Another great video, Matt. And glad to hear you're focusing on the things you enjoy, as well as the TP byproduct. I agree, flying east is so much better for variety and quality of experience.
@@MattsPlanet It sort of does make sense... They get UK fares avoiding people doing TP runs ex-UK. They also get the commission from hotel rooms / car hire. And most "normies" would still require 2-3 holidays to hit gold, so most of the exclusivity remains. Not everybody is sitting their with ITA Matrix and taking convoluted routes of many flights!
Thank you for another enjoyable and useful video. So had a last minute (two weeks’ notice) trip to US for a memorial service in August. Club direct to US was too expensive so went via Sofia. Two tickets: Ticket 1) LHR/SOF + 6 days car hire in USA + SOF/LHR all counted as a BA Holiday and 2) Back to back inside ticket one's dates SOF/LHR/BOS/LHR/SOF. Gets double tier points on ticket 1) because of the car hire. So 1) (80 + 80) doubled = 320 + 2) 80+140+140+80 = 440, a total of 760 Tier Points, which requalified me for silver to virtually end 2025, and a much reduced price for flying to the US ex-EU (
Fantastic - thanks for sharing! Flying to Sofia then making it into a holiday with a car in the US is an advanced technique!!! Back to backs too - I'm still scared to do them!!!!!
Another fantastically in-depth yet well condensed video Matt! I really appreciate all your hard work and research you've put into this and it's definitely given us all food for thought. Especially as I'm someone who is already based in an ex-EU ticket region like NCE
If your looking for a fun loop rather than an efficient route, I suggest Malaysia airlines trip Langkawi to ho chi min via KL and Osaka to Langkawi as the return with Cathay for the Ho chi Min to Osaka. It gets you time in Vietnam ( always fun) and time in Japan (also fun), but it only delivers 340TP which was what I needed to finish my renewal. Might be worth looking at what the max TP you can get on a RTW ticket as a video :) Love the content and appreciate all the insights!
Thanks for that - Japan has come out as waaaay to expensive on everything I've looked at since the you-know-what but I'm always happy to look again! I have previously looked at RTW tickets and they come in at £7k+ for a business fare - you need to crank a lot of 140 TP legs out of that to make it worthwhile.... But it may not be a bad idea to revisit the topic in a video from a TP perspective
Great vid Matt, hope you are well. I find the hassle of getting tier points out of Malaysian very tiresome but they are at least fairly cheap if you don't mind having to chase them up.
Excellent helpful insight as always Matt 👍🏼 I’ve tried to add in a car but I couldn’t make it work, so heading to OTP via Scotland and Belfast to finish off my year at under £2 per point 💪🏻
Hey Matt, your video made me change my plans, and I’m so glad it did! I’m 75% into two SriLankan runs from AUH to CGK, and decided to nest the CGK to TPE route with Cathay Pacific in between the second SriLankan run to make things more interesting. Very happy I did, having just boarded the A330 to Hong Kong. SriLankan has been great however it’s really nice to be on a wide body. Similarly, the flights to Taipei and back are during the day, a welcomed change from the four night flights I’ve completed from AUH to CGK via CMB. Although not the most cost effective part of the trip, I didn’t need the extra tier points I’d have gained from the third SriLankan route anyway, so this works well. Thanks again for sharing this!
Thanks for inspiration Matt, BA currently offering 1st class to MCO for less than business in February via MIA. Just booked 6 day round trip for £2700 including car which I calculate to be 1000 tps. Thanks again
Great video Matt, very informative looking towards next year. I’m currently in a sweet spot holding gold status with Star Alliance, Sky Team and Emirates, but that isn’t going to last through 2025 so currently looking at different options. Agree 100% re general costs in the US compared to Asia - I’m off to Miami and Orlando later this month and am bracing myself for the hit to the wallet…
Cheers - earning 3 golds is hard work so good effort!!! You feel comfortable with them for a few months then an expiry looms and its time to get back on the treadmill!!! Good luck in Florida....
Thank you Matt, guess it is all about your priorities I guess. I fly less now, but make every trip count. Able to book J outright in my old days now is a rather fortunate position! I think I would be exploring a bucharest 5 day stay, and nest in some flights from there! You check in, and check out, you dont have to be there the whole time. Fly to OTP, 5 days, double TP, check into hotel, back to airport and go crazy East!! Back on day 5 to check out. As usual, Thank you, great video Stay well, Thomas
I had that flights to Sofia plus car and drove to North Macedonia, a fairly easy hop of 4 hours. Skopje is cheap, beautiful and the car is very helpful there to drive through some of most beautiful mountain roads. Thanks for the video… I picked up a great idea… was planning a trip on Finnair ex MAN to ICN, a week there, then a hop to TPE for a week, then a hop over to MNL… a hop to MNL will be on MAS, turning this trip not just into a vacation, but a small mileage run. 😊
Go East, young man! Very interesting video and a wonderful sequence of flights. I guess part of the planning is leaving big enough time gaps between connecting flights and/or booking an overnight hotel (and taking hand luggage only). Some of the BA Holiday deals with hire car are very good...double TPs and the hire car can be only an extra £95 or so! What do you think of the upgrade voucher at 2500 TPs - is it a good deal?
I like to have an overnight between non-connected flights - to add a safety buffer but also so I can see a place a bit!!! I've always stopped at 1,500 and never got near to any of the GUFs... People do rate them but I wouldn't like to say how much extra I'd pay for enough travel to trigger one
Fascinating and educational as always. I hope to achieve gold very soon but it has cost me way more than £2 per tp but I have focussed on holiday rather than tp runs. However, if you need to stay in a hotel for a few days between flights then I really do feel this should be factored in to the £/tp calculation as this is extra cost to achieve the tp run.
Absolutely. As you say, the line between a run and a holiday is a fine one.... I always enjoy the trips so in my mind costs on the ground create the enjoyment I have from the trips so the costs of getting there are what generate the tier points, but strictly speaking the all in cost should be what you consider. Although some will be happy with a £20 hostel whilst others won't stay anywhere grimmer than a JW Marriot, so its hard to present one calculation in a video that will suit everyone!!
Brilliant Matt, that’s given me some food for thought in how to obtain 600 points with another trip I need to add to my 1st class trip in march next year to jfk for gold renewal. I certainly will look at a jersey to USA via Lhr-jfk-Lax-las BA holiday double bubble for 2026 renewal. Just kicking myself for not doing jersey to jfk in march would have lightened the load a little I suppose it’ll be too late & costly to add it now 😕
Cheers... If you have a half hour and some patience it wouldn't hurt to call BA Holidays and see if you can add JER - it may reprice the whole trip which would be a "no" if you got a very good price initially
It's been really tricky with Virgin as tacking the extra legs on was a problem although Delta does make it easier.... I'll put it on the "noodle" list though
Great video once again! What are the best tier point runs getting from Bronze to Silver? Would be great to have a video on these “shorter” tier point runs…apologies if its already mentioned.
