Free flights to join repo cruises - here is how (UK-focussed)

[Skipper Tim]

I have mentioned on my two recent MSC repositioning cruises how I obtained what would otherwise be very expensive one-way flights with little more than "Tesco vouchers". Most of the detail of what follows is specific to the UK but the principles appply anywhere and the currency that makes it all possible, Avios, is global.

 

Tesco & Avios

Tesco's loyalty scheme is the Tesco Clubcard. Regular spending at Tesco either in-store or at any of its online divisions earns 1 Clubcard point per £1 spent. Every three months these are returned as Clubcard Vouchers where 100 points = £1 to spend in-store. That would be the least value you could possibly obtain. That same 100 points could be converted to £3 worth of train ticket vouchers or more importantly it could be converted to 240 Avios either with Avios (formerly UK Airmiles) or the British Airways Executive Club. All conversions are done at the Tesco Clubcard website.

 

So how much does a flight cost with Avios?

I recently returned from Venice after a cruise. I travelled BA business class via Gatwick to Manchester. The main benefit of business class on a short-haul flight are fast-track check-in and security plus access to the lounges, in this case at Venice and Gatwick - where there are help-yourself drinks and food, free wi-fi, newspapers and comfortable seats. The one-way ticket would have cost a minimum of £565. Instead I paid 15,000 Avios + £20 in taxes and fees. Converting back, that is £62.50 worth of Tesco vouchers plus £20. Economy travel requires half the number of Avios and caries slightly lower taxes but why travel economy?

 

The second example is my outward flight from Manchester to Sao Paulo, Brazil to meet the same cruise. To avoid the huge UK Passenger departure taxes on long-haul flights, I first flew from Manchester to Madrid with Ryanair for a little over £30. Spain has no such departure tax but it does have an airline owned by the same parent company that owns British Airways. Iberia has an equivalent frequent flyers scheme, called Iberia Plus, with the common Avios currency and it takes seconds to transfer Avios from BA Executive Club to Iberia Plus. (Note that it is free to open an Iberia Plus account but you cannot transfer Avios in until it has been open for 90 days - so open one now just in case https://www.iberia.com/OneToOne/v3/userRegistration.do?tabId=header_0&menuId=01000000000000). Then my business class flight to Sao Paulo, listed at just short of £4,000, cost 50,000 Avios + €54 in taxes or £208 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers plus £45. Of course the benefits of business class long-haul are far greater with a lie-flat seat on which you can actually sleep, loads more space and vastly improved food and drink.

 

Tesco Clubcard vouchers are non-transferable so sadly they cannot be bought at any price.

 

Isn't that is an awful lot of shopping at Tesco?

Had my Tesco points come from regular Tesco shopping, then yes, it would have taken years to get them. Clubcard members receive coupons with their quarterly statements. Some of these are money-off and some are extra points, e.g. 25 extra points when you spend £1 on meat/veg/frozen food/ dairy etc.. We always use these. Then there are special bonus points offers from time to time, e.g. 500 extra points when you buy two ink-jet cartridges and these are always worth investigating even if only to sell the items on eBay. However, by far the fastest way to amass points is with a cash-back site.

 

Flights for nothing!

TopCashback has recently tied-up with Tesco Clubcard to allow cash-back to be taken in the form of Clubcard points. That may not sound exciting but it is. There are thousands of ways of obtaining cash back from companies you probably already do business with. There is even a link to "Free Cashback" where there is no need to actually spend any money to obtain cash back. Currently LoveFilm offers £15.15 cash back for taking out a one month free trial - that is almost half a business class seat to Venice for watching a few films, free of charge! If you are considering switching energy or phone providers, take out an insurance policy or two or even apply for a premium Amex card, there are serious amount of cash back to be had - £40 to £100 at a time. Most familiar names have a percentage cash-back arrangement and if you are serious about getting free flights, you should check TopCashBack before making any purchase at all.

