Tier Point Runs Part 2 - How to optimise and book a run

[@johnathankain8033]

All the big youtubers say to do this... you are the first to ever explain it properly. What a hero. Im planning to launch myself in BAEC silver as soon as travel gets simple again.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks! Good luck. 6 months (sometimes 150 days) advance purchase for the best fares so it may well be safe (ish) to start looking... Good luck!

[@jonnylons1]

Absolutely love the nod nod wink wink stuff about the last leg! Definitely considering doing this next year if I’m near-ish to Gold

[@MattsPlanet]

Don't drop the last leg!!! Unless you do....

[@CP-CP-CP]

I’ve been on YT forever, and have probably been told to ‘like, comment and subscribe’ a million times. This is the first time I’ve done so! Cheers to HFP for the recommendation - the minimum connect filter is new to me. Great video.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks CP - it's never natural to ask viewers to do those things but it wouldn't be a YT video without that call to action! Welcome to Team Ttam!

[@philbrassington557]

I can't believe that this has less than 5000 views and even more unbelievable is that of the few thousand that have watched it only 466 gave it a like. What's not to love about this video. I don't know how I came across your tier point videos but I haven't seen any other video with this level of detail. The only part I'm a little nervous about is calling BA and booking a really strange sounding flight itinerary. Thanks again for a really good video.

[@MattsPlanet]

I'm amazed 5000 people are interested in this stuff! Or that 2,500 people were interested enough to watch it twice!!! Calling BA isn't a big deal (normally - it is a big deal right now as BA isn't taking booking calls, believe it or not...) But I think most agents have received calls like this and I think they quite enjoy them as they are a little out of the ordinary, to say the least! Thanks again Phil

[@Delbino2000]

Matt - you've made me a fan of your videos after just watching 4 of them in the past 24hrs. Your guidance and advice on exec club / tier point runs is simple and clear. Much appreciated.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Mate - always great to hear feedback like this. Glad they helped!

[@mikewarde2802]

Hi Matt, thanks to you and the wife's permission! Just booked a OTP/LHR/JFK/LAX/LAS in Oct 21, 1362 GBP, rtn Business 800 Tier points. Called BA direct, no problems.

[@MattsPlanet]

October should be ok - fingers, toes and everything else crossed! Congrats and I hope you enjoy it - its quite an experience to actually do one of those! Hope the wife's diamond costs less than the tier point run!

[@mikewarde2802]

@@MattsPlanet Good point!

[@MarkSmith-ku4fu]

Just watched first and second recordings - mind blowing stuff here Matt. Planning on a tier run (my first) in March 24 to ‘retain’ my Silver and you’ve been hugely helpful with these two recordings. Thank you. Regards Mark

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks! Hope it helps... It's an addictive hobby...

[@SpiderMacKenzie]

Many thanks for another very helpful video. It was very interesting

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Spider. Booked anything???

[@wessexTim]

Enjoying these as a newbie trying to learn....Thanks Matt

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Tim - I hope its all coming together for you!

[@victoriacaldwell]

Thanks for this Matt - really informative. Anyone else here dreaming of their tier runs post-covid?

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Victoria. Counting the days...

[@irishinusa1615]

Thanks Matt. This 3 part series is my favorite. And my GO TO!

[@MattsPlanet]

I've heard its great for insomniacs too!

[@irishinusa1615]

@@MattsPlanet 😄😄😄😄👍👊

[@rob171081]

Great video Matt. I will probably have to watch it a few hundred times to get my head around it tho. 😆.

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Rob - all views are good views so help yourself to repeats!!! Thanks for watching!

[@jimmyjames6492]

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation on how to set this up! And that you used Oneworld (my alliance as well) was a bonus! Much appreciated!

[@MattsPlanet]

My pleasure

[@paulg0]

Excellent useful information thank you. Just embarking on the who tier points thing here....

[@MattsPlanet]

It's an addictive hobby! Not the cheapest either....