Good question and a very good idea for a video - thanks!!! Bronze to Silver is 300 tier points, so that could be a holiday from (say) Edinburg to Amsterdam via London, so 40+40 double doubled to 320... Or a straight run from London to (say) Sofia which is 80 which also double doubles to 320. Both would require a 5 day stay to qualify as a holiday....
Matt. I for one would have watched a 30+ min video on any subject you talk about here, especially TP runs. It would have also helped with continuity. Some very interesting options now arising out of this new TP period alignment, but I am still glad that my year end coincided with yours for these changes as it helped me understand better. BA do have a business flight sale on at the moment but I don't know when they usually put BA holiday sales up. Do you? I am giving some serious thought to running for Gold this year rather than the Silver status I usually opt for, but having friends in America, I have been looking at a west coast run with hops into the middle as my friends live in the Ozark's, (program not shot there) St Louis or Kansas are closest to them for pick up and Milwaukee.( Heyyyyyy) Closest main airport Chicago. I agree with you about the expenses though. Tipping (20%) and resort fee's ( averaging $45 in Vegas) is annoying. Don't forget the $200 resort fees for your 5 night Rio example. Currently $40pd in 2024. I have a birthday trip to Vegas in October. But it was also very interesting about the information you gave for going East. I liked Sofia when I was there so hopping from there to DOH then onwards could be an option I would consider. Thanks for another great video that goes with a great victory at the weekend. Slott has started well. Steve. C. YNWA.
Cheers Steve. In Slot we believe... I think I'll happier about the 3 nils rather than the 2, 2 and the 3!!! The Ozarks are amazing, but annoying from a tier point run perspective... Too far back from the West Coast to squeeze a transcon into the routing and routing via ORD only gives on 140 tp leg... If it's a real opportunity for you, you can get a TP run that doubles back to Tucson or even El Paso - it may make sense to harvest the points with a run there, then add a separate flight to wherever you actually want to go!!! Just a thought....
I'm always excited when I see there is a new video from you Matt. Didn't go for retaining gold this year, but already have booked for USA in first for april so will try again under 2025 to get back to gold. But I'm wondering if there is a video/link to watch to better understand how Matrix works to look for flights as I just tried and feel like a dunce as I can't figure it out? And when I use google they are the same prices, of even more expensive than the BA website.
There's two videos on the channel with a step by step walkthrough on Matrix - this was the most recent.... ruclips.net/video/GS-N8GovvHA/видео.html Also probably my favourite thumbnail.....
Hi Matt, I love your videos, they are very informative for a newbie to the BA Exec Club! I would like to know if there are any Caribbean based tier point runs you would recommend, as I am looking to go on holiday there next year, I was wondering if I could combine a holiday with an ex-EU > USA> Caribbean run? Thanks!
Thanks Christy. The Caribbean is tricky as they're leisure routes so have somewhat different pricing dynamics from Europe and from North America... You can sometimes find fares through Miami, but even when you do, you're missing that second 2000 mile / 140 tier point leg that builds the total you earn so brings the average cost per tier point down to reasonable levels... You do see decent fares to Pacific Mexican destinations which you get to through LA or Phoenix, which are sort of Caribbean-y???
I’ve been lucky with the USA options have family on the west coast, but have been able to stay with friends I met on you tube in Miami or Boston…. Which is pretty awesome. I’m doing bridging flights in Edinburgh and Glasgow and Dublin. I do fancy a middle east flight…
I took the KUL-TPE route on Malaysia as a TP run earlier this year, and would advise all to check the aircraft type carefully. It is often served by the aging A330-200, and although a "flat bed" of sorts, I thought it was the worst seat I've EVER sat in on an aircraft. Product and comfort pretty terrible and I would actually have preferred the 737 regional product that is occasionally offered on the route. To add to Matt's points too...domestic, business class travel around Malaysia on Malaysian Airlines I think represents really good value before or after that Taipei leg. I was paying £144 return from KUL to the likes of Penang, Johor Bharu and Kota Bharu which all trigger 40!tier points each way for a 40 minute flight. You can return on the same aircraft too as you arrive into the gate areas. I did 7 sectors in thr space of 36 hours around Malaysia before heading up to Taipei to commence back to back Jakarta runs on Cathay...I was shattered, but Gold achieved pretty quickly as a result 👍🏻
IIRC the double TP bonus for BA Holidays also requires your account address be in the UK. Requalified in May/June with the UL run plus the CX extension to TPE. And with the April to June flights qualifying for 2025/26 should be good for two years.
Good work. UK or US based accounts are eligible - I have seen some people based in Ireland having success getting points doubled - its a largely manual process to I suppose errors can creep in!
We got some flights for JER/LHR/JFK/PIT (holiday) - PIT/ORD/LHR (finishing at LHR) Due to constraints of trip dates we couldn’t go to wild but got F for under 2.3k and that included car hire to double the tier points 😍
1,080 tier points in total??? Slightly over £2 per tier point but getting that close on an East Coast run is good work.... You really need a West Coast trip with a second 2,000 mile flight to really crank up the points and get the average cost down... I'd be happy with that, especially if you wanted to go to PIT anyway! Not a traditional holiday destination perhaps but if it works for you, have fun!!!
@@MattsPlanet, yes sadly just over, we did try and get a JFK/SFO/LAX in there but… due to the timing of the trip was really rather inconvenient. PIT is just the start of the trip, Alex has never been to the North east area so doing all them states! Last year we did, MAD/JFK/SFO/SEA/SFO/MIA/MAD for under £1500 in J which was rather useful… but this year couldn’t justify the time!
Great video. I've been thinking about Asia for next year myself and this looks interesting. Another option for getting to auh is of course, burning some avios, which I'll be doing next next month. Not the greatest redemption, but I can live with it. Being stingy I'm doing it in economy. I'd hoped to guf up to pe but my return leg just refuses to show availability. Also, unless I've got it totally wrong, I don't think you can do a two year cycle and retain ggl, can you? I have a very short extension window this year, which ends with all 5000 TPs being double counted into it, do I'll get another year of ggl free, but after that isn't it 3000 each year? (Though, of course, if you're going 3000 you should do the extra 500 to get the two additional gufs.)
Thanks Ian. I've only recently started to look in detail at the GGL process as its been out of reach for me.... And yes, the 2 year cycle doesn't work for that sub-tier - its 3000 points each and every membership year.... Which is really tough, but I guess it does keen membership exclusive! I will do a video on GGL but I've not really looked at it before as it is quite niche and unachievable for most!
@@MattsPlanet If you want my notes on ggl trips, please reach out. In truth the only reason I'm doing it is because it coincides more or less with my desire to get gfl before BA changes the goal posts by going to dollar based TP rewards and this last year was the first I stood a good chance of being able to schedule 5000 TPs around my work obligations. 3500 in future years should be manageable.
