Day 1 March 27^th 2017

Daily routing: LHR-HEL-TLL-HEL-LHR

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it” George Moore.

The days leading up to this trip have been pretty hard going on my body, after a week skiing in the alps we had a 4am wake up call on Saturday 25th for our transfer back to grenoble which ended in us taking 13 hours to get home because of various delays. I then had an early Sunday morning 7am start for the Ox5 charity 5 mile running race.

It’s a 4.30am start on Monday morning to leave Cheltenham and head for Heathrow. Day one is an out and out tier point earning mission, literally a return trip to Tallinn via Helsinki which generates 200 tier points. The flights have been on offer for about 6 months here now and via an amex offer I’ve managed to get them in for £180 return which gives 90p per tier point, my personal limit is £1 per tier point as an additional value I’m willing to pay for a flight in order to generate extra TP’s so this qualifies.

Flight 1: LHR-HEL Finnair AY3126 07:30

Aircraft: Airbus A320

Distance: 1134 miles

Tier Points: 80

I get dropped off at Terminal 3 at 6.20am, straight through security and I’m in the lovely new Cathay Pacific lounge in T3 by 6.35am. Not feeling particularly hungry I force down a bircher muesli, get in a quick 20 minutes of emails and then head down to the boarding gate. Having just returned from a skiing trip I’m absolutely spent so get on board and fall asleep for the entire flight. No photo’s, no food, no drink. Before I know it we’re 10 minutes to landing! It’s warmer than expected in Helsinki, I haven’t packed a coat and despite the snow on the ground as we’re on approach it’s perfectly fine with just a jumper as we depart the plane.

Flight 2: HEL-TLL Finnair AY107 13:45

Aircraft: ATR 72

Distance: 63 miles

Tier points: 20

Helsinki Airport really is a delight, transiting here is an absolute breeze. I’m travelling only with hand luggage so can stay airside. I head into the Finnair premium lounge and settle down to some work while I wait for the next flight, food here is a bit odd, lots of herring, some strange beef casserole affair but lovely lounge and as ever very chilled out Fins everywhere.

Quick electronic passport scan at the Schengen border and I’m through to the gate for my next flight.

Board the dual turbo prop ATR 72 and 20 minutes after take off I’m in Tallinn.

Flight 3: TLL-HEL Finnair AY114 17:25

Aircraft: ATR 72

Distance: 63 miles

Tier points: 20

All smooth so far, Tallinn airport is very small but a very comfortable place to be. There are complimentary sleep pods which some tier point runners have used instead of booking a hotel. I’m only here for a few hours before I turn straight around and check into the business lounge. Smoked salmon sandwhich and a cup of coffee and it’s time to turn around.

Again boarding is very straight forward, I’ve already checked in to all the flights on day one and have the boarding passes on my phone. Lots of turbulence on the way back to Helsinki and the ATR 72 seems to have a very steep approach. Heavy cross winds make for a pretty interesting angle as we touch down. Caught a photo of people skiing in Helsinki on the approach…

Flight 4: HEL-LHR Finnair AY3125 19:30

Aircraft: Airbus A319

Distance: 1134 miles

Tier Points: 80

Quick trip to the Finnair premium lounge again, just have a cup of coffee and water. Not sure what has happened here but the lounge seems half the size it was 3 years ago when I last passed though.

Boarding is a little late but we’re soon underway. The sunset is incredible and only gets better as we pass over the still frozen lakes as we fly over Finland. At one point the whole sky turns completely red, the photo’s don’t do it justice.

It’s these moments that make me appreciate how amazing it is to be able to fly around. You get to see a perspective on the world that no other generation of humans have seen. You’re sat there drinking a cup of tea, alone with your thoughts and the best view the world has to offer as you look down at London and see cars sitting in traffic on the M25.

I think it’s why I enjoy these tier point runs, it’s a chance to be alone with your own thoughts to be completely removed from the distractions of life and actually have some thinking time to consider what it is one really wants.

A really disgusting lump of rolled up beef with mash is served for dinner and then we’re back to heathrow.

I get on the underground, check into the garden inn Hilton (surely the best kept hotel secret at LHR being right next to hatton cross underground station!) and head down to the gym for an hour before bedding down.

Day one over, and 200 tier points in the bag, cost £180.

Three years on....

Preview

Three years have passed since I last went tier point running. My first adventure back in the spring of 2014 saw me travelling to Hawaii and the Caribbean on a 38 sector mission to hit 5000 tier points and attain Gold Guest List status with BA. I enjoyed 22 months as a gold guest list member before soft landing to silver for a further 12 months.

