Avios- Is there a better alternative

Wishful_Thinker

I also use NatWest your points for EasyJet flights. You omnly use the points for the price of the flight at the time showing on EasyJet's Web site. If you book early or book or when they have special offers your points are far better value than Avios. The disadvantage is that EasyJet do not do Long Haul Flights

blindman

Wishful_Thinker wrote: »

The disadvantage is that EasyJet do not do Long Haul Flights

Haven't checked but don't they do Moscow and Tel Aviv?

I flew to Tel Aviv with them a few years back.

Both good places to go for a week-sort of long haul (6 hrs?)

bigadaj

blindman wrote: »

Haven't checked but don't they do Moscow and Tel Aviv?

I flew to Tel Aviv with them a few years back.

Both good places to go for a week-sort of long haul (6 hrs?)

Russian visa would be a pain to get though, I was there fifteen years ago with the communist bureaucratic nightmare of invitations for hotels etc and don't think it's improved much.

They do Amman in Jordan as well though.

HitAndMiss

Once the old Air Miles scheme finished I used my points on a flight and stoppped collecting Avios points. I thought the Avios scheme was by far inferior to AirMiles especially if you fly from a London airport. I now utilise my Tesco clubcard points on other items and have also got a NatWest Your Points Credit Card for use on EasyJet. I put literally everything I can on my Credirt Card and pay it off the balance every month . That way I maximise the number of points I have collected.

Magic_Moments

On a calculation for a return flight from Gatwick to Barcelona in September, if you used your Llodys Duo card to collect Avios Points You would need to spend the sum of £18000 on your card to fly by British Airways. In addition you would have to pay an extra £35 for taxes and charges .If you were to use NatWest Your Points Credit Card, you would need to spend £12000 on your card for EasyJet flights (Based on the flight costing £60 each way) then you would have to pay extra for Cabin baggage if you wanted to take a case in the hold. Lloyds Duo give 1% of the value whilst NatWest Your Points gives 0.5%. Incidentially if you had used the old Air Miles scheme for the same flight then you would only have had to spend £12000 on your credit card. I hope I have got my calculations correct. I am sure somebody will correct me if I have got it wrong, or if this is alternative Credit Card scheme where you would have to spend less for a return flight between Gatwick and Barcelona.

budgetflyer

However, if you we refered for an Amex prefered rewards gold card you would get 22000 Avios for a 2K spend, + up to another 4000 for spending in a supermarket as you get 2 Avios per £ for supermarket spend, + if its in Tesco and you convert your club card points then each £ is worth a further 2.4 Avios.
That works out at nearly 30000 Avios for just under £2K spend, enough for 2 returns to Barcelona, free domestic connections too.
After you have had your bonus, you will still earn, in Tesco, 4.4 Avios per £, so each additional rtn flight to Barca is only costing £3400 spend.
Of course if you were to take advantage of the bonus club card offers, like what they have on gift cards, then you could easily knock about a grand off that spend.

Lukewarm13

The above 2 posts ae very interesting. Is Amex preferred Rewards gold card available to everyone and does it charge a fee. I am not sure how from the above how many Avios points you would get for each £1 spent. The Lloyds bank Duo card looks straightforward 1 point per pound spent. Are there any other alternatives!!

blindman

bigadaj wrote: »

Russian visa would be a pain to get though, I

Nope,it's very simple (ish)

Cost about £90 IIRC, the form filled out on Internet then posted.

Passport back in a week.

blindman

Lukewarm13 wrote: »

The above 2 posts ae very interesting. Is Amex preferred Rewards gold card available to everyone and does it charge a fee. I am not sure how from the above how many Avios points you would get for each £1 spent. The Lloyds bank Duo card looks straightforward 1 point per pound spent. Are there any other alternatives!!

Headforpoints has the answers

But
Yes
No fee in first year.

jpsartre

Lukewarm13 wrote: »

Is Amex preferred Rewards gold card available to everyone and does it charge a fee. I am not sure how from the above how many Avios points you would get for each £1 spent.

Many people will be eligible to apply but obviously they need to approve you. You get at least 1 point for each £ but many things give you more than that. Just bought a flight from American Express Travel and got 4 points/£1. You can also get cashback if you through a site like Topcashback. Sometimes it's as much as £60.

If you don't mind the fee and are willing to spend a lot on the card, the AmEx Platinum Card can be even better value with it's annual companion voucher.