🥇 British Airways Gold Status in 9 Days

Hello!

This is effectively part zero of a nine part series I will be writing over the coming days about how I am going to gain British Airways Gold Status. I will share everything about the booking process, the flights, airports, cost, and whether I think it’s actually worth it.

If you prefer video, I will be sharing updates & reviews over on the Smart With Points TikTok, Instagram and YouTube channels.

Kicking Things Off

It is important to note that I will be starting from 40 tier points. These were primarily earned through two return journeys in economy with British Airways. I flew from London Heathrow to Manchester for one, and London Gatwick to Jersey for the other. These were my four qualifying flights which are required to progress from Bronze to Silver/Gold. I earned a further 10 tier points from a return economy trip prior with Malaysian Airlines. This was taken before I even thought about attempting a tier point run and yielded a poor TP per £.

The Tier Point Run

For my tier point run, I'll be embarking on a journey across multiple countries, flying with SriLankan Airlines and Cathay Pacific in business class. The trip kicks off with a flight from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Colombo (CMB), where I'll have my first layover. From there, I'll head to Jakarta (CGK) and back to Colombo again, with a brief stop before returning to Abu Dhabi. This segment will be crucial for earning a good chunk of tier points as I transit multiple times through Colombo without actually stopping for a long visit. Colombo is situated just over 2000 miles between Abu Dhabi and Jakarta, making it the perfect route to earn tier points.

After that, I'll fly from Abu Dhabi to Colombo and Jakarta once again, and then connect with Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong (HKG). From Hong Kong, I'll take a short hop to Taipei (TPE) and back, purely transiting through these cities. I'll then make my way back to Jakarta and switch back to SriLankan Airlines to complete the final legs of my trip, flying from Jakarta to Colombo and ending the run back in Abu Dhabi. Throughout the journey, I'll be stopping briefly in Jakarta and Taipei while purely transiting through places like Hong Kong and Colombo, all in pursuit of maximising my Avios and collecting a total of 1,480 tier points.

Last Minute Changes

Originally, I was due to fly AUH to CGK and back three times. Although this route earns the most tier points (560 TP x 3), I don’t actually need that many for Gold. It would also mean the whole process would take a day longer, due to the SriLankan only flying 5 days a week to Jakarta. Adding the Cathay Pacific flights in there gets me just the right number of tier points whilst making it more enjoyable trip. Shout out to Matts Planet for the idea.

Final Words

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Bye for now!