 

Register with TopCashBack here http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/timmillea?source=tellafriend. This is my referral link and I will receive a £10 thank you - so thank you!

 

Cash back to flights what is the process?

Once the cash back has arrived in your TopCashBack account, you login and request a payment. Choose Tesco Clubcard points as the payment method. TopCashBack add a bonus of 5% so £100 in cash-back will give 10,500 Clubcard points worth £105 in Clubcard vouchers or 25,200 Avios - enough for an economy flight to/from South America. At the end of the current Clubcard quarter points are converted to vouchers and at that point you can log in to your Tesco Clubcard account and convert them to Avios either with Avios themselves or more usefully, the BA Executive Club - only the latter permits direct transfers to Iberia and their website is easier to book redemption flights on. You can join the BA Executive Club here: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/register-now/public/en_gb.

 

Hold Your Horses!

The bonuses have not stopped yet. Around once a year Tesco Clubcard offer conversion bonuses from Clubcard Vouchers to Avios of 50 to 100%. If you don't need your Avios then leave your Tesco Clubcard vouchers well alone and wait for the conversion bonus to come along.

 

And finally...

This has been a gentle introduction to the practice of getting your reposition cruise flights for near-free. The bible of collecting Avios in the UK is http://www.headforpoints.com. There is much more information there and it is worth checking daily or subscribing to the email newsletter as offers come and go with surprising speed.

 

10-Point Summary

1. Join Iberia Plus: https://www.iberia.com/OneToOne/v3/userRegistration.do?tabId=header_0&menuId=01000000000000

2. Join the BA Executive Club: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/register-now/public/en_gb

3. Join TopCashBack: http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/timmillea?source=tellafriend

4. If you don't have one, get a Tesco Clubcard here: https://secure.tesco.com/register/default.aspx?from=http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/

5. Don't spend a penny without first checking for cash-back on TopCashBack

6. Checkout the "Free Cashback" offers - they represent flights for nothing.

7. Read on a daily basis or subscribe to: http://www.headforpoints.com

8. Take your earned cash-back as Tesco ClubCard points

9. Wait until Tesco Clubcard have a conversion bonus to Avios (roughly once per year)

10. Book those bargain repo cruises and use your Avios to join and leave them.

 

Any questions?

Edited April 1, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[ann2201]

Thank you, Skipper Tim for this detailed account of how to get cheap flights. It is very informative and I have taken a copy and will study carefully. I used to save the points and bought DH an expensive watch from Goldsmiths for a big birthday, but after that lost interest. You have really given me a challenge again, thank you:)

Edited April 9, 2013 by ann2201

[ann2201]

Hi, have started looking at this Skipper Tim. Am I correct in saying that Topcashback are limiting the £s you transfer to Tesco points to £50 cashback a yeaar? Or am I misreading this? Many thanks, Ann

[AmoMondo]

Great summary Tim of how to get the most out of Avios.

 

I'd would add a note of warning to book as far in advance as you can. I tried at the weekend to book return flights to Genoa (end of May) and Venice (October) and no reward flights were available for Genoa and only the return journey from Venice. They appear to restrict the number of flights purchased by Avios on each flight.

[Skipper Tim]

Great summary Tim of how to get the most out of Avios.

 

I'd would add a note of warning to book as far in advance as you can. I tried at the weekend to book return flights to Genoa (end of May) and Venice (October) and no reward flights were available for Genoa and only the return journey from Venice. They appear to restrict the number of flights purchased by Avios on each flight.

 

I understand that Avios.com often have more availability than the BA executive club and that it is worth phoning both for seats on on the web.

[Skipper Tim]

Hi, have started looking at this Skipper Tim. Am I correct in saying that Topcashback are limiting the £s you transfer to Tesco points to £50 cashback a yeaar? Or am I misreading this? Many thanks, Ann

 

Zut! I must have missed that. Are you sure? Zut alors! (Pardon my French).

[Skipper Tim]

Here is an update to this thread with my most recent booking example.

