-
If you were starting from scratch… what would YOU do?
I’ve digested as much info from this site as my brain can handle.
But what I can’t figure out is where I should be concentrating my efforts (if at all)I have a business gold Amex with just under 30k reward points on it.
My BAEC account has 38k avios
And I want to go to Dubai in Feb.But from what I can make out, avios are useless for reward flights unless you’re booking stuff a year in advance (which I’m never going to do).
And status is bloody hard to come by.Also, I’m not overly fussed on QSuite as I prefer to see what’s going on and chat sometimes.
But I’ve flown Qatar’s economy product and it was miles better than BA.So, questions if you were starting from scratch like me:
1) Would you fly business with BA and hope to acquire silver at some point, or use Qatar and aim for status with them?
2) Is there any other way to use Avios sensibly other than flying to places “just because” and booking a year in advance?I live in Cornwall. So the last time I flew anywhere was 2019. And I went from T5 via the Sofitel. Assuming Qatar would be more aggro all round. But seems BA have stopped caring of late.
Would love your thoughts. Thanks.
It is easy to pickup confused information from sites like this as people tend to post problems and difficulties, sometimes of their own making!
I have never booked a year in advance and I have had quite a few redemptions. In 2022 I flew QR from LHR to KUL, a return to SCL on IB both in J and several European flights on BA and IB, mostly Y with Avios. I also flew FRA to GRU in LH F and GRU to LHR in J with Avianca. It is not guaranteed that you can get a redemption when booking within a year but it’s likely not impossible.
QR flies from T4 and there are four hotels connected to that terminal. Hilton, Premier Inn, Crowne Plaza and a Holiday Inn, all fine for an overnight before a flight.
And lastly, be careful when booking a redemption as various changes have made them more expensive than buying with cash in many cases. For example, I flew to KUL on an Avios redemption with QR but paid cash to get back to TK as it was cheaper.
It is easy to pickup confused information from sites like this as people tend to post problems and difficulties, sometimes of their own making!
I have never booked a year in advance and I have had quite a few redemptions. In 2022 I flew QR from LHR to KUL, a return to SCL on IB both in J and several European flights on BA and IB, mostly Y with Avios. I also flew FRA to GRU in LH F and GRU to LHR in J with Avianca. It is not guaranteed that you can get a redemption when booking within a year but it’s likely not impossible.
QR flies from T4 and there are four hotels connected to that terminal. Hilton, Premier Inn, Crowne Plaza and a Holiday Inn, all fine for an overnight before a flight.
And lastly, be careful when booking a redemption as various changes have made them more expensive than buying with cash in many cases. For example, I flew to KUL on an Avios redemption with QR but paid cash to get back to TK as it was cheaper.
That’s good to know.
I’m planning probably more travel to Dubai. Possibly Mexico. But I’ve no immediate NEED to go anywhere else.Would you be aiming for status with BA or QR?
IMHO status is overrated.
Are you going to be flying regularly now, as you’re asking about status?
If you’re only looking to go Dubai, then bear in mind, that with QR, there will be a stop in Doha, whereas with BA, it will at least be direct.
You only need to book a year in advance if you’re looking to fly business on high demand routes. I have never done it, and never would either, but I wouldn’t be looking to fly those routes.
If earning 600 TPs is not possible for you in one year, then there really isn’t any point chasing status at all.
If you live in UK, there seems little point chasing QR status unless you’ll use it a lot, it’s in Oneworld like BA, go for BA where you’ll probably get wider benefit/easier earning flying other BA routes.
I think BA operate out of NQY part of the year, if you could start there you’d get extra TP on that leg, depends if it’s economic vs. other options for getting to a hub airport.
But unless you’ll get Silver ‘naturally’, you need to consider if chasing it by doing TP runs will give you enough benefit to justify the cost – it might: free seat selection, and two 32kg checked bags, have significant value if you’d pay for them otherwise.
If not, just fly with the carrier that works best for any given trip.
I’ve NEVER booked a year in advance and my kids (we’re a family of 4) have NEVER travelled anything except Business or First on long haul holidays – my oldest is 15 for context.
This was even fine even in the old days when only 2 Business seats were released per flight. Now it is four it is even easier. The only caveat I would make is that private schools tend to have different holiday weeks to state schools, not that this really changes the dynamics much from London.
My 2 pence:
If you are planning to fly using airmiles you will not get status (except on Virgin Atlantic). You need to pay cash to get status.
I’ve never had status. The perks do not mean much to me. Especially if flying business you get lounge access anyway.
