Discussion
I'm looking at starting to collect air miles to help pay for adventures abroad so just wondering what the best way is? I've had a nose at a few credit cards that offer this, are these the best options and which would you recommend?
Was also looking at Avios, are they good and worth while?
Was also looking at Avios, are they good and worth while?
Edited by Regiment on Wednesday 23 January 16:47
I use Virgin black Amex, it has a fee, but thats no issue with the amount of miles you get off it if used regularly
I use it solely for business travel/expenses, and book holidays through Virgin with it
Over a year can usually accumulate enough miles for a couple of upper class flights or £1000 in Virgin holiday vouchers
on business stay in Hiltons where possible and their points credit the same Virgin airmiles account
really it depends on which airline you prefer, and hotel chain, then pick the card to collect the miles.....
I use it solely for business travel/expenses, and book holidays through Virgin with it
Over a year can usually accumulate enough miles for a couple of upper class flights or £1000 in Virgin holiday vouchers
on business stay in Hiltons where possible and their points credit the same Virgin airmiles account
really it depends on which airline you prefer, and hotel chain, then pick the card to collect the miles.....
Was looking at getting the Lloyds TSB Premiere card, the AmEx has much better Avios points though compared with the MasterCard version but worries me immensely about how many places don't take AmEx. Also will be filling up at Shell with a Shell Card.
Stupid question, I can pay off £2100 in full I owe on my current credit card in a couple of months, can this £2100 be used if transferred over to the air miles card and then paid over immediately. Can't find any details at all whether this can be done or not.
Also, does air miles restrict me to only certain carriers so presumably certain airports and destinations?
Stupid question, I can pay off £2100 in full I owe on my current credit card in a couple of months, can this £2100 be used if transferred over to the air miles card and then paid over immediately. Can't find any details at all whether this can be done or not.
Also, does air miles restrict me to only certain carriers so presumably certain airports and destinations?
the Amex cards usually come with a Visa tied to the same account, just in case they dont take Amex
Airmiles generally not limited although you have to book way in advance on popular routes as the dont have many seats allocated for airmile users. they are not as easy to spend as youd like im afraid.
Thats why I choose to exchange the airmiles for holiday vouchers and book holidays via Virgin to spend them that way...and get yet more miles back on the holiday booking, done with Amex too....
I didnt know about tesco and Virgin, so thats another source of miles now too
Airmiles generally not limited although you have to book way in advance on popular routes as the dont have many seats allocated for airmile users. they are not as easy to spend as youd like im afraid.
Thats why I choose to exchange the airmiles for holiday vouchers and book holidays via Virgin to spend them that way...and get yet more miles back on the holiday booking, done with Amex too....
I didnt know about tesco and Virgin, so thats another source of miles now too
Dr Jekyll said:
BA Amex cards often give you a significant number of miles just for signing up. You also get miles you get for expenditure on it but these are scarcely worth the bother unless you have a lot of business expenses etc to stick on it.
The household income doesn't hit the minimum 30,000 at the moment so rules out the BA cards.imho, it is hard to save miles through spending alone even if you are putting all your business expenses through them.. I'll explain my working.
I have a Virgin amex (and visa card) and we stick all of our spending on it - food, fuel, my work expenses and even our wedding over the last few years.
You can also get bonus miles for various other things. Car rental, shopping, using Virgin Wines etc. Through spending and a few purchases, we managed 19K Virgin miles this way in 2012.
This adds up to several tens of thousands over the few years but it wont get you upper class for 2 anywhere soon
Earning 1 or 2 airmiles per pound spent adds them up pretty slowly if you ask me - it does however keep my Virgin airmiles account ticking over while I currently fly with BA.
Compare this with actually flying with the airline you want to collect with - this is where you make the real gains.
With Virgin over the years, I have spent over 400K airmiles on flights to Tokyo and Vegas paying just the tax.
Nearly all of them earned through sitting on planes with work (back in the day it was premium economy all the way which increases the miles gained significantly)
On BA, at the moment, I don't have the cc (it doesn't give you the visa as well as the amex) but I do fly regularly with them. last year I did 22 long haul flights with them (all in economy) and a bunch of other earning flights (American, Cathay etc).
For this, I have 230K BA miles / Avios.... this is enough for First / Business to most of the world / several economy trips for me and the Mrs... but it was a hell of a slog to get them on low cost tickets.
I chase miles and accept that it is seriously hard work for little reward. It does however feel pretty good when you do manage to get a holiday booked for peanuts at the end of it.
The reason I chase the miles is purely down to the fact that I have to fly so much with work and I would be a fool not to - If I didn't do the flying, it would definitely not be worth it.....
If you really want to earn mega miles, then the only real way is to spend an incredible amount of time in a small seat or to have someone else pay for a big seat. If you fly regularly in Business or First/Upper etc then the miles add up sooo much faster....
Bob
I have a Virgin amex (and visa card) and we stick all of our spending on it - food, fuel, my work expenses and even our wedding over the last few years.
You can also get bonus miles for various other things. Car rental, shopping, using Virgin Wines etc. Through spending and a few purchases, we managed 19K Virgin miles this way in 2012.
This adds up to several tens of thousands over the few years but it wont get you upper class for 2 anywhere soon
Earning 1 or 2 airmiles per pound spent adds them up pretty slowly if you ask me - it does however keep my Virgin airmiles account ticking over while I currently fly with BA.
Compare this with actually flying with the airline you want to collect with - this is where you make the real gains.
