but for things like this it would be useful. In the interim if you email me from the email on the channel page I will happily reply with the spreadsheet attached Thanks Phil
If you go onto the about tab and click on "Show Email Address" next to business enquiries, it will show it there. It's a bit long winded but it's done this way to prevent spammers scraping the screen.
Of course you can, although it's rather out of date now. If you email phil @ my grey gay year.com (remove the spaces) then I'll dig it out and email it back to you.
@@mygreygapyearHi Phil, great video. Tried to email you but think it’s signed me up to something a little strange…just checking, did you mean “gap” instead? Cheers
Yeah, sorry, gap not gay, typo. GreyGapYear.com, I think it's time I got the website up so that this was a lot simpler, 😊 I wonder how often I misspell that without realising?
Thank you for your question. The short answer it yes. The long answer is... BA's idea is that once you are gold you earn 1500 tier points each year to retain gold. If you don't earn enough tier points to retain gold then you "soft land" to silver. So my gold status ends in July 2024 and my plan is to requalify gold in July / August 2024 and I will then be gold until July 2026 (because I'll requalify early in my new membership year in 2024). Then in 2026 I'm planning to allow myself to soft land to Silver (still get lounge access) and reassess in 2027 /28 when my silver status ends and decide what I want to do regarding BA status. If this doesn't properly answer your question then please follow up and I can make sure you get the information you need. Thanks Phil
Thanks for your question, it's a good one that is asked a lot and the answer is that passengers who fly get tier points regardless of who books the flight. So if you book two flights and you and another passenger fly you will each get your own tier points, you can't double up. Thanks Phil. ps. Dare I plug my Status Q&A video? ruclips.net/video/LL2L4AxBm9I/видео.html This and other questions are answered here, 😊
Thank you for your question Alex. On a trip last year I was flying out of Melbourne in Economy with Malaysian Airways. My gold status entitled me to skip the huge and slow moving economy check in line (straight into Business check in), I had a three course gourmet meal, with wine paired with each course, in the First Class Lounge (Brandy and espresso to follow), the seat next to me was one of five empty seats on the flight (this is called Gold Seat Blocking), when I connected in Kuala Lumpur we were delayed over 2 hours so about a five or six hour layover, but I had the choice of the business class lounge with buffet, bar and sleeping area or the first class lounge which also had an a la carte restaurant and a more private sleeping area. That's right, BA status got me all that when flying Economy with Malaysia 😊 If I was flying BA I would get free seat selection for me and my travelling group which would include extra leg room seats in European Economy, And there's more than that. You can find out this and more in my preceding status video here: ruclips.net/video/j-828PrFd7g/видео.html Hope this helps, Alex and thank you again for your comment, I'm sure others would be thinking the same thing. Phil
Thanks for your comment, much appreciated. I looked at starting in Dublin when I flew in first and the difference was about £450 but it would cost more in points. Then there was the cost to get there, overnight hotel, so it was a coin toss for me, and I just flew from London because I wanted to maximise the time I had in the Concord room. Thanks Phil
Hi Rick, thanks for your comment. Are you looking at the prices from the video and not able to find them? Or are you saying that the double tier points offer excludes solo travellers?
@@rickreid8572 I've certainly booked them in the past and I've got the double points for them. I'll phone the call centre and see what they say, thanks, Phil
@@rickreid8572 You're right, I would have paid the hotel part myself rather than shared the cost with a travelling companion, if I remember correctly the costings in this video was for a solo traveller.
Thanks for the comment, I find it intriguing. I can't speak for the RUclips algorithm and it's recommendations, but I'd like to hear more about your views on "status".
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Also good to see you used chapters in this video, it really helps
Thanks Alex, I've always had the list of chapters in the description but I think I'd ticked a box that I should untick (or something), but any and all feedback is always welcome, especially constructive criticism that helps me improve.
Thanks again,
Phil
Excellent video, we managed gold last year... Qatar Airways from Oslo to Abu Dhabi was a particular highlight. Q Suites to Doha then first class to Abu Dhabi, which allowed us to access the first lounge in Doha, and the first class bus to the plane was brilliant. Sadly, Bankok was still restricted, which was our original destination. Also found a first class to SFO for £100 more than business and, of course, extra tier points.
Oh Colin, I am green with envy. I have a (hopefully) Q-Suite flight booked and I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you for letting everyone know that Oslo to Doha is scheduled to be a Q-Suite, I really appreciate it. SFO for business + £100 sounds like a bargain.
Thank you again for your comments, please keep in touch,
Phil
The First Class Lounge at Doha is amazing. Also did you know you can pass through immigration in the lounge rather that queuing
A very comprehensive guide.
That was my pre-2020 budget, but an extra £1,000 for positioning hotels (B2B is too intense for me). They have also removed the SOF/OTP-HEL-RIX corridor - that was the sweet spot, 400 TP return.
I'm off in a few days with BAH - £2 per TP, Silver's enough for me.
Thanks for your comment and support, it's appreciated. I want to try some back to backs but mostly because I think they'll make an interesting video. Have a good trip, stay safe.
Thanks
Phil
I’ve only just found your channel, fantastic stuff and extremely interesting! You’ve fired up my wife and I to try to get silver status as it works best for us more so than gold. Keep these types of videos coming there great !
Silver is the sweet spot for many people and I imagine it will be my sweet spot in the future, once the double tier points offer ends. I'm so happy to hear you're inspired by the videos as that is my motivation for making them, so you've made my day.
