Nephoi

Please read the FAQ first before you ask a question.


What Is a TP run?
A TP run is a booked trip with the (sole) purpose of accruing as much Points as possible for (re)qualification of your BAEC status.


How does that look like?
In experience, there are two types of TP runs. The first one is a holiday/trip you’d take anyway. In this case you make as much stops as possible. For example, if you go ex UK to LAX. Most direct and convenient routing would be LHR-LAX, giving you 140 TP in business class. If you do at least one domestic sector and the usually allowed two stops in the states and you go for something like EDI-LHR-JFK-SFO-LAX you would get 40+140+140+40 =320 Points per direction. Many trips and suggestions you find here are ex EU and look something like exEU-HEL-LHR-eastcoast-westcoast-westcoast. The trick is to get an additional 140 TP by a Coast-to-coast trip within the states. flying LHR-JFK-LAX instead of LHR-LAX direct doubles your TP earning on that routing.

The second (and even more fun) one is a trip you do purely for the TP earnings.


Why to the states?
Usually the fares are both the best (for long time 1500-1800 EUR ex EU were possible, once or twice we saw an ex LUX for triple-digits). Also the flight network is the best. Even if the fares to Asia allow two stops, it’s difficult to build an itinerary. for example the well known Scandinavia-Australia QR fares are 140+160 TP each way. that's 600 TP r/t and that's it.


How do I find those fares?
There are a lot of travelblogs out there. Most of the „look over here, you can get to LAX for 1300 GBP from XYZ“ fares work.


How do I find those routings?
You use the itamatrix for that. There is a guide for that. If you have questions, feel free to either post something. The usual approach is to get startingpoint-EU-LHR-eastcoast-eastcoast-westcoast or startingpoint-EU-LHR-eastcoast-westcoast-westcoast. usually you check for India class (I RBDs). the Ba coded feeders in Europe can be booked into Juliette, which gives way more TP and Avios than India coded AY/AA/IB segments.


How do I get more/max TP?
Usually you need two connections (transfers, not stopovers) in Europe and two in the states with one TCON (transcontinental above 2000 miles) in the states. Something like BER-HEL-LHR-JFK-LAX-SFO (40+80+140+140+40=440TP) instead of BER-LHR-SFO(40+140=180 TP). for max TP check what is possible. usually MPM (maximum permitted mileage) can be a bummer.

Also there are shorthaul routes (40 TP), shorthaul plus routes (80 TP), longhaul routes (140 TP) and longhaul plus routes (160 TP). there are some caveats. some routes longer than 2.000 miles that earn 80 TP instead of 140 on BA, there are some routes shorter than others that earn more TP (like HEL). in doubt - ask or check the BA adios calculator. additional infos can be found either here: or in the wiki above.

Best routing I have found so far is the Spain - Westcoast fare because AGP-HEL is 140 TP. so AGP-HEL-LHR-JFK-LAX-SFO (or similar) would give you 140+80+140+140+40= 540 TP that's 1080 return. it can go up to 1280 if you book Spain-Hawaii or Spain- Alaska because 140+80+140+140+140= 640 TP

How do I book this?
Usually there are two ways to book. Either directly via the airline. In this case you might need to call. Or you find your routing via the matrix and then use either power tools to directly book via aa.com or use bookwithmatrix.com


What else to consider?
Do you want to GUF it? You need a BA ticket (125 stock). You cant upgrade your flights on an AA, AY, IB, QR ... ticket.
For BA flights you need BA prime flights. So BA coded and BA opeated. Besides that you can upgrade AA TATL and domestic flights.
According to the Ts and Cs "Members with a Gold Upgrade voucher can now use this to upgrade on flights operated and marketed by American Airlines, or marketed by British Airways and operated by American Airlines."

If you book via a Travel Agency, it might (and will) be different depending on the system they use (Sabre or Amadeus)

AA and BA have different rules on rebooking (both in case of irrops and voluntary changes) and routing changes in case of irrops. Check what you need.

Most cheap India-Class fares have a 180 day APEX. So you need to plan ahead. The sooner the departure date, the less possibilities you have.


Can this be combined with the BA holiday offer?
Yes, when you start in the UK and everything is on a BA flight number.


Can you guys help me?
Yes, we can. And we will


What do you need for that?
To be able to help you we need the following informations: Timeframe when you can travel, number of pax, desired destination, TP needed, budget and what you already have found. By experience „can you help me improving this Itinerary“ posts get way more feedback than „find me something“ posts. If you show some effort, we will do aswell. But don’t forget, we don’t get paid for this. As said by someone else, this is a TP run thread, not the "find me a holiday" thread.

if you have further questions that may be intersting for everyone, Pm me, so i can edit this post here and add it.