Since 2014 the tier point earning rules have changed significantly in North America making it much harder to hit the top tier BA status in relatively few sectors. Namely the all business London city to New York BA “babybus” no longer attracts first class tier points (140 now as opposed to 210 then) and similarly domestic flights within the USA in 2 cabin aircraft now only attract business TP’s instead of first.

All of this means that a round trip LCY-JFK-LAX-HNL-LAX-JFK-LCY will now earn 840 Tier points where it would have earned 1260 back in 2014.

Not one to be deterred by a challenge I’m again attempting to qualify for Gold Guest List status, only this time it’s going to take a more ‘relaxed’ approach over several different trips.

I’m combining some business, family visits and a love of formula one to put together some exciting routings and try to gain GGL status once again, as well as taking advantage of some cheap Finnair fares from LHR-TLL. The goal is once again 5000 Tier points!

Trip 1: Broadly a trip to visit family in Hong Kong, and to visit a supplier in Shanghai whilst taking in the Formula 1 with some exotic routing to maximise TP’s

Routing codes:

LHR-HEL-TLL-HEL-LHR-HEL-PVG-KUL-BOM-KUL-HKG-KUL-BOM-KUL-PVG-HEL-LHR-HEL-TLL-HEL-LHR

(1760 Tier points)

Trip 2: Texas to watch the Formula 1

Routing codes

MAN-HEL-ORD-DFW-SAT-DFW-ORD-HEL-MAN

(600 Tier points)

Trip 3 : Abu dahbi Formula 1

LHR-HEL-LHR-DOH-AUH-DOH-LHR-HEL-LHR

(720 Tier points)

After that I’ll be 1920 points short of GGL, so will be keeping an eye out for something exciting to pop up or if all else fails it will be a few weekends of turnabouts to Tallinn.

Mission accomplished

2 Days after returning from Naples my final 10TP posted giving me exactly 5000TP's, and shortly after in the post a GGL card and CCR card.

In total the flights came in at just over £5000, and returned around 200,000 Avios and 5000 Tier points as well as 2 Gold upgrade for 2 vouchers and of course the Jokers that come with GGL.

I'll be GGL until April 2016 and then soft land to silver until April 2017, and then who knows if this will be repeated.

I think I'll take a long break now until booking those long haul Jokers!

Flight 39/40/41 2nd-7th July

Needing 60TP's my cousin came to the rescue.

She was getting married in Ravello on the Amalfi coast so I took a slightly elaborate route in order to get the extra 60TP's
LHR-DUS
BA
Class: business
TP:40
DUS-NPL
Air Berlin
Class: Economy
TP:10

on the return
NPL-STR
Air Berlin
Class: Economy
TP:10

then connected back into the UK with BMI.

38 Flights completed, but still no GGL!!!

So all 38 flights completed but I'm not GGL.

The reason being that the JFK-LAX leg on my second trip was booked into Business and not First due to the aircraft being switched to the A321T 3 class plane. On trip 1 this didn't matter as I was rebooked into F but on trip 2 I was rebooked into business meaning 140 TP's instead of 210TP's.

So overall I have 4940 TP's leaving me 60TP's short of GGL!

Trip 2 Flight 18 Day 17 BRU-LHR

It's the final flight, sitting in the BA lounge in BRU it's an incredible feeling. The TP run is almost complete and now sat here in BRU knowing that there no chances of missed connections is a real relief.

In a way it's quite odd how passing through the same airports so many times can make you feel like you have a connection with them and in some strange way I'll miss the stale smell on those old AA 757's and passing through LAX and HNL every other day! I imagine it will be a while before I see those airports again.

When I look back at getting on that first flight on April 13th, taking off and putting my headphones on starting a crazy adventure for what was almost 6 weeks in total I'm really glad I decided to do this. It was an amazing experience.

Back to real life very soon....

Flight goes without anything noteworthy and I'm back in Blighty and a bus journey away from my own bed. Looking forward to it.

38 flights completed in total, did I make GGL?

Trip 2 flight 17 day 17 HEL-BRU

Aircraft: A320
Class business
Tier points: 40

It's the final day, and just one connection before landing back into LHR!

There is an enormous sense of relief, passing through London yesterday and having to put in an onward journey to HEL was psychologically quite demoralising, still here we are and it's a pretty uneventful trip through HEL and down to BRU.

Trip 2 Flight 16 Day 16 LHR-HEL 18.40

Day 16 LHR-HEL 18.40

Class: Business

Airbus A320

Tier Points: 80

I have lots of time to spare and it’s a pretty nice day so I head to see the Olympic park as it’s quite close to London City airport. The DLR at London city is fantastic, driverless. How long before TFL gets rid of those £50k+ huge pension and perks drivers on the underground system?

