Follow Will as he tries to hit Gold Guest List via 40 flights in (less than) 40 days

Don’t try this at home kids.  Or even in a plane.

Head for Points reader Will, who credits me / blames me on the first page of his blog for getting him into this in the first place, is currently doing something very fascinating / stupid (delete as applicable!).

He is trying to hit British Airways Gold Guest List status, from scratch, in one trip.  This means that he is taking 40 flights in very short order to hit 5,000 British Airways tier points!

In an attempt to keep himself sane, he is blogging about his trip.  It is called ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Tier Points Runner‘.

This is the first part of his flight itinerary (apologies for the airport codes).  I think there is a second similar run to follow after this!

1. LHR-BRU (London to Brussels)
2. BRU-HEL (Brussels to Helsinki)
3. HEL-LHR (Helsinki to Heathrow)
4. LCY-JFK (London City to New York)
5. JFK-LAX (New York to LA)
6. LAX-HNL (LA to Honolulu)
7. HNL-LAX (Honolulu to LA)
8. LAX-MCO (LA to Orlando)
9. MCO-MIA (Orlando to Miami)
10. MIA-STT (Miami to St Thomas US Virgin Islands)
11. STT-MIA (St Thomas US Virgin Islands to Miami)
12. MIA-LAX (Miami to LA)
13. LAX-HNL (LA to Honolulu)
14. HNL-LAX (Honolulu to Los Angeles)
15. LAX-JFK (Los Angeles to New York)
16. JFK-LCY (New York to London City)
17. LHR-HEL (Heathrow to Helsinki)
18. HEL-BRU (Helsinki to Brussels)
19. BRU-LHR  (Brussels to Heathrow)

At the time of writing (Sunday) he has posted about flights 1 to 15, which have taken him 15 days.  7 days of this was actually non-flying holiday, amazingly.

I have no idea what all these flights have cost – all are in Business or First Class.  It will be substantially less than you think because of the way he has squeezed multiple segments into what are actually ticketed as single trips.  I am guessing he has only actually booked two tickets – Heathrow to Honolulu return and, nested within it, Honolu to St Thomas US Virgin Islands.

Hopefully when he gets back I can persuade Will to tell us what he has learned from this.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.