Airmiles collectors - changes aho

I'm an Executive Club & Iberia Plus member so have been paying taxes on reward flights for ages. It's good news actually - last time I redeemed miles for a flight to Marseilles & back the "taxes" were nearly £90. Not exactly a 'free flight', especially when Ryanair sell flights from Stansted for about 1/2 that if you book ahead.

Capping taxes at £27 within Europe makes it still worthwhile to use miles/points for flights in a lot of cases (certainly less than the "taxes" now), because reward flights on BA booked with BA miles (& under the new scheme) can be changed free of charge at any time up to 24 hours before travel and you get checked baggage included to 23kg (unlike low-cost or charter airlines).

The capacity allocated to reward tickets is pretty poor however - especially at weekends - so you often end up buying a ticket anyway if you want to travel on your dates of choice.

There will be winners & losers :!:
 
The ticket allocation you speak of is comical at times. A couple of years ago I wanted to travel from Manchester to London for an xmas do. I couldn't book a straight return ticket so had to book two return flights, one from manchester and one from london to enable a return over the same weekend with the remaining return legs booked for April (never used).

Haven't travelled BA since the above, do they still serve complimentary food & drinks?
 
i swapped clubcard points for airmiles, and it took an absolute age to get enough miles to get out of europe. have since switched to swapping for ba miles, and have much more choice.

breakdown of taxes on flights take the piss.
 
djchewie said:
breakdown of taxes on flights take the piss.
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Yes it really does - little known fact none of them are under any legal obligation to refund "taxes" either if you cancel :!: BA do refund taxes on cancelled reward flights but levy a £15 service charge instead :(.

WeLuvIbiza said:
The ticket allocation you speak of is comical at times. A couple of years ago I wanted to travel from Manchester to London for an xmas do. I couldn't book a straight return ticket so had to book two return flights, one from manchester and one from london to enable a return over the same weekend with the remaining return legs booked for April (never used).

Haven't travelled BA since the above, do they still serve complimentary food & drinks?
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I often book return flights and only use one way, yes (done it for donkeys years) although it really does depend on the route, time of year etc.

I do it with Thomson and others also (they often have 'deals' for say £55 for a 7 or 14 night return & I just use the outbound flight / bin the return and buy an inbound off someone else). Don't need to do this with low-cost carriers as they are all sectoral.

BA still serve complimentary food & drinks .. but you can expect pretty much a packet of crisps in Economy these days ! Flew with them Club Europe (absolute joke) a couple of weeks ago as no seats left in economy. Slept through the 2 hour flight so have no clue what on-board service you get with that now ! Priority luggage return was good & lounge at the airport too, but as for the flight itself it's no way worth the money on a short European flight (never was imo).
 
WeLuvIbiza said:
Reading from the article below, it appears we will be charged taxes and charges where currently they are included in the miles redemption fare;

full article here;
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ne...miles-revamp-sees-cost-soar-for-holidaymakers
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It's been all over the media for a few weeks now, the backlash they are getting is a lesson in how not to PR/market a new brand (Avios) :spank:

I've loved Airmiles, I have lost track of all the freebies I've had with them over the years - free flights to Goa, Berlin, numerous free flights to Barcelona, 5* hotels in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Barcelona, London (I have often used Airmiles to stay in a really fancy hotel which I'd never pay for out of my own pocket :lol:), numerous free car hires, free trip on Eurostar etc etc...to the point that friends and family don't think we ever pay for a holiday :oops::lol:

I don't think I'll bother using them for flights in future when it will work out cheaper to book flights through another airline eg. I have booked flights to Stockholm in January at a cost of £45 return each - why pay in Airmiles and £27 in taxes each way for the same flight :rolleyes: And it's on long-haul flights that people will really lose out by this change to the scheme and having to pay taxes (which are often more than the flight itself) :rolleyes:

I need a few more miles and then will be booking a 5* hotel in Stockholm using up what miles I have and then will decide whether to continue saving Airmiles (Avios). Even if the flights are no longer worth it you can get really good hotel deals so may be worth continuing to save them for that.
 
Barbie said:
I've loved Airmiles, I have lost track of all the freebies I've had with them over the years - free flights to Goa, Berlin, numerous free flights to Barcelona, 5* hotels in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Barcelona, London (I have often used Airmiles to stay in a really fancy hotel which I'd never pay for out of my own pocket :lol:), numerous free car hires, free trip on Eurostar etc etc...to the point that friends and family don't think we ever pay for a holiday :oops::lol:
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:eek::eek:

How do you collect so many?

Have looked at nice hotels and they are 5,000+ per night!
 
WeLuvIbiza said:
:eek::eek:

How do you collect so many?

Have looked at nice hotels and they are 5,000+ per night!
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I am a points whore :oops::lol:

And we (this is mine and Tom's combined account) put EVERYTHING on our credit card and then just pay it off at the end of the month.
 
Has anyone had any joy with Avios?

The website is the worst I have ever tried to use, has crashed my browser twice, impossible to spend any miles (at the vastly reduced redemption rate).
 
WeLuvIbiza said:
Has anyone had any joy with Avios?

The website is the worst I have ever tried to use, has crashed my browser twice, impossible to spend any miles (at the vastly reduced redemption rate).
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Booking flights through BA website (Executive Club), yes - but was last year. Got a return to Berlin retailing at £400-odd at 24 hours notice for 9,000 Avios plus a few quid in fees.
 
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