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

[earn]

Anne,

 

As usual Tim has givene a very full answer. I only have a couple of additions. My recent experience is that I needed at least one Avios is my Iberia account in order to transfer my BAEC miles in to it. You can do this various ways. The easiest and cheapest if you are going to Spain before you want to book a flight seems to be to spend some money at a 'Respol' (not sure exactly of the name) petrol station and produce your card to get points. Think it takes about a month to then be added. You can also associate active hotel points for quite a few chains (Accor, Holiday Inn etc). The quickest way is to buy Iberia points. Lots of forum advice (other forums) suggested this was not possible, but I managed it.

 

The only other thing I would add is that availability of flights is a bit of a lottery, but in general your best chance of making sure you secure the flights you want is to book early. With Iberia you can change your flight quite easily once booked, and if Economy, not Blue it won't cost you anything. Sometimes extra seats are made available later, so worth checking.

[ann2201]

Thanks Tim and Earn for this info, really good to know about the Respol, we fill up a lot in Spain. This site is ssooooo good:) there are so many wise people here:) Ann

[barante]

This is a great discussion. The single-mindedness of the OP is commendable; he should be featured in Tesco commercials since the purpose of his life is collecting Tesco points.

 

Equally fascinating is the discovery that there apparently are a legion of other CCers who have been Tescocized. I'm not sure I fully understand any of this Tesco business but I get the general drift. Any time that cruisers can make the system work for themselves, more power to them!

[neptuno]

Dear Mr. Barante,

I have great respect for those who would share their knowledge with others, as is the purpose of this thread. If you have anything of value to add, please make it be known.

[moomoocow]

Just FYI people if you sign up to a BA Credit card you get a bonus 2500 Avios points. Might help out a bit.

[Skipper Tim]

Just FYI people if you sign up to a BA Credit card you get a bonus 2500 Avios points. Might help out a bit.

 

Thanks Moomoo.

 

Headforpoints maintains an up to date reference for the sign-up bonuses, fees and spending requirements for cards available in the UK here:

 

http://www.headforpoints.com/best-uk-avios-airline-hotel-credit-cards/

 

If you are planning on a spending spree anytime soon, there are flights galore to be had.

[Skipper Tim]

In the very short time I've been using TopCashBack I've earned just over £26, doing nothing different from what I usually do, other than go to sites I would have bought from anyway via TopCashBack. That's an extra 6000 Avios I would not have had.

 

Also now converting my Tesco club card point to Avios has racked up another 12,500 Avios in just over 2 months.

 

So huge thanks for your tips Tim.

 

Good for you Mairi - that is already enough for business-class return flight Edinburgh to Genoa with cash value of at least £455!

 

(Cross-posted from our Armonia roll call).

[earn]

I have £126 of Sky Topcashback coming my way. Will only be able to convert £50 to tesco points I think, but still well worth it. The boys are delighted as I would never buy sky. The deal I spotted on martin's Money Tips a few months ago was fantastic. The cash back above plus £100 of M & S vouchers, giving us sky for a ridiculous £3/mth. However the best one was last year's deal where we got £40 of tesco vouchers for having FREE loft insulation fitted.

 

I am putting off converting my points to Avios as they usually run an offer giving double or more recently one and a half times the miles for points.

[Skipper Tim]

I have £126 of Sky Topcashback coming my way. Will only be able to convert £50 to tesco points I think, but still well worth it. The boys are delighted as I would never buy sky. The deal I spotted on martin's Money Tips a few months ago was fantastic. The cash back above plus £100 of M & S vouchers, giving us sky for a ridiculous £3/mth. However the best one was last year's deal where we got £40 of tesco vouchers for having FREE loft insulation fitted.

 

I am putting off converting my points to Avios as they usually run an offer giving double or more recently one and a half times the miles for points.

 

I may have to disappoint you slightly Earn. MY understanding of the current Topcashback payout rules is that you have to take the entirety of each transaction's cashback in one payment method, e.g. PayPal, BACS or Clubcard points. Transactions can be combined to take a bigger payment but one cannot be split. As the £126 Sky cashback exceeds the £50 annual limit, I don't think you will be able to take this as Clubcard points.