MH and RJ may not be considered top tier airlines but I can confidently say their crews are warm and friendly, and the service invariably excellent. None of yer perfect but robotic ME3 service delivery. Both serve booze despite representing Muslim-majority countries, if that matters to you. An MH purser tried to send me on my way with a whole bottle of fizz when I pointed out a wobbly screen (737 J), but I was connecting onwards and wouldn't have got it through security. Did I hear that Wizzair's financial woes may mean they are dropping AUH ? Worth confirming.
Thanks for that, and yes, I do enjoy the occasional drink!!! Wizz made a big investment in Abu Dhabi so it would be quite a shock if they are backing away....
Funny you mentioned the whole tier run up through Jakarta, Taipei and KL as I booked this last week. Looking to spend a few days in Jakarta, Taipei, KL and head up to vietnam for a week. Positioning to Abu Dhabi from Oslo on Qatar business/first to get 400 TP more for £3/TP is not bad either...
We have never really chased status as we run our own company and feed EVERYTHING through our Amex account, so we accrue Avios like they are going out of fashion. We usually rack up about 500K a year so with our companion vouchers we manage about 3 First Rtns a year and several CE trips... This year we went First to SFO in May and next week we are off to Santiago ( Chile ) in First. Have done a few European jaunts too, next is Prague in November. The only bummer for us is it is hit or miss that we get row 1 when we travel - which in the First cabins is neither here nor there, but in CE, well you know what I mean. ( we NEVER travel economy on any airline or route ever!)
I have a couple of friends (and lots of Patrons) who do the Amex business thing and I am really jealous of them as it is a brilliant way to go!!! And of course, if you're always "turning left" then status is of marginal benefit... Long may it continue and more power to you!!!
@@MattsPlanet We started back in the 90's when 'AirMiles' was the points system. Back in those days, you could book any seat, any flight, any time, none of this redemption seat limit per flight bull shit. So........the best bit about that was ( drum roll ) we used to get tickets to NY on BA1 & 2 easy peasy. We managed 4 rtns to NY in all over the years, the last trip being in Feb 2003. So I am blessed to be able to say I am one of life's few multi-trip 'Supersonic Travellers'............now we have to put up with First, dear o dear I hear you say.
Thanks for sharing this Matt, always good to get inspiration should an opportunity arise! I would likely go for BA Silver though rather than BA Gold myself, 600 TP is manageable! I have seen the opportunity to get BA Silver for just over £1K by flying those 80 TP flights in Europe if you can get an okay price- do you think they're worth doing???
I'd say it was worth it... Provided you'd actually get benefit out of that silver status.... The actual flying on BA is comfortable and the catering is usually decent these days and if you can get a day in Bucharest or Sofia there are interesting things to see....
Worth mentioning that it appear the BA Double Tier Points T&C’s have changed and you no longer get double tier points on bookings with more than 1 departure from a U.K. Airport (essentially can’t do a domestic flight into London before connecting onwards). Called BA Holidays last week to discuss an existing booking made at the start of the year for travel at Christmas and they said bookings made before the change should still be eligible. “g) Bookings can only contain one flight departing the UK, multiple journeys from the UK within one booking will not qualify.”
That would indeed be an interesting development... Although you have to fly from (say) Jersey to London to be able to get anywhere outside of the UK!!!
@@jamesboddie2982 I think this is to stop you going in and out to maximise flights on one holiday booking. for example, going from London to Sofia, staying 5 nights in a hotel, then going back to London, and then going to Bucharest and back, without staying there, and having all 4 flights have double TP. Or another example would be a BAH going from EDI-HEL-LHR-JFK and back with 5 nights in JFK, that would disqualify you too. It means you can only leave the UK once per holiday, but a domestic flight never leaves the UK, so connecting via London from anywhere in the UK is fine and won’t disqualify a booking
I’ve had a few issues whilst searching for holidays on the BA holidays site some destinations such as Heathrow to Columbo are yielding no results despite there being direct flights operated by oneworld partners (not sure if it had to be a BA flight) and the website is quite flimsy to use on a PC Some connections via the USA come up for example but a lot of eastern connections (e.g domestic connections in Scandinavian countries) are impossible to plan unless you go through the booking engine first and then find a hotel once you’ve added flights to the basket. I will admit that I am quite a novice to this but it’s rather hard for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to try and get the best prices whilst trying to qualify for the double tier points criteria
Sounds like you're doing pretty well to me! Colombo is a great destination and may be tricky as BA likes to offer their own flights... You may see options on Qatar but for it to be a qualifying holiday it will need to be on BA codeshares which makes it tricky... And the BA holidays site will give a handful of simple flight options - the fares underpinning the holiday will allow much more complexity than that engine will show, but it gets tricky again to snag those BA flight numbers....
I don't seem to see anyone mention it but you can find great prices for returns from Indian cities to Dammam on Sri Lankan for as little as £389 (from Delhi) which by my calculation nets 360 tier points, or £1.08 per tier point. I suppose the difficulty here is awkwardness of travelling to Saudi + visa costs
Thanks Conor - good contribution to the database! I think that is indeed 360 tier points... India is actually trickier to get a visa for than Saudi these days - Saudi gives visas on arrival to many Western citizens these days... Not sure Dammam is the greatest of places to spend time but at £1.08 per tier point, I'd cope with a lot!!!!
Within a 12 month membership year, the points don't reset - so if you get 1,500 in a year you'll progress through Bronze, Silver and Gold. Then it will reset to 0 at the end of the year.
Another great video Matt. Under the Marco Polo Club if I booked a Cathay flight from Hong Kong to Taipei in Business I would only receive 30 or 25 tier points, depending on my fare bucket of course. My question therefore is would I receive 40 tier points into my BA account or the lower amount?
The BA scheme is 40/140 for club or business depending on whether the flight is under or over 2,000 miles.... A few exceptions around the world, but you'd never get 25 or 30 for any flight into a BA exec account
Another great video, thanks. Do you have any tips using the BA Holiday finder as a solo traveller. It only seems to show prices based on two travelling. Then I need choose a location at which point I can modify for 1 traveller. It would be great if you could see all options based on a solo traveller
Unfortunately I'm unable to take advantage of this as I'm currently silver which will expire in April 2026. Still interesting to hear about the current options, but It looks as though I'll be fighting for the April TP runs that year. Still don't think I'll go for gold though, silver's a pretty nice sweet spot for me, and given that it's less than half the cost to rack up 600TPs while giving 2 full years of real status (Bronze doesn't count lol) vs just 3 for gold, it's never really seemed worth it to get the 1500 for 50% extra time with status, granted that 2 of those years would be with the added gold benefits, but still.
Thanks - I hope April 26 turns out to be fine but in case it doesn't, book early!!! And silver is definitely a sweetspot that's a perfectly acceptable equilibrium for many!!! I did like the Pier lounge in Hong Kong though.... And the Platinum wing in Helsinki....
Matt, or any of your knowledgeable subscribers. can you recommend an area and or a hotel to stay in in Hong Kong? Looking on BA site at holidays. Thanks. Steve. C YNWA.