 

A few days ago I sensed the repositioning cruises were diminishing in choice and edging up in price so I wanted to take the plunge on the Genoa to Santos cruise on the MSC Orchestra in October.

 

Before booking the cruise, I looked at the flights required.

 

1. The long haul back from Sao Paulo (the airport for Santos) was available with Iberia Plus to Madrid at 25,000 Avios in economy or 50,000 in business plus 28 Euros in taxes in either case - a bargain in either case.

 

2. The connecting flight from Madrid to Manchester. The usually cheap Ryanair flight direct to Manchester was not available. Avios to the rescue again. BA had several flights via Heathrow with a choice of waits in Madrid and Heathrow. These are 7,500 Avios + £15 for economy or 15,000 Avios + £20 business.

 

3. The flight from Manchester to Genoa. This was not available with Avios except two days before the cruise and with an awkward and pricey cross-London connection from Heathrow to Gatwick. Hotels in Genoa also looked poor value. (£30+ per night for room only with a shared bathroom - I am used to paying considerably less for ultra-all-inclusive five stars:)) Looking at paying cash, there are no direct flights at all from Manchester to Genoa and the only connections that worked either risked missing the ship's departure or involved an overnight at an airport hotel and were disproportionately expensive (£200+).

 

The shortest flight therefore looked the most problematic and risked jeopardising this cruise for me.

 

Why do MSC sail from Genoa? It must be convenient for someone! The answer of course is that Genoa is very convenient indeed for Northern Italians who live in and around the cities such as Turin and Milan. Broadening my search I picked up an easyjet flight from Gatwick to Milan for £33 early the same day as the cruise. I will have the choice of Travelodge Gatwick Airport at £17 or an overnight train journey to meet the flight (the lowest fare Huddersfield-Gatwick is £21).

 

I used to live in Milan and know the run from Malpensa to Milano Centrale train station. The train journey from Milan to Genoa is 90 mins costs 10 Euros and takes you to within a few minutes walk of the cruise terminal at Genoa.

 

I didn't bother booking hold baggage as Easyjet have the most generous cabin baggage allowances of all the low-cost airlines (56 x 45 x 25cm with no weight limit) and the MSC laundry package is extraordinary value for money at around the same price as paying for a hold bag. Travel, like life, is so much easier without excess baggage.

 

As to the return journey, the decision was business or economy. The main value to me of business is fast-track check-in and security, access to the lounges and the extra legroom on the plane.

 

I knew Iberia allows seat selection free of charge at the time of booking so I went with a hybrid economy booking on the long-haul to save 25,000 Avios over booking business and business on the Madrid-Heathrow-Manchester booking for an extra 7,500 Avios plus £5 over economy. This would give me lounge access at my two waiting points of Madrid and Heathrow, fast-track from arriving at Madrid onwards and an extra legroom seat in economy on the long haul free of charge.

 

Total Avios: 25,000 + 15,000 = 40,000 Avios

Total cash: €28 + €10 + £12 + £33 + £21 = £98

 

40,000 Avios can be bought with £166.67 worth of Tesco vouchers at standard conversion rates (they have conversion bonuses of 40-100% once a year) which in turn can be bought for £159 worth of cash back from TopCashBack.

 

Yes it is true that the limit per TopCashBack account and Clubcard account is £50 per year but each member of your family can one account each and these can be combined at the Avios stage.

 

Did you know that you can get over £47 of TopCashBack for a £10 gambling spend or over £12 for a free 30 day trial to LoveFilm? £2.50 just for obtaining an insurance quote? There are loads of earning opportunities from everyday spend, utility-switching etc. If you don't already have a TopCashBack account then please use my referral link (I get £10 once you have earned £10):

 

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/timmillea

 

Also, if there is a even a remote chance you will fly Iberia with Avios (to avoid the huge BA long haul taxes and fees) in the future, you need to open an Iberia Plus account at least 90 days before (see the first post).

