MSE News: Costs to soar in Airmiles revamp: use points before they devalue

malkie76

Obviously, but that's refunded if you don't travel.

Sounds like you want your cake and eat it.

theexplorer

malkie76 wrote: »

Obviously, but that's refunded if you don't travel.

Sounds like you want your cake and eat it.

so if i was going to pay taxes, why would I book it now? dosnt make sense.

You are right about one thing, i do want my cake and eat it, yuo know why, because that is what the contract stated and which is why I purchased airmiles.

Anyway, its getting a bit boring having to try and educate you about the implications of the chnage so i wont be responding to any more of your post. nice chatting bye

tgt

wrote: »

"Points on all three schemes will expire after three years of no collection or redemption activity"

Stefanie-Airmiles wrote: »

Hi tgt,

As you may have seen from other posts in this forum, I'm Stefanie from Airmiles.

I just wanted to get in touch about the query you posted earlier this morning regarding account inactivity.

Under the new terms and conditions, we've extended the time period before account expiry to 36 months - a year longer than under the current terms.

It sounds like your account is active due to your Clubcard voucher exchanges.

Let me know if you have another specific question.

Thanks,
Stefanie

My point is, by trickle feeding the account, I have been able to keep it active *without* having to spend the miles. I do that to save up for long haul flights.

But the statement that alarmed me seems to be saying that you have to *spend* within 3 years to keep it active. I.e. no good just topping up every year.

richardw

OnBehalfofBA1 wrote: »

I am replying on behalf of British Airways.

Can Avios be redeemed on Vueling operated flights with IB codes between LHR and Bilbao?

If IAG gets a controlling share in Vueling will Avios be redeemable on any Vueling flights?

dazza.mk

Richard, you might want to look at the Facebook airmiles group as well:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/airmilesuk

the airmiles rep posted the following 22 hours ago:

"At the moment we have confirmed contracts with BA, Iberia, Monarch, Flybe and Aer Lingus. We will update you in well advance of the changes when we have further news on other airlines. Please note that the Reward flight saver is on BA and Iberia airlines only. Thanks Emily."

and

"Hi Darren, airlines outside of IAG will not include the Reward Flight Saver, therefore the cost of taxes, fees and charges will be payable. Thanks Jenny"

Avios_company_representative

tgt wrote: »

My point is, by trickle feeding the account, I have been able to keep it active *without* having to spend the miles. I do that to save up for long haul flights.

But the statement that alarmed me seems to be saying that you have to *spend* within 3 years to keep it active. I.e. no good just topping up every year.

Hi tgt,

Your account will stay open as long as you have collected or spent Avios in the last 36 months. So the collection you're doing will keep your account active.

Hope this helps.

Stefanie

chiefdave

This has been incredibly badly handled by BA. I'm sure everyone understands about flight costs, fuel etc increasing in price but the answer to that is surely to increase the number of miles needed for a flight not this kind of unwanted overhaul.

I've just done a quick calculation for myself. I picked a flight to Miami, tried a few cash prices on ba.com and they all work out around the same so I picked a specific flight that was also available on airmiles. The cash price is £379. The airmiles price is 6,500 which equates to £325 of clubcard vouchers. Now I don't think it's unreasonable that airmiles flights are a slightly lower cost given that they are basically seats the airlines aren't expecting to be able to sell.

Compare that to the new scheme. Now I will need 50,000 points, which equates to £252 of clubcard vouchers, plus £302.90 cash. That's a total of £552.40 an increase of 70%!!!

My feeling is that airmiles should ringfence existing miles (maybe issue flight vouchers or something similar) or offer to switch back to clubcard points / vouchers. I'm in a position where, due to work, I will not know what dates I can take holiday before the cut off so to all intents and purposes I'm now going to lose the £560 I've spent on airmiles as the new scheme is going to mean it's most likely cheaper to book with an alternative airline that use the points and pay the extra.

Interesting that a lot of airmiles partners didn't seem to have much knowledge of this coming, be interesting to see there response as I'm sure they will get complaints and lose customers.

Avios_company_representative

janterry wrote: »

Can anyone tell me, will the changes to Airmiles affect only flights? What about things like travelling by Eurostar, car hire and hotel stays? Will I still be able to pay for these using only miles after the changes come into effect, or will there be some cash payment for these as well?

Hi janterry, Stefanie from Airmiles here.

In answer to your question, I can confirm that we'll continue offering full redemption and part cash options on Eurostar travel. You'll also be able to use Avios to redeem for car hire, ferry journeys and hotel stays, just as you can with Airmiles now.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,
Stefanie

theexplorer

toonster58 wrote: »

Is there anywhere that indicates what the additional costs will be for transatlantic flights, Surcharges fees and taxes?

Hi, A rough idea would be about £300 west coast. If you do a dummy booking to whatever destination, you will get the figures there. They can vary slightly though

theexplorer

toonster58 wrote: »

Sydney looks like 100,000 avios (or 10000 airmiles multiplied up). so cheaper in miles but what about the additional costs?
I cant find this anywhere.

around £500