Does anyone collect Avios?

dj1471

It's worth noting that the taxes and fees are high on redemptions from the UK. Flying to the UK the cost can be negligible (e.g. HKG to LHR only £31-33 depending on class of travel), likewise flying between non-UK locations as Steve mentions above.

vacheron

I was lucky enough to win a million Avios about 2 years ago, (but being MSE we have no intention of squandering them!) We've also found the best "bang per point" is short haul European flights, especially if used with business / first upgrades.

BA used to consider sort haul as flights of 4 hours or less, not sure if that has changed recently but this worked perfectly for us as we often fly to Moscow which is a 3 hour 40 minute flight, costs 8,500 points in economy and qualifies for the £35 reward flight saver on the taxes, fees and carrier charges.

You do however need to "earn" one point in the last 12 months to be eligible for the flight saver, so despite having 867,450 points I've just had to trade in £2.50 worth of Tesco Clubcard vouchers for another 600, making us eligible again and bringing our fees down from £265 to closer to £150.

PeacefulWaters

vacheron wrote: »

I was lucky enough to win a million Avios about 2 years ago, (but being MSE we have no intention of squandering them!) We've also found the best "bang per point" is short haul European flights, especially if used with business / first upgrades.

BA used to consider sort haul as flights of 4 hours or less, not sure if that has changed recently but this worked perfectly for us as we often fly to Moscow which is a 3 hour 40 minute flight, costs 8,500 points in economy and qualifies for the £35 reward flight saver on the taxes, fees and carrier charges.

You do however need to "earn" one point in the last 12 months to be eligible for the flight saver, so despite having 867,450 points I've just had to trade in £2.50 worth of Tesco Clubcard vouchers for another 600, making us eligible again and bringing our fees down from £265 to closer to £150.

Beware devaluation of those points.

Coming up to three years since the last one.

silvercar

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Beware devaluation of those points.

Coming up to three years since the last one.

I **!@$ hope not. We have over 800k in the household account and seem to earn more than we spend.

vacheron

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Beware devaluation of those points.

Coming up to three years since the last one.

Cheers for the heads up, something definitely worth keeping an eye on! :beer:

silvercar wrote: »

I **!@$ hope not. We have over 800k in the household account and seem to earn more than we spend.

Yes, thanks to PeacefulWaters I'm now reading up on the potential introduction of dynamic pricing. I wonder if I can book our annual trip in advance now for the next 16 years!

blindman

vacheron wrote: »

BA used to consider sort haul as flights of 4 hours or less, not sure if that has changed recently but this worked perfectly for us as we often fly to Moscow which is a 3 hour 40 minute flight, costs 8,500 points in economy and qualifies for the £35 reward flight saver on the taxes, fees and carrier charges.

I hope you buy this as two singles as the flight back from DME is £12.43 in taxes so only £29.93 return

It is always prudent to buy two singles anyway as this gives more flex if you need to change the return after you have flown.

There are other airports that charge a LOT less than £17:50 for the "taxes" when you are coming back to LHR :rotfl:

vacheron

blindman wrote: »

I hope you buy this as two singles as the flight back from DME is £12.43 in taxes so only £29.93 return

It is always prudent to buy two singles anyway as this gives more flex if you need to change the return after you have flown.

There are other airports that charge a LOT less than £17:50 for the "taxes" when you are coming back to LHR :rotfl:

Hi blindman. Yes I checked this out when I read something similar, (I think it might even have been earlier in this thread).

Currently without the reward saver (my 600 points haven't arrived yet) the Avios website was showing £181.52 in taxes going out (2 adults & 1 child) and £69.60 coming back, which is a bit higher,
but that includes a connecting flight to and from LHR to Newcastle.

I love this site, you learn something new every day! :T

Roger1

blindman wrote: »

It is always prudent to buy two singles anyway as this gives more flex if you need to change the return after you have flown.

Almost always but not quite always.

I found this out to my cost when I booked separate outbound and inbound tickets. The outbound was cancelled and the alternatives were not acceptable, so I cancelled for a full refund. The inbound, however, needed to be cancelled at a cost of £25 each. (It was a longer RFS; a shorter one would have cost £17.50 each.)

Had outbound and inbound been in the same reservation, I could have cancelled both for a full refund.

blindman

Roger1 wrote: »

Almost always but not quite always.

The inbound, however, needed to be cancelled at a cost of £25 each. (It was a longer RFS; a shorter one would have cost £17.50 each.)

Had outbound and inbound been in the same reservation, I could have cancelled both for a full refund.

Not sure I understand the maths here.

Yes, you would lose the "taxes" element of the return flight-but unless it's a business seat this would be less than £17:50.

AFAIK economy taxes are set at £17:50 max.

Also if it's one of the cheaper taxes it would be something like £4.60

zerog

blindman wrote: »

Not sure I understand the maths here.

Yes, you would lose the "taxes" element of the return flight-but unless it's a business seat this would be less than £17:50.

AFAIK economy taxes are set at £17:50 max.

Also if it's one of the cheaper taxes it would be something like £4.60

When an airline significantly changes its schedules or cancels a flight after you have a confirmed ticket, then it has to find you a suitable alternative or refund you in full.

This is the case for airlines around the world, but the definition of "significantly" and "suitable" I have used above may vary. But presumably Roger1 was booking on BA, an EU airline that must comply with EC Regulation 261/2004, which defines things a bit more clearly.

If Roger1's ticket included both an outbound and return segment, then unilateral cancellation by the airline 14 days prior to either segment, with no suitable alternatives for the passenger would have made the entire ticket refundable in full, with no fees or charges. This is because the airline has decided not to honour part of the contract for travel, and therefore must make a complete refund of the entire contract.

As Roger1 had two separate contracts for travel, then he had to pay a fee to cancel a contract for travel that the airline was still prepared to fulfill.

Nonetheless, cancelling a BA redemption ticket at least 24 hours before the first flight should never result in having to pay anything extra. The fee of £25 indicates that this was a redemption in Club Europe rather than just being a longer flight, as the cap of £17.50 applies to flights of any length that are eligible for RFS.