I’m not really sure what I was expecting to find, I see the Olympic stadium being renovated, the weird sculpture/viewing tower thing and the aquatic centre. All in all it’s a bit of a mess here. I’m glad I visited but certainly nothing here to warrant a special trip. It’s not particularly clear to me why anyone would visit it as a ‘park’. It was also very lacking on references to the Olympics, they could certainly have done a much better job of putting up some statues of athletes or pictures of the event/site as it was during the Olympics as a standing memory of 2012.

I get a reply from an old school friend and he can meet me on his lunch break so I head for Southwark on the tube for a few drinks.

We have a good catch up, I then get on the tube and head to LHR as my girlfriends flight lands there at 3pm.

Piccadilly line is massively crowded, I’ve got a moral objection in giving money to the overpriced monopoly that is the Heathrow express and judging by the amount of people on the Piccadilly line with luggage I’m not the only one. In the interest of keeping the tube free from LHR passengers with baggage someone needs to regulate the Heathrow Express prices, its madness that people are using the tube from central london whilst near empty express trains go direct in from Paddington.

My girlfriend lands on time but unfortunately her bag was not put on her flight (she connected HNL-LAX-LAS-LHR). BA confirm the bag is not in the UK, she has a receipt from HNL showing that it should have been forwarded all the way. Only time will tell if it turns up.

Due to the faffing with the bag she misses her bus and has to wait another 2 and a half hours for the next one.

I would love to just drop my last 3 flights and go home now but I can’t. I’m feeling pretty rough after 3 long flights and 2 elongated connections. As I clear security at T3 I’ve been going for almost 36 hours without a hotel.

I briefly go to the F lounge at T3, grab a light salad and some water and then board.

I’m falling asleep on the runway, after take off I’m pretty much solid asleep until Helsinki. We land, Helsinki airport is a joy to navigate and I get the shuttle bus to the Holiday Inn.

Its midnight in Helsinki and its still light. I get off the bus at the wrong stop and have a very plasant 5 minute walk in a mild and light Helsinki. Birds are singing.

I’m an IHG platinum (status matched from Hilton diamond) and have paid for the hotel on points, I’m upgraded to an executive room. I’m intrigued to see what an exec room at a holiday inn consists of. I was suitably impressed. The most impressive thing of all was the seemingly free minibar in the room, I helped myself to some chocolate and water from it and was not charged for this.

Trip 2 Flight 15 Day 15 21.45

Day 15 JFK-LCY 21.45

Class: Business

Airbus A318

Tier Points: 210

I have a 6 our layover in JFK. It’s a really nice day in NYC and I think about dropping my bag off and heading into the city to do some tourism but realistically I’ve got a monster of a journey still ahead of me and I’d only get 2 good hours in the city before needing to turn around back to the airport.

I head on through to the BA first class lounge. I take a shower then I boot up and get caught up on emails and work. The showers in LAX are much nicer than here. In fact I’ve only been to the BA lounges in JFK twice and both times the toilets have been like a war zone. Paper towels over the floor, urine around the floor of the urinals and contact lens cases and glasses from the lounge next to the washbasins. Does anyone ever clean the toilets?

After a couple of productive hours I make my way to the pre flight dining section of the lounge and get tucked into a very nice spicy Korean beef dish, after a couple of large glasses of wine I’m also a bit tipsy. I finish off with some delicious Brie from the cheese board, a really nice meal.

Its eventually time to board. I’m in row 6 next to the window. My plan was to sleep through this flight but I’ve overdosed on sleep today already and as we get settled in the air I find myself copltely unable to sleep. I put on some music and after about 2 hours I eventually drift off into a very broken sleep.

I wake up with 2 and a half hours to landing, take a quick toilet break whilst trying not to wake my seat partner as I climb over. It’s a pretty full flight – 30 people out of 32 Max – and everyone’s tucked up in bed.

I can’t go back to sleep and the flight crew start squirriling around making breakfast preparations.

Anyone who knows me will understand that I’m only ever up early for Christmas day, well this year we can add June 2^nd to the calendar. It’s 8am UK and the flight attendant notices me awake and offers me breakfast. It’s a fruit bowl followed by a full English and a croissant and was a very decent attempt at 38,000ft.

The rest of the passengers slowly wake up, I must praise the flight crew on how discretely they serve the breakfast being very considerate of those still sleeping.

As more and more people wake the windows of the plane start to open and dark turns to light as the white clouds reflect light into the cabin from outside.

