Loganair launching two new Isle of Man routes from London

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• Scott says:

  13 Mar13 March 07:35

  I collect the odd code from the back of the Daily Mail for 5 points a day, but haven’t used any Nectar points through them. Never even knew you could do anything with them.
  With that I mind, they’re not something I would miss.

  I find there are too many places that award Avios, Nectar points, both etc. and that it’s easy to miss something that could potentially be slightly more lucrative.

• BJ says:

  13 Mar13 March 08:00

  As long as MyMail continues to sell avios for 0.21 or 0.42 each they can do what they like with the rest of their partnership.

  Good to see Nectar getting a bit more coverage this week!

  • Jeff77 says:

    13 Mar13 March 08:29

    “ Good to see Nectar getting a bit more coverage this week!”

    Agreed! Much better to have actual cash at 0.8p per avios to spend whenever and on whatever you want in Argos, EBay, Sainos etc than have to find limited reward flight availability to a place you actually want to go to a year in advance!

    • Andrew says:

      13 Mar13 March 08:32

      Couldn’t agree more. Still find it odd that people chase Avios flights.

      • Jeff77 says:

        13 Mar13 March 08:53

        Depends. If you want to go to New York or go wherever there’s availability so you can say you got 3p per avios then there’s probably value to be found!

        • Andrew says:

          13 Mar13 March 09:08

          And of course factoring in that you earn back a ton of Avios from cash flights to spend at 0.8p at Sainsbury’s etc. That coupled with the huge increase in taxes/charges I struggle to see much margin especially given all the aforementioned availability restrictions. I think there’s an element of that just being what everyone has done with their Avios and MR points for decades and needing to unlearn all that. People will of course highlight half term ski holiday flight prices – I do accept there are times when there is a good margin (although I don’t ski or have kids so I’m not the target audience for such flights).

        • Andrew P says:

          13 Mar13 March 10:56

          Flying to vegas in club this afternoon. Great use of Avios as the direct flight in club is rarely discounted atm.

      • BJ says:

        13 Mar13 March 09:22

        Andrew, the reason I chase avios flights remains largely flexible reservations at peak times to travel. Flexibility is crucial to me as is the desire to travel Xmas when I have seen BA economy fares to BKK hit £1500 return in the past. The new companion vouchers also allow for exciting Y and even X shaped itineraries at relatively low cost.

        • Jeff77 says:

          13 Mar13 March 09:27

          “ The new companion vouchers also allow for exciting Y and even X shaped itineraries at relatively low cost.”

          What is availability like? Easy to find?

        • BJ says:

          13 Mar13 March 09:53

          @Jeff, availability depends where and when you want to go. It is definitely better with new style voucher; there is a specific HfP article on this. IME I have so far got the destinations and dates I wanted using new voucher with exception of SFO. SFO availability might improve when/if it goes back to 2x daily if it has not already done so.

      • Ian says:

        13 Mar13 March 09:34

        Not everyone using Avios is chasing long-haul exotic redemptions, though you wouldn’t think it reading some of the posts on this forum. I use Avios to book short-haul Club Europe flights, but only when it saves me a lot of money over the cash fare, so I get a lot of value from mine.

        • BJ says:

          13 Mar13 March 09:56

          If you don’t need flexibility and destinations are competitive I agree buying avios-earning cash flight is the way to go. I’ve been saying that here for years, long before Nectar came along.

        • Jeff77 says:

          13 Mar13 March 10:52

          Would you have paid the cash fare though and are you taking into account the cash value of the avios being used?

          Eg I was looking at club europe flights to Italy for £50 with avios but then the 18k avios are worth almost £150 in cash. I wouldn’t have paid £200 for the flights in cash so decided to pay £12 with wizzair instead. The only difference is that I won’t get an empty middle seat and a sandwich and I save £190 which I can spend on other stuff

        • Andrew P says:

          13 Mar13 March 11:00

          I used to book LHR to AMS using Avios for work trips to gain lounge access (before I did a tier point run!) Avios seats were often available even when the cash fare was £100’s

        • Rui N. says:

          13 Mar13 March 11:10

          Exactly. It’s a bit myopic to think that just avios doesn’t work for your personal circumstances that it doesn’t work for everyone.

        • BJ says:

          13 Mar13 March 20:15

          @Jeff, no I definitely would not pay for a fully flexible premium fare at peak travel times. I have paid extra for more flexible fares where I perceived the extra over and above the discounted fare to be reasonable. I’m talking £50-£300 more depending on airlines and that extra has not always been for full flexibility just for better fare rules. I’ve never been persuaded by the notion that the value I get from avios redemption is closely tied to whether I would otherwise pay the cash price. For me it is much more subjective along the lines what do I need and how do the avios and £ required compare to what alternatives are available at the time. In recent years though, most of my flights have been exINV with companion voucher to Thailand and Japan so not even worth thinking about. Some would say it was still worth comparing to the Lufty group companion fares which is true except I valued the flexibility avios provided but those fares did not.

      • JDB says:

        13 Mar13 March 10:50

        That’s quite some generalisation! Even with the higher fees, I believe we still get fantastic value redeeming Avios in F or J for two or three long haul trips a year, including taking into account the fees on the cards used to earn miles/vouchers. We generally aren’t travelling to the most popular destinations, so availability isn’t usually an issue and the flexibility has considerable value. We don’t cash out to Nectar as a) Sainsbury’s is expensive vs Tesco and has lower quality, availability and range (at least around us) so you don’t really get 0.8p and b) we virtually never shop at eBay or Argos. Nectar may work for some, and Avios may work better for others; there is no particular right or wrong.