 

So the real cost of flying to meet and leave repo cruises, even in business class, is actually very little and leaves extra money to spend onboard, e.g. on Allegrissimo.....

Edited May 3, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[ann2201]

Here is an update to this thread with my most recent booking example. .......................................

 

..............I knew Iberia allows seat selection free of charge at the time of booking so I went with a hybrid economy booking on the long-haul to save 25,000 Avios over booking business and business on the Madrid-Heathrow-Manchester booking for an extra 7,500 Avios plus £5 over economy. This would give me lounge access at my two waiting points of Madrid and Heathrow, fast-track from arriving at Madrid onwards and an extra legroom seat in economy on the long haul free of charge.

 

Total Avios: 25,000 + 15,000 = 40,000 Avios

Total cash: €28 + €10 + £12 + £33 + £21 = £98

 

40,000 Avios can be bought with £166.67 worth of Tesco vouchers at standard conversion rates (they have conversion bonuses of 40-100% once a year) which in turn can be bought for £159 worth of cash back from TopCashBack.

 

Yes it is true that the limit per TopCashBack account and Clubcard account is £50 per year but each member of your family can one account each and these can be combined at the Avios stage.

 

Hi Skipper Tim

Have started on the Avios trail with CC points at present have 873 CCpoints lol.

Thanks again for an an interesting post but, and excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by 'hybrid' economy booking? Like the perks of business class but it is double the Avios points:(

regards Ann

[earn]

Tim, think i read that you need to have avios on your Iberia Plus account before you can transfer avios from BA. Can you confirm this? If so any idea how you can get some easily? Also we have a household Avios account and i was told by BA that we could not do the usual transfer between Avios (old airmiles) and BA Avios. Do you now if that would also be the case between Iberia and BA.

 

Sorry for the raft of questions, but still thinking about doing the santos to Venice crossing next April and with four of us, Avios is the way to go.

 

Thanks

[Skipper Tim]

Hi Skipper Tim

Have started on the Avios trail with CC points at present have 873 CCpoints lol.

Thanks again for an an interesting post but, and excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by 'hybrid' economy booking? Like the perks of business class but it is double the Avios points:(

regards Ann

 

Sorry for been unclear. I meant "hybrid economy/business", i.e. my journey back from Brazil to the UK will be economy on the long-haul overnight from Santos-Madrid but business class Madrid to Machester.

 

Although the last leg (Heathrow to Manchester) is strictly BA's 'Domestic' class, there are still the benefits of the BA lounge at Heathrow and priority boarding and luggage collection (if I check my bag in), oh and business class luggage allowance (if I needed it).

 

I was trying to optimise my use of Avios by mixing classes and still get fast-track and lounge access where I most need them.

 

I hope this is clearer!

 

Tim.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[Skipper Tim]

Tim, think i read that you need to have avios on your Iberia Plus account before you can transfer avios from BA. Can you confirm this? If so any idea how you can get some easily? Also we have a household Avios account and i was told by BA that we could not do the usual transfer between Avios (old airmiles) and BA Avios. Do you now if that would also be the case between Iberia and BA.

 

Sorry for the raft of questions, but still thinking about doing the santos to Venice crossing next April and with four of us, Avios is the way to go.

 

Thanks

 

Firstly, you only need an Iberia Plus account to be OPEN for 90 days before transferring into it. It does not need any Avios in it. However, and leading onto your second question, any Avios accounts you wish to transfer between (BA Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Avios.com) must be in the same name with identical details (email and postal addresses etc.).

 

I believe the rule across all three Avios schemes is that 1) you cannot transfer Avios OUT of a household account (but can receive IN to it from one of its members personal accounts in another scheme) and 2) household accounts can only redeem Avios for the members of the household account (with personal accounts you can redeem Avios for absolutely anyone).

 

I find the restrictions so great on a household account that having one is a last resort to do a one-off transfer between its members then it is probably best immediately dissolved to get your personal freedoms back.

