Rewards card options?

DullGreyGuy

What card is best for you depends on what rewards you value the most and how hard you want to work the scheme etc. 

Charts like WillPS' are very heavily assumption based and were you to tweak the assumptions you could get a very different outcome. For example they are saying 1 MR point is worth 0.5p but the best return I ever got, technically at least, was just over 10p and personally routinely get 2p with reward flights. 

I'd potentially question "value" to some degree as my maximum was a first class flight from the far east and there is no way I'd have ever paid the cash price but thats a separate issue. 

WillPS

DullGreyGuy said:

What card is best for you depends on what rewards you value the most and how hard you want to work the scheme etc. 

Charts like WillPS' are very heavily assumption based and were you to tweak the assumptions you could get a very different outcome. For example they are saying 1 MR point is worth 0.5p but the best return I ever got, technically at least, was just over 10p and personally routinely get 2p with reward flights. 

I'd potentially question "value" to some degree as my maximum was a first class flight from the far east and there is no way I'd have ever paid the cash price but thats a separate issue. 

I'd argue it's not a separate issue at all - it's a line which is worth drawing, one side you are saving money on stuff you would buy (cash or equivalent in fuel and other basics which would have to be purchased otherwise) the other you are getting stuff which you absolutely wouldn't pay for yourself - and your 'saving' is either zero or minute - for example compare those points values with the economy fare (with any airline) which you would have purchased if you were paying cash.

I'd never recommend a newbie to reward credit cards started with an airline card (unless there was an uncomplicated redemption route - i.e. Avios to Nectar); that's not to say it's not a thing worth exploring but understanding maximal redemption routes is not trivial and the goal posts can be moved very suddenly.

Archergirl

WillPS said:

DullGreyGuy said:

What card is best for you depends on what rewards you value the most and how hard you want to work the scheme etc. 

Charts like WillPS' are very heavily assumption based and were you to tweak the assumptions you could get a very different outcome. For example they are saying 1 MR point is worth 0.5p but the best return I ever got, technically at least, was just over 10p and personally routinely get 2p with reward flights. 

I'd potentially question "value" to some degree as my maximum was a first class flight from the far east and there is no way I'd have ever paid the cash price but thats a separate issue. 

I'd argue it's not a separate issue at all - it's a line which is worth drawing, one side you are saving money on stuff you would buy (cash or equivalent in fuel and other basics which would have to be purchased otherwise) the other you are getting stuff which you absolutely wouldn't pay for yourself - and your 'saving' is either zero or minute - for example compare those points values with the economy fare (with any airline) which you would have purchased if you were paying cash.

I'd never recommend a newbie to reward credit cards started with an airline card (unless there was an uncomplicated redemption route - i.e. Avios to Nectar); that's not to say it's not a thing worth exploring but understanding maximal redemption routes is not trivial and the goal posts can be moved very suddenly.

I do have an Amex British Airways card that has lots of points on it, keep thinking of booking a holiday with them but sort of don't get round to it. Maybe I should convert them to Nectar points and just spend them but think I might get better value through a holiday route....

WillPS

Archergirl said:

WillPS said:

DullGreyGuy said:

What card is best for you depends on what rewards you value the most and how hard you want to work the scheme etc. 

Charts like WillPS' are very heavily assumption based and were you to tweak the assumptions you could get a very different outcome. For example they are saying 1 MR point is worth 0.5p but the best return I ever got, technically at least, was just over 10p and personally routinely get 2p with reward flights. 

I'd potentially question "value" to some degree as my maximum was a first class flight from the far east and there is no way I'd have ever paid the cash price but thats a separate issue. 

I'd argue it's not a separate issue at all - it's a line which is worth drawing, one side you are saving money on stuff you would buy (cash or equivalent in fuel and other basics which would have to be purchased otherwise) the other you are getting stuff which you absolutely wouldn't pay for yourself - and your 'saving' is either zero or minute - for example compare those points values with the economy fare (with any airline) which you would have purchased if you were paying cash.

I'd never recommend a newbie to reward credit cards started with an airline card (unless there was an uncomplicated redemption route - i.e. Avios to Nectar); that's not to say it's not a thing worth exploring but understanding maximal redemption routes is not trivial and the goal posts can be moved very suddenly.

I do have an Amex British Airways card that has lots of points on it, keep thinking of booking a holiday with them but sort of don't get round to it. Maybe I should convert them to Nectar points and just spend them but think I might get better value through a holiday route....

Have a play, see what you can get. If you can be flexible and/or plan very far in advance you should be able to achieve more than .5p for each of your Avios points vs the cost of a cash booking. IMHO you should really compare that to the cost of the holiday you would pay cash though, and then I suspect you'll be back nearer to 0.5p (unless you spend big on holidays) - but of course you might be having something far nicer.

On the flipside Nectar points can be spent very easily with little regard for value of redemption because they're all exactly 0.5p (outside rare promos). Cash (earned/saved) will buy any holiday you like ultimately, Avios points can only ever be spent in ways Avios partners determine.

There are no right or wrong answers - other than just to never spend the points at all.

DullGreyGuy

WillPS said:

DullGreyGuy said:

What card is best for you depends on what rewards you value the most and how hard you want to work the scheme etc. 

Charts like WillPS' are very heavily assumption based and were you to tweak the assumptions you could get a very different outcome. For example they are saying 1 MR point is worth 0.5p but the best return I ever got, technically at least, was just over 10p and personally routinely get 2p with reward flights. 

I'd potentially question "value" to some degree as my maximum was a first class flight from the far east and there is no way I'd have ever paid the cash price but thats a separate issue. 

I'd argue it's not a separate issue at all - it's a line which is worth drawing, one side you are saving money on stuff you would buy (cash or equivalent in fuel and other basics which would have to be purchased otherwise) the other you are getting stuff which you absolutely wouldn't pay for yourself - and your 'saving' is either zero or minute - for example compare those points values with the economy fare (with any airline) which you would have purchased if you were paying cash.

I'd never recommend a newbie to reward credit cards started with an airline card (unless there was an uncomplicated redemption route - i.e. Avios to Nectar); that's not to say it's not a thing worth exploring but understanding maximal redemption routes is not trivial and the goal posts can be moved very suddenly.

I certainly wouldn't put it at zero value else I wouldn't have spent airmiles to buy it. I would have paid PE if it were cash, maybe Business given the length but that would have depended on price. I would value it above the PE cost though as I'm aware of the cost of, for example, the food and drink consumed, the vehicle transfer etc but again do you value it at cost, at what you'd have done otherwise or something else. 

If we use uber classifications for simplicity... with choice I may book "Exec" however if my ticket includes an "X" I am going to take the X rather than pay a second Exec fair and waste the X. If my ticket includes Lux then clearly I'll use that... it will be better than Exec even if I wouldn't pay full price for it so to me its value is more than Exec but not as much as Lux, where it is exactly is hard to say. 

An airline card is perfectly fine for a first time reward card owner as long as they understand the programme and value the higher tier travel. Was my first reward card and with all business expenses having been put on it its generated vast amount of airmiles that have allowed us to travel extensively at very low cost. Our last minute trip to Italy was 50p each way in business a couple of months ago.

WillPS

Not doubting the value potential, I'm just saying that it's a different game to the 'straightforward money saving' which my chart is designed to help with - and unlike that approach with airmiles you need to know all the limitations which you're buying in to by not saving money. I personally don't recommend it for newbies.