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@freddy84, how much were the economy seats for cash? Also, are you sure you were looking at award seats for using your avios? I would have thought that the cash saving would be a lot higher than what you were shown (as opposed to using avios to reduce the price of a cash ticket). Travelling in school holidays is usually the one time it makes financial sense to book economy award seats!
Return LON-DOH in economy should be 50/60k avios pp plus £100 via BA (possibly slightly less via QR), however I’m thinking that as you’ve left it a bit late for peak season booking (you need to be looking 11-12 months out for guaranteed availability), there may no longer be any (or enough) seats left at normal award pricing.
I don’t agree that hotel points schemes should be dismissed out of hand.
@GuernseyGlobetrotter I wasn’t dismissing the idea of hotel reward schemes but pointing out that by focussing on them you potentially miss out on cheaper deals with smaller local hotels. The whole point of reward schemes is to tie you into using their hotels as you think you are getting a great deal.
It’s the same thing with airlines – by focussing on the “rewards” of a particular airline you potentially miss out on great deals on competitors.
It’s also easier when it is just one or two in the household as the schemes are set up to reward more easily. It is difficult to gather enough points in the first place but it is doubly difficult when you’re trying to earn enough for a family of 5.
This is where HfP is so good because it shows you what you can do with the points and gives advance notice of airlines and hotels offering bonus point schemes or great redemption opportunities. But all of that still should be compared against just paying cash, even when you have substantial points balances using them isn’t necessarily the best option. And we are a nice bunch of people willing to share our knowledge and sharing great opportunities when we see them.
I treat points collecting and spending as a hobby that makes my money go further hence I don’t get too wound up about not being a member of every hotel and airline reward scheme. I focus on the airlines I use the most and tend to not bother with chain hotels. I also use companion vouchers on European shorthaul CE flights even though the consensus is that you get better value from longhaul. You may do it differently – we are both right. It’s not a one-size fits all thing and definitely not a case of everyone must do exactly the same things.
@freddy84, how much were the economy seats for cash? Also, are you sure you were looking at award seats for using your avios? I would have thought that the cash saving would be a lot higher than what you were shown (as opposed to using avios to reduce the price of a cash ticket). Travelling in school holidays is usually the one time it makes financial sense to book economy award seats!
@NorthernLass On the Qatar Airways award search, LHR-DOH return in economy for 1 adult is 43,000 Avios + £222. The same thing for one adult and 2 children is 129,000 Avios + £491. Taking the latter scenario, I then searched for cash tickets for 1 adult and 1 child on the same flights and the cost was only about £200 cheaper than just buying all 5 as cash tickets.In terms of earning or spening Avios you need a BAEC account so even if you stick with Amex MR points you need a BAEC account to convert NR to Avios. You don’t technically need a Qatar Airways Privelege account but it mught be worthwhile as you can link it to BAEC and transfer Avios instantly between the two. Don’t forget that via BAEC on cash fares you also earn Avios of at least 6 times the base fare excluding taxes which helps build up the Avios stash.
I have already created BAEC accounts for myself and my wife and then created a household account and added her to it as well as our 3 children so they can all earn points when we fly. I’ve also created a Qatar Airways Privilege account when we flew with Qatar last year.
If you’re eligible for the BAPP card I’d open one for the SUB which is pretty generous and adds to the Avios pot.
I’m just not currently seeing where I’ll get the value for the annual fee on that card. I want to make sure we fly where we would normally go rather than where the points value is best, but routes to the Middle East for example so far don’t seem to be saving much. And for longer haul routes, though we could get a couple of us on business class, the cost of the remaining tickets are killing that option – just can’t afford that. It might just be the combination of our travel destinations and family size although it’d be great to hear what others with 3 kids are doing in case I’m missing something.
It might be worth investigating hotel reward schemes but you are then limiting yourself to the big brands whereas the destinations you mentioned have lots of local but decent hotel chains which are good value.
I have been reading the articles on here about the Hilton and Marriott schemes for this reason but yes, your point is valid in terms of being limited to their hotels and generally I find there are always options on accommodation to flex the price to a particular budget, whereas I feel with flights there is much less room hence it sounded like a good idea to try and get smarter at using Avios to save some money on flights rather than hotels.
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