 

One occasionally has to jump through hoops to get bargains :)

 

Tim.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[AmoMondo]

Thanks for the greta tips Tim. I've now signed up for TopCashBack and Iberia. I've already got around 45k with BA and recently moved up to bronze so a few more perks to be had.

 

So far I've had no luck using Avios for the flights I need for my 3 cruises this year. Ended up having to buy a flight with AF for my cruise later this month and there doesn't appear to be any BA Avios flights for my August or Octber cruises either. Do you have to book a long time in advance if you need flights on a certain day? Are there any other airlines other than BA or Iberia that allow you to use Avios?

[Skipper Tim]

So far I've had no luck using Avios for the flights I need for my 3 cruises this year. Ended up having to buy a flight with AF for my cruise later this month and there doesn't appear to be any BA Avios flights for my August or Octber cruises either. Do you have to book a long time in advance if you need flights on a certain day? Are there any other airlines other than BA or Iberia that allow you to use Avios?

 

1) Often there is availability from London but the timings from a connecting airport, e.g. Edinburgh, don't work within their system's parameters, i.e. too short or too long a connection. When I get this I search for the two legs separately and if there is availability, telephone BAEC and get them to do the booking manually.

 

2) Business class never shows as being available on the Avios.com site when a domestic connection is involved. This is a well-known bug that they do not seem inclined to fix. The BAEC site is fine for this but only shows BA planes unless you select, 'search our partner airlines' when no BA availability is showing.

 

Generally Avios.com has wider availability on more airlines than BAEC but you really have to telephone them to get at it. Yes, plenty of other airlines are available but are not immediately on display on either BAEC or Avios. In theory, you can travel on any One-World airline with Iberia Plus, BAEC or Avios.com plus plenty of low-cost and charter airlines only on Avios.com.

 

3) Sometimes redemptions seats sell out and magically they become available again nearer the time. I wanted to blow 50,000 Avios on my first ever business class long-haul flight to meet the Fantasia in Santos. At the time of booking there was just 1 economy seat showing and no business class at all. Several months later and just before travelling, more economy seats appeared and also a couple of business class seats. I cancelled and rebooked for a penalty of €25.

 

So that is also a lesson of Avios. If you can't get precisely what you want but would put up with something available, e.g. wrong class or poor connection timings etc., then book with a view to rebooking if something better comes along later and cancelling the original booking for a small penalty (£15 in Europe with BAEC or Avios).

 

Hope this helps. I could always be your personal travel assistant and do all this for you ....

Edited May 4, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[earn]

Tim,

 

Thanks for making me think about all of this again. I have now booked 4 flights for our Preziosa Santos to Venice cruise next March. It was not an easy road, but worth the hassle.

 

I first tried to convert my BAEC miles on Friday. This was unsuccesful and the noce BA lady said it was because my account was not 3 months old. She did tell me that there should be no trouble transferring from a BA Household account and this proved to be the case. You cannot however transfer back to a household account directly from Iberia, but I believe you can if you go via Avios.

 

I got my Iberia+ account on the 18th of February, so I thought I just needed to wait a day. I tried to do it online again on Saturday, but no joy. Called BAEC and they said I still hadn't met the 90 day rule and to try again on Sunday. This morning same thing, then I remembered that I had read somewhere that your account had to have Avios to be activated and allow transfers. This turned out to be the issue. Trawled the web to find the easiest/fastest/cheapest way to do this, and then tried to look up my Accor hotels points to transfer. They expired about 4 weeks ago! Most reports on the web said you could not just buy Iberia points, but I tried that anyway without luck. I was nearly giving up and then while searcging around found another link to 'buy and transfer avios' under the Iberia+ button. The one to the left didn't work, but the one underneath did. I bout 2K of avios, then pulled 98K of Avios from BAEC and had my 4 once way tickets purchased with 5 mins! the tax was a bit more than Tim paid, but still only about £48/ticket. To fly together I had to buy 2 Blue tickets & 2 economy tickets, but the total was 100K Avios and about £370 in tax total for 4 people. that combined with the fantastic repo cruise price of MSC makes it a great deal.

