Airmiles - talk to me

Kemik · 16 May 2017 at 15:41

Hi guys,

I'm saving to go to Australia and New Zealand at some point in the next two years. I'm also about to make some big purchases separately which means now is a perfect time to start loading up on airmiles.

So, my question is:

Are they worth it?
What should I be aiming for?
Are there any good resources I can read up on or recommend the "best" airmiles to save.

I know you can get partner tickets but still need to pay the taxes (?) and can get upgrades. Not sure which is better/more efficient.

At the minute I've been using my Tesco Credit card for clubcards but that has become shocking and takes forever to save these days. Used to be good for the train.

Cheers!

div0 · 16 May 2017 at 15:50

I looked into this recently and the best advice seemed to be to exploit the introductory bonus points as much as possible. Alternate new cards between you and your partner (roughly every 6 months?) to maximise bonus points.

But in terms of being worth it - the main thing to consider is how flexible you are likely to be with dates, routes, etc? AFAIK there are only a certain number of 'air mile' tickets released on each route and some (particularly long haul) can be very popular and hard to get hold of. So there's no guarantee of you being able to use the points when you want to book your flights.

I've never done this so can't speak from experience, but those seemed to be the two key points that came out from my research.

div0 · 16 May 2017 at 15:51

As for good sites - check out http://www.headforpoints.com/the-beginners-guide-to-collecting-avios-points/

Also, usual places like MoneySavingExpert have lots of good info.

weringo · 16 May 2017 at 19:49

On long haul flights you only get value if you purchase business/first class, this is because you always have to pay fees (as well as airmiles) for each flight you purchase and the fees on economy long haul are virtually the same as you would have paid had to purchased the flight outright. Arguably First/business is then only good value if you would have purchased the ticket anyway as you could alternatively purchased economy short haul tickets which are much cheaper.

That said, 2x business class return tickets to Sydney is 250,000 Avios with a 2-4-1 voucher (which you can earn using the BA Amex card). If you abuse the sign up bonuses on the Amex Gold and Amex BA cards correctly, you can earn about 80,000 Avios a year between 2 of you with about a £15k/annum spend. If you add on Tesco Clubcard and Topcashback rewards you should be able to earn enough to pay for those tickets within 3 years.

Headforpoints is the best site to read up on how it all works .

Moneysavingexpert explains how to maximize sign up bonuses here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/boost-avios-points#manipulate

Amp34 · 16 May 2017 at 20:25

The short - don't bother, they are essentially worth peanuts and you'll have to spend tens of thousands to make it worth it and only then will you realize he additional taxes and fees add up to as much/more than normal economy ticket.

The long(er) - they can however be worth it. The bonus miles given by AMEX aren't bad, and the BA companion vouchers are supposed to be good as well if you will be spending enough a year to get them. The best way to spend miles is to upgrade from economy to business (etc), but there are a lot of restrictions including but not limited to needing specific classes to tickets in the first place (usually "Y", which is more expensive than the normal tickets you will usually find on comparison sites), as well as the already mentioned restricted number of seats and dates for their use.

Basically unless you're planning on spending (upper) tens of thousands a year on your card don't plan on being able to buy tickets to Oz with it. They can be used for upgrades (still need to spend tens of thousands a year) or a couple of nights in a hotel etc.

Off the top of my head a spend of around £15k on the Amex gold (with sign up bonus) will bet you in the region of 40-50k points (depending on what you spend it on) and that will get you something like a return trip to southern France or similar - but you'll probably find the taxes and fees charged are more than the equivalent Ryanair/Easyjet cost.

Definitely worth looking at the above website though.

Tunney · 16 May 2017 at 20:44

Amp34 said:
Basically unless you're planning on spending (upper) tens of thousands a year on your card don't plan on being able to buy tickets to Oz with it. They can be used for upgrades (still need to spend tens of thousands a year) or a couple of nights in a hotel etc.

It's also worth noting that there's only a limited number of reward class seats per flight (unless you're on one of the very top loyalty tiers). The reward flights for places like Australia are snapped up almost instantly.

IMO, air miles are great if you spend a lot of money on your credit card, want to fly business class and you're not too fussy about where you go.

weringo · 16 May 2017 at 20:54

Amp34 said:
Off the top of my head a spend of around £15k on the Amex gold (with sign up bonus) will bet you in the region of 40-50k points (depending on what you spend it on) and that will get you something like a return trip to southern France or similar - but you'll probably find the taxes and fees charged are more than the equivalent Ryanair/Easyjet cost.

40-50k points will get the equivalent of 5/6 return tickets to Prague for £35 fees per return ticket. Short haul flights are now pretty good value as all economy return flights to Europe are capped at £35 fees with Reward Flight Saver.

