PAL62V

We all know that when using Avios, getting around 1p is considered average-good value, anything below .5p is pointless. And buying them is different again.

Getting value from Tier Points on the other hand is subject to what value you put on various levels of status and what that status brings you.

I'm interested in what is considered worth the cost to 'buy' TPs? For example, I am currently being offered a £90 upgrade on my HBO SH fare which will get me 40TPs v the 5TPs for my Y seat. Is £2.57 / TP a good price? Now, to take this a step further, I have discovered I now need to add a hold bag to the fare at a cost of £35, meaning I would effectively be paying just £55 more to upgrade (90 - 35). This brings the TP cost down to £1.57. Is this worth it? This could make the difference at the end of March as to whether I hit Silver again or not.

At the other end of the scale, I gave up the chance of around 600 TPs by choosing a non-OW carrier to Australia last year. I saved around £2000 in fares, meaning I would have spent around £3.33/TP (and easily hit silver, which I have retained anyway). The £2K went a long way towards food, etc and I still flew in J.

I know that all answers are subjective, but interested in the views here.

craigthemif

It's all subjective. Notionally, the closer you are to a desired level of elite status, the more "valuable" the TPs.

In practice, you aren't going to find too many opportunities to acquire TPs for less than £2-3. So paying £1.6 per TP on a trip you are already taking - with the added benefit of flying J instead of Y - and it's a pretty straightforward decision for anybody who thinks they might come up short on renewal or upgrading their level of status.

Bohinjska Bistrica

Impossible to quantify at the moment, I'd say. You can probably get Silver for just over £1k (£1.67 per TP) if you're meticulous and have just about unlimited flexibility. On the other hand, 200 TPs via the Amex offer is probably the most inefficient at £25k.

So, anywhere between £1.67 to £125.

We will find out for real what BA thinks they are worth when the inevitable happens, unfortunately.

DeathSlam

I think most people would regard them as free. Which makes them the best value of all. Or £250 if measured against an alternative cashback card instead so £1.25/TP
Either way pretty good value.

Papa.Lima.Echo

It's an interesting question. Given how you can now earn status with some U.S airlines without stepping foot on an aircraft (due to commission paid to the airline) and some people think that the BA Amex offer might suggest BA is thinking about moving in a similar direction, it poses the question whether an airline would simply allow you to pay for status outright without the costs associated with actually transporting you anywhere! If they did, what do you think they would charge for the various levels of status in order to for the scheme to generate a profit?

Sealink

As others have said it's all subjective. If you are Avios rich as I was a few years back I used them for RFS all the time. I didn't really care about the value as the flexibility of Avios tickets was better. This was before Nectar which was, at the time and up to the recent devaluation in exchanging, a game changer.

Raffles aka Head for Points does a deep dive on the subject. In summary anything where you get ½p or less in value is poor. They value them at around a penny.

https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/25/what-is-an-avios-point-worth-7/

https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/04/17/part-pay-with-avios/

strowger

They devalued the Nectar route recently. An avio is worth 0.5p now and this is arguably the "floor".

If you have a *very* large Avios balance - particularly if you accumulate them fast - the Nectar route has limited use as the number you can exchange per month is limited. Therefore you might even say the "pay for a standard booking with Avios" lowest rate - about 0.4p/avio - is the "floor".

Obviously, a well-judged redemption - particularly with an Amex or Barclays voucher that might otherwise have not been used - can achieve a multiple of this value.

scottishpoet

if the 40 tp are the difference between bronze and silver then its a no brainer. It means you will end the year on 740 tp instead of 735 tp then it seems from a tp perspective very little value. The food, middle seat free etc would have more value for me.

I flew waw doh jnb return on qr in j for 560 tp. I needed very little further flying to maintain silver. Compared with lots of 10 tp flights that can be worth it.

Will be different for everyone depending on their flying pattern

marcopizzaiuolo

completely agreed, have basically no cost. For me it was about bringing forward some purchase I was going to do anyway, plus some work expenses that I put on my personal card instead of the corporate card (that was congenitally misplaced for few weeks, than found, but obviously claimed it all back). In addition, this came with about 41,000 Avios (about 3000 was BA spend)

Ancient Observer

As a very much retired Blue - who had a good few years when Gold was less common - I now think that a TP is worth nothing.
There are places at LHR and LGW and other parts of the world which are perfectly decent to loiter in without needing a "Lounge" . Free drinks would have some attraction.............

ccurran88

Lifetime gold is the other thing to consider in this. Relevant for some and not relevant for others

firstlight

It's an interesting question; clearly related to subjective feelings about status and benefits which will differ from one person to another. Objectively BA values 1000 tier points as equal to 50000 avios as that is one of the incremental awards for every time you hit 5000,6000,7000 tps. So that's about £800 if you buy 50000 avios (1.6p per avios) but most people would reckon it is about £500. So 50p per tier point. You certainly can't buy tps that cheaply but it seems that is what they are worth to BA!

JD1905

I’m on the wind down from gold and am in agreement with you here. It’s been fun chasing status and being able to use the First Wing. But other than that, as a purely leisure traveller I will be blue within a few years.

Greenpen

Tend to buy on price and service rather than tier point/avios. I fly on holiday, 10 J and 1 F in the last year, all but four paid for with money. So could be silver and probably gold but I’m a tumbling bronze!

However, I enjoyed being silver and being able to use lounges, reserve seats and luggage when flying Y short haul. May try to regain silver soon!

timlewis808

Well it's really hard to say - a lot depends on how much travel with One World airlines in a year you need to take anyway. If you are flying business class so much you will earn between 600TP and 1500TP and Gold is way too far for you to get to then the only benefit is the lifetime tier point (e.g not much). If however you won't get to Silver, Bronze or Gold without those tier points they become extremely valuable. Don't forget just the cost of early seat allocation on BA can make status worth it if you want to avoid middle and crappy seats.

Lounge access can easily provide £20 of food (at airport prices) and while you can take a pack lunch and hang around some corner of the airport I do feel lounges do markedly improve the airport experience. So much that on a recent short United flight I paid £50 for lounge access and used it excessively at both ends of the 45 minute flight...

So status has value and if you wouldn't have reached that level based on your normal flight pattern then the tier points are worth a lot of cash. But if your normal pattern of flying would end up in one the gaps between status or never even reaching Bronze then they aren't much value at all.