BA miles advice. Kavey? Anyone?
 

the talk on this forum today about FF miles becoming a thing of the past or being devalued in some way is making me wonder about whether I should continue to use the reward coupons I get from my local supermarket to "buy" BA miles. I am at present saving for 2 return tickets to the Far East and will not have enough miles until next year. The supermarket deal means that I only, in effect, pay a quarter of the price for the tickets. I'm wondering whether to just use the miles I have for short haul trips. I know that we have a BA expert on this forum in Kavey and would appreciate any opinions from her or anyone else who can help!!

first I wish my supermarket gave a deal like that. second I don't truly think any of the airlines will eliminate FF perks. But is that the only way you are accumlating them? You could be paying for those groceries with a BA credit card and double dipping so to speak.In fact you cpould pay for everything with the BA credilt card and accumate miles a lot faster. You just have to pay the bill off every month so you don't fall behind. There is a $50.00 fee but so there is on most cards that offer such perks.

ano<BR>Yes. Funnily enough I've just started using the credit card and paying for "everything" with it! Am considering whether it is worth paying more for the "plus" card which gives 50% more miles. <BR>It is certainly a good deal(if there are no problems in the future!) and I find it hard to understand why people just use them at the supermarket. Why use &pound;100 of coupons on shopping when you can have &pound;400 worth of flights?

fiona<BR>is that tescos? I thought they did airmiles only, which seem a bit limiting. would be much more interested in shopping there if they do BA miles.

yes it's Tescos. They don't advertise the exchange of their coupons to BA miles. I found out that you could when I was on the BA site.

right thats it! I'm changing my supermarket! The only thing is, I have allocated holidays every year and therefore have no flexibility and am wondering if I will buy miles that may turn out to be useless.

I am not a BA miles expert! :)<BR>I haven't even got enough to hop over to mainland Europe!<BR>After my last experience with them they aren't my choice for future bookings either!!<BR>I can't say I have heard anything about FF miles being phased out - Tesco has recently paid a lot of money to become the supermarket which offers FF miles as rewards, it used to be Sainsburys until then. <BR>My thinking is that they've probably signed a deal for at least a reasonable length of time, else it wouldn't be worth it for them to print all the new promo stuff, so surely FF miles will be around for at least a couple of years more.<BR>Sorry I can't help further, but am not an expert at all. Just someone who had to deal with BA customer service staff rather more than I would have wished on recent occasions.<BR>:)

<BR>Fiona, Tesco's club points can beonly exchanged for Airmiles which uses British Airways + two other small British airlines. BA Miles are strictly for the British Airways frequent flyers, you need to become BA excutive club member before you can collect BA miles.<BR><BR>I use Airmiles a lot for short trips to Europe which are usually between 500 to 1500 airmiles. A trip to Far East you'll probably need at least 6000 airmiles which will take a long time to save. I find it better value to use them for short trips. The airfare to Far East is not that expensive during the off peak periods. I brought a return ticket to Sydney with stopovers in Asia for less than &pound;600 for my October trip. The thing with Airmiles you'll need to book your ticket at least four months ahead in order to secure your preferrable date of travel as Airmiles only have small allocation of seats in most flights.

thanks for the replies. Kavey - know what you mean about customer service staff!<BR>Not know all<BR>For some reason, tescos only advertise Airmiles but when I was on the BA site I noticed that I could use my vouchers to purchase BA miles, which is entirely seperate from Airmiles. My year's loyalty bonus of &pound;150 buys me enough miles to take me to the Far East( which is approximately worth &pound;600 and is 40000 BA miles)As the vouchers are free anyway it is great value. However I also notice that it would be great for short haul as I could get umpteen trips to London(from Aberdeen) and other cities.I am an executive club member( the lowest band)

ttt