[@MrStuartAllan]

Another great video Matt. I have booked my trips for this year but next year I will def try a tier point run using your advice in the video.

[@MattsPlanet]

It's an addictive hobby... And an expensive one!

[@arthurkraft5610]

Very nice video. When booking my tier point runs, I always try to either switch airports in London or have an overnight. This enables me to not worry about checking luggage on my positioning flights at the start & end of the trip (e.g. no need to drag my checked bags to Sofia and makes turning around in that city much quicker). The video does a good job of explaining how to do this using matrix.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks - sensible approach if travelling with checked bags. I generally go in the Summer when I don't need many clothes and can travel HBO!

[@jonnylons1]

This is a top tip actually! Having enough time to ditch the checked baggage makes a lot of sense!

[@olhaobob631]

Saw the recommendation Head to Points to watch your set of tier point videos and glad that I followed it! Very informative and also entertaining - now to start working through the rest of your site on this rainy bank holiday...

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks - hope you enjoy the rest of them! Not raining here in the deep South East yet, but its only a matter of time...

[@airzulu2733]

Excellent Matt

[@marianavidic6172]

Awesome, channel!! Thank you for such great content, your channel popped up in my feed, and after 3-4 videos I have subscribed. I have to say I'm a tough cookie when it comes to subscriptions 🤣 (only 3 channels I have subscribed, so far in all this year's I'm with youtube) your content is super easy to follow, knowledgeable and very engaging. Stay awesome and thank you for sharing your knowledge and tips, it is much appreciated. ❤️🌟🌟🌟

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Mariana - appreciate the kind words and welcome aboard!

[@BarryOnCaroline]

Thanks Matt, very informative and you have an excellent delivery style.

[@MattsPlanet]

I'm either good at delivering or good at editing!!!

[@wingtipsae]

Please can you make another video for a complete advance ITA matrix explaining ALL the codes and short cuts to force and to optimise even more? Thanks

[@MattsPlanet]

It's on my to-do list and just moved a up a couple of slots! Thanks

[@stevecraven3502]

Mat, I admire your commitment and dedication. Thank you. At first I couldn't get through the multi city option break down, it just kept telling me no flights available when i hit search. It took me 2 and a half hours of perseverance to spot my mistake and realise that the date is in American form, but I finally got it right. In the Advisory section, does having to change terminal cause a big problem because in the Sofia too Las Vegas Baby, trip demo, it appears in most flight itineraries. one other Question, have you ever thought of doing a seminar on this. It would be far better and easier to talk to you face to face

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Steve. It would be handy if you got more clues as to why a query fails, but I guess for a free service we perhaps shouldn't expect too much! And congrats on the perseverance... There's minimum connection times applicable to terminal changes - its in expert flyer and can be easily googled - I had a quick google and a terminal change MCT in LHR seems to be 90 minutes.... The airline won't sell you a ticket that fails an MCT and I think Matrix does cross reference routes against them, so you don't need to worry too much... But flying out of T3 brings with it the lounge crawl option which is quite good fun so you'd probably want a lengthy connection at LHR anyway, perhaps even an overnight.... The seminar is an interesting option - quite hard core content for the casual attendee! There may be a conference or convention somewhere where that sort of presentation might find a home... Might be worth some more thought.... Thanks!

[@AP-zj9pz]

Thank you very much for this Matt, i've been using the Matrix search for a few days since I first saw your video and thanks your easy to follow tutorial i've managed to book myself a tier point holiday which i'm very pleased with. Can't believe I've spent so many years using standard search engines. Looking forward to future videos!

[@MattsPlanet]

That makes me really happy! Thanks Aneeka. You fire these videos into the void in the hope that someone will benefit and its really nice to hear that it has helped someone! What did you book?

[@AP-zj9pz]

@@MattsPlanet I booked a 12 day trip Sofia to LA return in Business (with the obligatory stops along the way for max tier points) and managed to squeeze in a cheeky 4 day break in Honolulu as well.