Thank you for the feedback,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear your very welcome look forward to move 😊
Thanks Phil - as I remember from extracts from tax letters to HMRC, one to an Inspector concluded “ you explained that so clearly that I almost understood it “. Seriously, it’s helped me a great deal, as a Midlander, the Qatar flight option from BHX makes life a little easier.
Well hello fellow Midlander. Thank you for your comment, if HMRC could understand it then I consider this high praise 😂 BHX to Doha is a new route and there is some Avios availability in business from both Birmingham and Manchester.
Thanks
Phil
Thanks for a really informative video. Well presented and easy to follow, really appreciate the amount of work that went into this.
Thank you for your kind comments, glad you enjoyed the video and you were able to get something out of it.
Thank you for this video! Please make more similar videos every so often, I’ve learnt so much from watching this.
Thank you for your kind feedback, I was planning to make one when I book my own Gold requalification in January / February. Would you benefit from one between now and then? Do you have a date you want to book for? Let me know and I'll see if I can make a video for your booking date 😊
Hah my story will shock you. I’m 38 and have never left the U.K! I have just got an AMEX BA Platinum card and was looking for my first holiday and found your video when looking into the BA exec scheme. It’s making me consider taking a mid life gap year and following in your footsteps, I particularly enjoyed when you were looking at deals with hotels and business flights. I had no idea what could you could get for a few hundred quid! It’s making me wonder why I haven’t done anything earlier.
This is a brilliant video Phil. Something I'd sort of overlooked is how a hotel or car hire can really help rack up the TPs by doubling them. And the foresight to start booking trips early in the next Exec Club calendar year. £2/1TP sounds a very good target and Excel spreadsheet definitely required!
Thank you for your comments and your support. Good luck with your own plan for Gold. Let me know how you get on,
Phil
great video Phil I really enjoyed it! Made getting status with BA feel easy - the BHX flight looks well appealing! Gonna check that out
Thanks for your kind comments, BA currently make earning status simple and affordable if you pick the right routes at the right time of year.
If you're going to go double tier points through BA holidays make sure you have a BAxxxx flight code (for your BHX flight). If it's a Qatar code then you don't qualify for the offer, but BA holidays tend to offer BA coded flights.
Let me know how you get on,
Phil
Love these videos, so informative.
I must admit I'm a little in overload as this is new to me, but I do travel/cruise a lot, mainly solo like yourself, so probably missed a lot over the years through lack of understanding, , so am exceptionally interested - thank you again 🍻
Thank you for your support, It's a lot to take in so I'm glad the videos are helpful
Another great video Phil 👏🏻 closing in on 500 subs already, absolutely smashing it, keep it up 🎆🎇
Hand drawings on these are a great touch!
Also, you should look into making this video (and the others) chopped up into shorts format and posting to YT shorts, your other social pages etc. Some programs out there to do this automatically for free - extra content for the same effort 👌🏻
Thanks Alan, appreciate your support.
Another great video Phil, oozing information and easy to follow. You have been blessed with a very nice presentation style. Superb work again!
Thank you for the kind comment Dean and thank you for the sub. I'm so happy the you got something out of the video, and although I don't really feel comfortable in front of the camera I do work hard to appear at ease, so it's nice to hear that it comes through to the viewers.
Thank you again, Dean, you feedback means a lot to me,
Phil
Discovered you by chance. Absolutely fantastic you keep it simple and clear.
Keep up the good work
Thank you so much for your kind comments, much appreciated.
If you had a back to back Tier point run on different bookings and say your return inbound for example to LHR was late and you missed the flight even though you added in a good few hours would BA be responsible, therefore rebooking or accommodating till next day?
Thank you for your follow up question [LONG RESPONSE ALERT!]
Short answer is almost certainly not, they'll wash their hand of you.
Long Answer:
I think the easiest way to look at this is, that for every flight you book you are responsible for checking in and getting to the gate on time. If you do this then the carrier is responsible for getting you to your destination.
And I suspect the answer to your question is no, BA wouldn't be responsible for you missing your flight (but it might be).
Typically if you do a back to back to somewhere like Sofia then you'd usually be on the same aircraft coming home that you went out on so if you're delayed out you'd be delayed back. You would need to be hand baggage only and then you'd check in on the app and you'd be at the gate on time because it couldn't board the return until you landed and disembark at the gate.
To get the best prices you'd need to book the outward and return flights on separate tickets (different references for Manage My Booking) and in this case you BA wouldn't accept responsibility if you missed the flight because (in their view) you had failed to show up on time.
On the video I talk about a Glasgow same day round trip that you can book with BA on the same booking reference. I think that in this instance BA *might* be responsible for you missing your flight and *could* help you out with a hotel, although in reality the outbound is more likely to be on time than the return and if this wasn't the case you'd need to consider abandoning the trip.
Although BA provided me with a hotel when I missed my Athens connection this was because I was on a BA Holiday, passengers who were flight only had to fend for themselves unless they were Gold.
I want to put a further example in here for anyone reading this comment, because this is an important point and I have read in the press about people getting caught out with this,
If I booked a flight from London to Bali via Singapore as a single ticket (origin London and Destination Bali) and the flight to Singapore is delayed and I miss my connecting flight then the airline will have to get me to Bali.
However, what if I decided to be clever and book two separate flights to get me to Bali via Singapore to save money. If my flight to Singapore was delayed and I missed my flight from Singapore to Bali then that is my tough luck. I didn't check in and clear security and get to the gate on time and that is not on the second carrier. There are (or certainly were) some booking websites that were selling these kinds of tickets with no warning to the unsuspecting purchaser. Another (among many) reason to avoid online booking engines for flights, it is a false economy.