What do all those acronyms and technical terms mean?
WTLHRT5THOBA- welcome to London Heathrow‘s Terminal 5 - the Home of British Airways
HU(A)CA - hang up (and) call again
TATL/TCON/TPAC - transatlantic, transcontinental, transpacific
MPM - maximum permitted mileage. This number determines if a routing is valid for a fare or not. If exceeded by 25+ per cent it’s not bookable. period. sometimes you get a deduction if you book via a certain city. check the fare rules.
RBD - revenue bucket designator. the actual fare bucket you use. A group of buckets “build” a travel class. In case of BA, Alpha and Foxtrott is first class. India, Romeo, Juliette, Charlie and Delta are business class, Whiskey, echo and tango are premium economy. Economy is Golf, Oscar, Quebec, mike, November, kilo, bravo, hotel, Lima, sierra, victor and of course yankee
Stopover & transfer. When arriving on flight A in city XYZ and you continue on flight B to city ABC with changing to another flight, you have a stopover or a transfer in city XYZ. A transfer is maximum 23h59, a stopover is 24h00 or longer. Stopovers usually come with a price tag in the fare rules. A landing in eg. Singapore on QF1 for a fuel stop and continue journey in the same plane and flight number is not a transfer. Same goes for the BA Caribbean and South America routes which have a stop. be careful: AA routes sometimes have the same flight numbers for out and inbound. a b2b here would be both a transfer and perhaps the turnaround point of your ticket

bisonrav

Reserved for FAQ

jamestg

Well not much of a TP run but I need 300TPs, a rather awkward amount if trying to avoid a BAH and I don’t need to reach the ‘highs’ of gold so transatlantic is out of the question.

MAN-LHR-INV-LHR-MAN with car hire for 5 days is £460 and yields 320TPs. £1.4375 per TP so not too bad.

webstereo

This seems like a really great option - I'm just trying to look into it but the website is struggling with the car/hotel part - it's just not loading it

jamestg

Me too! It’s actually also cheaper doing MAN-LHR-NCL-LHR-MAN, and I imagine there are cheaper car hire options once it can load properly.

flarmip

Sorry if this is a really stupid question, but can you make an ex-EU fare qualify for the BAH double TP offer by adding on legs to/from the UK before/afterwards?

Obviously this wouldn't allow back-to-backs in some cases due to min connection times being longer than the turnround, and some ex-EU fares presumably won't be combinable with positioning fares. But if this works, it opens up quite a lot of opportunities...

AviationMoose

London to Athens return is currently going for £300 some weekends in Jan/Feb. More than halfway there for someone wanting 300 TPs.

Found a couple of weekends where just one night's stay will make it work. Not cheaper than the above, I grant, but a little less relentless.

webstereo

£622 including car was cheapest I could see

jamestg

Was this using custom trip? I found this had the higher price whereas flight + car was the cheapest.

destone

Mentioning in this new thread that 1,080 TP ideas are welcome. BA Holiday bonus was mentioned in the other forum which is good to know!

flyerkit

BA holidays in the UK. Just checking that I can do a BA holiday in the UK.
Here is an example that might net 320TP for about 500gbp with the advantage that I have a business trip to Scotland needing a car...


Plus has anybody managed to book a flight from for example LHR to LGW or LCYvia AMS?

tuonopepper

Have had something along those lines before with positioning MAN to/from SOF then something like SOF/LHR/HEL/JFK/LAX/SFO/JFK/LHR/SOF.
I guess BA holidays double would mean a 500 ish run flights wise so probably London to West coast with an East coast layover in Bus or 1st?

Misco60

It's probably worth saying at the very start of this new thread - and I do so with the greatest of respect - that requests to "find me a TP run" do not generally attract much of a response, especially when we have no information regarding budget, starting point, time of year or the length of time someone wishes to spend away from home.

Give us something to work with - preferably, an itinerary that you have found for yourself - and people will be falling over themselves to tweak and optimise the run for you.

BUD-HNL is still available for under £2,000 on selected dates throughout the year, and if you can squeeze HEL into the routing then that should earn you 1,080 overall. (BUD-LHR-HEL-East Coast-West Coast-HNL and v.v.) But you'll need to find the dates that work for you.

tuonopepper

Hours and hours of ITA matrix fiddling beckons.....

webstereo

It wouldn't return a result for me with flight plus car. BA IT perhaps?