 Poster: A snowHead
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Airmiles is changing to Avios – and a new points scheme that spells the end to free flights and charges taxes and fees of up to £500.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/09/angry-flyers-airmiles-avios
Any Airmile balance will be changed to Avios but you won't be able to buy 100% of your flight with Avios.
Airmiles customers will now have until 14 November (booking online) or 15 December (booking by phone) to redeem their Airmiles without having to pay taxes, fees and charges. So long as customers book by then, they will be able to choose a free flight up to December 2012.
It could be time to use up your balance and book very soon.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ironically, the new scheme is much better if you've been collecting through BA's mileage scheme as taxes and charges are much lower.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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FlyingStantoni, agreed. New scheme is good for me as it means shortfall flights are better-value-for-miles through Airmiles and longhaul remains better through BA.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Have you tried using the new Avios web site? Not impressed!!
Searching for flights it brings up November as the month you want to search in then you use the calendar to move on the month so far havn't managed to get beyond Feb as once it gets to feb the program tells me its updating calendar after 35 min i gave up so tired several other route so far all fall down on calendar up date.
May just phone up and try to book something before Dec cut off.
Web site kept trying to get me to give it the thumbs up on TWITFACE not a chance!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Booked a BA return flight to Zurich for next March using airmiles a while ago and it came to about £80. Just tried booking the same flights again using Avios and it's now £27. I should have waited.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Does anybody know if there is a [dis]advantage to merging BA Avios points (collecting from BA, hotel partners, Tesco etc.) with the Avios account proper (collecting from Amex card & Shell) ?
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musher, I just transferred all my BA points into my main Avios account. I wanted to use them to book a hotel and there was very little choice on BA. easy, 1 for 1 and I believe you can transfer them either way anytime.
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At the moment Avios is using BA flights more or less exclusively.
This means there are fewer flights on offer to winter destinations as Lufthansa and SwissAir have not yet signed up to the new Avios system.
But availability is generally good at the moment even around peak dates especially if you are a little flexible. Most flights are out of London Airports.
BONUS........ BA conecting flights from regional airports come up as "free", however this then limits the flights out of London (LHR/LGW) as the connecting flights can be at times that don't suit schedules.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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theskibob,
I just booked Christmas flights to Basel (Sun to Sun) no problem. Are there rumours of Lufthansa and SwissAir signing up to Avios? That would be brilliant (esp. for ski carriage)!
Colin B,
It looks like you can freely transfer points between BA & Avios and back again, although I don't think it is possible to merge the actual accounts. I just wondered if there was any advantage to keeping the points in the accounts separate / combining them. Does one offer deals that the other doesn't etc. Sounds like hotels are best booked through Avios. I have only ever used them for flights.
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theskibob, Lufthansa, Swiss, SN Brussels and Austrian have their own scheme Miles & More, however they are part of star alliance so you can accrue and spend points with other partner airlines.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Mon 16-07-12 20:46; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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musher, Yes I had to open a separate Avios account. I wanted to use mine as I'd already lost some in my daughter's name. Flights cost more in taxes alone with BA than through Easyjet. Hotel availabilty is far more limited on BA eg none at all in Lyon where I wanted to book.
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