I stayed in Mongkok last time as it felt more convenient for the airport as I had only a short time on the ground... Not sure I'd do it again. Anywhere close to the water north or south is good - some can be expensive though
Sorry, second question. In your USA example, do you recreate the routing offered on BA holidays on matrix to identify the fare type. Then using the conditions of that fare look for routing with additional legs with same/similar price?
That's a good approach... I'd usually start with London to XXX without any elaboration to prove the price is in the ball-park, then start adding complexity step by step to see how complicated I can get it without losing the fare. And when you have built in some complexity, its pretty quick to substitute the starting point (say JER) for others (GLA, INV, NCL etc) That can throw out a surprise saving.... And if you find a saving, and open-jaw (from JER to NCL say) can deliver a few quid more out of the price
Do you have book with ba to get tier points for leg between abu Dhabi to jakata via colombo with Sri Lanka air or book direct with Sri Lanka air thank you
I'm paying £200 for a night close to JFK this weekend (its the last day of the US Open which doesn't help) but $150+ is normal for a West Coast chain hotel... I've stayed in some very nice resorts in Asia for < £60 a night.... Its all on hotels.com!
@@MattsPlanet omg your in nyc!!! i wanna go but you made me think maybe not as it’s soooooo expensive but i live so close to london so i can visit so cheap and love it do u think i should still go to nyc
I've heard that for some reason Malta was a destination that instantly granted you at least silver status. Is this sill the case, or was it ever? To be honest, I try my best to avoid BA whenever I can. My favourite destination is Japan, so while their carriers tend to be pricey, and sometimes prohibitively so, when I have had the privilege of flying on JAL or ANA (sadly never on business), it has been like an upgrade close to a class above the BA equivalent.
There's never been a golden ticket to status through Malta - its an 80 tier point destination (versus 40 on destinations closer to London) so you can get there quicker by flying to Malta but that's the same as Bucharest or Sofia. And Japanese airlines, indeed most Asian airlines can be a notch above...
Can't recommend Jersey as a departure airport... high risk of disruption... yep I've been stuck there... otherwise a very helpfull post...was it me who suggested Auh on BA in premium and upgrading with avios😅
Cheers Richard - good point about Jersey actually - although lots of people would do it as a back-to-back so if its foggy there, you're not going to be getting there in the first place!!! Still creates a headache though I guess for the onward from back in London...
The double tier points seem to take ages to appear and I've had to chase via email. They have dropped for me after a time point when I could have used the extra status benefit they would have given. What if they only appear after your grace period??
I've never actually done a trip that qualified so have no personal experience but I see reports that it is getting quicker and taking a couple of weeks... Not landing before a trip when you could have used the status is a pain, but it should be backdated when they do arrive to give you what you need
I waited 6 weeks for mine so was similarly miffed but this was back in 2022. I flew Qatar with BA numbers but they went through as Qatar Numbers into my account. Had to call up and they had to cancel the QR. TP deposits and recredit as BA number deposits. They had a don’t call us for one month policy in place at the time when I lodged this. So I wanted 2 weeks (as they state) and then 4 weeks (due to Covid times) To put that into non Covid times content I submitted multiple complaints the other week and only got one acknowledgment email for one of them. I only ever get anyway by calling them - check the flights actually credited your account as BA numbers would be my suggestion and see if that is what has caused the hold up.
Hi Matt. I hit gold again about a week ago with my year ending 8/9 and card ending 31/10 but this is not showing the end being next year… your previous video showed that your membership had been extended to the 2025 year. Does this mean that with the changes my Gold retention will end next month having only just reached it? Thanks Matt.
Hi there - after filming this I saw the answer to this online... Annoyed I couldn't get it into the video.... Through the transition phase the extra year of status earned only shows up in the account once the year has turned.... its really annoying and I'm sure its creating huge call traffic to BA that they could do without but that I believe is what's happening.... I got my status months back before they tweaked this so mine shows correctly. I'd hold until a week or so after the 9th September and it should update then. Let me know if you remember!!!
Its a long time since I saw a Hawaii run that made sense - it used to be dynamite but not for a while.... Plus I've never been excited about that third 140 tier point leg... Feels like one too many for me to do on the trot!
My dodgy accent.... Ex-EU - a flight that starts in the EU and gets where you want to go through London. Often half the price of flying direct from London. Cheers!
A question only you can answer!!! If you hate flying and airports and would only do it to make that experience more tolerable for the rest of the year, probably not.... If you love flying and airports, so the runs themselves are an adventure that you really enjoy, then I'd say yes
@@MattsPlanet Agreed, can't do these with my wife! As a retired pilot, I enjoy the experience and the ability to relax in lounges with the (usually silver) status I can get.
Your Tier Pt Runs are always amazing! Thanks for the great info + video!
Thanks, as always!
Another great video, Matt. And glad to hear you're focusing on the things you enjoy, as well as the TP byproduct. I agree, flying east is so much better for variety and quality of experience.
Thanks. East is the new West!
I'm hoping that BA extend the double tier points promotion beyond June 2025.
The whispers are that they will.... I still don't understand why they would though!!!
@@MattsPlanet It sort of does make sense... They get UK fares avoiding people doing TP runs ex-UK. They also get the commission from hotel rooms / car hire. And most "normies" would still require 2-3 holidays to hit gold, so most of the exclusivity remains. Not everybody is sitting their with ITA Matrix and taking convoluted routes of many flights!
Glad you’re heading east and looking forward to your future updates as this aligns with my planned upcoming travels. Thanks
Jakarta is such a lovely place!!
Pretty much what I was looking at but didn’t know about Taipei and Osaka Thanks Matt.
You are very welcome
Thank you for another enjoyable and useful video.
So had a last minute (two weeks’ notice) trip to US for a memorial service in August. Club direct to US was too expensive so went via Sofia.
Two tickets: Ticket 1) LHR/SOF + 6 days car hire in USA + SOF/LHR all counted as a BA Holiday and 2) Back to back inside ticket one's dates SOF/LHR/BOS/LHR/SOF.
Gets double tier points on ticket 1) because of the car hire. So 1) (80 + 80) doubled = 320 + 2) 80+140+140+80 = 440, a total of 760 Tier Points, which requalified me for silver to virtually end 2025, and a much reduced price for flying to the US ex-EU (
Fantastic - thanks for sharing! Flying to Sofia then making it into a holiday with a car in the US is an advanced technique!!! Back to backs too - I'm still scared to do them!!!!!
Another fantastically in-depth yet well condensed video Matt! I really appreciate all your hard work and research you've put into this and it's definitely given us all food for thought. Especially as I'm someone who is already based in an ex-EU ticket region like NCE
I've seen a few good options from NCE over the years so good luck there! Thanks for the kind words
If your looking for a fun loop rather than an efficient route, I suggest Malaysia airlines trip Langkawi to ho chi min via KL and Osaka to Langkawi as the return with Cathay for the Ho chi Min to Osaka. It gets you time in Vietnam ( always fun) and time in Japan (also fun), but it only delivers 340TP which was what I needed to finish my renewal. Might be worth looking at what the max TP you can get on a RTW ticket as a video :) Love the content and appreciate all the insights!
