Boost Your Airmiles Discussion Area

NonGeographicalMan

JOHN1982 wrote: »

We were originally saving the vouchers for a Virgin Holiday, but found a better deal without them. We had a look through all the 3 for 1 deals but couldn't really find anything we fancied and can't really afford another 7 day Virgin Holiday within this year. Thus we were considering a long weekend somewhere in Zone 2. The info on the BA Miles / Airmiles is great. Lots of thinking to do I guess!

Remember that although Tesco Clubcard vouchers nominally expire after two years (in fact there is a further 6 months grace period to use them after the two years are up) that Tesco will reissue them in full with another two years validity as long as you ask them to do so before the 6 months from the end of their validity are up. Originally they would reissue them if they had expired almost indefinitely but clearly they were getting too much redemption and hence them cutting the conversion rate on the deals to 3 to 1 instead of 4 to 1 and cracking down on voucher expiry.

So I believe you could have your Tesco Clubcard vouchers reissued before they expire with another two years validity if you think you might take a holiday with Virgin next year or the year after.

So far as Air Miles vs BA Miles are concerned the basic rule is now that Air Miles are better for short haul (due to no taxes or fees to pay) but BA Miles are still better for Club or for open jaw flights out and back to different places or for for flights to Australia or NZ where you want to stop over in the Far East (stopovers not allowed on Air Miles).

I suppose a fundamental question for you is will those two air fares to Europe actually be worth any more to you than £150 of Tesco shopping that you could do at any time without any restrictions. As Air Miles seats are only available when there are cheap cash fares on a route it may well be that they are not worth any more than £150 of Tesco shopping..........

JOHN1982

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I suppose a fundamental question for you is will those two air fares to Europe actually be worth any more to you than £150 of Tesco shopping...

Good call.

I suppose a trip on Le Shuttle may be in order. Get a couple of friends in the car to chip in, make some cash AND get some cheap booze on the way back through Calais! :beer:

Thanks again!

NonGeographicalMan

JOHN1982 wrote: »

Good call.

I suppose a trip on Le Shuttle may be in order. Get a couple of friends in the car to chip in, make some cash AND get some cheap booze on the way back through Calais! :beer:

Day trips on The Shuttle for a car and up to five passenger can be had for only about £30 or so during the winter. Also The Shuttle had withdrawn from the Tesco Clubcard Deals scheme the last time I checked.

I think some of the best value around is actually on the ferry routes to Ireland if you are say going for a 9 day holiday (Friday to Sunday) in the spring as there are no cheap deal fares available to Ireland during the main summer season for more than about 3 days.

My testing of the Air Miles system suggests that for 1500 Air Miles you cannot get a cash fare worth more than £149 including taxes as a best case. So two of those are worth £298 compared to £150 of Tesco shopping. On the other hand if you pick the right ferry sailings they would be worth £450.

To be honest the restaurant deals on 3 to 1 are not bad. The main hassle is you have to be organised and get the vouchers beforehand and can't just decide on the day to go. Also note that no change on these vouchers at the restaurant is allowed so you also need to factor that in and try to get the bill to come to near a round number of pounds multiple.

RT7

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Day trips on The Shuttle for a car and up to five passenger can be had for only about £30 or so during the winter. Also The Shuttle had withdrawn from the Tesco Clubcard Deals scheme the last time I checked.

I think some of the best value around is actually on the ferry routes to Ireland if you are say going for a 9 day holiday (Friday to Sunday) in the spring as there are no cheap deal fares available to Ireland during the main summer season for more than about 3 days.

My testing of the Air Miles system suggests that for 1500 Air Miles you cannot get a cash fare worth more than £149 including taxes as a best case. So two of those are worth £298 compared to £150 of Tesco shopping. On the other hand if you pick the right ferry sailings they would be worth £450.

To be honest the restaurant deals on 3 to 1 are not bad. The main hassle is you have to be organised and get the vouchers beforehand and can't just decide on the day to go. Also note that no change on these vouchers at the restaurant is allowed so you also need to factor that in and try to get the bill to come to near a round number of pounds multiple.

You also have to pay for any drinks.

josie

Not sure if you mean the Eurotunnel, when you say the shuttle, but Eurotunnel is certainly available.

http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/product.aspx?R=148&bci=4294967191|Travel

JOHN1982

josie wrote: »

Not sure if you mean the Eurotunnel, when you say the shuttle, but Eurotunnel is certainly available.

http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/product.aspx?R=148&bci=4294967191|Travel

Apologies, I did!

(It says both "Eurotunnel" and "Le Shuttle" on their website!)

NonGeographicalMan

JOHN1982 wrote: »

(It says both "Eurotunnel" and "Le Shuttle" on their website!)

They called it Le Shuttle originally for the car train shuttle service. I presume they started using the name of the parent company instead at some point for this service. Le Shuttle was obviously more distinctive compared to Eurostar

It seems you can get the 3 for 1 deal even on a standard Day Return fare or overnight fare (useful for a weekend trip perhaps out on Saturday morning and back on Sunday evening for those of us living in the South East) so this is still one of the best ways to use Tesco Clubcard vouchers.

