BA Frequent Flyer Program

Matty6

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I’m just about to use all of my American Airlines miles, so I’m thinking of starting accruing miles with BA. Over the last few years all my flights have been BA, but I’ve posted the miles to my AA account.

I want to move as it’s pretty restrictive using AA miles on BA flights.

So, anyone on here accrue Avios miles and use them to redeem against upgrades and flights?
 

Rooter

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So, anyone on here accrue Avios miles and use them to redeem against upgrades and flights?

Yup, i also have the BA Amex card. Just sorted return flights for the wife and i to vegas with my companion voucher.

I use Avios for free flights, tax is still high, but you can also use avios for activities, so i am going to get a grand canyon helicopter trip with some of mine.

If you consider the BA amex, let me know, i get a referral of free points and so would you.
 

AMcC

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Yup, i also have the BA Amex card. Just sorted return flights for the wife and i to vegas with my companion voucher.

I use Avios for free flights, tax is still high, but you can also use avios for activities, so i am going to get a grand canyon helicopter trip with some of mine.

If you consider the BA amex, let me know, i get a referral of free points and so would you.

We only joined last year as well, so will be watching this with interest. We also looked at getting an Amex card, whats the best way to get one /

I had heard the best use of points was when upgrading but not sure ?
 

Coffey

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Was a frequent flyer with BA for a couple of years. The system has gotten a bit worse now, well from Belfast anyway. We used to get the Belfast-London flight for free when booking with the points, but now it costs 9k points.

The points build up pretty slowly if flying within the UK but they are worth collecting. Once you get to Silver status you get lounge access which is pretty decent.

I used my points to go to New York, dublin-london-JFK with my partner. All in, it cost us £171 (taxes) each for the flights and we got free upgrades to Premium economy.

I have also used points to go to Prague which was £35 each for the taxes. I believe the taxes are a set price for all EU flights and their website is really good for seeing how many points you need and how much the tax is going to be.

Regarding the upgrading, I have a few mates who use it for this, they would save them all up and go business class to america or something like that as it is ridiculously expensive and it is a good opportunity to do it. I went for the more destinations route for the least money.

Regarding the Amex card, I have a gold Amex and it is great, it allows you to transfer points to multiple reward schemes across loads of airlines and hotels. I have just transferred some points to my HHonors account to go to Edinburgh for 4 nights for free. As well as this, you can transfer the points into Amazon vouchers, you get £4.50 for each 1000 points you get. The bad part, its £140 a year, but the first year is free. So you can sign up, use it for a year and close it before having to pay. I think if you spend £3k within the first 3 months, you get 22k points bonus. Was great when I was travelling with work as it just built up so quickly. And yes the referral is great, when we got a few new people in work I would always recommend it :whoo:
 

Val

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We only joined last year as well, so will be watching this with interest. We also looked at getting an Amex card, whats the best way to get one /

I had heard the best use of points was when upgrading but not sure ?

Big Al, we need a game sometime and a chat about this. I'll explain how I do it. All you need is a spend on CC of around £20k a year and you'll generate enough for you and the Mrs to fly in business for the cost of economy.
 

Val

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I consider myself knowledgeable when it comes to manipulating spends to generate Avios. I haven't flown long haul in any class lower than business for years now. I churn amex platinum and BA amex for bonus avios and it helps I have a combined business and personal spend of circa £20k annually.

If anyone has aspirations of having BA amex cards or Amex gold or platinum i'll also happily offer you a referral code for you to get more points on your target spend.
 

Matty6

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Thanks for the info folks, very helpful.

I get my miles from flying to the US and Oz on business, so the miles rack up quite quickly. My current AA miles are covering a business class trip to NYC for me and my wife, which is nice! Taxes are something like £350 iirc.

Regarding Amex, I have to use a corporate Amex for all business related expenses so unfortunately, I can’t use a personal CC for my travel. I wish I could!!

All the routes I now travel with work are only served by BA, so it seems to make sense to start collecting Avios rather than AA miles.

Thanks again guys.
 

Val

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Thanks for the info folks, very helpful.

I get my miles from flying to the US and Oz on business, so the miles rack up quite quickly. My current AA miles are covering a business class trip to NYC for me and my wife, which is nice! Taxes are something like £350 iirc.

Regarding Amex, I have to use a corporate Amex for all business related expenses so unfortunately, I can’t use a personal CC for my travel. I wish I could!!

All the routes I now travel with work are only served by BA, so it seems to make sense to start collecting Avios rather than AA miles.

Thanks again guys.

That type of travel especially if in premium cabins will rack the miles and tier points up very quickly, tier points moving you up status and getting to silver or above will also give access to oneworld airline lounges which help.

A 10k spend on a BA black amex will give you a companion voucher, the cost is £195 a year and it allows 2 flights with the avios cost for one and taxes of 2. A typical NY return on the 2-4-1 is circa £1100 in taxes plus 125k avios. BA have higher "taxes" than other airlines for reward flights.
 
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