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Thread: Airmiles ??

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    Default Airmiles ??

    I'm looking possibly getting the BA Airmile Credit Card

    http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/br...ltba&gl_id=932

    So basically if I just use it whenever I buy anything I'll acrue 1 mile per £1 spent ?. I probably spend a few grand every year on food, household bills etc so I can basically turn all of that into miles. Also I'm gonna be starting an online business soon and if I use the credit card to fund the purchases and then transfer back the outstanding balance I can get miles for all that money spent ?. With the business side of things I'll spending in excess of £10,000 a year and if I can turn that into mile that'll be awesome.

    I know I've got this wrong because it seems to good to be true

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    Default Re: Airmiles ??

    Hi mate,

    I have one of these and they aint bad, however certainly aren’t brilliant.
    First of all, the point system isn’t great. For example, if you wanted to go to the US, you need 50000 points – (Which is a 50K spend on the basic card and 33K spend on the higher card plus annual fees of £120 for the plus card). On top of that, you will pay taxes - roughly £260 pp to the states. If you were to go quite far in the US, your flights would normally cost between £400-700, but with flights being quite cheap now, more like £300-600. So, let’s say your flights would have cost you £800 for 2 if booking normally, but with points it will only be £500 - a saving of £300. However, if you got a cash back card, and spent 50K in a year, that would be at least £500 back (1% capital one card - amex platinum is better). So you are worse off with the BA Miles. Plus the BA miles Plus card has an annual fee which needs to be taken into account. It may be worth checking rough prices for future flights you are considering and take that into account.

    Also, BA miles are used on a first come first served basis – you need to book about 10 months in advance to use your companion ticket for most decent places – far east/ Australia/ Indian ocean. There is always availability for the US. (Unlike using proper airmiles – these are as good as cash.)

    The only reason I have this card is because I used to fly with BA alot with work and have loads of points - this comes in handy when booking Business class flights as the taxes remain the same - so a trip to the US in business class only costs £520 for two people!

    If you are definitely getting this card, let me know - I will send you an invite link and you will get 6000 bonus miles (and I will get 4000 for recommending you!)

    Oh, last year BA did a half price sale on air mile flights – e.g I went to china for 37500 miles as opposed to the usual fee of 70000 for a total cost of £550 return!

    Q
    Last edited by Q-Ball; 12th February 2010 at 05:37 PM. Reason: removed annual fee for basic card
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    Default Re: Airmiles ??

    Hi m8

    Thanks for the long and detailed reply. It doesn't look so special after all according to what you've wrote. So are BA air miles different from air miles from other places because according to the link below it only costs 6500 miles to goto NY.

    http://www.airmiles.co.uk/spend

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    Default Re: Airmiles ??

    Yep, very different = "airmiles" can be used anywhere in the world, with any airline. They are harder to collect and more costly, however much more convinient as they are effectively cash. If you want to go down this route, i would recomend looking at this . It roughly costs £65000K for a return to NY (one person - e.g 1 mile for every £10 spent on amex)

    BA miles (like the one offered in the above credit card) can only be used when booking BA reward flights.

    This is why the BA miles work out better in this instance - you get a buy one get one free ticket for a 50K spend (as opposed to 130K!), plus trips to the US are always available.
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    Default Re: Airmiles ??

    Quote Originally Posted by Q-Ball View Post
    Yep, very different = "airmiles" can be used anywhere in the world, with any airline. They are harder to collect and more costly, however much more convinient as they are effectively cash. If you want to go down this route, i would recomend looking at this . It roughly costs £65000K for a return to NY (one person - e.g 1 mile for every £10 spent on amex)

    BA miles (like the one offered in the above credit card) can only be used when booking BA reward flights.

    This is why the BA miles work out better in this instance - you get a buy one get one free ticket for a 50K spend (as opposed to 130K!), plus trips to the US are always available.
    I already have the Lloyds TSB card, it seems like a lot of expenditure for a few miles. It'll take me a good few years to save up for a flight to Manchester . Thanks for letting me know about the various pro's and con's.

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