38k avios and 30k MR points do not get you much. Turning those 30k MR points into a different airline scheme will get you even less. You won’t be flying business return to Dubai with that….but, if you are used to economy, even premium economy will be a nice boost.
Destinations with a low frequency of flights that are highly sort after, particularly in school holidays, are the ones you’ll need to book as soon as they are released. Dubai is unlikely to have such issues as there are very frequent flights.
Look at other cards you can get to increase your avios with sign up bonuses (eg Barclaycard avios card). Rob can give you a referral for these.
Use your avios to make life easier, not harder.
Where you seek status depends on who you have to fly with. In the UK it will be BAEC for nearly everybody. I am Silver and that gives me J checkin, extra baggage, seat selection and lounges. That suits my travel, especially as I usually travel in Y for Europe.
On other long haul flights I will be in J so status doesn’t matter much.
Where you seek status depends on who you have to fly with. In the UK it will be BAEC for nearly everybody….
VS is joining SkyTeam soon, my guess is that it could prove very popular with the non BAEC crowd.
With a medium amount of flying, status is useful if you pay for long-haul in business and redeem (or pay) for short-haul in economy. Short haul is easier to redeem at short notice, but as mentioned it is not that difficult for long haul if you are a bit flexible with destination.
Never under estimate reward saver flights to Europe. You’re not points rich but a lot to be said for a reward flight that is fully flexible that can be picked up for points and £1.
Thanks all.
Anything’s possible Richie 😀Barclaycard is out as I have an existing card.
Would consider a personal Amex Platinum but really don’t spend enough. Have biz gold currently.I’ve no kids, so generally organise myself outside holidays for an easy life. One exception is that I try NOT to be here in Cornwall in August for obvious reasons.
Great to hear that reward availability isn’t as bad as I thought.
Seems like BAEC is the choice. Never thought about NQY as it’s a pain to get to and makes EXT look luxurious. But worth checking Aer Lingus perhaps.
@SteveJ
Do you have status with any hotels or other airlines? Just BAEC status is overrated? Or something else?
Would love to hear your thoughts…
@PeterK
Same question about status. You got it elsewhere?Status and Avios are beneficial for short haul. A flight to Madrid on a busy weekend can be 300-400pp which is ridiculous. However with points and status you can pay £100 and still have lounge access and select the emergency exit seats.
For that you need to pay (your or work) for a few long haul business tickets.
If you fly to Dubai in business and use the double TP offer you may (with a few more flights) earn enough for silver.
Hotel Status is worthwhile as there is usually a tangible benefit like late checkouts and free breakfast.
Airline status, if travelling business anyway then the lounge access from status adds nothing. Lounge access is widely available anyway through credit cards if not traveling business. I don’t particularly value the seat selection 7 days prior rather than day before, overall not something that is worthwhile a mad chase IMHO.
As I don’t have 80,000 avios… do we think that 65,000 avios + £265.45 is decent value for DXB-LHR return leg on business?
Could then just get a premium economy ticket out there I suppose.Or am I better off buying a premium economy return and upgrading the inbound with avios?
Also, how do I know if I get Club Suite? Flight 106 is what’s available, which I thought was on the list. But SeatGuru looks like old Club World.
Hotel Status is worthwhile as there is usually a tangible benefit like late checkouts and free breakfast.
Airline status, if travelling business anyway then the lounge access from status adds nothing. Lounge access is widely available anyway through credit cards if not traveling business. I don’t particularly value the seat selection 7 days prior rather than day before, overall not something that is worthwhile a mad chase IMHO.
Makes sense, thanks.
Never flown business before and I always used to drive to Europe. But getting twitchy looking out my window and want some adventure. So wanted to use my small pot of Avios to do that for the first time.Status and Avios are beneficial for short haul. A flight to Madrid on a busy weekend can be 300-400pp which is ridiculous. However with points and status you can pay £100 and still have lounge access and select the emergency exit seats.
For that you need to pay (your or work) for a few long haul business tickets.
If you fly to Dubai in business and use the double TP offer you may (with a few more flights) earn enough for silver.
My work is me. So need to make sure there’s enough profit to do it. But that’s an interesting point about the double TP offer.
I HAD never booked a trip a year in advance, 2012-2019 including around school holidays, however this year I feel I am going to have to use my vouchers at times I wouldn’t normally choose to travel(august) as there is zero availability when I do normally travel (easter/october)
@direttore, do you mean buying a one-way flight for cash to get you to DXB? Check the price if this before you make any decisions as single tickets on long haul are used disproportionately expensive.
If you have access to the new avios pricing, though, which would give you options for CW return for fewer avios and more cash.That said, you’ve left it very late for an award flight to DXB in February, though you could monitor cancellations via SeatSpy (and be aware of half term week which is unlikely to become available).
