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On the BA frequent flyer scheme it should be noted that 20 tier points will only be given on the most expensive short haul economy tickets. From a money saving expert better to book a flight in premium economy long haul with BA where a return would earn 150 points. Four of these would get you a silver card and return fares could be as low as £500. An expensive economy ticket earning just 40 points return could cost around £300.
On bmi to get a silver card you need 16,000 points. The account is then reset and to keep silver you need 16,000 points from the issue date of the silver card or 38,000 to get to gold over 12 months from when you first got silver. More important is that the bmi scheme does NOT automatically offer space available upgrades. Golds get four upgrade vouchers for upgrades to business on short and medium haul routes - but many short haul routes have no business class. On long haul the upgrade is to premium economy only. No upgrades for silvers ever, or golds after the vouchers have been used. There's also no point in joining the bmi scheme if you live near East Midlands Airport. bmi might have one flight from there - they use to have more - but now bmibaby is based at EMA. You get no status points flying with bmibaby and very very few frequent flyer miles as it's a low cost airline - and so no lounge or business class. Better to join the bmi scheme if you leave near to Heathrow or travel from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast or Manchester to London.
The Virgin scheme is incorrectly described as well. Virgin do not offer domestic flights so if you travel a lot short haul forget Virgin.
Some the upgrade examples don't have sense. The upgrade to business from Atlanta to Tucson doesn't ring true. It's only a short flight allowing little time for sleep; very few airlines in the US offer business class - normally it's first only; the domestic US first seats do not convert to flat beds and do not encourage sleep; even in first for short flights you're unlikely to sleep through a great food service. On short routes in first you're lucky to get a packet of crisps!
The Paris example is also wrong. You can't be upgraded from premium economy to business on BA because on short haul routes they don't have premium economy - this is a long haul product.
There are other issues that others will no doubt comment on.
BAsmiles
Last edited by basmiles; 20-08-2008 at 2:07 AM..
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The MSE Dictionary Loophole - A word used to entice people to read clearly written Terms and Conditions. Rip Off - Clearly written Terms and Conditions. Terms and Conditions - Otherwise known as a loophole or a rip off.
Last edited by Tojo Ralph; 20-08-2008 at 7:13 AM..
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American Airlines
33"
38"
60" British Airways
31"
N/A
73" British Midland (BMI)
31"
49"
60" Continental
31"
N/A
55" KLM
31"
N/A
79" Ryanair
30"
N/A
N/A Thomas Cook
30"
N/A
N/A Virgin
31"
38"
60"
Source: SeatGuru. Seat pitch for long-haul cabins, except for Ryanair (short-haul only)
So, of the biggies, only American Airlines offers more than 31" in a standard seat
American Airlines do not have any Premium Economy seats.
Their Economy seats do not have a 33" seat pitch; most are 31-32" - see Seat Guru which you quote as a source!. I think this is outdated information from the days when they ran a promotion called More Room Throughout Coach(MRTC) sadly discontinued about 3 years ago.
Also, unless I missed it being mentioned in the report, all of the frequent flyer schemes have a difference between "destination miles" which you can use for free flights/upgrades/whatever and "membership miles" which are used to progress to each tier.
For example, although BMI offer 3000 miles, these are "destination miles" and do not progress you further in to the next tier. In general (and I'd love to know if they are any exception), you MUST fly with an airline to earn membership miles.
In my experience, you cannot use your frequent flyer miles to purchase an upgrade to your existing booking if you made that booking through an agent and not directly with the airline. I got quite excited reading the article and we have just booked tickets to fly to Vancouver next year on BA, via the Thomas Cook website. I have loads of frequent flyer miles which I couldn't use to buy the original tickets direct from BA as they wouldn't let me select the dates I wanted, so i thought I could use the miles to buy an upgrade. But on trying to do it, it says I can't do that because I bought the tickets through an agent. How annoying is that? Does anyone have any way round this? I've got about 80,000 BA miles.
In my experience, you cannot use your frequent flyer miles to purchase an upgrade to your existing booking if you made that booking through an agent and not directly with the airline. I got quite excited reading the article and we have just booked tickets to fly to Vancouver next year on BA, via the Thomas Cook website. I have loads of frequent flyer miles which I couldn't use to buy the original tickets direct from BA as they wouldn't let me select the dates I wanted, so i thought I could use the miles to buy an upgrade. But on trying to do it, it says I can't do that because I bought the tickets through an agent. How annoying is that? Does anyone have any way round this? I've got about 80,000 BA miles.