Thanks for that - Japan has come out as waaaay to expensive on everything I've looked at since the you-know-what but I'm always happy to look again! I have previously looked at RTW tickets and they come in at £7k+ for a business fare - you need to crank a lot of 140 TP legs out of that to make it worthwhile.... But it may not be a bad idea to revisit the topic in a video from a TP perspective
Great vid Matt, hope you are well. I find the hassle of getting tier points out of Malaysian very tiresome but they are at least fairly cheap if you don't mind having to chase them up.
Not flown them for years and years, but probably will next year.... Weebles wobble.....
Excellent helpful insight as always Matt 👍🏼 I’ve tried to add in a car but I couldn’t make it work, so heading to OTP via Scotland and Belfast to finish off my year at under £2 per point 💪🏻
Under £2 works!! And I quite like Bucharest if you get to spend some time there....
Great finds Matt. Especially like MH route at such a fantastic price.
My AUH-CGK SriLankan back-to-back x3 begins on Thursday 😅wish me luck...
There you go Jack - I reply to every comment and remember a lot of them! Some of them even get mentioned in videos.....
@@MattsPlanet Confirmed ✅
Hey Matt, your video made me change my plans, and I’m so glad it did!
I’m 75% into two SriLankan runs from AUH to CGK, and decided to nest the CGK to TPE route with Cathay Pacific in between the second SriLankan run to make things more interesting.
Very happy I did, having just boarded the A330 to Hong Kong. SriLankan has been great however it’s really nice to be on a wide body. Similarly, the flights to Taipei and back are during the day, a welcomed change from the four night flights I’ve completed from AUH to CGK via CMB.
Although not the most cost effective part of the trip, I didn’t need the extra tier points I’d have gained from the third SriLankan route anyway, so this works well.
Thanks again for sharing this!
Great info,thanks Matt.
Thanks!
Thanks for inspiration Matt, BA currently offering 1st class to MCO for less than business in February via MIA. Just booked 6 day round trip for £2700 including car which I calculate to be 1000 tps.
Thanks again
If you were planning on going that way anyway, that's a great deal!
Can you share your itinerary please, Roger? Thnx
@@lodgepalm no problem, BA0207 and 4918 on 6th Feb, back 5401 and 0206 on the 12th, both via MIA. Hope this helps🤗
Thanks Matt, may tack a BC flight from KL on my next business trip there now after seeing this video.
Not such great value starting in KL, but worth a look.... You need to change your office / client to one in Taipei!!!
Great video Matt!
Thanks
Great compilation
Thanks!
Great video Matt, very informative looking towards next year. I’m currently in a sweet spot holding gold status with Star Alliance, Sky Team and Emirates, but that isn’t going to last through 2025 so currently looking at different options. Agree 100% re general costs in the US compared to Asia - I’m off to Miami and Orlando later this month and am bracing myself for the hit to the wallet…
Cheers - earning 3 golds is hard work so good effort!!! You feel comfortable with them for a few months then an expiry looms and its time to get back on the treadmill!!! Good luck in Florida....
Thank you Matt, guess it is all about your priorities I guess. I fly less now, but make every trip count. Able to book J outright in my old days now is a rather fortunate position! I think I would be exploring a bucharest 5 day stay, and nest in some flights from there! You check in, and check out, you dont have to be there the whole time. Fly to OTP, 5 days, double TP, check into hotel, back to airport and go crazy East!! Back on day 5 to check out.
As usual, Thank you, great video
Stay well,
Thomas
Cheers Thomas.... Finding ways to spend that 5 days is a big part of the fun!!!
I had that flights to Sofia plus car and drove to North Macedonia, a fairly easy hop of 4 hours. Skopje is cheap, beautiful and the car is very helpful there to drive through some of most beautiful mountain roads. Thanks for the video… I picked up a great idea… was planning a trip on Finnair ex MAN to ICN, a week there, then a hop to TPE for a week, then a hop over to MNL… a hop to MNL will be on MAS, turning this trip not just into a vacation, but a small mileage run. 😊
Fantastic! Glad I could help... Not been to North Macedonia but its in my sights....
Thanks!
Thanks so much - very kind of you!!
Thanks for the great video! I’m currently trying to plan my first run to get silver in April, hoping for a Sofia double double run and a city break!
Pricing looked decent when I looked...
Go East, young man! Very interesting video and a wonderful sequence of flights. I guess part of the planning is leaving big enough time gaps between connecting flights and/or booking an overnight hotel (and taking hand luggage only). Some of the BA Holiday deals with hire car are very good...double TPs and the hire car can be only an extra £95 or so! What do you think of the upgrade voucher at 2500 TPs - is it a good deal?
I like to have an overnight between non-connected flights - to add a safety buffer but also so I can see a place a bit!!! I've always stopped at 1,500 and never got near to any of the GUFs... People do rate them but I wouldn't like to say how much extra I'd pay for enough travel to trigger one
Fascinating and educational as always. I hope to achieve gold very soon but it has cost me way more than £2 per tp but I have focussed on holiday rather than tp runs. However, if you need to stay in a hotel for a few days between flights then I really do feel this should be factored in to the £/tp calculation as this is extra cost to achieve the tp run.
Absolutely. As you say, the line between a run and a holiday is a fine one.... I always enjoy the trips so in my mind costs on the ground create the enjoyment I have from the trips so the costs of getting there are what generate the tier points, but strictly speaking the all in cost should be what you consider. Although some will be happy with a £20 hostel whilst others won't stay anywhere grimmer than a JW Marriot, so its hard to present one calculation in a video that will suit everyone!!
Genius, thank you 😎
Thanks - hope it helped
Brilliant Matt, that’s given me some food for thought in how to obtain 600 points with another trip I need to add to my 1st class trip in march next year to jfk for gold renewal.
I certainly will look at a jersey to USA via Lhr-jfk-Lax-las BA holiday double bubble for 2026 renewal.
Just kicking myself for not doing jersey to jfk in march would have lightened the load a little I suppose it’ll be too late & costly to add it now 😕
Cheers... If you have a half hour and some patience it wouldn't hurt to call BA Holidays and see if you can add JER - it may reprice the whole trip which would be a "no" if you got a very good price initially
A great, informative video as ever Matt. Would you ever consider making a Virgin tier point run video? They have some interesting new routes.
It's been really tricky with Virgin as tacking the extra legs on was a problem although Delta does make it easier.... I'll put it on the "noodle" list though
Great video once again! What are the best tier point runs getting from Bronze to Silver? Would be great to have a video on these “shorter” tier point runs…apologies if its already mentioned.
Good question and a very good idea for a video - thanks!!! Bronze to Silver is 300 tier points, so that could be a holiday from (say) Edinburg to Amsterdam via London, so 40+40 double doubled to 320... Or a straight run from London to (say) Sofia which is 80 which also double doubles to 320. Both would require a 5 day stay to qualify as a holiday....