        • Jeff77 says:

          13 Mar13 March 10:56

          Fair point on Sainsburys and Argos but as Rob helpfully pointed out previously, you can buy gift vouchers for anywhere on eBay apparently!

        • Andrew says:

          13 Mar13 March 11:34

          And you can easily redeem your nectar at M&S, although as per this article, maybe not for much longer.

      • Andrew H says:

        13 Mar13 March 12:19

        Business class Avios flights are great* for use in Europe especially for skiing with the extra baggage allowance. Yes I usually book well in advance but that’s not a problem.

        (*until they cancel flights and won’t – yet – pay for replacement flights)

    • BJ says:

      13 Mar13 March 09:13

      Don’t disagree but I’m still putting mine to avios to combine with new style companion vouchers which are the best thing since BMI DC. So much so that I have just paid more than 0.5p ever for avios via the Economist offer but only because I could give the magazine to somebody who appreciated it.

    • lumma says:

      13 Mar13 March 10:47

      The best thing about the nectar/avios partnership is that it suits everyone, there’s the people who have too many avios and are happy to have an easy way to cash them out for a set value and people like me who like to collect the avios for redemptions can easily run up decent balances on “regular person” spending. I’m a single person and I can get around 4k avios a month just from Sainsbury’s spend, although it is a bit creepy that Sainsbury’s are basically controlling what I eat though the bonus point offers…

      • John says:

        13 Mar13 March 12:45

        They aren’t controlling what I eat, I get offers on the things I was buying before offers existed, and if I don’t buy the new offer suggestions, they drop off after 2 weeks and nectar then tries enticing me to buy some other new things

      • Andrew. says:

        13 Mar13 March 14:28

        They don’t control what I eat.

        But if they are offering me their own brand Honey Nut Cornflakes for 50p with “My Nectar Prices” (usual £1) and 120 extra Nectar points with the App – it certainly influences what I have for breakfast.

• Jeff77 says:

  13 Mar13 March 10:53

  “ @Jeff, availability depends where and when you want to go. It is definitely better with new style voucher; there is a specific HfP article on this. IME I have so far got the destinations and dates I wanted using new voucher with exception of SFO. SFO availability might improve when/if it goes back to 2x daily if it has not already done so.”

  Fair enough. Unfortunately SFO is exactly where I want to go this year as I have friends and family there so choosing another destination just because there’s availability doesn’t really help

  • Lady London says:

    13 Mar13 March 11:14

    Lots of other airports near enough to SFO though and some of them even preferred over SFO, by locals. I’m thinking San Jose and Oakland. Quite a few connecting flights to use those – at least landing – would cost very few avios extra and ‘taxes’ not an issue.

    As with NY, in even close to normal times, due to airlines competing cash fares may work out best.

    • Jeff77 says:

      13 Mar13 March 11:21

      No availability on the dates I want to go to those airports either

    • BJ says:

      13 Mar13 March 20:21

      At a push I’d even be happy to take LA, Seale, Vegas or Phoenix if I needed to get to SFO and couldn’t. Plenty of cheap flights abd not bad places to spend a night or two.

• Jeff77 says:

  13 Mar13 March 11:13

  “ It’s a bit myopic to think that just avios doesn’t work for your personal circumstances that it doesn’t work for everyone.”

  I don’t think avios doesn’t work. Quite the opposite!

  It’s actually so much better now that you’ve got the hard cash option too rather then just saving money on flights!

• Yorkieflyer says:

  13 Mar13 March 11:16

  Posting here for the widest audience so apologies for not using the Forum.
  Kulula.com and British Airways operator’s certificate suspended indefinitely. So if you have a booking in the near future in SA then perhaps Self rebook while prices are reasonable, the prospect of phone queuing indefinitely only to be offered a refund isnt attractive

  • WaynedP says:

    13 Mar13 March 12:40

    Thanks @Yorkieflyer.

    That was new news to me, both embarrassing and sobering.

    In the three trips I’ve taken to SA in the last two years, I have deliberately chosen to avoid domestic flights and driven the 400 mile journey from JNB to my final destination in SA.

    But if I did choose to fly, I most likely would have paid a premium to fly Comair because of their link with British Airways and the trust for skilled, well trained pilots and properly maintained aircraft that I associate with the BA brand.

    If SA Comair management are failing to meet safety standards, then BA needs to come down hard on them to change their ways, or else seriously reconsider their continued association with Comair.

    Good to see the South African Civil Aviation Association taking its own role seriously and acting so decisively.

    I hope that problems are quickly and permanently rectified.

• Alex Sm says:

  13 Mar13 March 13:18

  Looking forward to using Loganair for my long overdue trip to IoM to complete the list of European microstates and crown dependencies!

• Bill says:

  13 Mar13 March 14:07

  Rubbish that you can’t redeem Avios for the IOM – London flights. Especially useful for connections

  • Michael C says:

    14 Mar14 March 07:09

    Very annoying . and I’m guessing no LHR lounge either for silver…

• David Aames says:

  13 Mar13 March 14:57

  Anyone know if the M&S gift card via MyMail is just a standard gift card? If so. I can’t see how they’d stop you using it on food.

  • Rob says:

    13 Mar13 March 15:22

    Agree – but not sure a reader has ever tried it.

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