BA Exec Club: how to get 40 Tier points, pronto?

[LotusOmega375D]

I'm only 40 Tier points away from earning my Silver card (600 points required), but my membership year expires in just 3 weeks on 8 March, at which point they will all just disappear down BA's virtual toilet and get reset to zero.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can quickly get 40-odd points? Am I correct in thinking that just booking a flight for some point in the future is not enough and that you actually have to complete the journey before they will credit you with the points? I don't intend to travel abroad within that period, but could perhaps make one European return trip: problem with that is that the cheapest Economy ticket will only give me 10 Tier points each way, so I will still be 20 short. A return flexible Economy ticket would yield the required 40 Tier points, but be difficult to justify as it would cost several hundred pounds more.

Are there any non-flight options to accumulate Tier points, or does that only apply to their Avios miles?

Any proposals welcomed.

So near and yet so far!

[nutsytvr]

Not that I know of. They have just done me like that. I am on bronze, needed 300 tier points for silver, which I get with 2 Club returns to Miami next week - but my year ended last week and the b*****s have docked all my existing tier points - so my next two flights only take me back to Bronze membership. Executive club? Its not worth the hassle!!!!

[Dr Jekyll]

Club class to Jersey or AMS?

[snabzter]

I would go over to Flyertalk as that has a thread going on tier point runs (it has a vast wealth of knowledge on all things BA). There will be plenty of short flights you can take to earn 40 tier points. It'll just be a case of finding one at the right price for you as well as convenience.

A Club Europe flight is your best bet and to somewhere like Jersey from Gatwick.

You can request a grace period of two weeks to your membership year as well so that you can avoid losing tier points if you have a flight just after your membership year ends. I am not sure if this grace period is always granted though. Again, Flyertalk will have much more info on it than I can give you.

Hope this helps.

[GCH]

The easiest & usual route for a quick 40 or 80 TP is JER or AMS- very quick flight, and gives 40TP each way in club, so do one way in club and back in Y, or two returns in Y. Both AMS and JER you can do a straight turnaround, with no need to re-clear security, and go back on the same plane (often with the same crew) so they are very easy to do.
Not too expensive, although the cheapest club returns require a saturday nite stay nowadays.
Get over to the BA forum on flyertalk and there is a monster tier point run thread on there.

Edited by GCH on Wednesday 13th February 19:18

[LooneyTunes]

Out of curiosity, what do you expect to get back for your investment in extra flights?

In my experience, there's not a huge amount of additional value, and certainly wouldn't entertain the idea of spending x £100 to get a silver card.

[boxst]

I spent quite a bit of time at airports and the Silver card gets me Lounge access. Very worth it in my opinion.

Having said that, I have 950 this year so will retain silver for 2013/2014.

Edit: To answer the original question: A return in economy to Paris / Amsterdam etc... should earn you 40 points.

[LooneyTunes]

boxst said:

I spent quite a bit of time at airports and the Silver card gets me Lounge access. Very worth it in my opinion.

But if you don't fly often enough to get silver, then you're probably better off with the likes of priority pass (or another paid lounge) or a restaurant...

[GCH]

LooneyTunes said:

Out of curiosity, what do you expect to get back for your investment in extra flights?

In my experience, there's not a huge amount of additional value, and certainly wouldn't entertain the idea of spending x £100 to get a silver card.

Business check in desks,lounge access + guest, priority boarding, seat selection at time of booking (including short haul exit rows), miles bonus, and various other things.
Well worth a minimal outlay for silver.
The difference between silver and gold, not so much, but silver is definitely worth it. A quick turnaround to AMS or JER takes a few hours, and is not going to break the bank.

LooneyTunes said:

But if you don't fly often enough to get silver, then you're probably better off with the likes of priority pass (or another paid lounge) or a restaurant...

There are no priority pass or paid lounges in T5. BA lounges only.

Edited by GCH on Wednesday 13th February 21:59

[boxst]

LooneyTunes said:

But if you don't fly often enough to get silver, then you're probably better off with the likes of priority pass (or another paid lounge) or a restaurant...

Although BA have made it slightly easier, you used to only get points if you flew with a particular ticket. So you may fly all the time (I did) but only occasionally get tickets that will accrue points. So lounge made it worthwhile, plus priority boarding and check-in (not T5).

[LooneyTunes]

GCH said:

LooneyTunes said:

Out of curiosity, what do you expect to get back for your investment in extra flights?

In my experience, there's not a huge amount of additional value, and certainly wouldn't entertain the idea of spending x £100 to get a silver card.

Business check in desks,lounge access + guest, priority boarding, seat selection at time of booking (including short haul exit rows), miles bonus, and various other things.
Well worth a minimal outlay for silver.
The difference between silver and gold, not so much, but silver is definitely worth it. A quick turnaround to AMS or JER takes a few hours, and is not going to break the bank.

LooneyTunes said:

But if you don't fly often enough to get silver, then you're probably better off with the likes of priority pass (or another paid lounge) or a restaurant...

There are no priority pass or paid lounges in T5. BA lounges only.

Edited by GCH on Wednesday 13th February 21:59

I'm well aware of the stated benefits and what there is/isn't at T5 I just don't agree that they're worth paying hundreds (and wasting a day) for: with self check-in the queues are minimal and restaurants in T5 are more than acceptable if you're stuck there (besides which, even transiting, lounge time is usually very short if you've picked your flights).

Don't get me wrong, all things being equal you're better off with some "status" than not, but I don't miss mine at all since I cut down my flying - different folk ascribe different value to things, and there's nothing wrong with that, but if the OP is expecting it to be the passport to endless upgrades then he's likely to be sorely disappointed.

[surveyor]

LotusOmega375D said:

I'm only 40 Tier points away from earning my Silver card (600 points required), but my membership year expires in just 3 weeks on 8 March, at which point they will all just disappear down BA's virtual toilet and get reset to zero.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can quickly get 40-odd points? Am I correct in thinking that just booking a flight for some point in the future is not enough and that you actually have to complete the journey before they will credit you with the points? I don't intend to travel abroad within that period, but could perhaps make one European return trip: problem with that is that the cheapest Economy ticket will only give me 10 Tier points each way, so I will still be 20 short. A return flexible Economy ticket would yield the required 40 Tier points, but be difficult to justify as it would cost several hundred pounds more.

Are there any non-flight options to accumulate Tier points, or does that only apply to their Avios miles?

Any proposals welcomed.

So near and yet so far!

Someone I know had this dilemma. His solution was to invite his wife along on a business trip. it worked with major points, all lost when he revealed the purpose of her invite...

[BigBen]

LooneyTunes said:

boxst said:

I spent quite a bit of time at airports and the Silver card gets me Lounge access. Very worth it in my opinion.

But if you don't fly often enough to get silver, then you're probably better off with the likes of priority pass (or another paid lounge) or a restaurant...

In my case I did do a tier point run one year. Reason being I was doing a lot of internal flights in the US and when those were on AA it was good to have lounge access, therefore it was worth it. Now have a Bronze card and not too worried about it as I am travelling a lot less.

[LooneyTunes]

BigBen said:

In my case I did do a tier point run one year. Reason being I was doing a lot of internal flights in the US and when those were on AA it was good to have lounge access, therefore it was worth it. Now have a Bronze card and not too worried about it as I am travelling a lot less.

Don't get me started on how little BA actually recognise alliance flying / codeshares...

[The jiffle king]

When in the past I have been close to getting sliver or gold, I have phoned up and showed that I am a regular customer and been given the upgrade at the time of renewal. I was 60 points off gold and they did this, so it might be worth a try

[anonymous-user]

surveyor said:

Someone I know had this dilemma. His solution was to invite his wife along on a business trip. it worked with major points, all lost when he revealed the purpose of her invite...

Are you sure it was the same dilemma? While you can transfer points between accounts don't think you can transfer tier points which is what counts at renewal time

[surveyor]

acer12 said:

surveyor said:

Someone I know had this dilemma. His solution was to invite his wife along on a business trip. it worked with major points, all lost when he revealed the purpose of her invite...

Are you sure it was the same dilemma? While you can transfer points between accounts don't think you can transfer tier points which is what counts at renewal time

Not entirely. A few drinks had been had when this was let slip. He was definitely needing something before a certain date to keep his status, and this did it.

[Targarama]

LooneyTunes said:

But if you don't fly often enough to get silver, then you're probably better off with the likes of priority pass (or another paid lounge) or a restaurant...

And if you've not flown enough to get silver then you're not flying BA that much.

I have recently switched to BA due to a role change at work meaning more EMEA travel, and I have worked my way to Bronze in the last 3 months. To be honest I haven't missed the lounge access, but then I've had no major flight delays. Yet. Its been a good winter so far for me in that regard (now I've tempted fate...).

To get those 40 points just booked a European business trip at the last minute on a popular route such as CDG/FRA/Zurich. 40 points will be yours.

[LotusOmega375D]

UPDATE

Thanks for all your advice chaps. Last week I took an overnight return trip to Stockholm to meet a client. This was worth the 40 Tier points I needed and BA have just confirmed that Silver status is now mine.