However as a single person I only earn about £35 of Clubcard Vouchers a year and I find the danger is that you let them expire. The Sainsburys Nectar system is less generous but more straightforard as you can redeem money earned back off the card at the till and do not have to remember to trail vouchers to the store and the points are also valid forever and do not expire. Also the cynic in me says that Tesco encourage people to save up the vouchers precisely because they know lots of people will lose them or forget about them and they then expire. This pays for the lucky people who are organised and get the 3 for 1 deals.

This are the Additional Terms and Conditions for using Tesco Clubcar vouchers on Eurostar. Note the ridiculous suggesion about using Special Delivery when Recorded Delivery ought to be good enough. Why oh why do they not web redemption instead of these stupid tokens that have to be physically moved around.:eek::mad:

Additional Terms and Conditions for Tesco Clubcard rewards Promotion

1. Travel Tokens can only be redeemed against standard short and long stay and promotional Day Trip and Overnighter crossings.
2. Travel Tokens cannot be used on day of travel at Check-In. 3. All travel tickets must be pre-purchased and are not available for purchase on day of travel. 4. Travel Tokens cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional offer and cannot be refunded, transferred or exchanged.
5. Tickets for travel with Eurotunnel are covered by Eurotunnel's current Conditions of Carriage. These contain certain exclusions of liability and you are advised to read them before travelling. Copies available on request. 6. Bookings cannot be made via the internet.
7. No cash given if value of travel Token(s) is higher than travel ticket. 8. Customers are kindly requested to arrive at check-in at least 30 minutes (but not more than 2 hours) before the departure time printed on their ticket to allow for check-in procedures and passport control. Please ensure you allow additional time if you intend visiting the shopping and catering facilities in our Passenger Terminal Building.
9. Vehicles with LPG or CNG tank will not be accepted for transport.

RT7 wrote: »

You also have to pay for any drinks.

I believe there is nothing to stop you asking for a jug of iced water or only buying a coke rather than expensive wine or beer at the participating restaurants.

scurr

I changed about £150 in Clubcard vouchers for BA airmiles about a year ago when they were offereing double miles, later took out an Amex card linked to BA and now have lots of miles but not impressed with taxes & charges for any flight I want to take. Basically I didn't do enough research and the BA scheme isn't right for me although I know some people love it.
I'm now trying to sell the airmiles - but BA limit you to transferring 19000 to any one person AND charge you £140 for the privilege. An ebay buyer has contacted me offering to buy all my miles but wants access to my BA Executive Club account to avoid the transfer fee. I would be happy to cancel my Amex card but don't know whether there are any sinister reasons for someone wanting access to the account - could I change personal details on the account to protect myself? is there any damage the buyer could do me? Please help - I just want rid of my airmiles!!

Ecky-thump

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Remember that although Tesco Clubcard vouchers nominally expire after two years (in fact there is a further 6 months grace period to use them after the two years are up) that Tesco will reissue them in full with another two years validity as long as you ask them to do so before the 6 months from the end of their validity are up. Originally they would reissue them if they had expired almost indefinitely but clearly they were getting too much redemption and hence them cutting the conversion rate on the deals to 3 to 1 instead of 4 to 1 and cracking down on voucher expiry.

So I believe you could have your Tesco Clubcard vouchers reissued before they expire with another two years validity if you think you might take a holiday with Virgin next year or the year after.

That is quite correct. I started keeping my Tesco Clubcard vouchers instead of spending them in the store to see what deals would be available later, and I now have £63 worth.

I looked on my account on the Tesco website, for the first time, and noticed a £5 voucher on the list of unused ones that I had not got in the paper version. It showed that it was valid until the end of August this year. I don't know how that happened! However, there is a chance to re-instate "Lost Vouchers".

They invite you to phone Customer Services on 0800 59 16 88, so I did, and was told that my £5 would be carried forward to my next statement. It was, and it has been included with the vouchers we had recently earned, giving a new "Valid until" date. Kerching!

Thanks for telling us that they can also be reclaimed up to six months AFTER the original expiry date...useful info that I'd not known about. If that info is on their website, then I missed seeing it.
:T

lutonmatt

Noticed this on the Airmiles website yesterday:

50 bonus Airmiles
Get enough miles for a free flight from London when you hire a car with Avis for three days or more – and book and pick up your car by 31 March 2011.

Has to be a group C and above - a quick search revealed that you can get a group C car (e.g. Nissan Note) for £51 for three days, at least for the dates and venue I looked at, and if you pay in advance. That's a really decent deal - about £75 worth of Airmiles for a £51 outlay.

I also rang them about it to ask if this was limited to one rental per person and the bloke said that he didn't see any restrictions, so presumably you could do it several times if you felt so inclined...

Link is here: https://www.airmiles.co.uk/collect/avis/avis-car-rental

Hope that helps someone!