Need 625 TPs to get to Gold …. ideas?

[Bartinbrook]

I need 625 Tier Points to get to Gold before June 2022.

I live in London, so I’m thinking of doing a double TPs BA Holiday in CE to somewhere like Malta, including a trip up to GLA and then back to LHR. This should give me 560 TPs total. Then a further LHR > GLA > LHR trip in CE will get me 80 TPs, giving me a total of 640 TPs to achieve Gold.

Or does anyone know of a simpler, cheaper method I’ve not thought of?

[ChrisC]

625 is about half of the reduced threshold.

Is there a particular reason why you want gold and are prepared to spend several hundred quid on getting it?

Are the benefits worth the costs?

[Amy C]

Like you I’m June 8th and until last week I was pretty obsessed with getting Gold. Then I spent some time having a good, long look at the benefits and decided silver will be fine and Gold wasn’t worth the £££ and stress getting. I’m still interested in case anyone comes up with a reasonable plan for you in response though. I need 645 TP myself.

[The Canuck]

I haven’t had time to price this but my go to TP run was always to Hawaii or the West Coast of North America. If you’re looking to get a vacation out of it too then arguably these two destinations are better than somewhere like Malta anyways.

In your case you don’t need to go all the way to Hawaii, so I’d do a trip starting from the EU to somewhere like SFO or LAX. Key thing is to make a stop somewhere in the Northeast like JFK or BOS.

As an example, CDG-LHR-JFK-LAX-JFK-LHR-CDG would get you 40+140+140+140+140+40 = 640 Tier Points, more than enough and you can always drop the LHR-CDG leg as long as you don’t check bags.

I haven’t done one in a while but I recall these being around the 1200-1500GBP range, and SOF often being the cheapest starting point.

If you book correctly you can get Flagship Business on the A321 for the transcontinental leg sometimes.

In future, you can eek out a few more points since the fare rules usually allow a regional leg on the west coast also (e.g. LAX-SFO), or you can make the hop over to Hawaii for another 140 TP each way.

[Andrew J]

Qatar Airways to Thailand will get you 560 in J

[John]

It may be more fruitful to aim for 1125 TPs after June (and before December).

[masaccio]

Pick a BA Holidays destination for double TP where you can choose to fly Iberian, or drive/train to Manchester to add the MAN-LHR shuttle? Caribbean would be 720 TP. Rather depends upon whether you want a holiday or tier points.

[PGW]

I’ve always seen Silver as the sweet spot of the BAEC programme. Unless you are going to use the additional benefits of Gold status on a pretty regular basis or are taking the additional flights needed anyway I’d save your money and stick at Silver.

[masaccio]

PGW wrote:

I’ve always seen Silver as the sweet spot of the BAEC programme. Unless you are going to use the additional benefits of Gold status on a pretty regular basis or are taking the additional flights needed anyway I’d save your money and stick at Silver.

Bending the topic a bit, Gold has meant it’s relatively straightforward to get through to BA to talk to them which the stream of Facebook comments tells me is exceptionally hard for most people. When my JFK-LHR flight got cancelled 8 hours before departure I was able to get through to BA quickly. BA Holidays had already closed for the night and the US line wasn’t dealing on my mobile but the BAEC agent whizzed through the rebooking.

That BA Holidays flights and other BA flights are somehow dealt with separately and need exceptions processing is a different problem, but then: BA… IT… nuff said.

Still, I would not pay for Gold; I’m just happy I have it.

[Andrew J]

PGW wrote:

I’ve always seen Silver as the sweet spot of the BAEC programme. Unless you are going to use the additional benefits of Gold status on a pretty regular basis or are taking the additional flights needed anyway I’d save your money and stick at Silver.

The First Wing is the sweet spot for me which I’d find very hard to give up. Galleries First is nothing to write home about but partner lounges such as QF First lounge in Sydney are nothing short of Concorde Room standard and having to use a business class lounge would be quite traumatic for me.

[ChrisC]

masaccio wrote:

BA Holidays had already closed for the night and the US line wasn’t dealing on my mobile but the BAEC agent whizzed through the rebooking.

The sales line might be closed but the duty office is 24/7. The number is in your booking documents and is for issues exactly like this when flights get cancelled.

[Karl]

I’m in a similar situation, needing 585 for gold.
Managed to book weekends in Sofia and Bucharest for 320 TPs.
There are some decent fares for Friday to Sunday trips to Spain in March at the moment, via Madrid on Iberia so got weekend trips to Seville and Malaga coming up for £240/120TP apiece.
An economy return to Milan booked ages ago will get another 10TP and will probably get the other 5TP from flying one way to an upcoming stag do in Newcastle.
The Sofia, Bucharest, Seville and Malaga flights cost about £900 in total so happy with that as all these places have been on my to-see list anyway.

[PGW]

Andrew J wrote:

PGW wrote:

I’ve always seen Silver as the sweet spot of the BAEC programme. Unless you are going to use the additional benefits of Gold status on a pretty regular basis or are taking the additional flights needed anyway I’d save your money and stick at Silver.

The First Wing is the sweet spot for me which I’d find very hard to give up. Galleries First is nothing to write home about but partner lounges such as QF First lounge in Sydney are nothing short of Concorde Room standard and having to use a business class lounge would be quite traumatic for me.

I fully take your point but we’re probably saying the same thing here. For sure, if the 2 particular benefits you list are of sufficient value to somebody then Gold status might well be worth pursuing. However, would they be so to a traveller doesn’t start all their trips at LHR or mostly travel to what are the majority of destinations where there isn’t a superior lounge for Emerald status holders? My main point is that it’s really a matter of assessing what you can get set again your individual travel patterns. My own view is that, for most, Silver gives significant benefits without the need to take further trips mainly to gain Gold status.

[jj]

I put a lower value on Gold than the two days of my life that would be wasted on otherwise unwanted trips to GLA. Would you really do those journeys for the dubious pleasure of using a first class lounge instead of a club lounge, or to avoid paying fees on your third suitcase?

Just book two long weekends to 160 point destinations in Europe with the holiday doubler, making sure you only travel to destinations that you really want to visit. No time wasted – just pure pleasure.

[FFoxSake]

jj wrote:

two long weekends

Your long weekends are 5 nights?? Nice… 😉

[jj]

FFoxSake wrote:

jj wrote:

two long weekends

Your long weekends are 5 nights?? Nice… 😉

We have five bank holidays between now and June – great for lovers of longer-than-average long weekends.

[PB1]

Marrakech in May has business class flights @ 80 Tier points each way which if you add to a 5 night stay in a hotel or car hire get doubled so giving you 320 tier points per trip. There are a few all inclusive hotels with Business Class flights at around £530pp for 5 nights.

You can do the same to Sofia or Bucharest, it’s the 5 nights OR 5 days car hire that double the tier points as long as they are booked as part of the holiday.