Hello Daytrip! A Tier Point run to the Paris Pokémon Centre
With British Airways
In this trip report…
- I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was… (The Introduction, with added POUG)
- To Heathrow, British Airways Galleries First Lounge
- BA332 London Heathrow Airport T5 – Paris Orly West in Club Europe
- Would you like to heal your Pokemon? – The Paris Popup Pokemon Centre
- Other bits of Paris (or which scam is where!)
- Iberia Lounge, Paris Orly Airport
- BA337 Paris Orly West – London Heathrow Airport T5 in Club Europe
- Homeward Bound on Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways
- Wrapping up the DayTrip – To catch them is my real quest, to train them is my cause….
I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was…
Those of you at a certain age (between 8 and 15, and then skywards) will probably have heard of Pokémon (or Pocket Monsters), as well as the massive franchise the spawned from it – even if it’s for one character alone….
Pikachu – an Electric mouse type Pokémon – Bulbapeida
Right, on the same page everyone? Good.
In the Pokémon games, one can visit a Pokémon Centre to heal your Pokémon. However, these centres do exist in real life – mainly in Japan.
Tokyo Pokémon Centre – Images from my Photoblog.
This is where you can go and battle… and of course donate your hard-earned cash to The Pokémon Company on a selection of merchandise.
But it seems The Pokémon Company is in the mood for a pop-up shop in Paris (with for those who collect them, a special Pokémon to collect for Pokémon XY – A Pokémon ball patterned Vivillon)…
So why Paris for the special Pokémon centre? France and Paris on the basis of this map for the most recent game – Pokémon XY- the Kalos region .
Of course, the question then becomes how to get to Paris.
- Eurostar was pricing up in the high £170-£180s for a simple early departure/late return
- FlyBe/Air France from Birmingham started at £200 return for a day trip .
- I don’t do Eurolines. I have some limits.
But there’s always the Heathrow option. Whilst not great, it can be useful…. and in this case, it was. Whilst London to Paris CDG was pricing up around £150 return, London to Paris Orly was pricing up at a much more competitive £97.2o return… on British Airways using their Hello Daytrip fares
This would yield some TP’s and Avios (20TP return, 2000 Avios with Gold Bonus).
That sounded like fun – even with an early start for the coach, a day walking around Paris, and a train home.
£101.70 later (being I had to pay an extra £4.50 on the credit card), I had a British Airways booking reference number, with seats booked in the exit row.
It got even more fun when I checked a few days later to find that a Proactive Online Upgrade offer had hit the account, offering to upgrade the segments to Club Europe by £112.
Whilst not worth it from a service perspective (apart from a seat up front and plated meals), from a Tier Point perspective, it becomes extremely interesting.
The EuroTraveller fare would work out at £5.09 a Tier point (20 Tier Points), whilst the Club Europe fare (combined) would work out at £2.67 a Tier Point (80 Tier Points). As for the Avios, this went up 2500 Avios – a 500 extra for flying Club Europe.
It’s not mileage run territory by any means, but it’s better than a kick in the teeth – especially when there are a reasonable amount of Tier Points at stake. The Avios as usual are another bonus.
There is but one problem with this trip and that it will take me through Paris Orly airport.
Why is this a problem? This is where someone earlier this year someone decided they liked my wallet better than theirs
However, I’m willing to give the city of romance a second crack of the whip in a year (as well as keeping a tighter grip of my wallets), so join me as I attempt to catch them all in this wonderful trip report…
So throw in some coaches, trains and planes… and we’ve got a map like this:
23 hours of travel ahead – Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz
And whilst you’re at it… hum along to the theme tune….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqXlSwBIHFc
