Bits: last day for 2400 Avios from LEGO, see the French Open Tennis with Emirates Skywards

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• N says:

  27 Mar27 March 05:56

  Accor also offering Roland Garros tickets as of last week

• Chris says:

  27 Mar27 March 06:03

  OT/ spent a fabulous weekend in London staying at the Hilton in park lane using the free night from Hilton visa card. Room on the 17th floor with great view. They also gave us lounge access with my matched gold status. (Canapés were more than enough for an evening meal) Breakfast in the restaurant was excellent. Thanks!

• Darren says:

  27 Mar27 March 07:55

  I have recently joined Skywards and have a few points which I won’t be using for EK redemptions. Is there a route to transfer them to avios?

  • Alan says:

    27 Mar27 March 08:05

    No, your best bet is either Easyjet or Heathrow Rewards (but they’re flagged on the latter so that they can’t then be transferred on to Avios).

    • Darren says:

      27 Mar27 March 08:16

      Oh well, I was thinking of transferring some MRs into the account for an upgrade but I’m a little avios light at present. Also I wasn’t that impressed with business seats on their A380, much preferred the 777 arrangement.

  • Ro says:

    27 Mar27 March 08:06

    Maybe via heathrow rewards?

    • Ro says:

      27 Mar27 March 08:07

      Lol just saw your reply alan… there goes that then

    • Alan says:

      27 Mar27 March 08:07

      Posted simultaneously 😉 but no, HR are wise to this and flag transfers in to stop you doing this.

• krys_k says:

  27 Mar27 March 09:51

  OT, some advise from those in the know please. I’m flying in F to Mexico, and J return, both redemptions. The F flight is during the day and J at night, and figured since id be mostly sleeping, business, which I enjoy on BA would be good enough. However, I can get F for an extra 20k Avios. Is it worth it? (no First lounge / Concorde room).

  • Rob says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:43

    It is really a factor of how many Avios you have. 20k would be a good start towards your next redemption, so if you earn slowly then I would be tempted to say No. If you have a decent six figure balance then, yes, I would do it – life’s too short.

  • Sam says:

    27 Mar27 March 11:11

    If you’re travelling with someone, I would do it just to avoid the insane seat reservation fee on CW if you aren’t Gold.

• LaserBeams says:

  27 Mar27 March 10:31

  OT, do HSBC Elite Mastercard regularly have their 50% bonus conversion of their reward points to Avios like they did last October/November? Just wondering if it’s worth waiting to transfer my points to Avios for the 50% bonus.

  • Rob says:

    27 Mar27 March 10:42

    They told us last year that 2016 was the last time they would do it, but who knows? Things change.

    • LaserBeams says:

      27 Mar27 March 14:25

      Thanks Rob

• rams1981 says:

  27 Mar27 March 11:22

  OT is there an easy way to see miles cost for flying with Etihad/Emirates? i.e. do they have a chart similar to Ba/Virgin?

  • Rob says:

    27 Mar27 March 12:53

    Etihad doesn’t have a chart and the mileage tends to move around a bit for reasons no-one knows. They also ask for random amounts of miles like 67,481 miles where any other airline would say 65,000 or 70,000.

    Not sure if Emirates has a chart or not, although you can do dummy bookings without having the miles. We never go beyond Dubai.

    Note that Emirates especially is very enthusiastic with fuel surcharges, as is Etihad if you connect as they charge them by leg.

    • rams1981 says:

      27 Mar27 March 13:15

      thanks Rob. All part of a bigger thought process for me to see what to do with our Amex points. 140k or so sat in mine and my wife’s accounts. And thinking of cancelling them ready to churn.

      We have sufficient Avios and Virgin for now so trying to explore the other options.

      (Need to do a similar type of analysis for my HSBC points at some stage)

      • rams1981 says:

        27 Mar27 March 14:46

        looking through I can see why I placed value on the BA 2 for 1. Miles don’t seem to get you very far with Etihad or Emirates.

        • Rob says:

          27 Mar27 March 15:33

          Depends.

          As a Saver reward, Dubai is 90,000 return in Emirates business class. BA is 100,000 off-peak or 120,000 peak.

          HOWEVER …. Emirates is a superior product. You also get 4 chauffeur cars (home to Heathrow, Dubai Intl to hotel, hotel to Dubai Intl, Heathrow to home) for free.

          Even if you have to pay ‘standard’ Emirates pricing – ie what they charge on busier days – it is 125,000 return. That is a better deal than 120,000 Avios given the chauffeur cars.

          The 2-4-1 obviously makes a big difference of course. Worth noting though that the first Heathrow flight to Dubai is Emirates around 9am. The first BA flight isn’t until 12.55 which means it doesn’t arrive until 11pm.

        • James67 says:

          27 Mar27 March 16:02

          I doubt avios gets you much value on BA either, even with a 2for1. Find the cheapest revenue fare you would use, subtract the BA fees/taxes + a realistic estimate of what the avios redeemed cost you + a realistic valuation of the avios/miles earned on the alternate revenue fare. Take the (likely paltry) sum you are left with, divide it through with the avios redeemed and the value per avio you arrive at will most likely shock you. I’m not saying using avios on BA is useless, just that in most cases the real value is poor and probably much lesd than most people perceive. I now see little point on redeeming avios on BA unless they cost notning or close to it.

        • Anna says:

          27 Mar27 March 17:39

          Can you fly Manchester to Dubai direct using avios?

        • Rob says:

          27 Mar27 March 18:14

          No, you could use AA miles for Etihad though

        • the real harry1 says:

          27 Mar27 March 17:49

          That’s why it’s tres important to keep the RFS fee fixed @ £17.50

          once that gets enhanced, BA have lost another 5 customers (50 flights a year in Europe)

          for now, Avios redemptions in Europe are still pretty good value for us

• the real harry1 says:

  27 Mar27 March 19:44

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/26/women-barred-flight-wearing-leggings/

  how do I get a pass rider fare? 🙂

• Sheafpete says:

  27 Mar27 March 19:45

  My colleague at work received a targeted email regarding Semi Final tickets last Sunday (19th). I never got the chance to redeem. Was hoping to complete my ‘Road to Wembley’ (started back in August). I’ll have to take my chances with the touts!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.