Conversion rate from East Coast Rewards to Nectar points revealed

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• Daniel says:

  6 Feb6 February 07:15

  Does anyone know yet what First Class service Virgin are likely to offer? I wouldn’t mind using my 460 points to go 1st Class to Scotland and fly back RFS just as an excuse for a day out. East Coast were renowned as pretty much the only UK operator offering decent meal service and free alcohol in 1st Class – without these perks the day out seems slightly less tempting.

  • James says:

    6 Feb6 February 08:52

    Have got a few days with family in Aberdeen coming up – 1st class up from London and flying back. Has cost me 460 points up and 2250 Avios + £8.75 as part of a one way open jaw ABZ – GLA

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    6 Feb6 February 09:00

    Virgin West Coast offers food and complimentary alcohol so initially I suspect you’ll see no change. Longer term they may reduce the quality to save a few pounds.

    • Rob says:

      6 Feb6 February 09:26

      Yes, I have always been happy – by rail standards – with the free Virgin offering. When I uses to go to the NEC a bit I would arrange it so that I got the first evening train with food and drink, which was usually sold at off peak prices.

• jon says:

  6 Feb6 February 09:12

  I thought it was 460 for a 1st class rtn?

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    6 Feb6 February 09:17

    No, that’s a single.

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  6 Feb6 February 09:16

  It’s worth pointing out (if there’s any nectar fans here, but I doubt there are) that this news means that East Coast has unintentionally made themselves the best company for earning Nectar points this month (although you have to wait until March to convert).

  Who else offers 6 Nectar points per pound (or 9 if you travel first class) on any train operator?

  If Nectar had regular earning rates like that then more people may have supported it.

  Of course it’s still rubbish compared to using rewards for train tickets and from March we’re going back to the poor 2 points per pound which is typical of Nectar.

  We need to keep applying the pressure. I think they’d be too embarrassed to admit they got it wrong and scrap the Nectar proposals at this stage but we’ve now been promised additional benefits which we weren’t before so we need to ensure that what they offer is decent.

  Follow me on Twitter at @saveecrewards as a visible indication you’re not happy with Nectar.

  • callum says:

    6 Feb6 February 10:13

    They don’t need to because they haven’t got it wrong. Yet, anyway. They know full well people prefer cheaper tickets and more generous rewards – everyone does. The only thing that matters is will it affect ridership. Given the growth rates I’d assume not.

• Ed says:

  6 Feb6 February 15:10

  Some quick maths – a £35 single from LKX to Leeds gets me 52 EC points = 312 nectar points if booked before 1st March.
  But after 1st March it’s just 70 nectar points! Even that’s a big underestimate of what a huge cut this is in the value of the reward scheme.

  • Rob says:

    6 Feb6 February 16:29

    Even 312 points (£1.56) is poor compared to the value of a Kings Cross lounge pass for 50 points!

• Ed says:

  6 Feb6 February 18:46

  For me under the old system (normally go 1st class to visit my family once a month) – each booking would cost £35 London to Leeds but get me EC 52 points i.e. 11.3% of the points needed for a 1st single (even better last year/or booked in a bundle of 4 – and the fact you could also get peak time tickets that cost far more – but let’s leave that for now).
  The NEW system from what I can see means a flat 1% nectar rewards discount on future bookings… or let’s go nuts – we can assume there will be a smattering of ‘double points’ deals throughout the year – let’s call it 2%. That’s still a whopping 82.3% real terms cut in the value of the rewards *at a bare minimum*!
  Sadly it’s only regular travelers that will notice/kick up a fuss I suspect…

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