Enjoyable video even though I’m not tier point running
Thanks!
Matt.
I for one would have watched a 30+ min video on any subject you talk about here, especially TP runs. It would have also helped with continuity. Some very interesting options now arising out of this new TP period alignment, but I am still glad that my year end coincided with yours for these changes as it helped me understand better.
BA do have a business flight sale on at the moment but I don't know when they usually put BA holiday sales up. Do you?
I am giving some serious thought to running for Gold this year rather than the Silver status I usually opt for, but having friends in America, I have been looking at a west coast run with hops into the middle as my friends live in the Ozark's, (program not shot there) St Louis or Kansas are closest to them for pick up and Milwaukee.( Heyyyyyy) Closest main airport Chicago.
I agree with you about the expenses though. Tipping (20%) and resort fee's ( averaging $45 in Vegas) is annoying. Don't forget the $200 resort fees for your 5 night Rio example. Currently $40pd in 2024. I have a birthday trip to Vegas in October.
But it was also very interesting about the information you gave for going East. I liked Sofia when I was there so hopping from there to DOH then onwards could be an option I would consider.
Thanks for another great video that goes with a great victory at the weekend. Slott has started well.
Steve. C.
YNWA.
Cheers Steve. In Slot we believe... I think I'll happier about the 3 nils rather than the 2, 2 and the 3!!! The Ozarks are amazing, but annoying from a tier point run perspective... Too far back from the West Coast to squeeze a transcon into the routing and routing via ORD only gives on 140 tp leg... If it's a real opportunity for you, you can get a TP run that doubles back to Tucson or even El Paso - it may make sense to harvest the points with a run there, then add a separate flight to wherever you actually want to go!!! Just a thought....
@@MattsPlanet thanks for that info. I tried plugging in LHR JFK LAX ORD rtn into Matrix but it won’t accept it. I’ll have a look around your options.
I'm always excited when I see there is a new video from you Matt. Didn't go for retaining gold this year, but already have booked for USA in first for april so will try again under 2025 to get back to gold. But I'm wondering if there is a video/link to watch to better understand how Matrix works to look for flights as I just tried and feel like a dunce as I can't figure it out? And when I use google they are the same prices, of even more expensive than the BA website.
There's two videos on the channel with a step by step walkthrough on Matrix - this was the most recent.... ruclips.net/video/GS-N8GovvHA/видео.html Also probably my favourite thumbnail.....
Great video, very informative
Thanks for watching
Hi Matt, I love your videos, they are very informative for a newbie to the BA Exec Club! I would like to know if there are any Caribbean based tier point runs you would recommend, as I am looking to go on holiday there next year, I was wondering if I could combine a holiday with an ex-EU > USA> Caribbean run? Thanks!
Thanks Christy. The Caribbean is tricky as they're leisure routes so have somewhat different pricing dynamics from Europe and from North America... You can sometimes find fares through Miami, but even when you do, you're missing that second 2000 mile / 140 tier point leg that builds the total you earn so brings the average cost per tier point down to reasonable levels... You do see decent fares to Pacific Mexican destinations which you get to through LA or Phoenix, which are sort of Caribbean-y???
I’ve been lucky with the USA options have family on the west coast, but have been able to stay with friends I met on you tube in Miami or Boston…. Which is pretty awesome. I’m doing bridging flights in Edinburgh and Glasgow and Dublin. I do fancy a middle east flight…
It certainly helps if you can keep costs down on the ground heading West... And Asia is great fun...
It sure is. I have also used Airbnb, met a couple from San Diego there and have stayed with them a couple of times wonderful eeriemce
I took the KUL-TPE route on Malaysia as a TP run earlier this year, and would advise all to check the aircraft type carefully.
It is often served by the aging A330-200, and although a "flat bed" of sorts, I thought it was the worst seat I've EVER sat in on an aircraft. Product and comfort pretty terrible and I would actually have preferred the 737 regional product that is occasionally offered on the route.
To add to Matt's points too...domestic, business class travel around Malaysia on Malaysian Airlines I think represents really good value before or after that Taipei leg. I was paying £144 return from KUL to the likes of Penang, Johor Bharu and Kota Bharu which all trigger 40!tier points each way for a 40 minute flight. You can return on the same aircraft too as you arrive into the gate areas.
I did 7 sectors in thr space of 36 hours around Malaysia before heading up to Taipei to commence back to back Jakarta runs on Cathay...I was shattered, but Gold achieved pretty quickly as a result 👍🏻
Thanks so much for that - "worst seat ever" is a big call and one I have duly noted!!!
It was high time got you coffee; next up, Patreon 😄
You'd be more than welcome!!!
IIRC the double TP bonus for BA Holidays also requires your account address be in the UK. Requalified in May/June with the UL run plus the CX extension to TPE. And with the April to June flights qualifying for 2025/26 should be good for two years.
Good work. UK or US based accounts are eligible - I have seen some people based in Ireland having success getting points doubled - its a largely manual process to I suppose errors can creep in!
We got some flights for JER/LHR/JFK/PIT (holiday) - PIT/ORD/LHR (finishing at LHR)
Due to constraints of trip dates we couldn’t go to wild but got F for under 2.3k and that included car hire to double the tier points 😍
1,080 tier points in total??? Slightly over £2 per tier point but getting that close on an East Coast run is good work.... You really need a West Coast trip with a second 2,000 mile flight to really crank up the points and get the average cost down... I'd be happy with that, especially if you wanted to go to PIT anyway! Not a traditional holiday destination perhaps but if it works for you, have fun!!!
@@MattsPlanet, yes sadly just over, we did try and get a JFK/SFO/LAX in there but… due to the timing of the trip was really rather inconvenient.
PIT is just the start of the trip, Alex has never been to the North east area so doing all them states!
Last year we did, MAD/JFK/SFO/SEA/SFO/MIA/MAD for under £1500 in J which was rather useful… but this year couldn’t justify the time!
Great video. I've been thinking about Asia for next year myself and this looks interesting. Another option for getting to auh is of course, burning some avios, which I'll be doing next next month. Not the greatest redemption, but I can live with it. Being stingy I'm doing it in economy. I'd hoped to guf up to pe but my return leg just refuses to show availability.
Also, unless I've got it totally wrong, I don't think you can do a two year cycle and retain ggl, can you? I have a very short extension window this year, which ends with all 5000 TPs being double counted into it, do I'll get another year of ggl free, but after that isn't it 3000 each year? (Though, of course, if you're going 3000 you should do the extra 500 to get the two additional gufs.)
Thanks Ian. I've only recently started to look in detail at the GGL process as its been out of reach for me.... And yes, the 2 year cycle doesn't work for that sub-tier - its 3000 points each and every membership year.... Which is really tough, but I guess it does keen membership exclusive! I will do a video on GGL but I've not really looked at it before as it is quite niche and unachievable for most!