Although there may well be seats available on a given flight in a particular cabin, there may not be award or upgrade availability because the airline thinks that they're likely to be able to fill the plane with revenue earning tickets.
You need to check that the airline has award/upgrade seat availability on the flights on the dates you're booking before committing. The safest way to guarantee this is to book directly on the airline's website or call up their reservations line.
It is possible to upgrade a travel agent's booking, but only if there is availability in the booking class.
If your existing booking is a flexible fare, you could change the dates/flights to a different day/time where there is availability to upgrade, and then upgrade it straight away in case someone else gets there before you.
Sometimes seats for award/upgrade become available closer to the time of departure. You need time on your hands to check online regularly. For example, Virgin seem to open up their Upper Class (and maybe other classes to) to awards/upgrades five days prior to departure if they think they're going to end up with empty seats.
Note also that some airlines particularly in the US do not let you use miles to upgrade deeply discounted economy tickets.
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In my experience, you cannot use your frequent flyer miles to purchase an upgrade to your existing booking if you made that booking through an agent and not directly with the airline.
The agent may have sold you a consolidator booking class ticket, which are not upgradeable.
Airlines love all this A-Z booking class malarky, one airlines Q class if different to another airlines Q class, it is all about maximising revenues.
Best to call BA direct when trying to spend your miles on upgrades, www.flyertalk.com is also good.
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Ref the BMI scheme -Yes, it is generous with the milage awarded but in my experience just about impossible to actually use the miles to buy a flight. I have tried searching muiltiple dates, to multiple locations on their website and couldn't find a single flight with air miles seats available. I gave up in the end, and the miles will just expire.
In contrast, I collect BA miles on flights and via Amex and have just used my miles plus the companion voucher to book two Business Class seats on their website to Mexico City on my first choice dates - two tickets for just over £400 (I just had to pay the tax). The Amex scheme is fantastic - spend £10K a year to get the voucher - the only difficulty there is finding companies who take Amex, but that's another discussion!!
The VS section is somewhat mis-leading - discounted Y fares do pay 100% mileage, unless it's an 'N' code. I.e. Q/X etc all pay 100%.
Virgin N class tickets do earn 100% miles but only on some routes. Generally, bucket & spade routes sold on N class earn 50% miles but the same class out of LHR earns 100% - I know this as I travelled N from LHR recently.
Also beware of relying on using miles as an upgrade tool - I know with Virgin (and probably most airlines) you can only use miles to upgrade from, say, economy to premium economy if you bought a very expensive full fare economy ticket. If you know you are going to travel on a certain date then it will most often be cheaper to book a discounted premium economy ticket than a full fare economy ticket and upgrade with miles.
Virgin N class tickets do earn 100% miles but only on some routes. Generally, bucket & spade routes sold on N class earn 50% miles but the same class out of LHR earns 100% - I know this as I travelled N from LHR recently.
Also beware of relying on using miles as an upgrade tool - I know with Virgin (and probably most airlines) you can only use miles to upgrade from, say, economy to premium economy if you bought a very expensive full fare economy ticket. If you know you are going to travel on a certain date then it will most often be cheaper to book a discounted premium economy ticket than a full fare economy ticket and upgrade with miles.
For the majority of routes an 'L' fare is upgradable, i.e. it doesn't have to be a full fare (Y) - 'L's are great value used with 30k each way for a 'G' upper class fare.
I know it's not free, and that there were some general mentions about "buying" upgrades, but I was surprised that there was no specific mention in the article of the regular offer BA has to upgrade to business class from £59 when flying from Gatwick. I've taken advantage of this on a couple of occasions over the last year when doing European flights and indeed very nearly did it last week (but for the fact I was flying with a friend who didn't want to do it). Personally I'd do it every time I could for the lounge access and something pleasanter to eat on board than an over-refridgerated cheese sandwich...
I know it's not free, and that there were some general mentions about "buying" upgrades, but I was surprised that there was no specific mention in the article of the regular offer BA has to upgrade to business class from £59 when flying from Gatwick. I've taken advantage of this on a couple of occasions over the last year when doing European flights and indeed very nearly did it last week (but for the fact I was flying with a friend who didn't want to do it). Personally I'd do it every time I could for the lounge access and something pleasanter to eat on board than an over-refridgerated cheese sandwich...
Yes, but that's _from_ £59 _each way_. As a rule of thumb, in my experience it's still cheaper to buy the CE ticket up front especially if you are staying over Saturday night and/or a week or so in advance. As an aside if you are BA Silver or above you can also book your seat at the time of purchasing the ticket. It's also easy to spot the on-the-day upgraders because they're often relegated to the less desirable CE seats on the right of the aircraft after the Silvers, Gold and online check ins have already taken the cream of the crop.
