Earn 800 Executive Club Tier Points for €1,300 with One Business Class Trip to the USA (=Oneworld Sapphire)

Oneworld partners British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, and American Airlines are once again selling cheap business class tickets from Europe to America. Starting at €1,283, you can fly to many destinations in the continental US, as you can see here.

Such offers are very interesting for those who wish to get a status at the British Airways Executive Club. If you cleverly optimize the routing, you can earn up to 800 tier points for a roundtrip to Arizona. That’s enough for the Silver status (Oneworld Sapphire).

The Business Class Deal From Dublin

The mentioned deal from Dublin is valid for trips between September and November 2024. For roughly €1,200 (now €1,300), you can fly in business class first to the United States from Ireland and later return to Spain. All details about this deal are here:

Oneworld Business Class: Open Jaw Ireland – USA – Spain Starting at €1,195 (Incl. West Coast Destinations)

Interestingly, this deal lets you have up to five layovers in each direction. Especially trips in the Western USA can be stretched out that way, although you should have no problem with spending several hours in a domestic first class seat.

Example Routing

Of course, you could fly to Flagstaff with a single layover in Dallas. But you could also e.g. fly Dublin – London – New York – Phoenix – Flagstaff, with an even longer itinerary on the way back:

With the above example, you have two longer stops in New York. Based on personal experience, it is quite refreshing to breathe some fresh air now and then when doing such a long trip seated in a metal tube. While you can make multiple stops like this, you cannot pause your journey for more than 24 hours (except at your turnaround).

Mileage

For the above example, you’d receive a total of 5,000 Avios (which are now based on ticket price, not distance) and 800 tier points. This is the breakdown:

Segment	Tier Points
Dublin – London	40
London – New York	140
New York – Phoenix	140
Phoenix – Flagstaff	40
San Jose – Phoenix	40
Phoenix – New York	140
New York – Helsinki	140
Helsinki – London	80
London – Madrid	40
Total	800

The high number of miles is due to the following factors:

• Some American transcontinental routes longer than 2,000 miles are treated as long-haul flights and rewarded with 140 TP, such as New York – Phoenix.
• You’ll get another 80 tier points for flights between Helsinki and London
• All other segments get you at least 40 TP, even if the flights are rather short (like DUB-LHR or PHX-FLG)

Search & Book Using the Matrix

Booking this deal is a bit difficult. Generally, you can search for itineraries on Google Flights (example), but in most cases, you won’t be able to purchase the resulting tickets. That’s why we recommend the more challenging way of using the ITA Matrix.

Search Flights

Searching with the Matrix (instructions) works better. The best way is to search for a cheap connection from Sofia to your desired destination on Google Flights and then adding additional layovers with the matrix. There, you can search for any specific flight number, airline, or layover airport. The connection shown in the screenshot was found using the following search parameters:

If you are not familiar with the (kinda clunky) program, we recommend taking a closer look at this tutorial:

Tutorial: Use the ITA Matrix to Search and Find Your Next Flight

Booking on AA.com

Once you’ve found your desired routing, you’ll get to the next obstacle: unlike Google Flights, the Matrix does not offer a link to the booking site. You’ll need the browser plugin ITA Matrix Powertools for Firefox or for Google Chrome, which was developed by wheretocredit.

Once you’ve installed it, you’ll find a booking link in the right sidebar, which will redirect you to the booking on AA.com:

After being redirected, the flights usually cost around the same that the Matrix previewed.

Searching directly on American Airlines’ website usually doesn’t work very well. Using the matrix redirect is much better. You should, however, check that all the segments are correct, once you’ve been redirected.

Executive Club Status Requirements

To get a status at the Executive Club, you’ll have to fulfill the following requirements:

• Executive Club Bronze = Oneworld Ruby:
  • 300 Tier Points + 2 flights with BA¹
• Executive Club Silver = Oneworld Sapphire:
  • 600 Tier Points + 4 flights with BA¹
• Executive Club Gold = Oneworld Emerald:
  • 1,500 Tier Points + 4 flights with BA¹

1 – According to Flyertalk, it’s enough for the flight to have a BA flight number, even if it’s operated by another airlines. This requirement would then be fulfilled, as two of the Finnair flights are BA code shares.

While the tier points in this deal are more than enough to get Oneworld Sapphire, you have to juggle a bit to get the required BA segments. It may be easier to obtain them on a separate economy ticket.

Benefits of the Executive Club Silver Status

The British Airways Executive Club Silver status is also an Oneworld Sapphire status, which will get you the following benefits on all Oneworld flights:

• Business class lounge access, incl. one guest
• Priority boarding
• Additional luggage allowance (except for some light fares)
• Priority luggage handling
• Preferred (often free) seat selection

Additionally, you’d get a bonus of 50% more Avios on all British Airways flights. Should you make it to the Oneworld Emerald, you’d even be allowed to access the first class lounges.