The captain informs us that we will be landing 15 minutes early, all seats to upright and we are heading into LCY.

Trip 2 Flight 14 Day 15 LAX-JFK 07.00

Day 15 LAX-JFK 07.00

Class: Business

Airbus A321T

Tier Points: 140

Again the connection in LAX is right next to my arrivals gate, we arrive slightly early and the flagship lounge doesn’t open until 5.15am so I make a call back home where it’s around lunch time. I can already see that as the time difference unfolds my body is going to have all sorts of fun.

I head to the flagship lounge for some yoghurt and berries and scrambled eggs. I admire another RB211 powered 757 departing into the LA sunrise, according to RR an RB211 powered 757 takes off or lands every 38 seconds. Impressive stuff!

Soon enough it’s time to board, it’s a new Airbus 321T so I’ve got a lie flat bed. I turn down the meal service and tuck myself up for another sleep. The next thing I know is the captain is calling cabin crew to landing procedures as I wake up on the approach to JFK. A smooth flight. I have a 6 hour layover in JFK which I’m not looking forward to.

Trip 2 Flight 13 Day 14 HNL-LAX 20.45

Day 14 LAX-HNL 20.45

Class: First

Boeing 757

Tier Points: 210

After a fabulous week in Hawaii it’s time to bid a slightly emotional farewell to HNL, it’s my 8^th time through the airport in 5 weeks. It’s always a treat to wander through the open air causeways from gates to terminal here and feel the tropical heat and smell the aviation fuel.

I drop my girlfriend off at the best western plaza airport hotel (she is flying first thing tomorrow) and  drop the car off. I must give a huge recommendation to Atlas Choice car hire, they were super cheap in both Miami and here in Honolulu and although off airport the service both times was flawless.

I’m ready to complete the adventure and am quite happy with the fact that there are only 6 flights left to go.

I check in and head through to the Admirals club where I have a Budweiser before the flight. I don’t have a lot of time. Again the lounge here is pretty basic.

We board on time, it’s a full flight and everyone boarding looks a little run down.

I can’t face any more AA pizza so I turn down the offer of a meal, deploy the travel pillow and get myself off to sleep. The 757 is not the most comfortable place to rest but I manage a pretty solid sleep all the way through to 40 minutes until landing.

5 to go…

Trip 2 Day 8 - 14 Holiday in HNL

It's time for a holiday at this point, my girlfriend connects from the UK and I meet her at the airport, we're staying on waikiki for the week at the Marriott.

Trip 2 Flight 12 Day 7 LAX-HNL 18.20

Day 7 LAX-HNL 18.20

Class: First

Boeing 757

Tier Points: 210

AA connections in LAX have been fantastic and again they this one is smooth as silk. Departure gate is next to the arrival flight, I have about an hour to go to the Admirals club and help myself to a bottle of Evian and some hot buffet in the flagship lounge which again is about as densely populated as the moon. Evian and Airbus in American Airlines, the French are doing well here!

I board the flight and for the first time all trip there are 3 spare seats in First. A chap sits next to me with an AA lanyard on and we get chatting. He’s ground crew in Arkansas and is going to Honolulu for a date for 24 hours only, and I thought I was hardcore!

I am unable to get settled on the flight despite feeling quite run down, I turn down the offer of food and stick to water and shuffle through 3 discs of definitely maybe ‘remastered’. Nice to see the white label demo version of Columbia on there.

The flight drags on and on and I catch up on writing this blog, which I’ve been very lazy with.

Eventually we land, it’s dark. Straight through HNL to baggage claim where I find my girlfriend who was on the flight before me. We managed to logistically connect my flights from SJU and hers from LHR to end up in HNL within an hour and a half of each other, with her flights on avios points to boot!

Quick shuttle to dollar car rental to pick up an convertible mustang and then we are on our way to the Marriott Waikiki for a week.

At this stage I’m ready for bed but I must say the very subtle difference in spacing of the flights on this trip has left me in much better shape than round 1. I think turning around same day in Honolulu last time to go to the Caribbean was a massive error.

Trip 2 Flight 11 Day 7 MIA-LAX 14.10

Day 7 MIA-LAX 14.10

Class: First

Boeing 757

Tier Points: 210

The connection is quite tight but I have time to take 30 mins in the Admirals club. The Miami Admirals club is poor, just cookies and water. The coffee is undrinkable.

Again another on time flight, they serve fillet steak which was just about edible and I treat myself to an ice cream sundae.  The chap next to me absolutely stinks of garlic, I have to point the fan in between us to try and blow away the smell.

