In October 2000, British Airways Executive Club launched BA Miles, which now exists alongside the more familiar Air Miles. They cannot be combined, so do you know the difference?
The Air Miles scheme is continuing as before but beware that flying with British Airways will now earn you BA ... Read review
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A review by mandyhaley on Air Miles June 3rd, 2001
Author's product rating:
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
Free flights
Disadvantages:
Lots and lots needed
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
In October 2000, British Airways Executive Club launched BA Miles, which now exists alongside the more familiar Air Miles. They cannot be combined, so do you know the difference?
The Air Miles scheme is continuing as before but beware that flying with British Airways will now earn you BA miles instead of Air Miles. Some other Air Miles partners have also pulled out, for example Vodafone. Although it is early days for the new scheme, it appears to me that Air Miles will become the poor relation to BA Miles.
So what are BA Miles? Basically, they are the miles you now earn by flying with British Airways. You also earn them on qualifying expenditure with a variety of partners, mainly business expenditure, for example Avis, Hertz and many hotel chains. However, you can earn BA Miles at Sainsburys. One reward voucher (£2.50) earns you 400 BA Miles.
So, it seems the BA Miles scheme is more focussed on the business traveller flying with British Airways. Executive Club members now get one BA mile for every mile travelled, with more for flying in a premium cabin:
World traveller plus x 1.25 Business/club x 2 First x 3 Concorde x 4
Unfortunately, if you are travelling on a discounted economy fare, you only receive 25% of the BA miles. For example, we flew from London to Delhi on a discounted ticket (as part of a package holiday) and received 1042 BA miles for a single journey. Not a lot, but better than the nothing you would have received in Air Miles. And, the Executive Club is free to join.
So, how many BA miles do you need for a free return flight from London? BA has grouped its destinations into 8 zones. Here are some examples: Zone 1 - 13,000 miles (Paris, Milan) Zone 2 - 20,000 miles (Venice, Rome) Zone 3 - 25,000 miles (Athens, Moscow) Zone 4 - 30,000 miles (Cairo, Tel Aviv) Zone 5 - 40,000 miles (New York, Dubai) Zone 6 - 50,000 miles (Hong Kong, Rio) Zone 7 - 80,000 miles (Tokyo, Singapore) Zone 8 - 100,000 miles (Sydney, Auckland)
There are ways you can get there faster:
For £25 you can open a household account, which means you and up to three other members of your household can collect and spend miles together. I'm not sure how useful this will be to many people.
BA also say they will be offering selected routes at a discounted mileage - you can check for special offers on their website.
However, the mileage required seems pretty frightening. I'm not sure I'm going to get very far with the few BA Miles that I earned from my flight to India. But, I'll keep saving, and you never know. I've had three free flights from Air Miles in 10 years (and only had to pay the Airport Tax). If I can get some more free flights, I'll be happy.
Advantages: Wide range of places to collect, good range of things to spend Disadvantages: If you want long haul flights be prepared to wait
...in plastic you can earn Air Miles.
Me too ! I have been in this scheme now for well over 5 years and have received many rewards back. Air Miles in its simplest definition is a reward/loyalty scheme. One of the beauties about Air Miles is that it can be collected in so many ways at so many places. To collect, just shop in the following places. Supermarkets – Sainsburys where Air Miles are awarded by swapping 500 Reward Points ( their loyalty ... ...their loyalty scheme ) for Air Miles, Air Miles Mastercard 1 mile / £20, buying books at BOL online, again 1 mile / £20, shopping with Yahoo online, 1 mile / £10, electricity and gas with Scottish & Southern Energy ( rates vary depending on the tariff chosen ), Homebase DIY 1 mile / £20, Lonely Planet travel guides, Global tickets ticket agency, the RAC, P & O ferries and so on. By double dipping you can get the miles you want in half the time ie ...
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Advantages: Redeemable for cheap flights, Easy to collect. Disadvantages: You'll need somewhere to store 110 packets of biscuits!
I first started collecting Air Miles back in the dim and distant past of my university days. To be honest, I paid little attention to them back then. At my initial rate of collection it would've taken several years just to get off the airport runway.
Times change and so do personal circumstances. I started working as a self-employed water treatment engineer which amongst other things meant plenty of driving in between jobs. Plenty of driving means ... ...credit cards are one of Air Miles partners and I was earning one air mile for every £10 spent on the card (as a side issue this is now one mile for every £20). A Shell smart card was soon acquired. They too are Air Miles partners so I was earning twice over whenever I bought any petrol from them. The Air Miles balance started to accumulate...
I could soon see I was on to a good thing here. I wasn't actually paying for the petrol out of my own pocket ...
