[TonyR]

Just wondering how folks are getting on with their tier points this year with airlines reverting to their pre-pandemic tier thresholds and reduced schedules. I have both BA and Virgin Gold levels currently but not expecting to achieve either threshold this year because most of their flights to Asia either aren’t running, abandoned (Virgin HK) or the countries are closed. You can fly on partner airlines but e.g. Virgin/ANA to Tokyo nets you 75 tier Virgin tier points in Business vs 200 on Virgin (although Virgin abandoned that route in, I think, 2017) How are others getting on?

[DavidSmith2]

Well, if it works out as I expect, I should be heading back to BA Gold around 17th December. I will be benefiting from a re-routing earlier in the year when BA had to send me via Doha rather than direct from London to Accra, thereby doubling my points. And the reduced threashold for BA loyalty points remains until 31 December. By then I should have exceeded the Gold threshold by 15 points! Let’s hope it pans out as I have calculated.

[TonyR]

Thanks. My years end early next year so subject to the full thresholds. Flights are also getting challenging – the last five long haul sectors I’ve flown have been packed and the prices commensurately high given people are travelling again but airline/airport/crewing problems meaning they’re not able to put on more flights. Spoke to a Virgin cabin crew supervisor the other week and they are only just starting to get off minimum crew levels on flights because most have not returned after their pandemic layoffs.

[MartynSinclair]

I was a BA long-haul traveller through and through but have not been able to fly a BA long-haul since December 2019, nearly 3 years ago. All my far east travel is on QATAR and FINNAIR – so Tier Points (more of them) being received, and topped up with the 4 BA short-haul flights needed.

Reasons for not flying BA:

The airline currently prefers to fly cargo to the destinations I need rather than passengers.

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AnthonyDunn, Polly, DerekVH

[TonyR]

MartynSinclair wrote:

I was a BA long-haul traveller through and through but have not been able to fly a BA long-haul since December 2019, nearly 3 years ago. All my far east travel is on QATAR and FINNAIR – so Tier Points (more of them) being received, and topped up with the 4 BA short-haul flights needed.

Reasons for not flying BA:

The airline currently prefers to fly cargo to the destinations I need rather than passengers.

Although don’t be too hard on the cargo focus. Again the folks at Virgin tell me flying Norwegian smoked salmon to North America and Canadian back to Europe is what kept them afloat during the pandemic.

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Polly

[Senator]

It all depends on your travel patterns. For Eastward travel I would look at Finnar and Qatar to boost the BAEX account and Air France and KLM to boost Virgin Club.

I hold BAEC Gold, Lufthansa Miles & More Senator, AF/KLM Flying Blue Platinum plus SAS EuroBonus Gold mostly through their lucrative partnership with AMEX Sweden. Since ARN/BMA are my home airports, I always find myself on an extra leg anyhow most of the time.

Most of my travel is Westward towards US and Canada. Flying Blue runs a Tier Point system, but once you hit Platinum I can do 5x ARN-CDG/AMS-XXX within Europe in Business a year and requalify. I do an occasional ARN-CDG/AMS-CDG/AMS extra leg on a US-trip to pick up an extra segment for XP.

BAEC I do one trip a year to the US in which I route ARN-HEL-LHR before the US. ARN-LHR with BA is 40, but HEL-LHR on AY is 80. So I yield an extra 160 TP with this route. Often I enter US via BOS, so I can get two more segments on AA within the US for additional 40 + 40.

The simplest answer is to fly more, and the easiest I find is to add a couple of extra segments on a trip I am making anyway. I normally get my BAEC through two Transatlantic a year + two ARN-LHR-ARN in Club or the occasionally First. A second path is to buy a discounted Club World on a flight with low First bookings, then pay for the AUP to bump from 140 to 210 TPs.

I am far enough down the path of lifetime status with all these now, that I have decided to spread the love so I can complete this in the next five years or so.

[stevescoots]

CX reinstated my diamond until end of 23′ but i would just have made it by year end anyway, BA dropped me to Bronze which is no surprise since i stopped flying them 5 years ago unless no option and the ones i did went on my cx number

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Polly

[TonyR]

Travelling Finnair or Air France doesn’t really help when China is closed and Japan and HK have only recently reopened for the last three months of my collection year. I also don’t fancy 14hrs on Air France skirting Russia. Finnair is good – used to fly the polar route to Japan a lot – but it extends the already long journey quite a bit over direct flights. I guess I’m not too fussed overall as you get most of the Gold Tier perks anyway travelling Business and practical BA/Virgin Business reward tickets are virtually impossible to find on many flights.

[CathayLoyalist2]

stevescoots wrote:

CX reinstated my diamond until end of 23′ but i would just have made it by year end anyway, BA dropped me to Bronze which is no surprise since i stopped flying them 5 years ago unless no option and the ones i did went on my cx number

CX have extended my Diamond status until Dec 2023 as well in addition they have extended my Asia Miles expiry to Sept 2023 which is appreciated given redemption tickets are currently hard, if not impossible, to find for ex-UK to HKG & SIN.

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Polly

[AlanOrton1]

If you need BA TP’s one way of accelerating is to book a BA holiday.
You have to book direct, which is a little frustrating if you prefer to us a TC.
Double TP’s available so long as flights are booked in conjunction with a car and or a hotel for a minimum of 5 nights.
Offer expires sometime in the second half of next year.

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ChrisJR, TimFitzgeraldTC, Polly

[GBAIR72]

I now given up on all status and meagre benefits. . I just choose the cheapest option in business class. I still get to use the lounge with whichever airline and fast track. It’s saving me more money. What do I gain with status. The effort of having to keep it up. I’d rather spend the money I save on fun. Anyway Ii can’t spend miles on anywhere I want to go.

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COCODA Ltd, EruditeSheep, Jacob, Johnnyg, Polly

[Polly]

Alan, exactly. We decided to push for our Silver retention, 450 TPs by end of Dec. Luckily we needed to go to BOD later this month, so booked CE. Had 55 pts from September. So we did as you mention, booked the 5 day CE holiday to Eastern Europe. That then gives us 455 pts. By mid Dec. So, retain Silver. Was going to status match with either QR or CX for their equivalent. But felt we could push for ba before Xmas.
Silver really useful or indeed bronze, when you see the length of the Y queues at checkin in Asia as we have seen the last couple of weeks. Only 1 person in front in the J check in at dps. Sin, DPS, kul, lounges over here give us some respite too.

[FDOS]

If you earn the following TPs by the end of 2022, then one can retain gold or silver at reduced rates

Silver – 450

Gold – 1150

I have just renewed silver, although I hadn’t planned to.

[DavidSmith2]

FDOS wrote:

If you earn the following TPs by the end of 2022, then one can retain gold or silver at reduced rates

Silver – 450

Gold – 1150

I have just renewed silver, although I hadn’t planned to.

My BA says that Gold is reached at 1125 (rather than 1150). I sincerely hope so as my final trip (completing on 16 Dec) will take me to 1140. So scraping through by my calculation.

[openfly]

Gold renewal is 1125 not 1150.

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FDOS, DavidSmith2

[Author]

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