@@MattsPlanet If you want my notes on ggl trips, please reach out.
In truth the only reason I'm doing it is because it coincides more or less with my desire to get gfl before BA changes the goal posts by going to dollar based TP rewards and this last year was the first I stood a good chance of being able to schedule 5000 TPs around my work obligations. 3500 in future years should be manageable.
Yep. This needs watching a couple of times. How bad, eh, Matt?
Terrible... I'll try not to think of the views!!!
MH and RJ may not be considered top tier airlines but I can confidently say their crews are warm and friendly, and the service invariably excellent. None of yer perfect but robotic ME3 service delivery. Both serve booze despite representing Muslim-majority countries, if that matters to you. An MH purser tried to send me on my way with a whole bottle of fizz when I pointed out a wobbly screen (737 J), but I was connecting onwards and wouldn't have got it through security.
Did I hear that Wizzair's financial woes may mean they are dropping AUH ? Worth confirming.
Thanks for that, and yes, I do enjoy the occasional drink!!! Wizz made a big investment in Abu Dhabi so it would be quite a shock if they are backing away....
@@MattsPlanet ?
Funny you mentioned the whole tier run up through Jakarta, Taipei and KL as I booked this last week. Looking to spend a few days in Jakarta, Taipei, KL and head up to vietnam for a week. Positioning to Abu Dhabi from Oslo on Qatar business/first to get 400 TP more for £3/TP is not bad either...
You're ahead of the trend there!!! Sounds like a great trip! Will take a fair few days with those stops though???
We have never really chased status as we run our own company and feed EVERYTHING through our Amex account, so we accrue Avios like they are going out of fashion. We usually rack up about 500K a year so with our companion vouchers we manage about 3 First Rtns a year and several CE trips... This year we went First to SFO in May and next week we are off to Santiago ( Chile ) in First. Have done a few European jaunts too, next is Prague in November. The only bummer for us is it is hit or miss that we get row 1 when we travel - which in the First cabins is neither here nor there, but in CE, well you know what I mean. ( we NEVER travel economy on any airline or route ever!)
I have a couple of friends (and lots of Patrons) who do the Amex business thing and I am really jealous of them as it is a brilliant way to go!!! And of course, if you're always "turning left" then status is of marginal benefit... Long may it continue and more power to you!!!
@@MattsPlanet We started back in the 90's when 'AirMiles' was the points system. Back in those days, you could book any seat, any flight, any time, none of this redemption seat limit per flight bull shit. So........the best bit about that was ( drum roll ) we used to get tickets to NY on BA1 & 2 easy peasy. We managed 4 rtns to NY in all over the years, the last trip being in Feb 2003. So I am blessed to be able to say I am one of life's few multi-trip 'Supersonic Travellers'............now we have to put up with First, dear o dear I hear you say.
Thanks for sharing this Matt, always good to get inspiration should an opportunity arise! I would likely go for BA Silver though rather than BA Gold myself, 600 TP is manageable! I have seen the opportunity to get BA Silver for just over £1K by flying those 80 TP flights in Europe if you can get an okay price- do you think they're worth doing???
I'd say it was worth it... Provided you'd actually get benefit out of that silver status.... The actual flying on BA is comfortable and the catering is usually decent these days and if you can get a day in Bucharest or Sofia there are interesting things to see....
I’ve booked that same DUB to Reno trip, however by returning to Barcelona instead of Dublin it dropped the price by another £200!
Good work - I know that can be possible but dropping £200 is pretty good! Remember - don't forget to take that last leg!!! Unless you don't....
Worth mentioning that it appear the BA Double Tier Points T&C’s have changed and you no longer get double tier points on bookings with more than 1 departure from a U.K. Airport (essentially can’t do a domestic flight into London before connecting onwards). Called BA Holidays last week to discuss an existing booking made at the start of the year for travel at Christmas and they said bookings made before the change should still be eligible.
“g) Bookings can only contain one flight departing the UK, multiple journeys from the UK within one booking will not qualify.”
That would indeed be an interesting development... Although you have to fly from (say) Jersey to London to be able to get anywhere outside of the UK!!!
@@jamesboddie2982 I think this is to stop you going in and out to maximise flights on one holiday booking. for example, going from London to Sofia, staying 5 nights in a hotel, then going back to London, and then going to Bucharest and back, without staying there, and having all 4 flights have double TP. Or another example would be a BAH going from EDI-HEL-LHR-JFK and back with 5 nights in JFK, that would disqualify you too.
It means you can only leave the UK once per holiday, but a domestic flight never leaves the UK, so connecting via London from anywhere in the UK is fine and won’t disqualify a booking
I’ve had a few issues whilst searching for holidays on the BA holidays site
some destinations such as Heathrow to Columbo are yielding no results despite there being direct flights operated by oneworld partners (not sure if it had to be a BA flight) and the website is quite flimsy to use on a PC
Some connections via the USA come up for example but a lot of eastern connections (e.g domestic connections in Scandinavian countries) are impossible to plan unless you go through the booking engine first and then find a hotel once you’ve added flights to the basket.
I will admit that I am quite a novice to this but it’s rather hard for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to try and get the best prices whilst trying to qualify for the double tier points criteria
Sounds like you're doing pretty well to me! Colombo is a great destination and may be tricky as BA likes to offer their own flights... You may see options on Qatar but for it to be a qualifying holiday it will need to be on BA codeshares which makes it tricky... And the BA holidays site will give a handful of simple flight options - the fares underpinning the holiday will allow much more complexity than that engine will show, but it gets tricky again to snag those BA flight numbers....
@@MattsPlanet thank you Matt, that’s quite handy to know!
I don't seem to see anyone mention it but you can find great prices for returns from Indian cities to Dammam on Sri Lankan for as little as £389 (from Delhi) which by my calculation nets 360 tier points, or £1.08 per tier point. I suppose the difficulty here is awkwardness of travelling to Saudi + visa costs
Thanks Conor - good contribution to the database! I think that is indeed 360 tier points... India is actually trickier to get a visa for than Saudi these days - Saudi gives visas on arrival to many Western citizens these days... Not sure Dammam is the greatest of places to spend time but at £1.08 per tier point, I'd cope with a lot!!!!
I m going for SAS gold and maybe 10 years to become lifetime!
You've got to have goals!!
@@MattsPlanet too bad skyteam, doing back and forth flights cph to lhr for work
If you attain the second tier, do points that count for promotion to the third tier reset at 0 or continue from the point where you left off?
Within a 12 month membership year, the points don't reset - so if you get 1,500 in a year you'll progress through Bronze, Silver and Gold. Then it will reset to 0 at the end of the year.
las vegas her i come !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know it makes sense!!! Mat the fortunes smile on you....
Another great video Matt. Under the Marco Polo Club if I booked a Cathay flight from Hong Kong to Taipei in Business I would only receive 30 or 25 tier points, depending on my fare bucket of course. My question therefore is would I receive 40 tier points into my BA account or the lower amount?