[@MattsPlanet]

Fantastic! I hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoy the status the points will give you.

[@arnielord4326]

Matt, those were great videos. I don't pretend to fully understand them 100% but ill have to take a look at some point as like you I'm thin king of trying to get something in the diary for later in the year. Thanks to HPF for pointing them out.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Arnie - hopefully the videos bear rewatching! If you've grasped the basics, the Tier point run thread on Flyertalk is a helpful place to ask questions.

[@hendriks8910]

Thanks for these videos. It's a great introduction. To optimize the European legs use something like x+ LHR x+ JFK LAX to make ITA search for relatively random connections to JFK including SOF-LHR-HEL-JFK, SOF-MAD/HEL-LHR-JFK or even SOF-MAD/HEL-LHR-MAD/HEL-JFK (if allowed).

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks - planning a more detailed ITA video to capture this kind of advanced detail. Wanted to put enough into these first videos to hook people without scaring them off!

[@florianroetzer5348]

Thank you :-) I could use more Matrix training,

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks again!!! There's a dedicated video on Matrix on the channel, in case you haven't found it yet...

[@florianroetzer5348]

@@MattsPlanet i look into it.

[@brianvarney3735]

What a great set of videos, have never done a tier point run but it has really given me something to think about , not after gold but love to retain silver . Very informative on ITA Matrix, would love to see more on how to get the best from this software.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Brian - have a further matrix video on the development list. Can't make videos of shiny planes for a few more weeks (months???) so stay tuned!

[@IanCassanova]

Great video, Thanks

[@MattsPlanet]

You are welcome. Hope it was helpful!

[@iainmacinnes1657]

A very good video - very very clear instruction and advice - well done!

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Iain - thanks for watching

[@stevecraven3502]

Thanks for the quick reply. You say in this video that it is best to start from a short haul + destination for your Tier Point run, but if you live in the UK and want to start in say Sophia, Helsinki etc, why is that. If you live in the UK you have to get out there so surely you would fly BA or a one World partner to get out there, classing that as a Leg for 40 Tier points, depending on the class you fly.

[@MattsPlanet]

Hi Steve. 2 reasons. Your ticket will (probably) route through London so if you start in a SH+ location (SOF, OTP) you get 80 tps at the start and the end of the trip rather than the 40 from say BUD. If the fares are the same then you're getting 80 more TPs overall by starting from a SH+ location. The second reason is that you can earn more TPs getting to the location to start the trip. You'll almost always get a worst TP/£ rate on buying those legs but if you need some extra TPs for status it can tip the balance.

[@chilglish]

Great stuff Matt! Many thanks! Unfortunately, I'm based in Santiago, Chile now and what with LATAM having left Oneworld it seems to be tricky to do reasonable TP runs from here. Anyway, I'll keep watching and learning. You have another sub here!

[@MattsPlanet]

There are worse places to be based! Getting to North America with American is an option - Iberia service to Madrid? Runs when living overseas do exist, but don't forget the 4 qualifying flights on BA wrinkle.

[@chilglish]

@@MattsPlanet funny you should mention Iberia! Last year I managed to unexpectedly achieve Silver by planning a mini TP run. Using some very basic ITA matrix knowledge and the fact that the threshold for each category had been reduced, I managed to find a decent route which would theoretically get me to Silver for my annual trip to Blighty. I managed to find a £1,000 fare in J on Iberia going SCL-MAD-BCN-LHR-MAD-SCL with 2 of those on BA metal (leaving September and returning late October). Not a great rate for TP points, I know, but an unheard of fare in J from SCL to LHR (I had never seen prices drop below £1,500)! Anyway, due to COVID, the BCN-LHR leg was cancelled and I was forced to take the direct flight MAD-LHR. I was later able to claim the original routing TPs and Avios and hey presto, after adding a flight to Newquay from London just in case, reached Silver!

