Boost Your Airmiles Discussion Area

NonGeographicalMan

pazza2000 wrote: »

Is there a un-official guide/website or forum for airmiles.co.uk?? Nothing on flyertalk. Looking for mass advice on boosting points. Or does this thread pretty much cover it?

This thread pretty much covers it along with the official airmiles.co.uk website.

giovanni

Does anyone know if you can always get eurostar/disney entry tickets with your airmiles? I'm asking because sometimes they limit the flights you can book and the numebr of seats per flight.
Any help REALLY appreciated.

Ecky-thump

You know, I'm beginning to realise that NonGeographicalMan is right in saying the flights are difficult to book for when you want them and to wherever you want to go. I have been doing a lot of searches for places I would like to go, and to places I'm not sure about, and the problem is the same. I get so far and then am advised to contact them by phone to complete the booking. This might be because I have entered the system many times and when I see I cannot travel from Bristol International Airport then the booking is not possible. I know about the 500 airmiles tarrif if I use Bristol Airport, and to me that's a penalty.

Now, I have recently discovered that my bank has started to offer holidays for using their credit card and I can register to collect points. The offer, for the moment, is only open to people who used to collect airmiles with them, which I did, so I could start collecting points with them now, using my existing credit card.

The carrot for me on this one is the fact that they have a deal with Easyjet, and they operate a lot from Bristol Int Airport as everyone must know by now, and so I am now wondering if it would be better to go with this scheme and drop Airmiles altogether. I will have two years from now to find a way to use up the ones I now have, or I will lose them.

BA have a lot to answer for with the Airmiles scheme. Could it be a kind of secret club that we are in but are not fully recognised until we actually make a booking and then they are more co-operative? Why is the scheme so selective, to suit them and not us? I don't expect anyone on here to be able to answer that! Airmiles! GGRRR!! :mad:

NonGeographicalMan

Ecky-thump wrote: »

Now, I have recently discovered that my bank has started to offer holidays for using their credit card and I can register to collect points. The offer, for the moment, is only open to people who used to collect airmiles with them, which I did, so I could start collecting points with them now, using my existing credit card.

The scheme is NatWest Your Points I believe, their successor to their previous Air Miles deal. Ironically my mother carried on collecting NatWest Your Points miles by default due to having a NatWest credit card but I keep on telling her not to as she needs to take flights from Heathrow with BA or BMI and Gatwick is very inconvenient for her.

I will have two years from now to find a way to use up the ones I now have, or I will lose them.

I suggest using them all (or as many of them as you can) in a one off go from Heathrow to somewhere that you cannot fly to from Bristol at all, so hence you won't then feel you are losing out.

BA have a lot to answer for with the Airmiles scheme. Could it be a kind of secret club that we are in but are not fully recognised until we actually make a booking and then they are more co-operative? Why is the scheme so selective, to suit them and not us? I don't expect anyone on here to be able to answer that! Airmiles! GGRRR!! :mad:

Surely you realise that Air Miles is a second class scheme for the unwashed masses from www.themileagecompany.com (or as its parent company is better known - British Airways). Its first class scheme is called BA Miles and is for BA's well heeled regular First and Club class passengers.

When First Class and Second Class miles were introduced by BA they deliberately made the conditions of Air Miles worse by no longer allowing you to book One Way flights or take connecting flights from regional airports. Things they do allow BA Miles holders to do.:mad:

Air Miles is now just a huge accountancy liability for BA like their Final Salary pension scheme. The more they can do to ensure that at least a good proportion of their customers are never able to get around to redeeming their miles for flights then the more BA's accountants like it.:eek:

This is all the more true now that customers no longer have to pay Air Miles any form of cash to actually go on the flights and they then lose the cost of the government tax they have to pay for you and also the cost of the small amount of extra fuel they need to carry on the aircraft to cover your own weight and that of your baggage. It goes without saying that they never ever let you book a seat on any flight that they think they may have actually been able to sell for a cash fare.

I have been collecting Air Miles for 20 years and only ever managed to take two return flights with them. One was to Italy (in fact outbound to Genova and back from Verona in the days when Airmiles allowed one way flights) and the other was return to Vienna.

My current plan is to use most of my 10,000 miles to go to Australia before BA finally goes belly up along with its mileage company subsidiary and its two air miles brands.

emweaver

giovanni wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can always get eurostar/disney entry tickets with your airmiles? I'm asking because sometimes they limit the flights you can book and the numebr of seats per flight.
Any help REALLY appreciated.

yes you can 715 airmiles for a 1 day ticket for an adult or they have 2 other options where you can use part miles part cash

Ecky-thump

The scheme is NatWest Your Points I believe, their successor to their previous Air Miles deal. Ironically my mother carried on collecting NatWest Your Points miles by default due to having a NatWest credit card but I keep on telling her not to as she needs to take flights from Heathrow with BA or BMI and Gatwick is very inconvenient for her.

