Air miles are a changing (Air Miles)

Member Name: mandyhaley

Product:	Air Miles
Date:	03/07/01 (796 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free flights

Disadvantages: It'll take you a long time

In October 2000, British Airways Executive Club launched BA Miles, which now exists alongside the more familiar Air Miles. They cannot be combined, so do you know the difference?

The Air Miles scheme is continuing as before but beware that flying with British Airways will now earn you BA miles instead of Air Miles. Some other Air Miles partners have also pulled out, for example Vodafone. Although it is early days for the new scheme, it appears to me that Air Miles will become the poor relation to BA Miles.

So what are BA Miles? Basically, they are the miles you now earn by flying with British Airways. You also earn them on qualifying expenditure with a variety of partners, mainly business expenditure, for example Avis, Hertz and many hotel chains. However, you can earn BA Miles at Sainsburys. One reward voucher (£2.50) earns you 400 BA Miles.

So, it seems the BA Miles scheme is more focussed on the business traveller flying with British Airways. Executive Club members now get one BA mile for every mile travelled, with more for flying in a premium cabin:

World traveller plus x 1.25
Business/club x 2
First x 3
Concorde x 4

Unfortunately, if you are travelling on a discounted economy fare, you only receive 25% of the BA miles. For example, we flew from London to Delhi on a discounted ticket (as part of a package holiday) and received 1042 BA miles for a single journey. Not a lot, but better than the nothing you would have received in Air Miles. And, the Executive Club is free to join.

So, how many BA miles do you need for a free return flight from London?
BA has grouped its destinations into 8 zones. Here are some examples:
Zone 1 - 13,000 miles (Paris, Milan)
Zone 2 - 20,000 miles (Venice, Rome)
Zone 3 - 25,000 miles (Athens, Moscow)
Zone 4 - 30,000 miles (Cairo, Tel Aviv)
Zone 5 - 40,000 miles (New York, Dubai)
Zone 6 - 50,000 miles (Hong Kong, Rio)
Zone
7 - 80,000 miles (Tokyo, Singapore)
Zone 8 - 100,000 miles (Sydney, Auckland)

There are ways you can get there faster:

For £25 you can open a household account, which means you and up to three other members of your household can collect and spend miles together. I'm not sure how useful this will be to many people.

BA also say they will be offering selected routes at a discounted mileage - you can check for special offers on their website.

However, the mileage required seems pretty frightening. I'm not sure I'm going to get very far with the few BA Miles that I earned from my flight to India. But, I'll keep saving, and you never know. I've had three free flights from Air Miles in 10 years (and only had to pay the Airport Tax). If I can get some more free flights, I'll be happy.

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