Best way to earn 5 tier points?

That’s an annoying number!

So you’re 165TPs short of requalification?

If you need to satisfy this using personal travel and just want the points, might I suggest an exAMS CE return to JER, which would net 80 points in CE and 20 TPs for the Eurotraveller sectors, and avoids (most) of the APD?

Trundle over to the Netherlands exLCY in Eurotraveller for a little entertainment on Friday night, pop across to Jersey and spend a pleasant Saturday night at the recently refurbished L’Horizon Hotel, and back to Gatwick via Gatwick and Amsterdam on the Sunday (last sector in Eurotraveller), with a spot of afternoon tea in the F lounge en route, if you can get the timings to work.

You will slightly overshoot with 180TPs, but it’s probably easier (and cheaper) to do it this way than take a one way to MAN or EDI/GLA for the 5 points.

Another way of doing this might be to take a long weekend in New York or Bermuda using an exEUR World Traveller Plus fare; again AMS is recommended due to the lack of APD. Gatwick fares are always less than LHR, so although you are “based” exLHR it’s still worth journeying to LGW if you’re short of TPs and on your own dime.

Best to wait for the sale to book these trips one just ended, though exEUR is almost always reasonable, and sometimes booking the hotel at the same time might offer a saving. You would get 10% off if you are an IAG shareholder.

LHR/LGW-MAN £39 10 Tier points Train Manch to London £12 or Megabus £2. Nat Exp coaches go direct from MAN to london but are a bit dearer….all adv purchase.

I would not bother to get the additional tier points at all.

If BA were to refuse to renew your card (assume you are UK based and need 600 points) then frankly they do not deserve your business going forward!!.

A Silver card can be picked up in Europe for just 400 points and a Gold for 800 points so having 595 points in the UK in the current economic environment is pretty good going. Fares ex the UK are up to 75% higher than a departure from Europe so by any measure a UK passenger is worth considerably more that many EU gold card holders.

My advice is don’t spend another penny!

Good Luck

If you decide to take a 10TP one-way domestic with a land travel (re)positioning sector, then it’s usually cheaper to fly the inbound sector to London, rather than the outbound from London.

Fees and charges are generally less when departing MAN/NCL etc to London than they are when heading in the opposite direction.

Both Newcastle and Manchester have good, direct rail connections between their airports and respective city centre stations. In Newcastle, you could even enjoy a good lunch with a view at SIX, on the roof of the Baltic Art Gallery:

http://www.sixbaltic.com

– which you can reach from right outside the station on the Quaylink bus. Take the bus back to the station to catch the Metro light rail to the airport.

Book your Northbound rail ticket on the East Coast website, which has no booking fees or card fees and offers 10% off advance purchase fares:

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk

Unfortunately, they’ve recently started charging £1 for postage, but it’s free to pick up the ticket at a station.

Assuming that you have enough flights on BA metal, why not have a look at Iberia and consider a quick weekend in Barcelona?

Best fare I can see at the moment is 139€ for a Sat/Sun trip.

Spring has arrived in the med and BCN is a lovely city.

And there is no industrial action at Iberia, so your trip should not be affected if BA reschedule in the event of strikes being announced.