Thank you for your question, all the best.
Phil
Hi Phil, very comprehensive response I was coming to same conclusion, I guess BA of old was different now it’s your problem not ours. I guess if you had the time and patience & not bothered about double tier points you could just do a mega multi city booking with hand luggage, maybe fun to work out best value & least flights way to obtain silver. Cheers Gareth
Great video, thumps up! I already did the Sofia and Bucharest trips (without BA Holidays), I really have an eye on the Jarkata thing, maybe I'll do that next year ;-)
In the past I really liked the west coast trips from BUD, there were routings like BUD-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL, which gave 920 TP for about € 1.200,-, ok you had to fly to BUD, but that gave you just more TP's... Hope we see those offers again, haven't seen them for some time now :-(
Thank you for your kind comments. Like you, I yearn for those West Coast USA trips, I want to plan and book one of those trips, the geek in me demands it.
I think Sofia 2024 is on the cards, do you have any tips on best places to eat or things to do?
Thanks
Phil
@@mygreygapyear unfortunately I haven't spent time in Sofia, as I did a back to back ;-) But next time I consider some more days to explore the city :-)
Thank you for a very informative video! I’m currently a Plat with Finnair Plus (OWE). Their scheme is changing dramatically in January, as they are adopting Avios as their currency and going all spend-based. I’m seriously considering jumping ships to BAEC, so this was extremely useful for me.
Thanks for your kind comments, I'm glad the video was helpful. I think all schemes will go spend based at some point which is why I'm planning to requalify as BA Gold this year rather than soft land to Silver.
Alaska Airlines may also be useful for you.
Best video I’ve seen to chase status. Thanks. Much appreciated 🎉😊
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
@@mygreygapyear What's the consensus on not using the car hire? Will double tier points still apply?
@@dave518 I'm not sure consensus is the right word, but according to some on forums you can just go into the car hire and let them know it's a tier points run, they've heard it all before and it's routine to not get the car. However, you do always run the risk that it could invalidate your double tier points, so I'm not going to recommend it. If you go onto Expert Flyer you'll see a lot of information on there.
@@mygreygapyear Thanks for the reply, I wonder if the same can be done with Hotels...?
@@dave518 I do talk briefly about hotel "Bedroom Runs" briefly in a recent video. In the IHG scheme the best benefits are from nights stayed rather than money spent, so my recent stay in Jakarta earned me 6 nights towards status at £21 per night. This would have been the same if I was staying in a suite on Park Lane for £1,000 per night. But you have to check in.
Hi Phil and thanks for the great video. As I understand it clause 1f in the current Terms and Conditions of the BA holidays double TP "Bookings can only contain one flight departing the UK, multiple journeys from the UK within one booking will not qualify." will stand in the way of adding any leg within the UK to London (i.e. from Manchester or Edinburgh to London) to up the amount of TP you will receive with the BA Holiday Double TP promotion.
Thank you for that interesting question, that kicked my brain into gear this morning. My initial instinct was that Edinburgh flights *must* still qualify because "British" Airways can't suddenly start excluding all of Britain except London, but I've called the BA Gold line to check.
This new clause brought in on 27th September is to close a loophole of multiple flights leaving the UK on the same itinerary
For example, if I booked London to New York, New York to London, London to Madrid, Madrid to London with a hotel or car hire somewhere in there then this would previously have gained double tier points for all flights, but clause 1f closes this loophole because this is now "multiple journeys from the UK within one booking"
To be clear, a holiday departing Edinburgh to Sofia would still get the 480 tier points.
Thanks
Phil
@@mygreygapyear Thanks for clarifying, I did not understand the clause correctly then sorry.
Please never apologise for asking an interesting question that benefits the community, I'm really glad you did and I was glad to help. If my tone in my response indicates otherwise then it's I who needs to apologise.
Thank you again for your question and if you have any others please don't hesitate to ask them
Phil
Positioning into Abu Dhabi can be done by booking an avios seat from eg Sofia or Bucharest with Qatar. As a Bruce bonus, If you book a business class seat, you will be booked onto first class between Doha and Abu Dhabi (as there is no BC seat) and will therefore have access to the first class lounge.
Probably best done as part of an actual trip to Jakarta/Indonesia/Asia though, rather than a pure TP run
Thank you for your comment and suggestion. I do want to try out the first lounge in Doha it looks amazing. I agree with you on the Abu Dhabi to Jakarta run being better if you have plans to travel Asia.
Thanks again,
Phil
Really great, Phil! Would love to find the easiest way to go Gold with BA when having LHR on my doorstep! Travelling to/from MAN or EDI each time seems very wasteful despite the points opportunity, particularly if travelling as a family.
Thank you for your comment and thank you for the sub, it means a lot.
You make a valid point about the trip up to Manchester being wasteful and if you have a young family then changing planes at Heathrow would be stressful. But, depending on your budget there may be a compromise, perhaps mix some long haul in there. Or you could start with a few days in Edinburgh and see the Castle or fly to Inverness and have a short break in the highlands?
You would need 5 separate 5-night holidays at 320 points per holiday if you did round trips from LHR but if you had one trip to Edinburgh and a holiday from there your would come home with 560 points which is close to Silver and it might be the status level for you.
