Bits: get 15% off Iberia flights from the UK, craziest trip report ever?

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

• Rohan says:

  27 Sep27 September 08:26

  What a trip report ! Fantastic!

  • Leo says:

    27 Sep27 September 09:48

    Well done to the Avis staff who come out best from that TR. Sorry but that bloke needs to get a life.

    • nick says:

      28 Sep28 September 08:45

      You’re in the wrong place.

• Kathy says:

  27 Sep27 September 09:26

  I’m amazed at the dedication and planning involved in that points run! I can’t even seen to manage to do the obvious ones – I finally succumbed and bought a new iPhone yesterday from Argos, having kept the old one for 4 years. As I stood in the supermarket afterwards I realised I should have cleared the local Tescos out of Argos gift cards and earnt a bundle of clubcard points from buying it.

  Gah!

  • James67 says:

    27 Sep27 September 09:30

    I didn’t even know tesco sold argos giftcards.

    • Erico1875 says:

      27 Sep27 September 10:45

      Its a crime punishable with an hour long points lecture in my family for anyone to buy anything from Argos or B&Q without visiting Tesco first 🙂

      • James67 says:

        27 Sep27 September 14:58

        I’ve always been a bit lazy when it came to the smaller amounts of miles but being avios-poor at the moment I guess it’s time I upped my game.

  • Jonathan says:

    27 Sep27 September 09:40

    Plus use reserve & collect via Virgin shopaway or ba and get 4 per £

    • Erico1875 says:

      27 Sep27 September 10:53

      can you then use the gift cards to pay at the counter?

    • Kathy says:

      27 Sep27 September 12:54

      Didn’t even think of that!! So that’s about 6000 miles I missed out on yesterday.

      Gah!!

      • Brian says:

        27 Sep27 September 13:29

        So return it! And then buy it the ‘proper’ way!

        • Kathy says:

          27 Sep27 September 18:04

          Too late, I’m using it now!

        • Kathy says:

          27 Sep27 September 18:06

          My Tesco has never had pay.com cards. Which is part of the reason why the gift card trick slipped my mind – got out of the habit of looking at the gift card stand.

• Nick says:

  27 Sep27 September 09:41

  And I thought I was doing some crazy trips hitting every Tesco Store I could in 2013 searching and buying every 3V card I could.

  • Jason says:

    27 Sep27 September 13:26

    I’m still doing that now 🙁

    • Jason says:

      27 Sep27 September 13:30

      Ps pay.coms are a lot more lucrative than that report though!

    • Nick says:

      27 Sep27 September 13:32

      Fair play to you Jason. How do you use most of the cards these days? They are now different cards aren’t they?

    • James67 says:

      27 Sep27 September 15:02

      Do ypu guys honestly thimk they are worth the time and effort? I processed a carrier bag full of them in the good old NS&I days but it was so painful I’ve never looked at them since.

      • Jason says:

        27 Sep27 September 18:10

        Depends how easy it is to get them. They haven’t re-stocked them for a while and supplies are getting low. I only travel for leisure so they have been a handy way of earning plenty of points the last 6 months.
        They are painful and tedious but I don’t have another way of earning plenty of points, so they work for me, the alternative is to pay £79/£1k, for paid visas, which work out at 0.77p per avios with my Amex gold using tesco gift cards at a petrol station:)

      • Erico1875 says:

        27 Sep27 September 20:34

        Its all part of the game.
        Its a hobby, so you do ridiculous things to satisfy the craving.Even if I was a billionair, Id still do it 🙂

        • harry says:

          27 Sep27 September 20:51

          I’m a zillionaire, & I do it too 🙂

• Liz says:

  27 Sep27 September 09:58

  OT: In response to the recent question about the IHG free night certificate, IHG have responded to my email by confirming that the certificate must be redeemed within the date of the certificate and it cannot be cancelled or changed beyond that date.

• idrive says:

  27 Sep27 September 10:41

  The Iberia code does not work with me, I tried yesterday on a few routes. Why am I the only one? not even the Ba works!! 🙁

  • Rob says:

    27 Sep27 September 11:04

    Code is meant for 27th and 28th so it was not meant to start until today.