[@MattsPlanet]

Good work! Good deployment of Original Routing Credit too...

[@Greenfield-11]

These videos are great

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks David.

[@soothingmusicworld2161]

Brilliant - Totally Brilliant

[@MattsPlanet]

My mother agrees!

[@Charlie-vw9ur]

Thanks Matt ! Done a few of these runs cribbed from FT but fantastic to get a tutorial on ITA, thank you. Hope to start travelling again later this year ... be interesting to see if BA retain me at gold this July or bump me, having had no opportunity to use the benefits during the pandemic...

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Charlie - good news on vaccine efficacy just released here so the prospect of travel later this year is improving by the day. BA seems to be erring towards generosity so fingers crossed!

[@Tony86p]

Brilliant video again. I'm quite new on learning how to gain good tier points and you have definitely helped. I hope you do more of theses videos. Keep it up.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Tony - more will be coming.

[@PaulCarol]

I can't wait to get out travelling again!

[@MattsPlanet]

😎

[@paulhg1ztn]

What an excellent video something that's been need for some time. As for future videos maybe one for a tire point run down to oz and back and defiantly more advanced uses of Ita Matix is a must video.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks - will get to Australia once they let us back in again! Will push a further matrix video up the to-do list!

[@DarrensCruiseTravels]

Very informative, many thanks! Any thoughts on maybe doing a video or two on avios/mileage runs, and the best ways of getting the most out of them?

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Darren. I did a couple of videos on the BA exec club which bounced off this question a little but I'll add a dedicated video to the to-do list. Looks like it'll still be a while before I can make videos about aeroplanes...

[@pranjalpande2833]

Excellent video Matt! I'm trying to find a good premium economy/business fare from India to the East Coast for this summer and I'm sure the Matrix ITA will be a handy tool. Thanks for the comprehensive guide!

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks for the kind words. Best of luck!

[@TheJkcfdesigns]

Very informative. Just did a search on the matrix and the layout looks very different from yours.

[@MattsPlanet]

There's a new version of Matrix - I think the "new" site references the reasons. The guts behind the scenes are 95% the same so as long as you can translate the entry fields from old to new it'll work the same. Hasn't been a bit enough change to merit making an entirely new video.

[@Petertjeehh]

Loved it Matt! I came across your channel because I love the game of searching good airfares and get better at it. Therefore, your video's are hugely educative for me and I enjoy your relaxed approach. One day I'll book my first long haul business class seat(s) apart from all the economy I've flown and that will be partially thanks to you! Subscribed and looking forward to your next educational video! Kind regards from The Netherlands, Peter.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Peter. That first long haul experience will be a landmark moment!

[@rsforthewin]

Great video 😊👍

[@MattsPlanet]

Thank you 👍

[@MegaWeebles]

Superb Matt, thank you very much.

[@MattsPlanet]

You're welcome! Good name, by the way...

[@sigmagaming504]

Hi Matt, amazingly informative video as always. If you're happy to do this as quick as possible do you need the 24hrs at the end of the outbound leg for example? I have used the SOF TO LAX route via JFK and its showing a great price of £1048 for just 3 nights or even 2 if wanted. I am doing it for the tier points and not the holiday side as such. Much like yourself I've been to these destinations a few times so don't mind not getting a large amount of time to explore on my run as part of my new membership year in Nov.

[@MattsPlanet]

It is required by some fares "return leg must start a min of 24 hours after arrival and must not start until the Sunday following arrival.". Others have just the Sunday bit. I looked at SOF quite recently and I think it had the 24 hour rule in that fare. Only option is to get stuck into the fare rules, or try it through matrix with a shorter turnaround and see if the fare goes bananas.

[@sigmagaming504]

Indeed, I'm going to check out the forum you mention too, I want to do a couple tier point runs in November/December this year to smash into Gold status from Blue straight off the bat, but using the minimum amount of nights required for maximum tier points which are of course the no 1 priority.