 

Topcashback T&Cs even state that the 5% bonus is included within the £50 limit so in effect the maximum sum of cashback transactions you can take is £47.62 per annum. Note that the clock starts ticking on the first amount paid as Tesco Clubcard points so it is an advantage to a small payout in CC points as early as possible, with a few pence if that is all that is payable, to minimise the time you have to wait to start your second £50.

 

I have not heard of Topcashback being fully tested on this, whether they may be prepared to intervene manually to split a larger amount or even pay the entirety of one large amount - the ideal solution but unlikely solution!! We shall see. Keep us posted.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[earn]

Tim thanks. I didn't know that, but will try to claim a few pence to get things moving. Is it £50 a year?

[Skipper Tim]

Tim thanks. I didn't know that, but will try to claim a few pence to get things moving. Is it £50 a year?

 

Yes, a maximum of £50 cashback paid as Tesco Clubcard points per year which starts with the first payment. This is only a Tesco limitation - you can still draw cash into your bank account but cash is far less valuable than points!

 

If I were you, I would explain to TopCashback your situation and ask, by email or phone, if they could pay you the maximum permissible amount from your current payable balance as Tesco points. This is a reasonable request.

 

I think the £50 limitation is just an initial measure with Tesco as a TopCashback partner to prevent a flood. When Tesco realise that most TopCashback collectors are converting didly squeek to CC points they will gently raise or even eliminate the cap.

 

It is all new an evolving. Let's keep tuned in here.

 

Tim.

[earn]

Will keep you posted. The cash back seems to be taking an age to be payable, but the assure me it will all work out eventually!

[earn]

My latest Topcashback purchase for £32 I think. Lose some pounds and gain some points. Free membership of weightwatchers on line. three months fees are about the same as the cashback, so will see how that goes. Could do with shedding a few pounds (or stones) before our next cruise! Almost a flight to Prague from Edinburgh in that one!

[Skipper Tim]

My latest Topcashback purchase for £32 I think. Lose some pounds and gain some points. Free membership of weightwatchers on line. three months fees are about the same as the cashback, so will see how that goes. Could do with shedding a few pounds (or stones) before our next cruise! Almost a flight to Prague from Edinburgh in that one!

 

On my latest Topcashback withdrawal, the site now makes explicit that you can withdraw £50 plus the 5% bonus per year in Club Card points.

 

Good luck with the 'sponsored diet'!

[earn]

Got my sky cash back today, but as you said couldn't convert to tesco points. Paid it in to the bank instead. When the diet lot comes throu I will use that for points.

[Skipper Tim]

There is an excellent new resource created by Prospero, a very industrious contributor over on FlyerTalk, showing good (and bad) Avios redemptions from the hub airports of OneWorld alliance member airlines as maps with redemption boundaries and airports either side of them:

 

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1527161-selecting-redemption-destinations-edges-pricing-bands.html

 

Why is this helpful? Say, for example, you need a flight to or from a far-flung part of the World to join or leave a cruise. Flying with BA is always going to cost the most in taxes, fees and Avios. If the journey can be split into an Avios redemption on another airline + EITHER an Reward Flight Saver redemption (low, flat-rate taxes and fees with BA upto 2,000 miles from London) OR a low-cost airline sector, then you can save a heap of money and often a heap of Avios too. The maps show how to optimise the long-distance redemption.

 

So currently on my mind is a cost-effective way to return from Dubai after a repositioning cruise there. The Berlin hub map shows Abu Dhabi, around an hour by road away from Dubai, just inside band 4 (12,500 Avios one-way) from Berlin and Berlin has low cost flights to Manchester (£20-25!) albeit necessitating a change of airport in Berlin (until they sort the new Brandenburg airport fiasco). From London this would be band 5 and 20,000 Avios plus almost ten times as much in taxes and fees. In business class the figures are even more stark.