 

Just picked up 4 floghts from EDI to MAD a couple of days earlier for £221 for 4 including bags! Now on the search for flights back from Venice, but Flybe have not opened up yet for April 2014, so will wait a little bit for that.

[Skipper Tim]

Tim,

 

Thanks for making me think about all of this again. I have now booked 4 flights for our Preziosa Santos to Venice cruise next March. It was not an easy road, but worth the hassle.

 

I first tried to convert my BAEC miles on Friday. This was unsuccesful and the noce BA lady said it was because my account was not 3 months old. She did tell me that there should be no trouble transferring from a BA Household account and this proved to be the case. You cannot however transfer back to a household account directly from Iberia, but I believe you can if you go via Avios.

 

I got my Iberia+ account on the 18th of February, so I thought I just needed to wait a day. I tried to do it online again on Saturday, but no joy. Called BAEC and they said I still hadn't met the 90 day rule and to try again on Sunday. This morning same thing, then I remembered that I had read somewhere that your account had to have Avios to be activated and allow transfers. This turned out to be the issue. Trawled the web to find the easiest/fastest/cheapest way to do this, and then tried to look up my Accor hotels points to transfer. They expired about 4 weeks ago! Most reports on the web said you could not just buy Iberia points, but I tried that anyway without luck. I was nearly giving up and then while searcging around found another link to 'buy and transfer avios' under the Iberia+ button. The one to the left didn't work, but the one underneath did. I bout 2K of avios, then pulled 98K of Avios from BAEC and had my 4 once way tickets purchased with 5 mins! the tax was a bit more than Tim paid, but still only about £48/ticket. To fly together I had to buy 2 Blue tickets & 2 economy tickets, but the total was 100K Avios and about £370 in tax total for 4 people. that combined with the fantastic repo cruise price of MSC makes it a great deal.

 

Just picked up 4 floghts from EDI to MAD a couple of days earlier for £221 for 4 including bags! Now on the search for flights back from Venice, but Flybe have not opened up yet for April 2014, so will wait a little bit for that.

 

Earn,

 

I don't know you but I am proud of you. Well done. I suppose discussing these things with someone else who is prepared to jump through hoops to get a good deal makes me feel less of a freak :).

 

I was an academic researcher and now with the web I find it easy-peasy to research anything. I don't think they should pay researchers any more - as it can be done from home for free. Anyway, for the moment, I think I am on top of the three Avios schemes and I am glad my potentially useless knowledge helped.

 

Tim.

[earn]

I do love a bargain :)

[neptuno]

Skipper Tim, and others. You are so lucky. We have wanted to sail the bargain repo cruises but have found the airfares a deal breaker. Any suggestions for an american to research similar points programs in the US?

[Skipper Tim]

Skipper Tim, and others. You are so lucky. We have wanted to sail the bargain repo cruises but have found the airfares a deal breaker. Any suggestions for an american to research similar points programs in the US?

 

Yes, absolutely: http://thepointsguy.com.

 

This is the inspiration for the UK site http://headforpoints.com.

 

Happy points hunting - it is a sport!

[AmoMondo]

Earn, re the Venice to Edinburgh flights, try Jet2. They wont being quoting rates for April 2014 but they have done direct flights at a reasonable price and (in my opinion) a lot less annoying than Ryanair. Only downside I've found is they didn't have a flight every day and the timing was a bit tight with a late morning flight.

[earn]

AmoMondo,

 

Many thanks for that info. I have only flown out of Venice once and we used BAEC miles, but I ws sure there was a flybe flight. Can't find it even for only a few months away, so either I have remembered wrongly or they have stopped the route.

 

Will keep an eye out, but might just book BA as they are not too bad price wise.

[AmoMondo]

AmoMondo,

 

Many thanks for that info. I have only flown out of Venice once and we used BAEC miles, but I ws sure there was a flybe flight. Can't find it even for only a few months away, so either I have remembered wrongly or they have stopped the route.