It's also easy to spot the on-the-day upgraders because they're often relegated to the less desirable CE seats on the right of the aircraft after the Silvers, Gold and online check ins have already taken the cream of the crop.
Every time I've done it there have only been about 4 of us in Business Class and I would say I have been on the left as often as I have been on the right - and me a mere blue card holder on-the-day upgrader, I should feel honoured! I do usually look at what business class would cost at the time of booking but it usually is a prohibitive price, making this the best option for my circumstances. I have never paid more than £59 for doing this and I think it's reasonable.
Personally I think the main benefit of upgrading on an European flight is use of the lounge. Beats standing in a interminable queue of grouchy people for Starbucks in Gatwick North Terminal on a Saturday... I don't normally bother upgrading on the way back into Gatwick.
I still think the knowledge that you can do this at Gatwick would sway some people to book Gatwick over Heathrow if they otherwise would choose either/or. It certainly sways my choice because I can decide on the day if I want to treat myself.
Ref the BMI scheme -Yes, it is generous with the milage awarded but in my experience just about impossible to actually use the miles to buy a flight. I have tried searching muiltiple dates, to multiple locations on their website and couldn't find a single flight with air miles seats available. I gave up in the end, and the miles will just expire.
!
You need to read this post on Flyertalk. The third paragraph is where you should start. The ANA tool is your friend!
It is a bit of a black art getting award seats, but they are there. Never use the bmi IT web-site for this it is pants!
Also bmi destination miles never expire.
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THe other thing to think about is that BMI is part of Star Alliance. You can join any Star FF club and accrue points. They change from time to time. In 2002, I joined Aeroplan (Air Canada) and got to gold very quickly despite not flying Air Canada at all.
When I last looked, Lufthansa had a better (i.e. more generous tier and rewards) scheme than BMI.
Using Virgin Atlantic Credit Card Miles for Upgrades
My experience is exclusively with Virgin - over many years, particularly to South Africa, but I have also just returned with family from a USA holiday.
Having long ago ceased to earn miles by flying Upper Class on business (and quickly falling back from Gold to Red!), I have concentrated on maximising mileage 'earned' through putting all possible expenditure on VA's MBNA Amex Credit Card. At a fee of £135 pa, the black card offers double the mileage (quadruple on Virgin Atlantic/Holidays expenditure) - and can be justified as long as you spend enough and use the miles (otherwise take the fee-free white card)! Acceptance of Amex is MUCH better now than it used to be - generally only small local retailers and ultra-cheap web-traders refuse.
I've found that the best value can be had by redeeming the miles for the full price of Upper Class flights (with or without the limo service), whereas the 'cost' of using them for an upgrade is badly affected by the need to start with an expensive economy seat (although not always the full-price version). Every summer, there seems to be a 'sale' which offers economy (and now Premium Economy) redemptions on some routes at big discounts (50% to New York this year) - which makes much better value.
However, if you spend enough on the card, the 2 annual complimentary vouchers for upgrading economy return mileage redemptions to Premium Economy have (just!) proved very useful - especially when combined with the 'summer sale'. [You can also earn free companion tickets with the card - but again, you have to buy expensive ones first.]
As far as actually booking the reward flights you want goes, I've found that on popular routes such as Cape Town (especially for Upper Class) you need to do so just as soon as they go on offer - ie 11 months (to the day) in advance. If your travel plans aren't that far advanced, it is true that Virgin can add more seats to the reward availability nearer the time. [If Virgin's route network doesn't fit your plans, you can use the miles in a more limited way with a group of 'partner' airlines, including BMI and Air New Zealand.]
So - without ever earning 'real miles', we manage to take much advantage of the benefits available just by concentrating our regular spending on one pair of cards - although you do need another for non-Amex situations.
Last edited by johnedwards3005; 21-08-2008 at 11:45 PM..
Reason: clarification
My wife and I have previously used United and accrued 30k and 60k miles. But they are likely to expire next year as we probably won't fly United before they do. We also use bmibaby and pick up a couple of Diamond Club miles every couple of months.
As they are both Star Alliance members, is there any way we can use these to keep the United account active?
Otherwise, what's the best way to protect the United miles?
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Frequent Flyer Schemes discussion
I do usually look at what business class would cost at the time of booking but it usually is a prohibitive price, making this the best option for my circumstances. I have never paid more than £59 for doing this and I think it's reasonable.
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