Yes, it is that bank, we have been with NatWest all our adult lives and we are new pensioners now. I kept my Airmiles account open when the bank gave up the deal with them and had Mr Ecky-thump's airmiles transferred to mine and created a Household Account. We can now use them as a couple. But, Mr E was never one to see the use of Airmiles and has not wanted to use them. Anyway, I believe that the NatWest Your Points (NWYP) can be used from Bristol as they have a special deal with Easyjet, who operate from Bristol a lot. I am still thinking of joining the NWYP.

I suggest using them all (or as many of them as you can) in a one off go from Heathrow to somewhere that you cannot fly to from Bristol at all, so hence you won't then feel you are losing out.

Yes I know, but my husband won't. He says he would rather take a taxi to Bristol Airport than drive to London. We would only want to go to Spain or their islands as the places further south would be too hot. So I am left with over 3000 airmiles which could be used for visiting places of national interest or a theme park, but, again, my husband refuses these. I am stuck. We do not drink wine to the extent that we would like to have a load of it from Airmiles. So...a no win situation.

Thanks for the information on BA, and no, I did not know about the Class scheme!

I hope you had good holidays on Airmiles when you used them those two times, and that you get to have that trip to Australia, sometime soon.

...before BA finally goes belly up along with its mileage company subsidiary and its two air miles brands.

Oh? Is that your speculation or wishful thinking, or are they really in trouble? Shock! Horror! Probe!:eek:

NonGeographicalMan

Ecky-thump wrote: »

I believe that the NatWest Your Points (NWYP) can be used from Bristol as they have a special deal with Easyjet, who operate from Bristol a lot. I am still thinking of joining the NWYP.

YourPoints have a good deal with Easyjet and more or less only with Easyjet as far as I know. So yes it may well suit your needs. But do consider if earning 1% cashback on a credit card might not be better for you than earning yet more miles that are hard to ever redeem.

Yes I know, but my husband won't. He says he would rather take a taxi to Bristol Airport than drive to London. We would only want to go to Spain or their islands as the places further south would be too hot. So I am left with over 3000 airmiles which could be used for visiting places of national interest or a theme park, but, again, my husband refuses these. I am stuck. We do not drink wine to the extent that we would like to have a load of it from Airmiles. So...a no win situation.

So does he have no interest at all even in say a weekend in Venice in a hotel or that kind of thing in the winter months? I don't think Air Miles are that hard to use up if you are really determined to. Its just that up to now I had faith in the scheme and was happy to trust them and accumulate more of them but since they tried to cheat me out of all of them if I wasn't paying attention I have changed my mind.

So far as BA going belly up is concerned I can only say that I have a friend who works there on the IT side and that the company is in serious trouble and that whilst it may survive after heavy restructuring the idea it could be taken over or even go bust is not as unthinkable as it once was. And AirMiles are one of the company's major financial liabilities just like its pension scheme and one of the things that most desperately needs restructuring or writing off to help make the company financially viable again.

The main problem is BA specialises in Business Class and in long haul and that those are the two areas of air travel that are suffering the most in the recession because they are the most expensive kinds of air travel................

cundall

Loving airmiles at the mo... been shopping at tesco and only spent around £50 more than i would do normally....

I started in Jan and currently i have 3905miles... excluding the 1500 bonus for the Card which i will use before the march deadline...

So in less than 12 months i have 5405 miles hoping to get to hong kong and it that fails.. Goa.

NonGeographicalMan

cundall wrote: »

So in less than 12 months i have 5405 miles hoping to get to hong kong and it that fails.. Goa.

So I take it you don't have any children at school and don't mind at all if the free Air Miles flights are only available on 14 out of 365 days in the year then?:rolleyes:

Spending lots of money just to earn Air Miles (regardless of whether or not there are better deals or products elsewhere that don't offer Air Miles) sounds a like particularly misguided policy.

Ecky-thump

So does he have no interest at all even in say a weekend in Venice in a hotel or that kind of thing in the winter months? I don't think Air Miles are that hard to use up if you are really determined to. Its just that up to now I had faith in the scheme and was happy to trust them and accumulate more of them but since they tried to cheat me out of all of them if I wasn't paying attention I have changed my mind.

I'm afraid not, no, he doesn't have an interest in having a weekend in Venice, sadly. I would, but then it would not be the same without him, if you see what I mean, even so. I'll find some use for my Airmiles one day, no doubt. I have mentioned going to Jersey or Guernsey and so far I'm still waiting for what he thinks of that. We could book a hotel there on Airmiles, maybe, and just buy the flight separately, from Bristol of course.

I see what you mean about being cheated, in a way, for not accumulating more Airmiles. I thought it was a damned cheek when I first got their letter telling me that my account would close if I did not add any more, and soon. It could be a sign that 'somats up' and 'trouble at mill'.

Thanks for that info about BA. It seems as though change is on the way, there. Fore-warned is fore-armed. The old sayings are the best, still.