You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I've got quite a lot of Miles with AF/KLM so out of idle curiosity have just checked to see whether they could get me and Mrs Gti and Gti Junior to Cape Town and back. They could but we would have to pay €1440 in taxes. I bet you can buy a bucket shop return ticket for that or less. In addition the timings are terrible and would require two nights in Amsterdam. It's really all about bums on seats and getting even the smallest contribution to the cost of operating that aircraft, isn't it?
Well the taxes are not contributing to the cost of operating the aircraft, but yes, it is all about bums on seats. There is alot of variability between airlines and use of points. Some are alot better than others.
yeah, I get them from BA and as they only fly the routes I need to fly I collect lots, usually use them for money off flights rather than the whole flight, or upgrades. Their value can be a lot less than you hope.
[i] I bet you can buy a bucket shop return ticket for that or less.[/i]
But can you actually?
I thought flight/airport taxes were a fixed cost and not a proportion of the seat cost?
All went downhill when Airmiles switched to Avios. They devalued the points, stripped it down to the flight price only so taxes and fees are on top, and limited the available seats on flights.
I've got enough for a flight to Japan but every time I look at using them, even for shorter flights, the value isn't that great compared to other deals. When I got them it was attractive to save them up for a long haul (keep dreaming of skiing in Japan 😀 ), but then they're apparently not very good value long haul.
Have to consider how much the points are actually worth in money value and potentially what you've spent to get them, which is complicated as they are often a reward but you're essentially paying for them somewhere. If they didn't offer them or any other deal, prices for goods and services or flights would in theory be lower. I get miles from my fuel bills but I could probably get a cheaper tariff without them.
Usually trips I go on are either a package or a deal that's better if arranged between a group and I can't get to use the miles without breaking the deal (and probably having to go on a different flight to the rest). I could use the miles for a combined group but I'd want to value the miles and ask for cash from others but then it would work out expensive to them.
I chip away at the miles at times on small things. Non air travel. Can be used for Eurostar even.
Long-haul on Avios are less than ideal. I booked for my family to Cape Town and back, and was still £2.7k out of pocket. BUT - I can get to Geneva and back with my bike for £35! Miles work well for short euro hops.
The airlines do incur some per-passenger charges for taking you. e.g. air passenger duty for the outbound flight will be something like £140/head, and I think airport fees are also per actual bum-on-seat, and will be much higher if you fly out of Heathrow, rather than taking a budget airline from some smaller airport.
On the other hand, the airlines are pretty liberal in what they call a "tax" - I'm pretty sure I've had to pay a "fuel surcharge" when flying on miles, which looks quite like an ordinary operating cost to me.
The scam that annoys me is that on Virgin at least, in order to do an upgrade on miles you need to have a full-price flexible ticket, which usually costs the same as a cheaper ticket in the next class up anyway.
The value of Avios for travel is hopeless in almost all cases, you're better off shopping around. I transfer my BA Avios to a standard non-BA Avios account (which anyone can do) and use them for treats like theme park tickets. I leave a balance of 1 in the BA account as an FU to the tight-fisted bastards!
The scam that annoys me is that on Virgin at least, in order to do an upgrade on miles you need to have a full-price flexible ticket, which usually costs the same as a cheaper ticket in the next class up anyway.
This can work to your advantage. When I flew for business (almost every week) we would get fully-flexible economy. Often, the price differential between that and a business "this flight only" ticket was the price of a change - £10 (this may have gone up).
I used to rock up to the airport, swap the ticket over and get on the next flight.
Of course, that was two recessions ago so it's probably changed 🙂
We got a great flight on air miles a few years ago - one of the first dreamliner long-haul trips for about $50 each way (non-UK, and probably taxes weren't so high). Don't have enough travel to collect them these days though.
How old is Gti Jnr?
If you go ahead with trip then be aware that South Africa has chosen to make life [url= https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/south-africa/entry-requirements ] a but harder for families visiting on holiday[/url].
You might already know about it, but a lot of people have been caught out.
[i]If you go ahead with trip then be aware that South Africa has chosen to make life a but harder for families visiting on holiday.[/i]
Just two of the 17...
[b]I am a single parent, what do I need?[/b]
If the child’s unabridged birth certificate only reflects the name of one parent, parental consent from the absent parent is not required. If the parent’s name does appear, the other parent must consent in an affidavit. If the absent parent cannot be traced, a letter of special circumstances must be applied for.
[b]My wife has passed away, what will I need in lieu of her consent?[/b]
Should one of the parents be deceased, a death certificate must be produced.
wasn't there a thing about using your avios to fly aer-lingus to the US, mitigating most of the taxes, plus clearing us immigration in Dublin? seems like a decent call. Flyertalk have loads of info on this kind of thing
Spending Air Miles - what a con!
You don't actually believe that loyalty schemes are for the customers benefit do you?