BA Tier points

[billybuds]

I am in need of 80 tier points pretty quickly to make silver. Any idea of the cheapest way to do this? And also will I still be credited with the points even if I do not take the flight?

[flyingjase]

Don't think you will as they get credited after the flight

Unless you are going for Gold I wouldn't bother anyway

I have been Silver for 2 years and looked at the 'perks'. Once you strip it down, all you really get is you plus a guest into the BA lounge if are travelling economy. I have done this a few time with internal flights For £30 or less I can eat / drink the same amount in a quiet pub somewhere in the airport.

Obviously if you are flying business you get access to the lounge as standard anyway.

Sorry, only other advantage is seat selection which I used to find good but if you log in 24 hours before anyway, there are usually some good seats anyway.

[Tallow]

How quickly are you talking?

The quickest and (kind of) cheapest ways to do it would be a short haul business class flight to AMS x2 (that's the cheapest Club Europe destination) or WT+ to somewhere like JFK for a nice weekend away (there's a sale on ATM).
Another alternative would be to register yourself at an EU address outside of the UK. That way you only need 400 points instead of 600 points. Bear in mind it would need to be a real and usable address though (e.g. a relative or colleague's address).

HTH

ETA - No you don't get the points if you don't fly

Edited by Tallow on Thursday 30th December 00:18

[flyingjase]

Tallow said:

How quickly are you talking?

The quickest and (kind of) cheapest ways to do it would be a short haul business class flight to AMS x2 (that's the cheapest Club Europe destination) or WT+ to somewhere like JFK for a nice weekend away (there's a sale on ATM).
Another alternative would be to register yourself at an EU address outside of the UK. That way you only need 400 points instead of 600 points. Bear in mind it would need to be a real and usable address though (e.g. a relative or colleague's address).

HTH

But why though?

I've moved my flights to BA for nearly 3 years now and travelled business on short haul to get tier points (as well as business on long haul as standard becuase you have to)

OK my long haul flights have resduced to only 1-2 per year

Today I got a quote from Swiss Air and BA from LHR to Geneva (for a weekend Snowboarding) and BA was more than double the price of SA in economy>

I just can't see the point anymore

[Tallow]

flyingjase said:

But why though?

I've moved my flights to BA for nearly 3 years now and travelled business on short haul to get tier points (as well as business on long haul as standard becuase you have to)

OK my long haul flights have resduced to only 1-2 per year

Today I got a quote from Swiss Air and BA from LHR to Geneva (for a weekend Snowboarding) and BA was more than double the price of SA in economy>

I just can't see the point anymore

Yeah, I see your point. Personally, it's more to do with being higher on standby lists and being treated with a little more civility by ground staff when I need help. Granted, I shouldn't effectively have to pay for that, but the reality is that seems to be the case with pretty much all airlines in my experience, unless you always pay for business or first class.

I would say that the lounge is pretty handy though, especially if your flight is delayed a long time: I flew in mid December and there were a lot of delays and cancellations on mainland Europe due to the snow, meaning the terminal was pretty chaotic. I was very glad to be able to sit somewhere and work in peace and quiet. That said, as it's possible to get a priority pass card for £259 a year that allows unlimited lounge visits, it's of limited use in that sense.

I suppose one difference is the context in which someone is paying. Whilst I don't particularly want to be wasteful, my flights are generally work ones. If I was paying for lots of personal flights, I think I would see it differently, but luckily that's what air miles are for.

[ajcj]

If you have a qualifying flight coming up, they can extend your membership year so you make it. They did this for me to hit gold a few years back - I called the standard customer services number and asked nicely. It was a 3-week extension IIRC.

[BigBen]

Not something you can count on but I did not earn enough points this year and they gave me another year's Silver card with a cover letter about volcanoes and cabin crew strikes etc

[flyingjase]

I think BA are pricing themselves out of the market. I've always been happy to pay a little more to fly BA to get the tier points but I've just booked my long weekend in the snow in Janurary with Swiss Air

4 seats sconomy LHR - GVA on Swiss Air = £585 inc travel ins for 3 of the travellers

with BA (minus travel ins) = £1155

Just not worth it

I'm flying long haul BA Business to Canada in Feb which will boost the tier points but I doubt I'll make the 600 needed for Silver this year unless I get another long haul trip in.

[Tallow]

flyingjase said:

I think BA are pricing themselves out of the market. I've always been happy to pay a little more to fly BA to get the tier points but I've just booked my long weekend in the snow in Janurary with Swiss Air

4 seats sconomy LHR - GVA on Swiss Air = £585 inc travel ins for 3 of the travellers

with BA (minus travel ins) = £1155

Just not worth it

I'm flying long haul BA Business to Canada in Feb which will boost the tier points but I doubt I'll make the 600 needed for Silver this year unless I get another long haul trip in.

I definitely agree with you there. I booked a flight to Hong Kong the other day in economy class on Cathay Pacfic. It cost £846. When I priced it up on BA, they wanted £1700!!
What I don't understand is where the massive disparity in their pricing comes from - they are also incredibly cheap in some destinations. I guess it is down to loading of the flights in question, but still...
On the bright side, I still get the BA TPs and miles with CX!