You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I travel a lot, and do most of my shopping online via debit or credit cards, But having lived in three countries in the last 3 years I don't currently subscribe to any kind of rewards scheme or airmiles credit card.
I bank with Natwest, and have their standard credit card, so should I just get a british airways version, or is there something else I should know? I feel like I'm not making the most out of the money I'm spending on travel and food, but don't know how to go about changing it!
I have a BA card, linked to my company Amex card. Every penny I spend on a flight earns [s]Avioses/Avii[/s] Airmiles as I book it on my Amex card. I then earn more miles for actually flying that booking. Then, on arrival, I pay for hotels/meals etc with that Amex card, earning more miles for every penny spent. So, it keeps on building up.
I then spend those miles on holidays with BA. When you buy a BA holiday, you earn an airmiles bonus. So, the numbers just keep on building up!
Well worth it if you fly a lot, and or want to use an airline for other stuff like holidays and/or upgrading.
The key is, you need to stick to one airline and/or airline alliance and you actually have to either [i]need[/i] or [i]want[/i] to fly with them often.
That said, I have had real benefits from mine. Last couple of holidays have been lovely Caribbean trips, business class. Skiing is done using airmiles and basically free flights.
You really need to stick to one or maybe two airlines to build up your airmiles, especially if you frequently fly long-haul. I'm with BA and Delta. I fly alot (~200K per year) and use BA for as many as possible trips and Delta to my common destination in the US. BA aren't great at giving out airmiles or their rewards, nor are they easy to spend but they are convenient since I fly from Heathrow/Gatwick mostly. Delta is better for rewards but a pretty crap airline!
Have a look at the actual value if the rewards you amass with a credit card. Most of the time pure cash back is better.
I had about 300k on Virgin which I transferred to Hilton Honours points and used for holidays - got a couple of WEs away in nice hotels from that (about 40k miles / night for a 5 star hotel).
I have about another 300k on my BA card, but not sure what I'll do with them.
BA aren't great at giving out airmiles or their rewards, nor are they easy to spend but they are convenient since I fly from Heathrow/Gatwick mostly.
Easy to spend - Upgrades, EU reward flights, holidays, etc. For example, just spent 10k airmiles and £50 to upgrade myself from WT+ to CW for an overnight redeye (A booking, I'll earn about 19k miles on!)
Easy to collect, and easily given out - Especially with a shiny Gold card! 😉
I have travelled for work a huge amount with SAS over the last two years (think 50 plus flights per year) and I have just booked flights to Vancouver for the summer with airmiles. WINNER!
Every time I've tried to upgrade with BA at the airport they say you have to do it at the time of booking, whereas with Virgin you could just upgrade at the gate using airmiles.
BA miles are great.
Have the BA Amex card and regularly clock up 50000 airmiles a year just through that and a free partner flight.
Flaps, try doing it via the "Manage my booking" page online. It's very easy, and means you can get the pick of the seats rather than waiting until you get to the airport when all the good stuff will have been booked up!
Problem is I normally get a free bump if the flight is full as I've normally got the most airmiles in WT / WT+. However, you never know if you'll get upgraded till you check in...
i have heaps of klm airfrance miles and a similar ammount of lufthansa miles from flying in and out of west africa and the FSU states.
i want to fly to california in july.
im cheaper just buying the flights with cash(on airfrance/klm) than i am using my airmiles - how does that work ?
a colleague found similar trying to use his BA miles to bring a relitive over from uk to atlanta - was paying more in taxes on his airmile flights than he was could buy the flights for.
TR, I find the best way to spend BA miles is to buy the ticket and then use them to upgrade. After all, you're going to be flying anyway, so why not do it on a flat bed up the sharp end? It works out better on the taxes/fees front doing it that way as well. Exception is BA reward flights around Europe, which are as good as free when using miles.
Flaps, all my upgrades (bar one) have been at the gate. Once from WT to WT+, many many times from WT+ to CW and four or five from CW to the shiny end. Which was nice! For the latter, not once have I been in the "wear smart clothes" etc bracket. That's a myth. I was upgraded to F with a hangover, unshaven and wearing Reefs, jeans and a T-shirt out of Sydney a while back!
you might be onto something there CFH
mrs would be chuffed if i managed to get us into business or better one way or tuther.
Anything else you need to know?
Another tip - Don't book online. If you're a BA club member, ring them up and do it that way. If you're flexible, say, "I'm going to buy WT+ and upgrade to club with miles, what's the best flight/day to do that on?"
They're super helpful and seem to enjoy the challenge of getting you the best deal! One of my Caribbean flights, the helpful lass at BA said, "I'll put you on a 4 class flight, sir. That way, even though you're safely booked in to Club, you never know.....". I think she'd have winked down the phone if she could have done!
And, what do you know, return flight, overnight, Mrs CFH and I had 1K/F instead 11A/B. Which was nice.
Ok maybe I should have said that my BA airmiles are difficult to spend with family trips since MrsG is a teacher and we have to go in term times. Popular destinations, say Orlando (not that I like Florida) are booked up for the airmiles flights about a year in advance.
OK, so consensus seems to be with British airway rather than anything else. This works fine for me as they fly all the routes I'm generally travelling.
Seems like some people do very well with juggling the points and others gain almost no benefit. By the amount I fly I feel like I should gain something, so maybe I'll update this thread in a couple months!
I just happened to look at the lump of avios that I got from going to the states last year and I worked out they're really only much in terms of buying flights if you live near Heathrow or Gatwick, if you're in the rest of the uk want to fly to Heathrow and then yomp across to Gatwick you might get lucky, but 9 times out of ten it'd mean an overnight stay which kind of defeats the point.
For the latter, not once have I been in the "wear smart clothes" etc bracket. That's a myth.
I thought it was all automatic. I normally check in at the airport auto booth thing and find I've been upgraded when the machine spits out my ticket. AIUI if the flight is full they start upgrading based on who has the most airmiles in each cabin.
Nope, it's not quite as simple as the "most airmiles" piece. They also address card status (Gold will be upgraded before silver, etc) and also recent usage. For usage, if you two passengers had the same number of recent airmiles, one flying with an alliance partner, and one just in BA flights, guess who gets priority? 😉 Further to that, BA (and other airlines) also now check to see if there's any possibility of the upgrade being seen as any form of corruption or bribery risk.
In short, the only way to get an upgrade is to spend waaaaay, waaaay too long with BA!
Well, if you're really lucky you might get a being-the-right-person-in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time upgrade despite not being the most 'eligible'. I was once hiding from a colleague at T5 in a lounge to which he didn't have status access... until he walked in having been upgraded at check-in. Marginally embarrassing. 😳
On the original point I'd agree with others that signing yourself on to Avios and trying to fly with BA is probably the best option - unless your travel plans are predictable and well-enough served by another airline.
I'd also agree that it can be tricky to redeem Avios if you can't be flexible on your dates - but the same is true of most FF programmes.
My final comment would be that premium long-haul redemptions on BA aren't cheap in absolute terms due to the 'taxes and other charges'. They are, however, generally cheap relative to the cash fare for that class.
Well, if you're lucky you might get a being-the-right-person-in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time upgrade. I was once hiding from a colleague at T5 in a lounge to which he didn't have status access... until he walked in having been upgraded. Marginally embarrassing.
I have this to look forward to soon...! Flying with my boss. He's in the Business lounge, I'm in F. I am expecting pleading!
Then, on our flight home, I'll be heading upstairs while he isn't! 🙂