[@sigmagaming504]

Hi Matt, what with all the issues going on in the aviation industry at the moment have you by any chance found an efficient TPR to the US? In my search I thus far haven't found any fairs (6 months from now i.e. March 2023) for less than around £2200, not terrible for premium cabins but not what we are used to seeing via ITA.

[@sigmagaming504]

Sorry Matt please ignore the above comment I was still using SOF forgetting you made this video 18 months ago, Athens is a better price point routing now it seems. Love these Tier Points videos watched them a number of times and keep learning from them.

[@marceldevaney472]

Hi Matt, I cannot access the matrix page you are using, have they updated the website? thanks for the advice and am looking forward to my first tier point chase and hopefully silver this coming year!

[@MattsPlanet]

Hello! Matrix updated itself since I made that video - it looks a little different now - not so different I felt compelled to remake this video as the functionality remains the same even if it looks a little different. They did include a link to the old style page but I just checked and they have taken it down... It's still brilliant, even if it looks a little different!

[@lukejames8392]

Hi Matt. Great guide, thanks for making it. I'm currently trying to book BUD-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL and it is showing as available in ITA for around £1,700 for 920 TPs, Jul 30 - August 6. I was planning a trip to Hawaii anyway so wanted to roll a TP run into it. When I copy through to Book With Matrix and select American Airlines, however, it says that one of the flights isn't available (LHR-JFK) and instead either tries to sub for a direct LHR - LAX or LHR - ORD/PHX - LAX -- both of which are fewer TPs. Any idea why it might be doing this? When I look at the AA website, the LHR-JFK flight is still available to book independently.

[@MattsPlanet]

Sometimes a phenomenon called married segments prevents an itinerary actually booking even if it says it can be in matrix. Some ba agents can get around it must most don't even understand the issue... A travel agency called propeller are the experts in overcoming the issue using exotic point of sale magic - if you can get it through I'd try them next... On the road myself so can't flush out a specific contact but they're easy to Google. Cheers

[@steveworobec5034]

Hi Matt - loving watching your informative videos but I have called BA and spoken with two different people there and both can reproduce the itinerary but the fares they are seeing are almost double. Any suggestions?

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Steve. With the turnover of staff in the last few years, BA seems to have lost many of the agents who are familiar with TP booking who know the knacks of tweaking their inputs to make the fare work... It would not shock me if BA was under-training agents these days as they don't want to be giving away such good fares... Keep trying is the advice, although a very strong plan b is to get in touch with Propeller Travel. They specialise in making these kinds of complex bookings and will know what you are after - particularly if you ping them a screenshot of the Matrix pricing of what you want...

[@steveworobec5034]

@@MattsPlanet Many thanks

[@fizzymanproductions1]

Hi, I've been experimenting with ITA and I was wondering if there was a way to know which legs could be included or whether it was just a guessing game as I have a flight. I need to take the Boston in the summer and would like to gain as many tier points as possible. If you could help that would be amazing

[@MattsPlanet]

Hi Thomas. Trial and error, I'm afraid. But it is relatively quick. For Boston, you'd be looking at somewhere (Sofia, Budapest, Bucharest?) to London to JFK to Boston. The London to JFK leg is almost certainly a banker to include as there are so many flights and availability is usually great. With a ticket to Boston there'll be a "maximum permitted mileage" constraint in the fare which Matrix annoyingly won't tell you. But it will be something like 110% of the direct routing which won't give you the ability to fly via LA to really ramp up the TPs. You may be able to get LHR - PHL - JFK - BOS. A handy trick is to put "x x" in the routing box (or "x x x") and that will show you options with that number of connections. A quick way to spit out options without having to go through them individually.

[@LotsofJohnsStuff]

Hi Matt cant see the calendar of lowest fares on new matrix any idea thanks

[@MattsPlanet]

Its a drop down option which defaults to "Search Exact Date"...

[@atkho]

Is there a way to connect a tierpoint run lets say to SFO with a BA holiday double tier points offer ? It seems a long shot but I thought I would ask as I havent booked the run and saw today a double BA holiday tier point offer

[@MattsPlanet]

A BA holiday has to start from within the UK (including Jersey) so it is possible, but its a lot more expensive. But with the TPs doubled, it can be economic to do this, especially if you buy the flights in a sale. They must have BA flight numbers too for the points to double, although I have heard of someone who had one flight on Alaskan and all flights but the Alaskan one got doubled, which still worked out for them

[@stevecraven3502]

Matt. I tried following the choices you made in the video, but Sofia in Aug 2023 requires a 24.30hr layover in LHR so I switched to Bucharest OTP. My problems started when I tried to add JFK after LHR for the first trans Atlantic leg. I remembered what you said about fare rule number 2 so tried every day of the week with a 7 day return. No matter what dates I tried it would not accept JFK as a first stop in America. However, when I typed in LAX after LHR instead it worked. Do you have any idea why this was as it worked for you in 2021? so it looked like this, OTP-LAS via LHR LAX. LAS-OTP via LAX LHR. But hold on a minute, because when I Typed them all in to the routing code box together ie LHR JFK LAX then LAX JFK LHR alliance oneworld, it accepted the argument and found flights. I persevere, try to understand and try things myself, but I can't understand why it wouldn't accept the first argument but accepted the second argument. Your thoughts and input would be much appreciated. (and another ITA Matrix video) :)) Steve.

[@MattsPlanet]

Hi again Steve. This stuff is hard to get into a video - its already pretty dull! My guess is dates... Are you in the multi-leg tab or trying to do it all in one? Best to split into the multi-tab and build it progressively...

[@stevecraven3502]

@@MattsPlanet I was following along in the round trip tab from OTP. my point was, I could get LHR-LAX then Vegas Baby, but it wouldn't accept LHR-JFK Vegas Baby until I put them in all together LHR-JFK-LAX and visa versa for the return. I have just repeated the proses in round trip tab using your, Sofia to Vegas Baby, adding each leg then searching and got the same result. Try it for yourself and see if you have the same issue. SOF-LAS 10/08/23-15/08/23. £1,971 on Google flights first. I just find it interesting that it will accept the argument as a whole but won't accept the individual argument. Steve

[@KrispySmore]

So just to check if I wanted to fly to las Vegas with the transfers and stay a few nights in Vegas then return doing the transfers would that be fine or would I break the stopover restriction? Got everything else just a little confused on the tier run to tier holiday

[@MattsPlanet]

Vegas would be the turnaround point so neither a stopover nor a transfer. You can stay there for as long as the fare allows (which I think is a year). The distinction between a tier point run and holiday is a little artificial - but in either case adding a stopover gets quite expensive!

[@KrispySmore]

@@MattsPlanet ah brilliant found on to lax with a few stops in other states may look into it hopefully it happens fingers crossed 🙂 great video my partner and I have always wanted to attempt silver status on BA so hopefully we can try this later this year or beginning of 2022 👍

[@davidmason1919]

Hi Matt, Ok so call me thick but how do you book all these flights through BA when zipping from Sofia to Phoenix and back on multiple airlines? Obvs the answer will make me look pretty stupid but hopefully there’s someone out there thinking the same, or not! 🙈

[@MattsPlanet]

David... No such thing as a stupid question!!! 2 options - call BA or use an add in within Matrix which feeds what you find into an online booking engine. I do talk about this at the end of this video, so perhaps another watch through is needed??? Cheers

[@LotsofJohnsStuff]

sorry i forgot to mention i want to do a tier run to Larnaca

[@MattsPlanet]

Good luck finding something that works!

[@eeeeelliottttt]

Your brain is far too big, thank you for your hard work 😄

[@MattsPlanet]

Ha ha! My brains no bigger than anyone else's... I just fill mine with this nonsense rather than anything useful, like birthdays, phone numbers, appointments...