Got a miles or points question? Ask it here

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• Mark Ross says:

  19 Mar19 March 09:38

  I currently have a lloyds premier Amex but am looking to move to the BA Amex. Do you know if you can go straight from one to the other or do you have to close one down and wait a certain length of time to apply for the next one. I realise that it is two different card issuers but both are Amex and both offer bonus avios.

  Thanks and great blog !

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    19 Mar19 March 09:43

    You can go straight from one to the other, or keep both in parallel. They are both on the Avios currency, but one is with BA and Amex and the other is with Avios.com and Lloyds.

    • Mark Ross says:

      19 Mar19 March 11:33

      Thanks for the speedy reply !

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 17:03

    I will answer this, to raise similar issues, on the blog over Easter

• DJ says:

  19 Mar19 March 10:30

  Hello,

  I LOVE your site. Finally. A great resource for us Brits that are ‘into miles’. Now that bmi is a distant memory, what Star Alliance programme should I credit miles to? I don’t really see myself attaining any form of status, so I would be interested in the best and most flexible option for earn and burn.

  Thanks!

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 16:50

    Good question, I will address it (not necessarily answer it!) over Easter on the blog.

    • DJ says:

      20 Mar20 March 22:22

      Great, I look forward to it.

• Aoife says:

  19 Mar19 March 10:34

  Hey Raffles,

  Great idea, thanks. I know you’ve posted recently about using Air Berlin and Aer Lingus to fly to the US to save on taxes and fees, but just wondering what you’d recommend for destinations in South East Asia, and what kind of taxes one might expect to pay for redeeming avios on these routes.

  Many thanks

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 16:54

    ‘In’ or ‘to’ SE Asia? I don’t think there is a low tax way of getting TO SE Asia – although you could avoid UK departure taxes by flying, say, Cathay Pacific from Paris and not London.

    For internal regional flights, I would always compare Cathay and Malaysian Avios rates versus cash tickets, as inter-Asian flights can be very cheap and not necessarily great redemption options.

• Danielle says:

  19 Mar19 March 12:13

  I have just signed up to the Virgin airmiles as they were offering bonus points of you had a clubcard. I currently have about 19,000 moles and need 38.000 to travel to Chicago in July.

  My partner has just signed up to Avios and seems to think its a better deal with the clubcard.

  What I want to know is whats better Avios or Virgin airmiles? If you are only collecting miles via a tesco clubcard?

  Thank you!!

  • John says:

    19 Mar19 March 18:13

    If you want to fly to Paris, Virgin miles won’t be of much use to you.

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 15:01

    This question will be answered on the blog in the next 2 weeks

• av says:

  19 Mar19 March 12:31

  hi!

  I have roughly 13k BA EC avios (collected through my BA AMEX), as I am new to the whole avios thing, I would like to know what the best thing to do with them? Is there any way to swap these into Membership Rewards?

  Thanks

  • John says:

    19 Mar19 March 18:14

    Something to think about before you apply for a BA Amex…

    If you can get 15000 that’s enough for a reward flight saver to zone 2 I think

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 16:58

    I will answer this over Easter on the blog

• JimM says:

  19 Mar19 March 12:34

  Hi, I`d like to know if it`s possible to use Avios to fly from regional airports where BA has no presence. For example, being based in East Anglia my closest option is Norwich and the next best is Stansted. Getting to LHR or LGW is essentially a three-hour plus trip plus all the hassle of traveling so I`d much prefer to stay local.
  One other thing I`d love to do is find more uses for my points. For example, I`d like to buy a new car and it would be handy to pay in points and cash, depending on how they were valued etc. Pretty sure this can`t be done but maybe in the future…

  • John says:

    19 Mar19 March 14:23

    Only if BA or a oneworld airline (and Aer Lingus maybe) flies there, or flybe if there is a BA codeshare.

    • Andrew says:

      19 Mar19 March 15:04

      In addition to oneworld airlines you can also use Avios (from avios.com) on Air Malta, Aurigny, Flybe and Monarch. Avios in an Iberia+ account can be used for Vueling flights. Rates are generally not as good as redeeming on oneworld airlines but if they fly from a local airport the extra convenience may make up for it.

      • JimM says:

        20 Mar20 March 17:02

        Thanks, that’s useful to know

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    19 Mar19 March 16:48

    One thing you can do is have a multi-city break. E.G. spend a weekend in Jersey or Edinburgh and then use the Avios redemption’s free domestic leg to use that as the origin for a redemption.

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 17:00

    I will answer this over Easter on the blog

• timezonehopper says:

  19 Mar19 March 13:05

  I’d love a Club Carlson credit card. I’m aware of one in the US, does anyone know if there are prospects for a UK one???

  • Rob says:

    20 Mar20 March 16:59

    Not that I’ve heard of, sorry.

    Although they are an Amex partner, at a generous 1:3 transfer ratio from Membership Rewards.

    • David says:

      20 Mar20 March 22:28

      And on top of that, if you have the Amex Plat card, you get Club Carlson gold status as a recurring benefit while you hold the card.

• Sammy says:

  19 Mar19 March 15:05

  Hi from the States, I’ve been churning for a while here and have built a nice credit score. I have decided to move back to England next year. Problem is, I moved to the US when I was young, so I’m not sure if any of my US credit worthiness can transfer to the UK. If not, how would I begin to build credit (and churn)? Are there starter cards I can get on before I make the move? Any help appreciated.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    19 Mar19 March 16:51

    Amex have a global transfer programme, which should get you set up with a UK card fairly quickly if you’ve got a decent history with them.
    Alternatively, you could use Capital One Secured Card or Cashplus Prepaid Card with Credit Builder option.

    • Sammy says:

      19 Mar19 March 17:05

      great, the amex option looks promising. thanks for the help.

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