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TP collection year ends 8 Aug 2022. Currently have only 60TP as all long-hauls were Avios tickets this year, so in need of a strategy to retain Silver for next year.
Strategy A – qualify with the 50% threshold this collection year:
– 240TP extra needed by 8 Aug (factoring in the 60TP already gained) would give Silver until Sep 2023
– Would mean taking 3 CE zone 1 returns this summer (3x 80TP)
– Assuming £300/return, that’s £900 fares + hotels as needed
– These costs would literally be just TP runs on weekendsStrategy B – qualify with the 75% threshold this calendar year:
– 450TP between 9 Aug – 31 Dec would give Silver until Sep 2024
– Would mean taking 1x QR J return to Asia (400TP) and 4 qualifying BA flights that give at least 50TP more in total
– Assuming no sales coming up and flying from Scandinavia, £2.5k for the Qatar flights and £300 or so for the BA flights to qualify + hotels as needed
– This gives a long-haul holiday at least and keeps Silver for almost 2 yearsWhat would you do?
If you just want TPs then do a couple of back to backs somewhere like AMS where you get off the arriving plane then re board it to return home with no need to do immigration or security.
No need for a hotel – unless of course you wanted to make it a weekend away.
Check out the options for some 80TP flights as well like HEL and ATH (other routes are available and Rob has written articles about these so look for those). HEL is on AY and the same plane may not turnaround back to LHR so that would be an over night stay.
Don’t forget to look at BA holidays for over night stays. Might save you a little bit of cash over separate hotel bookings.
But before spending any money you need to think if spending money just to get silver is good value.
As bronze then 7 day free seat selection is still a good benefit and if you fly Club anyway that covers your lounge access.
What silver benefits will you make use, and how many times, in the following year, and what is the ‘cash’ value you attach to each? If the answer to this is more than the cost of A or B, then go for whichever you prefer. If not, ignore the Silver chase and use the money elsewhere…
B makes more sense if you will have a lot of trips in economy where silver may be of use, or seat selection on long haul is very important.
But if you’re prepared to pay £900 for TP run, why not just pay the £900 when you actually want to go, and you’ll get lounge and extra luggage. If seat selection is important on short haul it may be cheaper to just pay for it rather than going on a futile trip.
Also as mentioned bronze also lets you choose seats 7 days in advance
I’m planning to get the 270 extra tier points I’ll need for silver by doing 2 UK weekends away – so MAN-LHR-EDI in CE is 80 tier points and so on. Yes a bit faffy but no immigration/covid requirements/currency complications and it fits in with my calendar for the autumn. I’ll also get a couple of days in cities I like to explore so it’s win-win.
Total cost of 8 x CE sectors was £750. We will get a huge amount of use from the Silver status in 2023.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Thanks all for the thoughts. A number of you are questioning if I should even chase Silver – there’s no question in my mind I benefit lots from it, as I spend 1-2 weekends a month in Switzerland. The fast track security, lounge, seat selection and priority boarding are invaluable and it would be costly to book CE every time to get them without Silver.
So this is really an A or B choice for me…
Prices right now are not at TP run levels for me. @NorthernLass strategy of TP generating holidays is my preferred route, just manipulating something you want to do anyway.
I’d carefully evaluate the benefits of silver before I was spending that sort of money. I think a real value of status is when you fly lots of economy sectors, maybe for work, then status can really improve it, but if that’s the case you should generate 4x flights and some TP organically. I think seat selection is going to be less and less important as CS rolls out.It’s the only way I can do it while the lower qualifications rates apply, also want to get Silver before December as we’ll be able to use lounge access and the free bag on AA domestic for our Florida trip at Xmas. Once we’ve burned through all the BA vouchers we’ll probably look at retaining status via an airline with better northern options like QR.
I wasn’t aware there was a 75% threshold?
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
I wasn’t aware there was a 75% threshold?
Only until 31 Dec. See https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits
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