@direttore please stop using SeatGuru. It is so out of date. Aerolopa is a far newer and much more accurate resource of seat maps.
Also as an option to use your Avios have you considered cash and part pay with Avios? This is not the same as Avios + cash which is essentially a redemption but paying more cash to reduce the Avios and needs reward seats. Whereas cash and part pay with Avios is a revenue ticket that doesn’t need reward seats. You also get the benefit of TP and Avios back on the underlying cash fare.
I HAD never booked a trip a year in advance, 2012-2019 including around school holidays, however this year I feel I am going to have to use my vouchers at times I wouldn’t normally choose to travel(august) as there is zero availability when I do normally travel (easter/october)
That was why my original question referred to this year. The general vibe around the comments on this site and others (plus YT video comments) seems to present a gloomier picture than pre-pandemic. At least in terms of standards, quality and what’s possible.
So I wanted to hear from people with more experience than me.
@AJA thanks for the new site. STILL doesn’t show Club Suites as mentioned by Rob in the article here though.
And no, I hadn’t considered that. Is it best to ring them to do that kind of stuff? Or explore my options first?
@Anna I leave EVERYTHING late 😀 Being a single man running his own business will do that to you!
Hence my original question. If people here are using Avios to book flights to places they don’t need to go – just for a holiday – that’s not really any use to me.Didn’t realise single long haul would be disproportionately expensive. So thanks for pointing that out. Maybe I SHOULD ring them and see how helpful they are…
Flying is not something to leave last minute. From what I can gather cash prices are super high a year out, often cheapest about 6 months out then steadily go up as you get nearer departure date, and within a month of departure they are very expensive. So when it’s said that you are leaving it late, you really are if you wanted a good deal long haul.
Maybe don’t use Avios this time, but next time? As a redemption booking is flexible (cancellation for only £35), you can provisionally book a holiday with very little risk, even though self employed.
In answer to your questions, I have Hilton Gold (did have diamond from a status match) and find it good, especially free breakfast. I never assume I’ll get an upgrade and I’m not disappointed.
Also have IHG diamond. Until this year it was largely useless, but the benefits seem much better. It’s hard to attain though.Sounds to me like you need to dip your toe in the water in various schemes and see what works for you. I gave up on Accor and Marriott, but have stuck with Hilton and IHG.
Short haul, easyJet have dropped out of favour with me, Ryanair has been a no for a long time, Jet2 I’m uncertain if I like or not, BA club I like.
@Anna I leave EVERYTHING late 😀 Being a single man running his own business will do that to you!
Hence my original question. If people here are using Avios to book flights to places they don’t need to go – just for a holiday – that’s not really any use to me.Pretty much the definition of a holiday is somewhere you don’t NEED to go 😉 . Anyway, If you are happy to leave things until the last minute – REALLY the last minute – then Avios availability can often open up dramatically shortly before departure. For example, Biz class, Male is a very very hard-to-book redepmtion destination but you can fly on the 5th, return on the 13th on Avios right now (albeit for one). Bermuda and several popular southern USA destinations also available for multiple Biz travellers flying this week with plenty of choice of dates if you’re feeling chilly (as well as a big choice of winter staples like Canaries short haul). [/quote]
But yes, wide choice, low cost, short notice – these three things are pretty much mutually exclusive whether travelling cash or points. It’s the old good/fast/cheap triangle – if you want two of those things it won’t be the 3rd. If you want something good at short notice then it won’t be cheap…
Flying is not something to leave last minute. From what I can gather cash prices are super high a year out, often cheapest about 6 months out then steadily go up as you get nearer departure date, and within a month of departure they are very expensive. So when it’s said that you are leaving it late, you really are if you wanted a good deal long haul.
Maybe don’t use Avios this time, but next time? As a redemption booking is flexible (cancellation for only £35), you can provisionally book a holiday with very little risk, even though self employed.
In answer to your questions, I have Hilton Gold (did have diamond from a status match) and find it good, especially free breakfast. I never assume I’ll get an upgrade and I’m not disappointed.
Also have IHG diamond. Until this year it was largely useless, but the benefits seem much better. It’s hard to attain though.Sounds to me like you need to dip your toe in the water in various schemes and see what works for you. I gave up on Accor and Marriott, but have stuck with Hilton and IHG.
Short haul, easyJet have dropped out of favour with me, Ryanair has been a no for a long time, Jet2 I’m uncertain if I like or not, BA club I like.
Thanks Peter. Really interesting.
I bought Accor gold last week. And yeah, I think toe-dipping is exactly what’s needed.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
