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Fly to Athens with a flat bed in BA Club World for £197 – and earn 160 tier points

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As we covered over the weekend, British Airways has decided to make deeper fare cuts as its September sale comes towards its end.

There are some genuinely crazy Club Europe fares currently available. These are worth 80 British Airways Executive Club tier points return – and in some cases 160 tier points return.

British Airways Club Europe cheap tier points

Given that the requirements for status are currently reduced by a quarter (Bronze requires 225 tier points, Silver requires 450 tier points, Gold requires 1,125 tier points) you could earn status for very little money indeed. You would also get a few short breaks in the New Year too.

What are the 160 tier point routes?

Here is the list of the cheapest routes which earn 160 tier points which I published on Saturday:

(The list of 80 tier points routes, which starts at £119, is in this article.)

Club Europe British Airways sale cheap tier points
  • Algiers £242
  • Bucharest £172
  • Catania £228
  • Funchal £208
  • Gran Canaria £204
  • Istanbul £182
  • Kalamata £274
  • Lanzarote £184
  • Malta £164
  • Marrakech £205
  • Paphos £198
  • Preveza Lefkada £246
  • Reykjavik £154
  • Sofia £146
  • Tenerife £204
  • Thessaloniki £222
  • Tirana £176

However, I forgot one: Athens.

This was a big mistake, because Athens is currently being served by a Boeing 787 on selected dates for cargo reasons.

If you book yourself onto these flights, you will get 160 tier points for under £200 AND a flat bed.

(Catering is the standard Club Europe food, unfortunately!)

BA Club World 787 to Athens £197

When is Athens served by a Boeing 787?

At present, it is only showing on a few dates in October:

  • Friday 2nd October at 12.40
  • Friday 9th October at 12.40
  • Friday 16th October at 12.40
  • Friday 23rd October at 12.40

The aircraft turns around immediately, as the 19.55 from Athens. This means that you’ll be returning on a standard short-haul aircraft unless you stay for a week.

These flights can be booked for £197 return in Club Europe / Club World.

Remember that you do not need to quarantine on your return from mainland Greece (unless you live in Scotland) and you do not need to present a coronavirus test result to enter.

You need to be aware, of course, that BA could swap the aircraft at any point. These flights are being run for cargo purposes and so should stick, but the further ahead you book the riskier it is.

You can also find long haul aircraft running occasional services to Amsterdam, Zurich, Madrid and Larnaca.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (85)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • E14 says:
    24 Sep24 September 05:06

    You might want to revise the catering is standard Club Europe, at the moment it’s cost cutting Covid boxes for your protection

    • Andrew says:
      24 Sep24 September 06:58

      BA really need to sort that out – every other airline at least making an attempt to return to normalish catering. No hot food in long haul business class 6 months into the pandemic, I mean come on.

      • Phillip says:
        24 Sep24 September 07:15

        For my December flights the special meals option is enabled and I can choose special meals which I can’t on any other flight I’ve got booked in October and November. Whether that will be later disabled or whether they’ve decided they can only play silly games for so long…

      • ChrisC says:
        24 Sep24 September 07:37

        I read either on here or flyer talk that hot food should be back at the end of October when the winter timetable starts.

        Still really not good enough though.

    • Rob says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:44

      That’s what I meant by standard!

  • John says:
    24 Sep24 September 05:36

    Is Dalaman also a 160 Tier Point destination?

  • ChrisC says:
    24 Sep24 September 05:59

    Is an hour and a 10 mins (allowing for doors close 20 mins before departure) enough to to a back 2 back at Athens?

    If you book the right dates could be an easy and cheapish 320 TPS

    • Phillip says:
      24 Sep24 September 06:00

      Athens airport is extremely efficient – easily done!

    • Ols says:
      24 Sep24 September 07:30

      320? It’s 80 each way.

      • ChrisC says:
        24 Sep24 September 07:41

        Perhaps I didn;t make it totallyt clear to get the cheap flights you would need to do it twice

        day one – ticket 1 LHR-ATH
        day one – ticket 2 ATH – LHR

        day two ticket 2 LHR-ATH
        day two ticket 1 ATH-LHR

        so 320 TPs

        Also avoids cost of hotel in ATH – unless you want to go there of course!

        • Max says:
          24 Sep24 September 12:10

          I was going to ask if that was allowed by BA : flying out with ticket 1 and come back with ticket 2 on the same day.

          787 back to back flight are £500+ but if you take a 7day trip, then it’s £220.

          • AJA says:
            24 Sep24 September 12:54

            I wouldn’t advise it. BA don’t allow you to use the tickets out of sequence though you could try buying LHR-ATH-LHR and a second ATH-LHR-ATH.

          • Lady London says:
            24 Sep24 September 13:52

            They don’t like it so don’t mention it. They actually can’t stop you.

            Many years ago BA advertised they had stopped the “Saturday night rule” i.e. it wasn;t necessary to stay a Saturday night not to get rip-off pricing. Somehow, that disappeared rapidly after that.

            Only in Covid, for routes I’ve been looking at, has that pretty much disappeared. But there’s evidence of it still having a big impact on longhaul flights, even through “cheap” ota channels, if you’re not staying a Saturday night away.

            Nesting tickets like the above is an intelligent response – but to avoid hassle don’t make a thing about it just fly it.

  • Phillip says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:00

    Worth noting that Greece has this week for the first time hit 20 cases per 100,000 on a one week rolling average and the local projections are that the numbers will continue to rise. The majority of cases are now in Attica, which impacts Athens.

    • cinereus says:
      24 Sep24 September 06:50

      Yeah, this could easily change before October.

    • Jake Mc says:
      24 Sep24 September 07:46

      but the UK is much higher still. It seems particularly harsh on the travel industry that we are allowed to travel around the UK and Ireland with much higher rates yet not travel to a location where, statistically, we are less likely to catch up

      • Nick says:
        24 Sep24 September 08:14

        But you’re not allowed to travel around Ireland, there’s a 14-day quarantine period on entering Ireland from the UK.

        • stevenhp1987 says:
          24 Sep24 September 08:46

          You can enter without quarantining if you enter via Northern Ireland.

          If you take a ferry to NI, or fly to Belfast and get a rental car, then you can drive across no problem.

          • Lady London says:
            24 Sep24 September 13:54

            How does your conscience feel about that?

            Even if you know a government request is rubbish, you don’t really have the right to risk others’ health (in government view – yes again I know it’s often rubbish) by circumventing it.

      • Anna says:
        24 Sep24 September 08:29

        I thought we were effectively required to quarantine on arrival in Ireland – you’re supposed to stay indoors for 14 days which would rule out most trips.

    • Colin JE says:
      24 Sep24 September 08:55

      Rob, a slight correction – returning from Athens still requires a 14 day quarantine… if you live in Scotland!

  • Phillip says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:04

    Also, Larnaca is 160 TPs and during the summer has either 787 or 777 rostered every Thursday.

  • Peggers says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:24

    “Remember that you do not need to quarantine on your return from mainland Greece and you do not need to present a coronavirus test result to enter.”

    Hi Rob, this is unless your final destination is Scotland where all of Greece has the 14 day quarantine rule. I know this to my cost already!

    • Alan says:
      24 Sep24 September 09:44

      Plus SG have advised against travel abroad unless necessary. Personally I’ve got no desire to run the gauntlet re quarantine for some TPs, especially when I’m not flying anyway so wouldn’t get any benefit from status!

  • Jack Taylor says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:44

    What’s the easiest way to see which aircraft has been rostered for certain flights?

  • Robert Davison says:
    24 Sep24 September 06:45

    You also left Corfu off your 160 point list.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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