Whilst you are right that Ryanair/Easyjet flights can be found at a good price, the other benefits of purchasing with airmiles include:

Not flying from Luton / Stansted - Heathrow flights with airmiles costs the same as from any other airport
Flying at a reasonable time of day for no extra cost in fees/airmiles
Free checked luggage
Flying with BA (benefits include boarding the plane at the gate rather than via a bus, and the gf can bring a handbag on board (unlike Easyjet), plus generally better service on board)
Airport lounge access - 2 free passes/annum with Amex Gold and £15/visit thereafter.

You are right that you need to be prepared to play the game though, that means booking far in advance and being aware of where the best value lies. To illustrate, if you want to fly return to Prague next Easter weekend from Heathrow at reasonable times (10am outbound, 5pm inbound), that will cost you £321 in cash today or 9,000 Avios+ £35 fees.

weringo · 16 May 2017 at 20:56

House · 16 May 2017 at 22:36

Your usually better spending airmiles on things other than flights, the restrictions in books and the low £/point value mean they aren't worth it, they used to be good for upgrades be even that is hard to do now.

I recently dropped a ton of miles on a week in Rome in a 5 star hotel, was nice and the wife loved it. got me some marriage points.

DB_SamX · 16 May 2017 at 23:10

I've predominantly been using credit card that gives BA airmiles for the last 10 years or so. Predominantly Amex, and I change cards where they are offers of bonus miles on and/or I have big expenditure planned.

So far, I've earnt enough for 4 people to fly London to Basel (around £400 worth), £200 off flights to Iceland last year, £180 off flights to Iceland this year. I would usually spend that money anyway (£10k or so a year), so just making the most of it.

Do it.

Rotty · 17 May 2017 at 01:01

Amp34 said:
The short - don't bother, they are essentially worth peanuts and you'll have to spend tens of thousands to make it worth it and only then will you realize he additional taxes and fees add up to as much/more than normal economy ticket.

.

not in the slightest, with little effort and cost I have accumulated 400k in 2 years

already had 2 Virgin Upper class returns to Hong Kong for £800 each (normally about £3k) and off to Vegas later Premium Economy for £400 each (normally £1k) and I still have 200k miles left

Amp34 · 17 May 2017 at 03:07

weringo said:
40-50k points will get the equivalent of 5/6 return tickets to Prague for £35 fees per return ticket. Short haul flights are now pretty good value as all economy return flights to Europe are capped at £35 fees with Reward Flight Saver.

Whilst you are right that Ryanair/Easyjet flights can be found at a good price, the other benefits of purchasing with airmiles include:

Not flying from Luton / Stansted - Heathrow flights with airmiles costs the same as from any other airport

Flying at a reasonable time of day for no extra cost in fees/airmiles

Free checked luggage

Flying with BA (benefits include boarding the plane at the gate rather than via a bus, and the gf can bring a handbag on board (unlike Easyjet), plus generally better service on board)

Airport lounge access - 2 free passes/annum with Amex Gold and £15/visit thereafter.

You are right that you need to be prepared to play the game though, that means booking far in advance and being aware of where the best value lies. To illustrate, if you want to fly return to Prague next Easter weekend from Heathrow at reasonable times (10am outbound, 5pm inbound), that will cost you £321 in cash today or 9,000 Avios+ £35 fees.

You're right there, since the introduction of the fixed fees the cost has reduced a lot. I've looked a lot prior to that introduction (within the last year IIRC) and it's always just been not worth it due to the cost.

As an aside I wouldn't call 10am and 5pm reasonable times, they are only slightly better than a midday flight. You waste most of your day off from work at home. The best flights are those that leave after 7pm (straight from work) and get back at around midnight.

Also worth pointing out the airport lounge access has nothing to do with BA, as you say it's to do with AMEX.

Rotty said:
not in the slightest, with little effort and cost I have accumulated 400k in 2 years

already had 2 Virgin Upper class returns to Hong Kong for £800 each (normally about £3k) and off to Vegas later Premium Economy for £400 each (normally £1k) and I still have 200k miles left

Did you read the second part of the post?

He wants to go to Oz in two years, it's unlikely he is going to be able to get enough Avios in that time to make it worth it.

Also how much did you spend on your cards to get 400k points

I'm not suggesting they are rubbish, and they certainly are worth collecting but they are not the golden egg the first appear to be. If you're willing to play the game as mentioned earlier (spend a lot of time working the deals, purposely going out of your way to get bonus points, willing to be very flexible on when and where you want to go) and/or spend a LOT on card then you can go a long way with them.

Perhaps I'm just bitter. I have ant 150k points but have never actually found anything worth spending them on.

Rotty · 17 May 2017 at 09:01

Amp34 said:
Did you read the second part of the post?

He wants to go to Oz in two years, it's unlikely he is going to be able to get enough Avios in that time to make it worth it.

Also how much did you spend on your cards to get 400k points

just my standard food/petrol/monthly expenses shopping

most of it is not done from spend it's done from sign ups and churning of signups