I settle down to sleep and nap all the way through to the descent into LAX. Feeling pretty good at this stage.

Trip 2 flight 10 Day 7 SJU-MIA 10.00

Day 7 SJU-MIA 10.00

Class: Business

Boeing 757

Tier Points: 40

I have a fantastic breakfast at the doubletree and get another great taxi back to SJU. I’d pencil in a return to Puerto Rico as it’s much more civilised than I imagined it would be.

I get ticketed and through security within 10 minutes. There’s a nice Admirals club here too although I have very little time as I left the hotel 30 minutes later than planned.

Flight is again on time, I decline any breakfast and fire up some Courteeners on my iphone.

The 2 hour flight is over before I even get settled.

Trip 2 Flight 9 Day 6 MIA-SJU 19.15

Day 6 MIA-SJU 19.15

Class: Business

Boeing 737

Tier Points: 40

I have a few hours in MIA and have experienced the terrible Admirals club around gate D. Apparently there is a ‘premium lounge’ near gate E so I trek on over. I take the sky train and it’s about a 20 minute transit from D8 to the premium lounge.

It’s designed for BA flights and the food is pretty decent, salad, some meat and cheese lots of fruit, premium spirits etc.

As I arrive Ronaldo scores a penalty to make it 4-1 on the Champions League final.

After my experience of landing late in STT last time and feeling incredibly unsafe I phoned up my hotel in San Juan to ask about the Taxi situation at the airport and if it was safe to just get a cab at the stand, they told me it was fine.

It’s my first AA 737 experience. The first cabin seats are identical to the 757.

The flight leaves on time, dinner is not edible, some sort of chicken and cheese. I literally don’t know how they got chicken tasting so bad and they drizzled some disgusting sauce all over the salad, almost spewed at just the smell.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about plane food its keep it simple. You can mess up a bare salad and fruit, and if your going to serve a main meal just keep it to simple plain foods, every attempt at gravy, sauce, cheese or dressing renders the dish inedible.

The chap next to me in a resident of Puerto Rico and clarifies to me the situation that he is a US citizen but Puerto Rico is not a state of the USA, they don’t get to vote in US presidential elections and return their own government. He explains there’s a movement in the country to become an official state of the USA.

As we come in to land is SJU its much bigger and much more developed than I expected. It looks like quite an interesting place.

We land, it’s a proper airport, unlike STT, and I get a taxi. Some locals push in straight to the front of the taxi line and this seems to be normal. The taxi guys give me a piece of paper with the fair to my hotel already agreed and $18 and 10 minutes later I arrive at the Doubletree.

Again a local lady pushes to the front of the queue at check in, and again it seems to be fine with the staff!

I get checked in, the hotel is really nice, and its time for bed.   

Trip 2 Flight 8 Day 6 LAX-MIA 08:50

Day 6 LAX-MIA 08:50

Class: First

Boeing 757

Tier Points: 210

Connecting though LAX with AA is a doddle, the gates have always been right next to each other when I land.

I head to the Admirals club (just above the gates) and have a shower.

I’ve got a couple of hours to kill so I have yogurt and berries followed by eggs and sausage for breakfast and check in on some emails and work.

Again the Flagship lounge is deserted.

Before too long the next flight is boarding and is on time.

Waffles are served for breakfast which I have, it’s going to be a food day, and they are decent enough.

I blast through disc 2 and 3 of Definitely Maybe ‘Remastered’ which consists mainly of unusual live/acoustic songs and B sides. Listening to some of Noel’s finest keeps me in good spirits. Still feeling fine when we land, that turnaround in HNL really messed me up more than I realised on trip 1.

Trip 2: Flight 7 Day 5 HNL-LAX May 23rd

Class: First

Tier Points: 210

The bus to the airport was very straightforward, and $2.50 vs a $14 shuttle.

I go to the Admirals Club at HNL, it’s a pretty poor offering shared with JAL. There’s chicken soup and that’s about it. Chicken soup and a Budweiser then.

I remembered to sun cream my head so no sunburn this time, and I get ready to deploy the travel pillow as the next section of flights is seriously going to mess with my body clock.

I do feel a million times better for getting a good night’s sleep in a hotel, I distinctly remember this point on the first trip where I turned around same day and it was horrible.

Boarding is swift and the flight leaves on time. A pizza is served as an evening snack which is absolutely disgusting.

Lights out and I get to sleep. Its pretty uncomfortable in the 757 recliners and I manage to hook my leg over the arm rest which probably looked ridiculous but was the only position that I could get comfy in.

I had a broken sleep all the way through to LAX. Between the 6 hour flight and clock going forward it was now 0500.