• Phill Ramsay says:

  27 Sep27 September 11:42

  Slightly OT but have you heard anything about the devaluation of amex MR rewards to BA which is meant to be happening on the 1st October. Seen it mentioned on a few US travel blogs but cant recall seeing anything here.

  • Jason says:

    27 Sep27 September 13:28

    Would have thought it’s US related!

    • Alan says:

      27 Sep27 September 13:30

      Indeed seems to come up once a week or so here – it’s a US change, no impact on us – they still get a better deal anyway!

      • James67 says:

        27 Sep27 September 15:06

        And they got a 100k avios cc signup bonus again so TATL redemptions will be harder to find.

        • Rob says:

          27 Sep27 September 20:20

          You need to spend $20,000 to get the full 100,000 Avios!

  • RIccati says:

    27 Sep27 September 15:23

    It’s a US-specific thing. Going to be 250 MR = 200 Avios.

    It makes sense for credit card providers/airlines to recognise that earning 1 point per pound and 1 point per USD is not the same thing. Especially for BA. As noted here, US-based card for British Airways had an astounding 100,000 Avios subscription bonus for years before April 15 devaluation, and it was a Visa card. No FX loading too, if memory serves.

    US MR ratio for SPG is 1,000 points = 333 Starpoints (3:1). While UK MR to SPG is 2:1.

    Reflects 1 GBP = 1.5 USD approximately.

    But UK Amex SPG only gives one point per pound…

    • James67 says:

      27 Sep27 September 16:03

      I don’t think making sense in a comparable fashion has anything to do with it. I think it simply comes down to whatever deal a company can negotiate with IAG for the purchase of avios and therafter deciding how they want to use those avios as an incentive to sustain existing business and drive new business.

• Pommyboi says:

  27 Sep27 September 17:30

  gutted about the Iberia code. We spent £600 on two flights to MAD yesterday to link up with a flight to Cuba we booked using points (thanks to Rob). Still I think it was only £40 in charges for a business seat plus Avios for the Cuba flight at a peak time of year so it’s not a bad deal.

• harry says:

  27 Sep27 September 17:34

  Quite clear MR —> Avios will be devalued UK as well, timing uncertain.

  No point leaving MR points unconverted.

  • Brian says:

    27 Sep27 September 19:32

    Unless you want the flexibility of being able to convert to different programmes. If you are only interested in Avios, then maybe you’re right.

  • Rob says:

    27 Sep27 September 20:17

    No it won’t.

    The US devaluation was done for a specific reason – to make the official BA Amex, issued by Chase, more attractive than having an Amex and converting MR points.

    This is not an issue in the UK, because a) Amex issues both cards and b) the BA cards are already better deals than either Gold or Platinum – because of the annual fees – if you want Avios.

    • ABC says:

      28 Sep28 September 06:46

      This is nonsense. First off Chase issues BA card is by Visa.
      Second, BA is selling Avios. One would assume that BA increased the price per Avios. You now only earn 1avios/$ spent rather than 1.25 Avios/$ on Chase issues BA card. Approximately the same reduction as seen with the new MR to Avios conversion rate in the U.S.

      • RIccati says:

        28 Sep28 September 18:57

        Not quite the nonsense. You described the same story. If US BA Card (Visa) earns 1 Avios/USD (was 1.25 Avios/USD), then presumably, BA requested change to 5:4 for MR/Avios transfers (perhaps in the interest of Chase). Otherwise MR way would be more attractive than BA-branded credit card (in the US).

        It seems AMEX agreed to that. They have quite a leverage over the airlines because they are paying cash for points but they also need to offer a similarly attractive option, compared to airline credit cards.

        If the MR-to-airline rate is unfavourable then people stop transferring (and start spending on airline-branded card). Perhaps that is why they were so careful setting the rate as 5:4 (250:200) as opposed to 3:2 and things are approximately equal between US Amex MR and Chase BA Visa to acquire Avios.

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