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Following on from Rob’s Lufthansa article this morning, some of the replies were referring to the old days of Clubcard and how much easier it was to build up a big stash of points/miles.
As someone who only got into this game pretty much post-COVID, I actually love reading about some of the crazy and fun stuff about the miles game such as The Royal Mint stories and I have briefly read about 3V gift cards and other similar things in some previous articles. Even if I look upon you guys with a hint of envy!
So what was some of your fun redemptions? It could be any reason: how cheap it was, the way in which you got the points or miles for it, if you got a huge upgrade, if it was your first redemption that got you hooked or pretty much anything else.
My best was my first as it was also for my honeymoon to the Maldives in Etihad J.
Amex increased the referral cap to 270k with 27k referral bonuses. 10 referrals were near enough for me to get me to my dream destination via Marriott to AA miles. Boring, I know, which is why I want to hear the more fun ones!
My best was my first as it was also for my honeymoon to the Maldives in Etihad J.
That’s tough to beat, but I’ll try. Booked two younger sweepers on Premium Economy to Japan earlier this year, with Finnair, and myself in first class on Japan Airlines at almost exactly the same time also from Helsinki (these were the only three redemption seats available on the dates required). With about ten days to go two more seats opened up in F on my flight. Even with a clean-out of my Membership Rewards I did not have enough Avios to book it, so asked ex-partner and still active P2 for a loan of the missing miles sent via Finnair transfer for € 10. With the Avios in hand, booked the seats, and told the kids they would be in PE on JAL instead (and unfortunately the JAL website was broken for seat selection and meals so don’t waste your time trying). Printed their boarding cards at home and still didn’t tell them until we got on the plane (they didn’t know I was in F either). Cue a round of bowing from and an extremely happy clan. “First time the holiday started on the plane” said my son, which nicely sums up the extremely good experience up front with JAL making a very long flight a complete delight.
P2 has been repaid, with interest, plus a thank you gift from Japan. Almost everything about this wouldn’t have been possible without tips found from @Rob and the team (eg Finnair transfers) and hints from this forum.
A few referrals helped with the initial points earning, plus heavy business spend on a card that’s not supposed to be used for business spend, so the less said about that the better.
My second ever redemption (back in the day when Airmiles were still paper vouchers) was Man-LHR then Concorde to JFK, returning in business class. Total cost was £1000 plus 1000 Airmiles as a special BA promotion.
What a fun thread!
Mine is much more modest than the rest, I am sure.
I booked a basic-room at a Hilton resort with the minimal point requirement, taking advantage of the usual benefit of 4-4-5.
But then, I contacted the resort for an upsell. And for a very reasonable rate, I managed to get a Villa suite with a semi-private pool.
The family had a blast for 10 days.We spent Xmas and New Year 2022/3 in the US, mostly paid for with avios and other points. The cash value of the trip would have been over £10k for the 3 of us.
We flew in F to IAD with the 241 voucher (son slummed it in CW!) Then stayed 3 nights at the IC Willard which was gorgeously decorated for Xmas. We used the Ambassador certificate to book a 1 bedroom suite for the 3 of us, then booked a 3rd night on points, and they let us stay in the suite, so effectively 3 nights for the price of one.
Then flew DCA to Key West (with avios) and spend another 2 1/2 weeks driving from Key West to Orlando. Our hire car was upgraded to a brand new Cadillac XT6 which was utterly fabulous!
We did 5 nights in Key West with Bonvoy points, 5 nights in Marathon Key with HH points (where we spent Xmas in a freak cold spell but enjoyed surf n turf for Xmas dinner), 2 nights in Key Largo then 5 nights in Fort Lauderdale where we spent New Year. A river boat cruise with hilarious commentary and being hailed by many raucous Americans along the way was a very fun way to spend New Year’s Day.
We were booked to fly home from MIA but I’d only been quick enough to bag 3 economy seats at T-355 and really didn’t fancy it! Happily, a couple of days before we were due to fly home, some PE seats appeared on Virgin from MCO-MAN so we decided to go for a direct flight in a better cabin, under the old (i.e. reasonable) pricing system. Here’s where it pays to have separate bookings on BA redemptions because we just cancelled the MIA flights, re-arranged with Avis to arrange to return our rental car at MCO at no extra cost, and got in a trip to Gatorland as a bonus, lol!
Has to be taking parents and brother to New York for the weekend, out in economy but coming back on Concorde using Airmiles.
I only had enough miles collected for 3 people to go Concorde coming back, not quite enough for all 4 of us, so I was booked on a regular flight home.
Until fortune smiled (well kind of…)
BA lost/misplaced my bag for a separate trip a month before NY. Their compensation included just enough airmiles for me to have enough now to fly back with them on Concorde too.
Such a memorable trip for all of us.Has to be the Virgin Voyages cruises!
(the first couple of years when sub-100k)An incredible experience which I would never had looked at without the redemption offer.
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