Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Forum Replies Created

  • 45 posts

    Thank you but I don’t shop at Sainsbury’s enough to make use of the £600. I’d rather use it for flights as I consider points as an added bonus to my otherwise normal spending!

    You can spend Nectar at Argos or Ebay too. There’s almost nothing you can’t get from those two outlets. Within a year I’m certain you could blast through £ 600 of Nectar.

    As to your point about “added bonus”, I agree. It’s horrible to spend points on non-aspirational nonsense like tins of beans and toasters. However, despite holding out for years against spending points for anything other than leisure/holidays, this is what I do:

    – I have a Chase holiday savings account
    – If I transfer Avios to Nectar (or make any other non-holiday redemption from Amex) I put the equivalent sum in the savings account
    – I spend the savings account funds exclusively on non-essential holidays and leisure

    unfortunately, post-pandemic, this unsexy way of spending Amex/Avios can clearly be the best way.

    That’s not a bad idea. I’ll keep it in mind if I do t find a decent redemption/discount for my Australia flights!

    45 posts

    Qatar flights London – Melbourne return on your dates are showing £330 reduction for using 77k Avios , the nearest option to your 90k, so this isn’t a great exchange rate compared to the approx £600 you could get by cashing them out to Nectar and spending them in Sainsbury.

    You can book cash plus miles using Asia Miles on Cathay but not sure they offer cash and miles with Avios.

    Thank you but I don’t shop at Sainsbury’s enough to make use of the £600. I’d rather use it for flights as I consider points as an added bonus to my otherwise normal spending!

    Does anyone have Cathay or AirAsia miles that could possibly check for me? I’d really appreciate it.

    45 posts

    Not sure if it’s practical for you, but Qatar do have 45k availability on 17 March for Adelaide to London

    Oh, thanks! I’ll have a look and see if I can make it work.

    45 posts

    Thanks for the help!

    Qatar, for my dates, I can only get one way tickets at 45k. The return is always priced at 90k which is annoying.

    Qantas, it is asking for 200k for reward flights.

    I am trying to work out how to see how much 90k would be ‘worth’ in a miles plus cash payment. Unfortunately without miles for either, I cannot see.

    I wouldn’t mi d going via the US as I love flying VA but once again, I can’t see the flights in the website. It crashes when I try, which isn’t handy!

    I’ll try again. I have seen Cathay is the cheapest in cost (just over £1k). If I could see how much 99k would take off in a miles plus cash scenario, I would be interested.

    Thanks again for your help.

    45 posts

    I wouldn’t mind using the points to reduce the cost of the trip, even if it reduces the ‘perceived value’. Of course, the higher, the better, but it’s not always possible. I don’t have miles with the main airlines who fly to Australia so I can’t log in to make dummy bookings to see how much 90k points would save.

    I am willing to take a longer stopover, perhaps around 5-7 hours max, and only one way ideally. I wouldn’t mind having a 3-5h stopover each way as I will have lounge access with my Amex.

    Thanks.

    45 posts

    Thank you for your advice! I know I can make the most of my points if I split my trip up but I would rather fly with only one stop, and with easy connections.

    My dates are flying out on 25th Feb to Melbourne or Sydney, and flying back 17th March from Melbourne or Sydney. To/from London airports. I can take a return flight on the 18th of March but I need to land the same day.

    Thank you!

    45 posts

    Just off the top of my head I’m guessing 2x one way UK to from Hong Kong on BA and maybe 2x Cathay one way between Hong Kong and Oz. Alternatively do the UK-HK sectors using avios in premium economy using avios and then check LCC between UK and Oz. I’ve seen amazing fares on Scoot lately, also look at Air Asia X and Jetstar.

    I hadn’t thought about splitting the trip up into sectors but look into it! Thanks.

    45 posts

    https://www.awardhacker.com/

    This website can give you the routes available and miles required.

    Thank you! I will have a look. Is this only for award flights? Do you happen to know if there is a similar website which miles + cash where I can work out how much discount miles would give me too?

    Thanks.

    45 posts

    There are options with Qatar for economy return to OZ cities for 90k + a few hundred pounds in fees/taxes. Still some availability in Q1 2023 but obviously may not match if you have fixed dates

    I will have a look! I hope it matches the dates I need but I know the chances are low.

    45 posts

    “….. my dates are pretty much fixed to when I can get leave,”

    Not a good start when trying to find reward flights TBHO

    What class of travel are you hoping for ?

    I know, it’s unfortunate but I can’t get flexible times off work. It’s why I thought I would go for the cash+points redemption to bring down the costs instead as it can be used for any seat.

    I’m hoping to go at the highest class I can afford but likely will end up being economy or prem economy.

    Thank you.

    in reply to: Amex 24k Platinum referral points
    45 posts
    in reply to: Amex 24k Platinum referral points
    45 posts

    If the BAPP card is the British Airways American Express® Premium Plus Card then I have it with a referral offer for 26k. I am happy to refer you if you want 🙂

    in reply to: Post your American Express Gold retention offers
    45 posts

    Has anyone managed to get the fee waived instead for the 2nd year?

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