Barclays vs other UK banks

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

Im currently a customer at Barclays and was thinking of using their AVIOS points for travelling. 

Does anyone use them and what sort of things have you used them for?

Daliah

I find all the points schemes way too complicated and convoluted. I prefer rewards paid in actual money, such as cashback from Chase, Barclaycard and Natwest/RBS cards, and Reward payments such as as the Halifax monthly fivers. 

[Deleted User]

You can use them to travel on London Airways or convert to Nectar points. 

[Deleted User]

Thanks for this. Also some more questions:

1. How do you keep track of your credit cards? App or Spreadsheet?

2. Whats the best card to start off with Barclays or other banks?

adindas

Daliah said:

I find all the points schemes way too complicated and convoluted. I prefer rewards paid in actual money, such as cashback from Chase, Barclaycard and Natwest/RBS cards, and Reward payments such as as the Halifax monthly fivers. 

I have AVIOS point in the past but I never use it. In majority of cases if not all, I could find much cheaper flight then using AVIOS points where your options are restricted.

In the past MBNA was also offering reward point where at some points you could use it to buy product on their lists. Again this is another rubbish reward as the product on the list is the one you do not really need or you could find it much cheaper price elsewhere because normally the product in the lists are normally clearance product but sold on normal price and using point you would have thought you are benefiting that reward.  Well as it is normally a clearance product, there is high chance you could find it cheaper anywhere else on sale.

Daliah

Deleted_User said:

Thanks for this. Also some more questions:

1. How do you keep track of your credit cards? App or Spreadsheet?

2. Whats the best card to start off with Barclays or other banks?

"Best" is subjective and depends on your requirements. You could have a read of this: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/

I monitor my CC spend in the respective app

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone for the tips, all helpful!

Marchitiello

I think Avios may not suit everyone but it could still work out as a good return via the Avios to Nectar transfer.

Air Miles (precursor to Avios) was very good and fairly simply to exploit, as you could make the full booking with air miles, whilst now you always have to pay the tax element in cash.

having said all that, if you are an heavy traveller/enjoy travelling, have a bit of flexibility to enjoy travelling in Premium cabin, you could easily make one or two bookings a year making the most of it. I for one do at least a long haul for two in business, which on average would be £4-5k to book. The question is, would you normally book it ? (If not, is not a “saving” as such) and/or would you at least book an economy long haul for two at a cost of £1000 circa (which could be the tax element of the previous mentioned premium booking)? For me, between the Amex 2-4-1, Barclays Premier Avios Upgrade Voucher, and many ways to earn o approx 200,000 Avios per years (bonuses, promotions, etc), I can get great value from it still now. 

[Deleted User]

I see what you mean, personally I book either Premium or Upper Class.

Also with BarclayCard I would have to sign up to BA Executive which I don’t really want to.

I mainly fly with Virgin or KLM

 

ColdIron

Virgin take Avios

Marchitiello

ColdIron said:

Virgin take Avios

This is untrue! 

Virgin has it’s own Frequent Flyer Scheme Flying Club, with its own Virgin Points. Virgin Money in the UK issue two cards that earn such points.

Avios however is the frequent flyer earning currency for BA, Iberia, Vueling and Air Lingus as well as more recently being adopted by Qatar Airways. Avios points can be transferred across accounts held with each airlines (some conditions must be met, like same name and email address being used) and the. Used within each scheme to book flights. Currently the best return may be held with Qatar Airways.

Important to note, that you could make booking from either your BA, Iberia or Qatar account using options from all OneWolrd Partner airlines, making it quite good.

Availability for Business and to certain extent First Class rewards seats is generally good to certain destination, such as New York and other US easy coast destination, not so much to Australia or New Zealand (some business, virtually no first).

In short, if you enjoy premium flying, are based in the UK and can use other means of earning Avios in addition to the CC, the Barclaycard Avios (I am guessing you have been referring to this scheme rather then the actual Barclays Premier Avios Rewards that has stricter qualifying criteria) can be very good. You should also research the relevant articles on the site Head for Points for example