With Virgin over the years, I have spent over 400K airmiles on flights to Tokyo and Vegas paying just the tax.
Nearly all of them earned through sitting on planes with work (back in the day it was premium economy all the way which increases the miles gained significantly)
On BA, at the moment, I don't have the cc (it doesn't give you the visa as well as the amex) but I do fly regularly with them. last year I did 22 long haul flights with them (all in economy) and a bunch of other earning flights (American, Cathay etc).
For this, I have 230K BA miles / Avios.... this is enough for First / Business to most of the world / several economy trips for me and the Mrs... but it was a hell of a slog to get them on low cost tickets.
I chase miles and accept that it is seriously hard work for little reward. It does however feel pretty good when you do manage to get a holiday booked for peanuts at the end of it.
The reason I chase the miles is purely down to the fact that I have to fly so much with work and I would be a fool not to - If I didn't do the flying, it would definitely not be worth it.....
If you really want to earn mega miles, then the only real way is to spend an incredible amount of time in a small seat or to have someone else pay for a big seat. If you fly regularly in Business or First/Upper etc then the miles add up sooo much faster....
Bob
I've had a BA Amex card for years. I try and put all expenditure on it, most of which is fuel, weekly shopping,restaurants and travel (all non business). I always manage to get past the minimum spend barrier each year so I always get a BA companion ticket to use the following year. Invariably, I use this plus BA Avios in BA club class for a holiday with the wife, the total actual expenditure being local BA taxes.
I assume that the reference to 30,000 miles is something to do with Air Miles, not Avios.
R.
I assume that the reference to 30,000 miles is something to do with Air Miles, not Avios.
R.
Trying to get my missus to get onto the air miles lark with her family business. At the moment they just use regular Barclaycards for expenses and a fuel account with Morrison's and get sweet FA back for a yearly spend that's well into six figures. If I could steer this expenditure into Avios points we'd never need to turn right on a plane again!
A lex said:
tuffer said:
£20K on a BA AMEX would give you 40K Avios/Air Miles plus......And this is the best bit, a companion voucher (basically a 2 for 1 ticket). So, get 150K Avios and fly 2 people 1st class on BA to the USA, if you can find the seats.
Thanks.You need to be spending serious money to get any kind of quick return then.
Just looked on the BA site - 44k Avios for a one-way Business ticket AMS-JFK. So 2 years spending, plus departure taxes. hmmmm.
It's only in the last year that I've started doing quite a few holidays away, and this got me thinking about collecting air miles. Just a few quick questions please to all you serial collectors out there.
1) I'm about to buy my mum a new car, so instead of putting it on my debit card would I be correct in assuming that if the payment was put through a credit card that would acrew air miles for me.
2) I sometimes make cash withdrawals of upto £5000/month on my credit card, as I dont want my other half to whinge about where my money goes. Will these types of cash withdrawals still help me gain airmiles.
3) Is there certain credit cards that give you more in the way of miles over others, and how does one go about registering for an airmiles scheme etc.
Regards
Mr Fox.
1) I'm about to buy my mum a new car, so instead of putting it on my debit card would I be correct in assuming that if the payment was put through a credit card that would acrew air miles for me.
2) I sometimes make cash withdrawals of upto £5000/month on my credit card, as I dont want my other half to whinge about where my money goes. Will these types of cash withdrawals still help me gain airmiles.
3) Is there certain credit cards that give you more in the way of miles over others, and how does one go about registering for an airmiles scheme etc.
Regards
Mr Fox.
Mr fox said:
It's only in the last year that I've started doing quite a few holidays away, and this got me thinking about collecting air miles. Just a few quick questions please to all you serial collectors out there.
1) I'm about to buy my mum a new car, so instead of putting it on my debit card would I be correct in assuming that if the payment was put through a credit card that would acrew air miles for me.
2) I sometimes make cash withdrawals of upto £5000/month on my credit card, as I dont want my other half to whinge about where my money goes. Will these types of cash withdrawals still help me gain airmiles.
3) Is there certain credit cards that give you more in the way of miles over others, and how does one go about registering for an airmiles scheme etc.
Regards
Mr Fox.
See above, BA AMEX. Only issue is that some businesses will not accept AMEX due to the charges on their end.1) I'm about to buy my mum a new car, so instead of putting it on my debit card would I be correct in assuming that if the payment was put through a credit card that would acrew air miles for me.
2) I sometimes make cash withdrawals of upto £5000/month on my credit card, as I dont want my other half to whinge about where my money goes. Will these types of cash withdrawals still help me gain airmiles.
3) Is there certain credit cards that give you more in the way of miles over others, and how does one go about registering for an airmiles scheme etc.
Regards
Mr Fox.
Mattt said:
IME it's pointless coming up with any strategies to try and maximise airmiles through cards.
By all means use a card if it gives you a benefit for free, but don't go out of your way to try and get extra miles - it's simply not worth it.
I need a Credit Card, I choose BA AMEX because of the Avios/Miles, I go out of my way to use it as much as possible, I pay it off in full each month, it costs £150 a year.By all means use a card if it gives you a benefit for free, but don't go out of your way to try and get extra miles - it's simply not worth it.
I get at least 2 First class return tickets to the USA per year worth approx £8,000 and only pay the tax at approx £1,500. I also have enough of Avios spare to pay for the Hire car for 2 weeks and plenty of wine for Christmas. Yep, simply not worth it.
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