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Advantages: Free flights, and cheap stuff too Disadvantages: Slightly limited flights
I've been collecting Air Miles for years now, but waited until I cashed some in to write an opinion about them (and suggest the topic). If I'd have given an opinion about them beforehand, it would be like saying "This bath's lovely and warm" before getting in. Or, er, "Mmm, this tastes nice" before cooking it. Or, well, you know, something else. -Shut up, James. Sorry. It's just I like setting the scene, y'know? -So what are these Air Miles then? ... ...from WHSmith), you can collect Air Miles from all kinds of places. Sainsbury's, NatWest, Shell, Scottish Hydro-Electric, Southern Electric, Homebase, madaboutwine.com, and bol.com, to name just a few. -Do they take a long time to collect? No, not really. For example, shop at Sainsburys and you get 40 air miles every £250 you spend (more accurately, every 500 Sainsburys reward points you earn). So, even assuming you don't go for the pizza with extra ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Lots of choice Disadvantages: telephone waits
I have been collecting air miles for a number of years now (since those heady days of paper miles) but have only seriously been collecting since they started giving them at Sainsburys.
Plenty of extra points meant lots of miles and we travelled to Nice, Barcelona and Cologne - our favourite places - putting the miles in for free flights. On one occasion we put in loyalty points for the hotel too and had a completely "free" holiday.
When they changed ... ...Fraser and Shell (they give air miles) and paying for everything we buy with a Tesco credit card (always clear the balance). We average about 1000 miles every three months and have now got enough miles (7000) for 2 flights to LA.
I don't know what you think but Tesco and Shell are usually competitive and provided you clear the balance there is no interest to pay
The Air Miles Travel agency is pretty good as well - despite the telephone waits (at ...
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Advantages: Free Flights for all Disadvantages: Queuing to get through
...book flights using the remaining AIR MILEs that I have collected over the past three years.
I found it very difficult to get through on their telephone number 0870 5577711 and at times I was queuing for in excess of 40 minutes. On one occasion I had been queuing for ages and finally got through, only to be told that I had been routed to a receptionist and had to be transferred. I could not wait any longer and decided to book online through their ... ...call I realised that I have paid nearly £5.00 in call charges just to book a flight.
I feel that the service that is currently being provided does not live up to my expectations and AIR MILES have made an error by closing down their call centre in Crawley. ...
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Advantages: Good in flight service Disadvantages: In flight entertainment can be dodgy at times!!!
...My wife and I have used Brunei on 4/5 trips Brisbane -UK return in the last 10 years. Despite having my Royal Skies card swiped at check in I now find that they have only credited us with one trip. Despite REPEATED emails to Brunei theyhave completely ignored and query. Their blurb does say that they need boarding passes etc for the miles to be credited-unfortunately I do not have 8 year old boarding passes in my possession as I thought that when my card wa swiped at check in, that would count.
I have no problem with the airline-the 3 step 7hr trips suit us and I have recommended many friends to use them . I do however protest strongly at being ripped of over the airmile system and their complete lack of courtesy in refusing to honour me with a reply to my queries.
Looking for another airline for my trip this year!!
S Duggan...
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Advantages: Only for corporate fat cats in 1st Disadvantages: No air miles, only airplane tickets, increased travel needed for short haul
...BA have just announced changes to their executive club reward scheme. Alledgedly a fairer system it gives miles according to distance flown rather than the quantised system that existed before, which was heanily weighted in favour of UK-USA flights. Unfortunately the new system replaces the existing airmiles one (which continues in parallel)and can only be used to redeem for flights. It also ends up 'costing' more for those short hauls flights to Paris or Hamsterjam. Worst of all the flights only rule means no more free trips to Legoland or Thorpe park which the kids enjoyed so much. With the kids being the main reason I can't do too much with flights from my airmiles I shall be voting with my bording pass. All in all this looks like about as good an idea (for me) as the tail fin fiasco....
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Advantages: Great choice of flights and airlines Disadvantages: Offers now harder to find
...need a valid Airmiles account (register at www.airmiles.co.uk) and you can use the site to check out the latest offers for flights as well as other items including accommodation and car hire.
Booking with AirMiles:
Many moons ago AirMiles used to predominantly provide flights via British Airways, but in recent years they have started to include flights from a host of well-known airlines. AirMiles offers a range of national and international flights and will basically offer most flights anywhere in the world.
As with purchasing normal airline tickets, AirMiles have some great prices for flight that are booked in advance as well as last minute deals and breaks. If you register your email address via their website then they will send you the latest offers which often including short and long haul flights, holidays and city breaks. AirMiles...
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