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? They're a way of getting free or hideously cheap airline tickets, hotelaccommodation and days out.
-So how do you collect them? I'm glad you asked, otherwise this opinion would be pretty worthless. You collect them by buying stuff.
But, unlike Boots Advantage points (which, by and large, you can only get at Boots) or WHSmith ClubCard points (which, amazingly, are limited to purchases 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 points, if you spend £40 a week at Sainsburys, you'll earn around 320 air miles in a year. But, pay with your NatWest credit card, and you'll earn even more points.
-Where's best to collect them? Well, I trawled through the Air Miles site to work out a rough cost per air-mile from the main partners. Note that there are special deals you can get on top of these basic figures.
The secret with Sainsburys is to use their Sainsburys VISA card, since it doubles the amount of reward points, therefore Air Miles, you can earn. And, of course, pay for a £40 P&O ticket with a NatWest credit card, and you'll earn 8 miles from P&O and 2 miles from NatWest.
-Don't you have nasty little vouchers to collect? No, that was ages ago. It's all computerised these days, and you get sent a statement once every few months letting you know how many you've earned.
-So what else is it worth knowing about them? Every time you collect Air Miles with a different company, they seem to not bother checking whether you already have an Air Miles account, and just open a new one. Which is fine, but not really the point. It's easy to merge accounts though - just fill in the form you get with every statement, or alternatively do it online.
-Cool. So I've got some Air Miles. What now? It's 1,800 miles from Heathrow to Rome, so collect 1,800 air miles and you can fly there for free. It's really quite simple once you put your mind to it. However, a smaller amount of air miles will also get you flights - just pay a bit and use some air miles and you can do pretty well - like a return to Rome for £91. (Guess where I'm going on my summer holiday?)
-So is it a nightmare claiming them? Absolutely not. Oh, no. I just rang them up, and a jolly nice woman took down my booking and got me my tickets. We're flying with British Airways (hurrah!) instead of some economy cheap bucket-shop airline, and looking forward to it. Tickets, and a voucher for the very cheap hotel, arrived within two days of booking. Advice: play with the internet site first, to work out what flight you're going on. Flights are limited - there was only two a day to Rome that we could take, for example - so you need to work a bit to get an acceptable flight. But it's all for free. The staff were all very friendly, incidentally, and very helpful.
-That it, then? I think so. If you've any comments, whack them down and I'll incorporate them in here.
-Final verdict? Don't go out of your way to collect air miles, certainly if using a credit card means borrowing money (because then there's no point). But, if you shop at Sainsburys/Shell/Southern Electric anyway, then there's no reason not to get Air Miles.
See you on the beach.
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Good review.............but I'm still confused! .......but your review has spurted me on to looking into it.........many thanks.....pat175
Connoisseur_Haggler 26.04.2001 19:05
I've been collecting air miles too for quite a few years and have enjoyed many free domestic BA flights , however when natwest and BA executive club launched BA air miles at the end of last year, I have got quite confused..not knowing whether I have air miles , BA miles or both! I will have to look into my account again, thanks for reminding me about those wonderful..air miles again. A good insight, thanks.
brianlfc 26.04.2001 18:51
Welcome to CIAO, James, A superb start to you CIAO career, very well done...BrianLFC
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Apr 26th, 2001
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