Airline cards - confused with the fees?

saffa224

Hello all, looking to get a CC which will gain me airline miles/points but Im a bit confused as to the Fees etc still charged and hopes someone can give me some insight?

If I were to fly from Heathrow to Johannesburg on economy using Avios on BA or something similar, what would the fees be? All websites point to £600+ but Im assuming thats for business class or first.

Any insights?

grumbler

saffa224 said:

If I were to fly from Heathrow to Johannesburg on economy using Avios on BA or something similar, what would the fees be? All websites point to £600+

I'm no expert in airmiles, but what sort of fees and what websites?

Ebe_Scrooge

On most standard credit cards there are no additional fees (assuming you repay in full every month).  There are a handful of cards that charge an annual fee, but those are in the minority, and should only be considered if the perks outweigh the annual fee.

Caz3121

I assume you mean taxes and fees charged by the airline and not credit card fees
you can make a dummy booking as there are different fees depending on how many Avios you use
eg return London to Johannesburg can vary between 60,000 Avios + £150 and 11,400 Avios and £ 516.14 for off-peak dates
economy redemptions are usually poor value for Avios

jon81uk

When you spend miles with an airline, you need to pay any surcharges and taxes. For economy the surcharges and taxes can often make up quite a large part of the cost.
Do a dummy booking and it should show you how many points/miles are needed for each class and the taxes/charges. Although for BA you need to log in first so not sure if it will show.
Virgin Atlantic shows flight to Johannesburg at 25,000 miles plus £294 in charges for economy. Same flight in cash is £717.

Going out of Heathrow has some of the highest charges in the world, whereas I've done miles redemptions in the US and paid only $5 in taxes.

Also redemptions is much better if you need to fly one way for any reason.

saffa224

jon81uk said:

When you spend miles with an airline, you need to pay any surcharges and taxes. For economy the surcharges and taxes can often make up quite a large part of the cost.
Do a dummy booking and it should show you how many points/miles are needed for each class and the taxes/charges. Although for BA you need to log in first so not sure if it will show.
Virgin Atlantic shows flight to Johannesburg at 25,000 miles plus £294 in charges for economy. Same flight in cash is £717.

Going out of Heathrow has some of the highest charges in the world, whereas I've done miles redemptions in the US and paid only $5 in taxes.

Also redemptions is much better if you need to fly one way for any reason.

That is what I was looking for, thanks so much! 300 instead of 700 is a significant saving and worth it, specially if I can get the second ticket free (eg. BA with Avios)

saffa224

jon81uk said:

When you spend miles with an airline, you need to pay any surcharges and taxes. For economy the surcharges and taxes can often make up quite a large part of the cost.
Do a dummy booking and it should show you how many points/miles are needed for each class and the taxes/charges. Although for BA you need to log in first so not sure if it will show.
Virgin Atlantic shows flight to Johannesburg at 25,000 miles plus £294 in charges for economy. Same flight in cash is £717.

Going out of Heathrow has some of the highest charges in the world, whereas I've done miles redemptions in the US and paid only $5 in taxes.

Also redemptions is much better if you need to fly one way for any reason.

Do you know if Luton/Gatwick or Stanstead is better?

DullGreyGuy

Also be aware that if its an Avios booking (rather than cash+points) that its at least a semi-flexible ticket and so comparing it to the no-change cash price is a little inaccurate.

You tend to get much better rate of return the higher class you travel but that depends if you value the leg room of PE or the caviar of First etc.

Caz3121

saffa224 said:

specially if I can get the second ticket free (eg. BA with Avios)

If you are talking about a companion voucher, the free part is the Avios, you still need to pay the taxes and fees on the 'free' ticket

jon81uk

saffa224 said:

jon81uk said:

When you spend miles with an airline, you need to pay any surcharges and taxes. For economy the surcharges and taxes can often make up quite a large part of the cost.
Do a dummy booking and it should show you how many points/miles are needed for each class and the taxes/charges. Although for BA you need to log in first so not sure if it will show.
Virgin Atlantic shows flight to Johannesburg at 25,000 miles plus £294 in charges for economy. Same flight in cash is £717.

Going out of Heathrow has some of the highest charges in the world, whereas I've done miles redemptions in the US and paid only $5 in taxes.

Also redemptions is much better if you need to fly one way for any reason.

Do you know if Luton/Gatwick or Stanstead is better?

Virgin only flies from Heathrow.

BA needs a log in to get prices when redeeming Avios so I didn't bother looking, but I expect it is from Heathrow too, most of their flights are they hardly use Gatwick. Stansted is only the low-cost airlines anyway.

The Virgin Atlantic card does offer 2for1 flights if you spend £20k in a year or pay the fee and spend £10k. No idea on the BA credit card as I don't have one!

WillPS

DullGreyGuy said:

Also be aware that if its an Avios booking (rather than cash+points) that its at least a semi-flexible ticket and so comparing it to the no-change cash price is a little inaccurate.

Yes, but if you're trying to calculate a saving, then you should compare with what you would actually buy - and not just with that airline either (unless you would only fly with them).

You'll probably find the answer is 'not much'. On the other hand if you want to fly First Class as some sort of bucket list thing or whatever then it's likely to be a relatively cheap way of living that dream.