Good Luck
Phil
I have top tier status with two different airlines...United Airlines - 1K status (Star Alliance) and British Airways - Gold status (One World). I will say it was easy to acquire Gold Status with B.A., especially living in the U.S., and the fact I fly business class @ 140/160 tier points a flight leg. On an average I'lll get 360/380 tier points a trip. Four trips will give me gold status, so the rest is simply relaxing as I fly for comfort only! Harder to reach United Airlines 1K status, but being retired I do enjoy my Hollidays traveling the world!!...🌍Cheers🌎
I don't use Avios for flights nor do I use those "companion pass", given to me...in-fact I currently have (7) of those passes that expire by the end of 2024. Great video 👊respect👊
Thanks for your kind comments. I agree with you in that BA seems to be an easy scheme to qualify for even without the double tier points offer, the queues for status lounges in Heathrow are testimony to that.
Surprised you don't use your Avios, you could probably find flights on American or Alaskan if you didn't want to fly in and out of London. Or transfer them to Qatar, even better. If you have a large quantity Qatar have "poor value" double the avios cost rewards, but if you have Avios sitting idle it could be a good way to use them.
I've recently released a video about finding reward availability which you might find helpful
Thanks
Phil
Very well made video Phil, super clear now.
Thank you Marc, I really appreciate your kind feedback
Hi Phil ..fantastic video...very interesting and informative ...keep the vids coming mate 👌
Thank you for your kind comments and the sub Nicky, much appreciated.
Well done. Very informative.
Thank you for your kind comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the video
Phil. Check out the KK Hotel Elisabeta for a stay in Bucharest. not expensive when I went last December and it's very central to the old town and is a very nice, friendly and comfortable hotel. Very friendly staff.
Steve. C
Thank you for the recommendation Steve, appreciated.
I'm sure someone else has commented, but I think there is an error in Option 3, you have a flight from Manchester on the 15th, but you'd be in Athens until the 19th? Either way, excellent quality video, extremely helpful and we will be making use of your tips in 2024. I wish I had known about your channel before I booked our first class return to Sydney!
Thank you for your kind comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and managed to get something out of it. First Class to Sydney, that sounds absolutely stunning, forget about points and just enjoy the experience.
Also, thank you for highlighting that issue, you're quite right, for option 3 to work I would have to do some more research on finding dates that would connect up properly (I could have just fudged the spreadsheet but really didn't want to).
I think what I would actually do is two back to back, so fly from London, two trips out of Manchester then fly back to London. Then separately I would take one more BA holiday from London at 320 points and one short haul plus flight at 160 (no holiday). One trip would probably be a second Sofia trip later in April / May when it's warmer and the other would just be a trip that I wanted to do regardless of tier points.
(TP would be 40 for LHR to MAN, 480 * 2 for Holidays, 40 for MAN to LHR, 160 Sofia flight, 320 BA holiday from London. Total = 1520)
This would *possibly* take me over the £3k budget I set myself in the video but the additional trips would make that worthwhile. But it's an academic exercise because I live in the Midlands.
Thank you again for your comments and your support for the channel,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear What a wonderful reply. You inspired me to add 5 days of car hire to our upcoming flight to Sydney. I'm hoping that because we have added 5 days of car hire to the booking, that it may be eligible for double tier points? Our closest airport is London, but we're flying from Manchester, as for some unknown reason, business class there, and first class back was far cheaper from Manchester than from Heathrow, even with the additional flights. If we get the double tier points - it will all be down to you! You've got yourself a new subscriber for sure! You're a legend!
Enjoying the channel
Thanks Mikey, much appreciated.
Your video is amazing, thank you so much for sharing this information. Subbed.
Thank you for your kind comment and support, I'm glad you're enjoying them.
Thanks very much doing this video. Ever thought about an avíos conversion video (e.g. how to convert partner airline flights to avios)
Thanks for a great suggestion, appreciate it.
Thanks Phil, another great video
Thank you Alex, much appreciated.
Really good video. Great intro for a newbie.
Thank you Roy, your kind comments are very much appreciated.
Excellent tips. Thank you.
My pleasure, glad it was helpful.
Interesting video-have booked double TP holidays for myself and wife and being Jersey beans we can get those to Europe for 320 points per trip-earning the other tps for gold is more difficult as that will only get us silver-have booked one Jersey Edinburgh for another 160 and looking at a couple of Bucharest for 240 each.
Thanks for your comment, I've heard of Jersey - London - Amsterdam runs but I haven't ever thought of trying a Jersey run and remaining in the UK before, thanks for the idea, much appreciated.
Bucharest would get you 240 points each way if you took advantage of the double TP offer for sure.
Good luck and thanks for the support,
Phil
Excellent insight but is it worth it? I have been flying BA for years and almost never have an issue getting to gold. I travel premium economy for the most part but I very rarely get bumped to business….
Thanks for your comment, I'm not sure which question you're asking though? I do think gold status is worth getting if you regularly travel in economy and premium economy, but perhaps not for the hope of an upgrade, although I have had free upgrades in the past.
Gold is most worth it when travelling economy and I get an empty seat next to me. I find this probably more comfortable that premium economy with someone in the seat next to me, because I'm short, so legroom doesn't matter to me.
It also helps when I'm travelling and need additional suitcase space.
All the best,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear I think that’s fair as well when you are paying for the flight. I fly for work a lot of long haul, over the years this has changed to now through a provider so I have to play by those rules which also seems to limit what I can do with things like upgrading.
I have found that although gold with BA my upgrade success rate with united has been 99% better.
I guess I was asking in general is it worth it, your answer is great.
Thanks mate, I didn't want to just brush you off, glad I managed to answer your question, 😊
Great video and using hotel loyalty schemes helps reduce ongoing hotel costs
Thanks for your kind comment Hannah, that is a great point, if you can utilise hotel points to reduce the cost then that will help significantly.
