Airline Credit Cards Discussion Area

Taxes are levied according to departing jurisdiction for each flight. In that context APD seems even worse when you you consider it is only levied on the first half of your return flight from the UK. The return portion is the taxed by country you are flying to. Few countries tax anything like as much as the UK, especially outside of Europe.

This means it doesn't matter where you buy your ticket, or whether your flight out of the UK is outbound or inbound, you will still be caught by APD.

Eg
LHR-BKK return (APD applies on LHR-BKK outbound sector, Thai taxes inbound)
BKK-LHR return (APD applies on LHR-BKK inbound sector, Thai taxes outbound)

CDG-LHR-BKK return (no APD if transit only LHR. French taxes outbound, Thai taxes inbound)

BMI is a pretty good scheme - you can book open-jaw etc. Eg book:

CDG-BKK, BKK-LHR (ie outbound from CDG, paying French tax to avoid UK APD, but return to LHR, paying Thai tax). Of course by the time you've paid for the trip to CDG, it might not be worth it. It COULD be if you are not in London and would have to fly to pick up your BKK flight anyway. (Note if the sectors are on one ticket - eg MAN-CDG-BKK then you will pay UK APD to BKK, but if bought separately MAN-CDG, CDG-BKK then you will pay UK APD to CDG only, and French tax to BKK. You bear the risk of a missed connection in this case. The saving can be considerable for those who wish to fly the long haul sectors in business class).

BMI's scheme is likely to change as it merges with Lufthansa's Miles&More. http://www.flyertalk.com/ is a good site for checking out frequently flyer/airmile schemes.

I think the best airmile cards are where you can combine with your normal flying. If you don't fly much, then take care not to allow the airmile tail to wag the flying dog.

tiff wrote: »

Flyertalk is ok but its busy and they use terms and acronyms that I dont understand which makes it hard to follow sometimes.

http://www.flyertalk.com/glossary/ may help (there's a drop-down list) if you didn't notice it already.

I fly alot so have got used to the jargon. One problem is it can be US-centric at times as that is where most members appear to be based.

The BA Amex card is the only one that gives a free companion ticket without any annual fee, but you need to spend over £20,000 in a year to get it.

Again not a very well researched article. The Virgin Atlantic Amex Credit Card (White) also gives a free companion ticket (for travel on virgin) without an annual fee, and your required spend is less at £15,000. A premium economy upgrade is available with a £10,000 yearly spend. Better than the BA card

The Virgin Amex black card is similar to the better BA card, its a cheaper annual fee to BA, with £115, compared with £150 for BA, and you get the companion ticket with an annual spend of £7,500.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/creditcard/index.jsp?mc=VAA-WEB-51366-63708

Looking on BA.com it seems that most longhaul are 50k (US, carib plus central US, South Africa) or more for far east and Aus.

Martin quotes a range of prices to buy additional miles - any idea why this is?

Also he talks about 'sales' for both buying flights and buying extra miles - anyone know anything about these?

tiff wrote: »

Flyertalk is ok but its busy and they use terms and acronyms that I dont understand which makes it hard to follow sometimes.

Google acronyms, or ask most people are okay. I often have to google the airport initals as I often forget.

(dont tell anyone though)