 

Will keep an eye out, but might just book BA as they are not too bad price wise.

 

I use BA a lot. They are often not much more expensive than the no frills irlines and sometimes better when you take luggage into account. It is nice though to get a direct flight and save time and hassle.

[earn]

Airmiles to the rescue again. Just booked four late night flights to Gatwick from Venice. We will stay over at the Premier Inn or Travel Lodge there and fly back to Edinburgh the next morning. Should be back in Perth in time for iunch. That way we get to spend a day in Venice, have dinner and see it at night. Added bonus is that neither of us will be driving until the next day, so we can indulge in a little refreshment with dinner and on the flight. I love it when a plan comes together. 30K airmiles and £60 tax.

[neptuno]

Yes, absolutely: http://thepointsguy.com.

 

This is the inspiration for the UK site http://headforpoints.com.

 

Happy points hunting - it is a sport!

 

Skipper Tim, thanks for the link. The points game can be fun and mind boggling. I have had relatively little luck with Skyteam, and am now using a 2% cashback card instead. But with your inspiriation I will try again.

[ann2201]

Sorry for been unclear. I meant "hybrid economy/business", i.e. my journey back from Brazil to the UK will be economy on the long-haul overnight from Santos-Madrid but business class Madrid to Machester.

 

Although the last leg (Heathrow to Manchester) is strictly BA's 'Domestic' class, there are still the benefits of the BA lounge at Heathrow and priority boarding and luggage collection (if I check my bag in), oh and business class luggage allowance (if I needed it).

 

I was trying to optimise my use of Avios by mixing classes and still get fast-track and lounge access where I most need them.

 

I hope this is clearer!

 

Tim.

 

 

Thanks Tim, sorry for not thanking you sooner but have been chasing Mr T's cc points with a passion and now have a 'quite' respectable £130 in vouchers:), at least will have next quarter, equating to....31,000 avios points:)

I am unfortunately a bit confused :confused:. Do I convert to BAEC or Avios? My DH and I have separate accounts with each of these and also Iberia. We would prefer to fly from Madrid so do I need to have points with them, as they can't take cc points? Am I better with household accounts and if I am would it be with all 3 schemes?

 

Sorry for all the questions. Won't be booking flights until later this year as hopefully have something arranged for Spring 2014. Thanks again for all the info.

 

Ann

[Skipper Tim]

Thanks Tim, sorry for not thanking you sooner but have been chasing Mr T's cc points with a passion and now have a 'quite' respectable £130 in vouchers:), at least will have next quarter, equating to....31,000 avios points:)

I am unfortunately a bit confused :confused:. Do I convert to BAEC or Avios? My DH and I have separate accounts with each of these and also Iberia. We would prefer to fly from Madrid so do I need to have points with them, as they can't take cc points? Am I better with household accounts and if I am would it be with all 3 schemes?

 

Sorry for all the questions. Won't be booking flights until later this year as hopefully have something arranged for Spring 2014. Thanks again for all the info.

 

Ann

 

Well done Ann, £130 in one quarter is quite an achievement. I hope you didn't pre-order too many video games :). Remember there may be a conversion bonus coming along soon so don't spend your CC vouchers on Avios unless you need to just yet.

 

It doesn't matter whether you convert to BAEC Avios or Avios Avios. Just wait for whichever has the conversion bonus. Once in the Avios or BAEC account, log in to Iberia Plus, go to your Avios statement and underneath there is the 'Combine my Avios' option. This will ask for your login details of the account you wish to transfer from. It takes seconds and you will get an email from Iberia and the other scheme to confirm. You can book a flight right away.

 

I have found that I can convert CC vouchers in other people's names into Avios (on the Tesco CC website) providing we share the same postcode. This may be a help if you want to mix and match between your separate Avios accounts, e.g. to make up the existing points in an account to pay for a flight.