@@mygreygapyear struggling to find cheap Jakarta flights mind
When I made the video I was getting £814 with Sri Lankan, I've just looked and I'm getting £809. So not cheap, with the double tier points offer I don't think it offers value by itself, you'd need a reason to be in Jakarta / Asia.
If you're not getting that price try using an incognito window, it might be tracking you?
@@mygreygapyear i think it was booking back to back trips that was cusing it to flip!
I have just come across your channel by chance Phil and have subscribed to it as I have enjoyed the few insightful vlogs I have watched as I am just about to soft land from Silver to Bronze with my year end as 30th June, want to be in the know. I think I have a grace period but not sure if you could advise. I am relatively new to tier point runs (though not hotel runs) and a bit confused about attaining Silver again with BA when you mention doing Tier point runs with Qatar and other OneWorld carriers. Can you confirm that I do not have to take all of my tier point run flights with BA to get Silver with them?
Thank you for your comment and welcome to the community, to requalify for silver you'll need 600 tier points and take 4 "eligible flights", which is pretty much BA flights (www.britishairways.com/travel/ecjoinbaflights/public/en_gb) and that is in any class. The tier points you earn with the eligible flights count towards your total and you can earn the tier points with any Oneworld Alliance member.
So to answer your question directly, no you don't need to earn the tier points with BA just make sure you credit them to your BA executive club account when you book.
Thanks for getting back, but your use of "'pretty much' BA flights" has me confused😂. For example if I take two flights on, say, Qatar and two on BA that comes to 600 and link my Exec club number to the Qatar flights, I'm guessing that does not work. But, the tier points from the Qatar can go towards the BA Silver but not the flights, which have to be four on BA as a minimum. Have I got that bit right?
This link will explain eligible flights: www.britishairways.com/travel/ecjoinbaflights/public/en_gb and you need 4 of those to be silver. Tier points from your Qatar flights count towards the 600 tier points but don't meet the criteria for eligible flights.
Hope that clears it up, but if not do please message again, happy to help out,
Phil
@@mygreygapyear You're a star thank you, I shall take a look at that.
Thanks Phil, very helpful
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it
Great video. 10months on, is the £3000 target still achievable?
It definitely is, but I think the BA holidays might not be such good value, BA have extended the offer but increased the prices on the bargain breaks. One excellent value trip is taking two round trips, Heathrow-Helsinki-Stockholm with Finnair. Then, also with Finnair fly Stockholm-Helsinki-Malaga. This should net you about 600 tier points for under £2 per point. The Stockholm-Helsinki-Malaga offers the better value so you could do this a few times from Stockholm and mix it up with your final destination being Lisbon rather than Malaga.
There are some good ideas in this video ruclips.net/video/Xib5ngS8TIM/видео.html although the prices will have changed the ideas are still valid.
thanks that was really helpful but could you link the spreadsheet below its fine if not.
I'm happy to share the spreadsheet, if you can email me, phil @ mygrey gap year . com (remove the spaces) then I'll attach and email it back to you. 😀
Great video Phil, thanks for all this. Can I ask, to get the double up points from going to a destination. For example Abu Dhabi to Jakarta via Columbo,do I have to book each flight separately ie. 1 flight from Abudhabi to Columbo and then another from columbo to Jakarta? Or if i book the complete trip with a layover in Columbo but on the same booking, does this get me the 2 flight tier points? Hopefully this makes sense.
Thank you for your question and your support. I'm assuming we're talking double points by breaking a flight into legs on a flight only trip rather than the BA holidays double points offer, which requires a 5 night stay in a hotel and a UK departure.
So taking Abu Dhabi to Jakarta via Colombo, you would earn 560 tier points in business on a round trip assuming you flew with Sri Lankan Airways. Their hub is Colombo so you would fly in and out of there. In Google flights you need to search for Abu Dhabi to Jakarta and set the filter to Oneworld carriers and look for the Sri Lankan flight. It will have one stop in Colombo by default. By booking the two legs together you will get a better price and Sri Lankan will be responsible for getting you to your destination if you have a delay out of Abu Dhabi.
Let me know if I can be of any further help,
Phil
Great informative video. Is there any way of getting double Tier points taking a short hall holiday between Jan 25 and Mar 25. Before everyone gets realigned to 1st April as the start of a new Tier point collection year? I need to get 240 Tier points to get to Silver.......and time is running out....DOH!
I made this video on that very subject recently ruclips.net/video/mkX8pxofW8E/видео.html
That should be of some help, I'm currently travelling and can't really do any more right now.
Good luck,
Phil
Excellent explainer video, Keep em coming…
Thank for your comment Paul, your support is appreciated
Great video!
Thank you, it's appreciated
Hi Phil, when you calculate your cost per Tier Point do you include food expenses per day in your calculations? I ask because the double TP offers do require staying 5+ days at the destination which obviously means additional costs eating out etc. (I'm thinking about when the trip is more a TP run than a planned vacation).
Thanks for your question and your support. I think there's two aspects to this.
Firstly, I don't count the increased cost of food when I'm calculating tier points but I do think about the value of the trip. So when I was considering the cost of Abu Dhabi to Jakarta I included all the associated costs because I was making that trip for tier points.
On a double tier points trip I would be unlikely to take the trip unless I wanted to be there, I wouldn't just sit in a hotel in Sofia for 5 nights watching Netflix. Although with the Sofia trip, I could have 5 nights car hire, park the car and then fly to the UK, return to Sofia and return the car and fly back on the original holiday. One double tier point round trip, one regular tier point round trip.