 

Abu Dhabi - Berlin with AirBerlin: 25,000 Avios + £13.40 (Business)

Berlin - Manchester: £25 with easyJet

25,000 Avios is £104.16 in Tesco ClubCard vouchers or £99.20 in TopCashBack so a total of £137.60. Note that business class on AirBerlin from Abu Dhabi includes a chauffeur-driven limo pickup anywhere within the UAE - including from the port in Dubai.

 

Dubai - London - Manchester with BA: 40,000 Avios + £210 (Business)

This works out at a total of £368 in money and TopCashBack or the full cash fare is £2125!!!!

 

Bookmark the link and make good use of it!

 

Tim.

[Skipper Tim]

Courtesy of Propspero of FlyerTalk.

 

"Inspired by Raffle’s recent article that identified interesting anomalies in Executive Club redemption pricing, whereby you can benefit from selecting your destination (or connections) that bring you very close to the edge of a distance band. So, I went forth and created a series of pricing band charts which illustrate the distance bands from a selection of origins, highlighting destinations located in the margins of each band. Indicated in green are the destinations that fall inside the distance band; those in red fall outside of the band. The coverage doesn’t reflect the full network, only those on the band margins."

 

 

For those in need of a recap, here is the current pricing table for standard (distance based) redemptions

 

 

Short haul redemption bands - origin London

 

Long haul redemption bands - origin London

 

 

Short haul redemption bands - origin Madrid

 

Long haul redemption bands - origin Madrid

 

See Propspero's full post here.

 

Tim.

[choccy14]

Tim, thanks for all the info re Avios etc - very useful! I usually use my Tesco points for holidays, Virgin ones in the past and last year RCI. However Virgin no longer take Tesco points and RCI seem to make it difficult to get value. I am very interested in using the Avios and have set up an Iberia Plus account, just in case we book a Canaries cruise next year. I am a BA Executive member but the flight timings are not good.

Just to let you know, whilst I normally use Quidco, I have signed up on your referral to Topcashback for the Tesco points! Many thanks :)

[Skipper Tim]

Tim, thanks for all the info re Avios etc - very useful! I usually use my Tesco points for holidays, Virgin ones in the past and last year RCI. However Virgin no longer take Tesco points and RCI seem to make it difficult to get value. I am very interested in using the Avios and have set up an Iberia Plus account, just in case we book a Canaries cruise next year. I am a BA Executive member but the flight timings are not good.

Just to let you know, whilst I normally use Quidco, I have signed up on your referral to Topcashback for the Tesco points! Many thanks :)

 

You are very welcome and thank you!

[Thyme60]

Thanks for all the info, i find your posts really helpful, and you give off plenty of ideas to try. Tesco club card not so easy to use for a holiday now they have changed the points from x4 then to x3 and now just to x2 on points, so the flight info is very interesting, like to get a bargain.

Keep up the good work Skipper Tim :-)

[Scarlet debonaire]

Hi,

Very pleased to stumble across this thread, great information. I have joined topcash through your link, and thank you very much for the very useful information

 

Happy travels

 

Scarlet

[rusky123]

Thanks for that Tim, we are BA executive club members, have our Tesco vouchers converted to Avios, 3 times the value, great. Our Tesco card pays for petrol only and builds our points, our BA Amex is great for bumping up the Avios, and we love our Barcleycard i24 card, although we pay for it, free lounges and insurance and cashback, more than what we pay for the card, free currency exchange and loads of other benefits.

We were recently upgraded to club from economy on a transatlantic to NY , it was wonderful. Free spa treatments before you fly, speciality restaurant, choice of breakfasts, on plane, take away or at the airport you land at. Only flown Club Europe before on an Avios upgrade, it was nice but not as nice as club, it was the only time ever I wished my flight was longer.

 

I have used quidco for a number of years but will have a look at topcashback Cheers and Ty:)

[AmoMondo]

I'm not as good as Tim at maximising A iOS collection but this thread did me think how how I spend. I'm not spending any more than I did before just choosing a different way so that ia earn points where I can.

 

I'm booked on a repo next April from Barbados to genoa. The 2 flights with BA cost me the grand total of £36! If I'd had to pay a one way fare to Barbados it probably would have cost as much as the cruise.