The BA scheme is 40/140 for club or business depending on whether the flight is under or over 2,000 miles.... A few exceptions around the world, but you'd never get 25 or 30 for any flight into a BA exec account
Another great video, thanks. Do you have any tips using the BA Holiday finder as a solo traveller. It only seems to show prices based on two travelling. Then I need choose a location at which point I can modify for 1 traveller. It would be great if you could see all options based on a solo traveller
I don't find the holiday finder useful. I'd start on Google Flights filtered for OneWorld airlines and start from there
When is your next trip. I enjoy your video’s
Off to Canada on Sunday actually! I tend not to travel in July and August as they're (theoretically!) the best months to be in the UK
Unfortunately I'm unable to take advantage of this as I'm currently silver which will expire in April 2026. Still interesting to hear about the current options, but It looks as though I'll be fighting for the April TP runs that year.
Still don't think I'll go for gold though, silver's a pretty nice sweet spot for me, and given that it's less than half the cost to rack up 600TPs while giving 2 full years of real status (Bronze doesn't count lol) vs just 3 for gold, it's never really seemed worth it to get the 1500 for 50% extra time with status, granted that 2 of those years would be with the added gold benefits, but still.
Thanks - I hope April 26 turns out to be fine but in case it doesn't, book early!!! And silver is definitely a sweetspot that's a perfectly acceptable equilibrium for many!!! I did like the Pier lounge in Hong Kong though.... And the Platinum wing in Helsinki....
Matt, or any of your knowledgeable subscribers. can you recommend an area and or a hotel to stay in in Hong Kong? Looking on BA site at holidays.
Thanks.
Steve. C
YNWA.
I stayed in Mongkok last time as it felt more convenient for the airport as I had only a short time on the ground... Not sure I'd do it again. Anywhere close to the water north or south is good - some can be expensive though
Sorry, second question. In your USA example, do you recreate the routing offered on BA holidays on matrix to identify the fare type. Then using the conditions of that fare look for routing with additional legs with same/similar price?
That's a good approach... I'd usually start with London to XXX without any elaboration to prove the price is in the ball-park, then start adding complexity step by step to see how complicated I can get it without losing the fare. And when you have built in some complexity, its pretty quick to substitute the starting point (say JER) for others (GLA, INV, NCL etc) That can throw out a surprise saving.... And if you find a saving, and open-jaw (from JER to NCL say) can deliver a few quid more out of the price
Do you have book with ba to get tier points for leg between abu Dhabi to jakata via colombo with Sri Lanka air or book direct with Sri Lanka air thank you
As I said elsewhere, book however you want but add your BA number to the booking before flying. You can even do it at the airport when you check in
hey u said it can be the same price in usa motel as a 4 or 5 star hotel in umm somewhere else how to find them
I'm paying £200 for a night close to JFK this weekend (its the last day of the US Open which doesn't help) but $150+ is normal for a West Coast chain hotel... I've stayed in some very nice resorts in Asia for < £60 a night.... Its all on hotels.com!
@@MattsPlanet omg your in nyc!!! i wanna go but you made me think maybe not as it’s soooooo expensive but i live so close to london so i can visit so cheap and love it do u think i should still go to nyc
I've heard that for some reason Malta was a destination that instantly granted you at least silver status. Is this sill the case, or was it ever?
To be honest, I try my best to avoid BA whenever I can. My favourite destination is Japan, so while their carriers tend to be pricey, and sometimes prohibitively so, when I have had the privilege of flying on JAL or ANA (sadly never on business), it has been like an upgrade close to a class above the BA equivalent.
There's never been a golden ticket to status through Malta - its an 80 tier point destination (versus 40 on destinations closer to London) so you can get there quicker by flying to Malta but that's the same as Bucharest or Sofia. And Japanese airlines, indeed most Asian airlines can be a notch above...
Can't recommend Jersey as a departure airport... high risk of disruption... yep I've been stuck there... otherwise a very helpfull post...was it me who suggested Auh on BA in premium and upgrading with avios😅
Cheers Richard - good point about Jersey actually - although lots of people would do it as a back-to-back so if its foggy there, you're not going to be getting there in the first place!!! Still creates a headache though I guess for the onward from back in London...
The double tier points seem to take ages to appear and I've had to chase via email. They have dropped for me after a time point when I could have used the extra status benefit they would have given. What if they only appear after your grace period??
I've never actually done a trip that qualified so have no personal experience but I see reports that it is getting quicker and taking a couple of weeks... Not landing before a trip when you could have used the status is a pain, but it should be backdated when they do arrive to give you what you need
I waited 6 weeks for mine so was similarly miffed but this was back in 2022. I flew Qatar with BA numbers but they went through as Qatar Numbers into my account. Had to call up and they had to cancel the QR. TP deposits and recredit as BA number deposits. They had a don’t call us for one month policy in place at the time when I lodged this. So I wanted 2 weeks (as they state) and then 4 weeks (due to Covid times)
To put that into non Covid times content I submitted multiple complaints the other week and only got one acknowledgment email for one of them. I only ever get anyway by calling them - check the flights actually credited your account as BA numbers would be my suggestion and see if that is what has caused the hold up.
@@lifelessordinaryxyz So annoying...
Hi Matt. I hit gold again about a week ago with my year ending 8/9 and card ending 31/10 but this is not showing the end being next year… your previous video showed that your membership had been extended to the 2025 year. Does this mean that with the changes my Gold retention will end next month having only just reached it? Thanks Matt.
Hi there - after filming this I saw the answer to this online... Annoyed I couldn't get it into the video.... Through the transition phase the extra year of status earned only shows up in the account once the year has turned.... its really annoying and I'm sure its creating huge call traffic to BA that they could do without but that I believe is what's happening.... I got my status months back before they tweaked this so mine shows correctly. I'd hold until a week or so after the 9th September and it should update then. Let me know if you remember!!!
@@MattsPlanet thank you Matt and thank you for another great video.
Dont forget Hawaii. 140+140+140
Its a long time since I saw a Hawaii run that made sense - it used to be dynamite but not for a while.... Plus I've never been excited about that third 140 tier point leg... Feels like one too many for me to do on the trot!
I'm being stupid here, but what's xcu trip?
My dodgy accent.... Ex-EU - a flight that starts in the EU and gets where you want to go through London. Often half the price of flying direct from London. Cheers!
@MattsPlanet Brilliant, thanks for replying. Great info from your videos Matt.
Is this really worth all the hassle?
A question only you can answer!!! If you hate flying and airports and would only do it to make that experience more tolerable for the rest of the year, probably not.... If you love flying and airports, so the runs themselves are an adventure that you really enjoy, then I'd say yes
@@MattsPlanet Agreed, can't do these with my wife! As a retired pilot, I enjoy the experience and the ability to relax in lounges with the (usually silver) status I can get.
i uploaded my first vid
Congrats!!! Keep the momentum.....
@@MattsPlanet aw tysm i can’t do the vid u said it costs to much but i’ll fly somewhere again next year