The other point is I can live for very little, I have simple tastes and can take great pleasure out of a bottle of local wine, bread and cheese. Most places have somewhere you can eat on a budget.
Thank you for your excellent question,
Phil
Great video. Very informative. Thank you. Currently trying to retain silver status. 8 Dec 23 expiry. What is the best way to achieve this if I am in the US?
Thank you for your question. Well I have to say I'm not 100% sure and it really does depend on where you are and how many points you need. Are you in the BA scheme or are you with AA and do you need all 600 points for silver?
Off the top of my head one route that I've heard of but never tried to book or fly on is from the New York area or Washington to Raleigh Durham. This route can be segmented to make it 2 or 3 flights at 40 TP per flight in business (or is it called First in the USA?)at no additional cost and can cost around $200 - $300 and offers excellent value.
I've also read that Alaskan Airways often have good routes that offer valuable points per dollar, it's a case of digging in and finding them.
One good place for advice or help on booking this is on the FlyerTalk website, there is a tier point run forum. The more specific you are on there, the more people will be able to help you.
Good Luck and all the best,
Phil
Thanks Phil. I’m a silver member atm. Have 60 of the 600 needed with a flight pending which gives me 90 tier points. I will do some research.
Great video Phil! I have a question - let's say if I booked Manchester to Sofia via London as a single trip, will I receive 40+80 tier points each way, or just the 80 each way? Or do I need to book and pay for the Manchester to London flight separately in order to gain the additional 40 tier points each way? Thanks!
If you book Manchester to Sofia you will get 40+80 tier points each way.
If you make it a qualifying BA Holiday by booking 5 days car hire or hotel at the time of booking (other t&cs apply so please read those) you'll get your tier points doubled.
If you're going for the holiday it all needs to be booked together, if you book the Manchester to London bit separately then that doesn't get doubled.
@@mygreygapyear Thanks Phil! Having been inspired by you, I will try to achieve gold status some time in the future as well, so much to learn! Will be keeping an eye on all your videos thanks!
@@Tom-fw3xb Thank you for your kind comments Tom, it really is much appreciated. If you do go on a run then I'd love to hear how you get on.
That's a really useful video. Thanks Phil. What interests me there is the BHX - BKK trip, but I've got no interest in staying in BKK for 5 nights. Been there loads, rather go elsewhere. So if I book the 5 night holiday through BA but don't bother going to the hotel, do you know whether the hotel would contact BA and tell them I was a no show and would that then invalidate the double tier points promo?
BA recently tightened the rules on the offer and now your car hire or hotel has to be during your stay, in the place you're going to and you have to collect the car or check into the hotel (I can only imagine how much people were taking advantage of this). So if you don't check in (and presumably check out) then you are in breach of the rules.
But that's not your question. Do I think the hotel will tell BA you were a no show? I'm not sure. I suspect that BA's appalling IT won't manage that particularly well and the hotel telling BA that you didn't stay can't be in their favour so I can't imagine that the hotel would want to tell BA.
Having said that it is a risk and I'm not sure I would want to take it. Maybe better to rent a car and just park it somewhere?
Let me know how you get on.
Thanks for your question,
Phil
I guessed that would be the case. Miserable gits. Thanks Phil@@mygreygapyear
Love this video! Gonna use this for when I get married and go on trips with my wife :) just a question when you say book a flight from Edinburgh to Sofia with London stay, do you just book on Ba Edinburg to Sofia or do you book the tickets separately as in first you do Edinburgh to London and then London to Sofia as a different flight? Could you just clarify that for me thanks you ❤
Thank you for your kind comment and your question. You book the flight as a single trip from Edinburgh to Sofia through BA Holidays on a single ticket and because there isn't a direct flight from Edinburgh to Sofia then BA will book and price up the two flights on the holiday. You can edit the flights at the hotel page.
@@mygreygapyear understood! As I was thinking I could like for example explore London a day and then get on the next flight to Sofia etc. thank you 😊
Edinburgh to Sofia direct £27.99 lol 3hrs 35 works for me,status for me is about the money and not about gold platinum plate
Thanks for your comment, are those Sofia flights in Business? That is a very low price if it is. All the best, Phil
@@mygreygapyear good old Ryanair Phil early flight out 7am and been 1hr late once but generally nothing drastic
@@simon1874villain 👍
Thanks for the video! But am I correct in thinking that BA have changed the way they assign avios and tier points and it is now based on how much youpaid for the fare?
Thanks for your question, the way tier points are assigned are still based on sectors and the mileage brackets, so Paris from London in Business still gets 40 tier points, short haul plus, for example Sofia and Bucharest, gets 80 points and over 2000 miles still gets 140 tier points.
However, Avios earning has changed and that is based on spend, excluding fees and taxes. The bonus for status has also changed. This head for points article is a good explainer,
www.headforpoints.com/2023/07/18/british-airways-elite-status-bonuses-cut/
Thanks
Phil
@@mygreygapyear thanks that's a great reply
If you want to use on a flight good luck getting one every time me and the wife want to use it there’s no seats available I’ve tried dozens of time over the years and nada!
If you give me a few more details on the issue, I might be able to help
The problem is not doing it one year. The problem is spending 3000 x 2 pax every single year. 😂😂 I normally spend more than 6000 a year in travel but on 5, 6 trips a year flying the cheapest of the cheapest in Economy so my chances of getting gold are none. 😢
If you're only planning on spending on Economy then you're right getting status is very difficult, but you don't have to renew every year. The BA status year runs from the 1st April to the 31st March. If you got Gold status in April or May 2025 you would have that status for the rest of that BA year and then also for the next BA year, until the end of March 2027. Then you'd have a grace period where you keep your benefits until the end of April 2027. Then you'd soft land to silver for a year.
