Comments on: How to Collect Point and Miles in the United Kingdom

By: Andy Watt

Andy Watt — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 21:43:19 +0000

Air miles and points to me is quite baffling. It’s a fairly simple concept but for some reason the details behind it are just beyond me. I understand most things reasonably well, and have been told, by others, that I’m quite intelligent. (I see myself more as a sponge, soaking up a wealth of encyclopaedic information, most of it fairly useless) but air miles and all that to me are like logarithmic equations. Something I wasn’t tip top at in High school.

However once I get home I’m seriously going to look into getting myself the credit cards and reward cards. Tesco have already given me $1500 dollars worth of free shares for working there. I’m sure I can milk a few points from them. I have plans to come back to New Zealand (once my broken foot is sorted) and then go to Canada. That’s a lot of flying.

Also do you know how frequent flyers works? I’ve flown a lot in the past 2 years. It’s probably something I should start to take advantage of as well.

By: Lutanas

Lutanas — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 10:34:01 +0000

We started with BA Amex a year ago and we are mostly shopping in Tesco to get points from Tesco and from using our card. But the trick was that we had avios household account, from which you can not transfer point to BA your miles. Which is not really logical. You would recon that it will be easier to manage accounts with household account. So now we have to split our avios household account back to individual one to be able to transfer them to BA.
Also if you go travelling for a longer period and not coming back, it might be tricky to have Avios account as you have to have a residental address in the UK. Whilst other cards like amex and BA executive you can transfer to new country of residence.
Thank you for posting this, we will be checking his website.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 10:56:43 +0000

Thanks for this! It’s frustrating seeing so many guides to points but them all being US only. Shame I didn’t know about this earlier, I leave in a month or so so too late to sign up for cards now but could have booked all my tickets on one! Could have got a free night at a Hilton 🙁

By: Deia

Deia — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 11:12:20 +0000

I’ve been trying to get into travel hacking, but as a Canadian, my options are limited. I read about travel hacking from American bloggers and feel a little frustrated because so many things don’t apply to me. I’ve found a website that helps me get started (Rewards Canada). I’m not affiliated with them in any way. Just hoping this will help other Canadians trying to get into the game.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 08:54:03 +0000

Thanks for posting this Matt! We get asked about this kind of thing a lot, but never have a good answer because we’re too lazy to play the points game. Now we can just direct everyone over to Raffles!

The tips about low-tax routes via Dublin and Madrid could be the spur for us to look into this stuff a little more – very cool.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 23:38:01 +0000

In reply to Geoff. Do you know a Canadian travel hacking site? Thanks!

By: Rashad Pharaon

Rashad Pharaon — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 09:32:34 +0000

Awesome interview and great tips – very true that the “points system” in the U.S. kind of sucks whether you’re going the credit card route or not. When I’m in the States I fly Southwest constantly and seem to always be racking up points but you can’t put them towards a flight – you can only use them if you have enough to purchase an entire flight. Thanks for some great ways to actually make the points thing work!!

By: John

John — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 07:27:44 +0000

In reply to Geoff.

Geoff – you can set one up!
Information seems to be based around the AFF and whirlpool forums mostly. There isn’t even an AU equivalent of the moneysavingexpert.com forums…
One problem is that in Australia most credit cards have annual fees and you need to pay a surcharge at most merchants. If that’s 1%, then you need to get at least 1c worth of value from each point, which is not always easy, and that only leaves you breaking even.
Woolworths and Coles’ loyalty programs are lousy – in Woolies to get 1 QFF point you need to spend $31 or pay 2c/L extra on your fuel…

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 04:03:06 +0000

Anyone know of similar sites focused for travel hacking in Australia?

By: Victoria

Victoria — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 18:22:11 +0000

My main issue is still the fact that I get rejected for the credit cards. I should get a Tesco Clubcard though as I shop with them a fair bit.