@mygreygapyear oh its not easy, isn't it? i have a question then... I might actually reach Silver in February as per my calculations. So doesn't this mean that in 31/Mar I will loose all the tier points and go back to Blue?
@@yepthatsme83 Thanks for your question. When you hit a status level you remain that status for that year and the whole of the next membership year. So if you became Silver in February 2025 you will be silver until the end of March 2026. Then you will get a grace period where you still get your silver benefits for April 2026. After that you soft land to Bronze for a year, then to Blue
Hi Phil, thanks for the super informative video :)
I need to go from Bangkok to Dubai to Manchester/Birmingham in November then back to Bangkok. I am currently Bronze & have 90 points & want to get to Silver on this trip. Any bright ideas how to get to silver for minimum cost/legs without doing any crazy side trips? thanks PJ - I forgot to mention I have flown zero BA flights so far this year, so need the 4 operated/marketed legs too!
Do you have to go via Dubai? If so, to keep things as cheap as possible you could do economy class with Emirates for BKK-DXB-MAN/BHX (no Executive Club points) and then return to BKK from MAN/BHX via DOH with Qatar in business class.
@@oliverbatt3559 Hey Oliver thanks for the reply. Yeah I have a work trip to Dubai then the UK after that. I forgot to mention that I also need 4 BA operated/marketed sectors in this trip to meet the silver card requirement. Paul
Thank you for your kind comments Paul, it's appreciated.
If you'd like to go silver in this trip and you are anchored to Dubai with your business trip then I would consider Bangkok to Dubai via Doha with Qatar (400 points round trip) then Dubai to Manchester via LHR with BA (360 points round trip in business).
This will give you enough points to get you silver and you'll have the 4 qualifying flights. This will be significantly more expensive than Oliver's excellent suggestion but if it's a work trip then you might not be footing the bill.
Qatar out of Manchester and Birmingham (re)started this year and I've seen some good pricing in business and award availability. One thing to note, BHX to DOH is the old 787-8 seat (old pod style lie flat seat) but MAN to DOH is the new 787-9 closing door suite, designed especially for Qatar 787-9 fleet, apparently very similar to the new BA Club Suite but not as good as Q-Suite.
Good luck Paul, and all the best
Phil
@@mygreygapyear Hi Phil thanks for the suggestion. I am footing the bill unfortunately. Think I have cracked the code on this one... Sri Lankan Airlines business class (Bangkok to Dubai via CMB) - 180 Tier points,. BA premium economy Dubai via London to Manchester (100 Tier Points) - then Qatar Airways (Birmingham to Bangkok) booked with BA flight numbers - business class (280 tier points) - I already have 90 points. 610 points. Total cost is around 2000GBP (Sri Lankan 600GBP then BA 1500GBP/7000AED or so)
Excellent work, Paul. Nice. I like it, didn't even think about Sri Lankan
very helpful video ❤
Thank you for your comment, I'm glad it was useful, I'm planning to make an update video in the next few weeks.
@mygreygapyear yes please. I'm planning to try and get to silver later this year or get my mum to gold as she's already silver. maybe if you can comment or video about travelling with relatives or partner and is it worth getting status for both or from a cost and economical point of view better to just have one person get status?
The important point here is that people who fly get tier points and you have to fly to get them. So you can't both fly and give the tier points from both flights to one person. So if you and your mum are travelling together you'll both be earning your own status.
The other thing to consider if one of you is going to get status then if you travel without them you have no status, you'd just be a BA blue. There are also limits on "guest benefits", so a status holder can guest one person into a lounge but if there's three of you and one status holder then you might have a difficult choice to make. Although seat selection is free for the party at the time of booking for silver I think this is maxed at a party of six people.
I'll try and do some proper research and put it in a future video.
Thanks
PHil
@mygreygapyear exactly for the guest benefits. if let's say I wasn't a frequent traveller but would be nice to experience the perks of silver or gold status.
Hi Phil, I was wondering if I booked a flight and hotel for 2 people, would I get the tier points for both? so London to Sofia is 80 points each way so 160 per person double to 320 with the double points offer, would i get 640 points? following on from this are the tier benefits shared with the people you bring on the trips? Thanks for all the videos!
Thank for your question and your kind comments.
It is a great question but the short answer is no, you don't get the tier points for both passengers.
Each passenger get's their own tier points for flying, so you would enter your Executive Club number and your travel companion would enter their membership number in the passenger details of "manage my booking". You would each earn tier points and status independently of each other regardless of who makes the booking or who pays for it. If you were flying with children they too would earn their own tier points and status if you enrolled them in the Executive Club.
Thanks
Phil
Phil.
Ive checked out the Birmingham - BKK holiday you mentioned (it is standing at £2024) but it has offered me a travel class change from Business to Economy to make the deal cheaper, on the return leg from BKK to DOH. To change that to make it Business class, it wants +£380. did it do this to you?
if you leave it as Economy from BKK - DOH, would it affect the tier points, or would you still get 140 from BKK-DOH, as its they who are changing it?
Steve. C.
It did that to me Steve, I had to go in and change it from Economy to Business which gave me a price of £2198 after the change, this was on Friday 8th. The price must have moved. Unfortunately, you would only get economy tier points if you flew economy.
When your looking for flights does it tell you the mileage
Google flights doesn't give you the mileage of a flight or the tier points available but you do very quickly get a feel for where you should be looking. Starting with Short Haul Plus is an easy way to begin especially while the double tier points offer is still available.
Have Family membership so can share Avios for my wife who resides in Argentina and difficult for her to use them. I pay for her ticked and based in UK and go to Argentina. Can I as family member share her Tier points. It’s all confusing
Thanks for your comment and question. Unfortunately you can only get tier points by flying and you have to fly to get them. So when your wife flies then she will get the tier points, there's no sharing those I'm afraid.
Thank you.
You are very welcome 😊
I can’t seem to get your price (BHX - BKK) 1-7th May.
That is the unfortunate thing about these videos, they are quite time sensitive. If I put up a price on Sunday from earlier in the week it might already be unavailable for viewers. This video is quite old now and the prices for May will have gone up as we get ever nearer.
Brilliant
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it
Could you please share the spread sheet so I (we) could peruse at ease?
Hi and thank you for your comment,
I don't currently have a grey gap year website but for things like this it would be useful. In the interim if you email me from the email on the channel page I will happily reply with the spreadsheet attached
Thanks
Phil
Hi.
I cant find an email address.
Not to worry though I'll pause, screenshot and then extract the text.
If you go onto the about tab and click on "Show Email Address" next to business enquiries, it will show it there. It's a bit long winded but it's done this way to prevent spammers scraping the screen.
Found the about tab but that's all. No email address
phil @ m y gr ey g ap ye ar . c o m (remove the spaces)
Hi Pal, any chance I could get your excel template?
Cheers
Mani
Of course you can, although it's rather out of date now. If you email phil @ my grey gay year.com (remove the spaces) then I'll dig it out and email it back to you.
@@mygreygapyearHi Phil, great video.
Tried to email you but think it’s signed me up to something a little strange…just checking, did you mean “gap” instead?
Cheers
Yeah, sorry, gap not gay, typo. GreyGapYear.com, I think it's time I got the website up so that this was a lot simpler, 😊
I wonder how often I misspell that without realising?
So does one have to repeat this process each year to maintain status?
Thank you for your question. The short answer it yes.
The long answer is...
BA's idea is that once you are gold you earn 1500 tier points each year to retain gold. If you don't earn enough tier points to retain gold then you "soft land" to silver. So my gold status ends in July 2024 and my plan is to requalify gold in July / August 2024 and I will then be gold until July 2026 (because I'll requalify early in my new membership year in 2024). Then in 2026 I'm planning to allow myself to soft land to Silver (still get lounge access) and reassess in 2027 /28 when my silver status ends and decide what I want to do regarding BA status.
If this doesn't properly answer your question then please follow up and I can make sure you get the information you need.
Thanks
Phil
@@mygreygapyear Thanks for the reply, and yes, it answered it well.
🙌🙌🙌
Thank you, much appreciated.
If I book for 2 passengers for any of these flights will I only reciev move tier points for myself or both passengers on the booking ?
Thanks for your question, it's a good one that is asked a lot and the answer is that passengers who fly get tier points regardless of who books the flight. So if you book two flights and you and another passenger fly you will each get your own tier points, you can't double up.
Thanks
Phil.
ps. Dare I plug my Status Q&A video? ruclips.net/video/LL2L4AxBm9I/видео.html
This and other questions are answered here, 😊
What does gold membership even get you?
Thank you for your question Alex.
On a trip last year I was flying out of Melbourne in Economy with Malaysian Airways. My gold status entitled me to skip the huge and slow moving economy check in line (straight into Business check in), I had a three course gourmet meal, with wine paired with each course, in the First Class Lounge (Brandy and espresso to follow), the seat next to me was one of five empty seats on the flight (this is called Gold Seat Blocking), when I connected in Kuala Lumpur we were delayed over 2 hours so about a five or six hour layover, but I had the choice of the business class lounge with buffet, bar and sleeping area or the first class lounge which also had an a la carte restaurant and a more private sleeping area.
That's right, BA status got me all that when flying Economy with Malaysia 😊
If I was flying BA I would get free seat selection for me and my travelling group which would include extra leg room seats in European Economy, And there's more than that. You can find out this and more in my preceding status video here:
ruclips.net/video/j-828PrFd7g/видео.html
Hope this helps, Alex and thank you again for your comment, I'm sure others would be thinking the same thing.
Phil
ex Dublin is simply the best trick going
Thanks for your comment, much appreciated.
I looked at starting in Dublin when I flew in first and the difference was about £450 but it would cost more in points. Then there was the cost to get there, overnight hotel, so it was a coin toss for me, and I just flew from London because I wanted to maximise the time I had in the Concord room.
Thanks
Phil
can't get hotel solo on the deal
Hi Rick, thanks for your comment. Are you looking at the prices from the video and not able to find them? Or are you saying that the double tier points offer excludes solo travellers?
@@mygreygapyear You can't get BA holidays for one person.
@@rickreid8572 I've certainly booked them in the past and I've got the double points for them. I'll phone the call centre and see what they say, thanks, Phil
@@mygreygapyear sure but you'll have paid double occupancy.
@@rickreid8572 You're right, I would have paid the hotel part myself rather than shared the cost with a travelling companion, if I remember correctly the costings in this video was for a solo traveller.
Why is youtube recommending me BA lore? Status isn't real
Thanks for the comment, I find it intriguing. I can't speak for the RUclips algorithm and it's recommendations, but I'd like to hear more about your views on "status".