[Misc] How drunk do you get when flying?

dadams2k11 said:

I will have to look Into this, I was not even aware this went on. All I need to do is get a Virgin Atlantic Amex card, do my groceries shopping and petrol at Tesco. I assume if the Mrs does the same it doubles?

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dadams2k11 said:

I will have to look Into this, I was not even aware this went on. All I need to do is get a Virgin Atlantic Amex card, do my groceries shopping and petrol at Tesco. I assume if the Mrs does the same it doubles?

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BensGrandad said:

The simple answer to drunk behavior on planes is to ban alcohol on short haul and if people cannot go 2 or 3 hours without a drink it is a sorry state. Obviously not the same for long haul. I wonder what the affect would be if they banned it in economy everywhere and only allowed it on long haul in club/ business or 1st class.

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kingcole said:

£17.50 is the one way tax for something they call reward flight saver. For domestic or Euro flights.

I forgot who we were playing but a couple of years ago we flew to Mancheter. Got sozzled in the first lounge. Just paid £17.50 each way plus 4500 miles.

On the way back we was delayed over 2 hours, so drunk loads more in the lounge coming home and got 250 in compensation!

I collect in the following ways...

BA Black Amex x 2 (gives 1.5 miles per £1 spent or 3 miles spent on BA plus a companion flight each year as long as you spend £10k on the card). £195 annual fee per card. We have 2 cards and me and misses.

Lloyds Avios Duo x 2. These just have a £28 annual fee but are great for abroad as no foreign currency fees. If you use the Amex card you get 1.25 miles per pound. If you use the Mastercard you only get 1.25 miles per £10. But this beauty comes with an upgrade voucher each year as long as you spend £7. This reduced the miles require for a flight to say Bangkok in business to about 90k down from 165k.

Tesco bank account. This one is handy as it's the only one I know of where you can earn points (via clubcard) on debit card spends. It's a measly 1 club card point for an £8 spend but they can mount up rapid if you may things like self assesment taxes and VAT on it.

Business Gold Amex: Between £5k and £10k a month goes on this and these convert at £1/ Point which also convert at the same rate to airline milage prgorams. Again, save them unless you need them for a speical promo

Tesco: Don't do the auto convert. You can convert to BA or as Bozza said to Virgin, but this advise if for both. As now and again there are special offers. So hoard your clubcard vouchers until such an offer comes along.

Buying online. Bit like the better know cash back sites but instead of cash, you earn miles. The BA one is called gate 365 and Virgin is called Shops Away. You access them both by logging into your relevant airline. All the big stores are on there. In fact I don't buy online unless it's via one of these. The earning rates can vary from 2-20 miles per £1 spent.

Hotel Spend: I try and use Hilton or Raddison as I have climbed the status ladder with these two. If you don't use your points for free hotel stays they can be converted to miles. Hilton don't have to be posh. For away footy games I try and find a Hilton Hampton. They are about the same price as a Premier Inn, usually in great locations and always have a free breakfast.
If I can stay at a Hilton or Raddison I book through booking.com but always access via Virgin's Shops away for additonal earning.

There are plenty of multi earning opportunities too. For example, Tesco Direct is also on both BA's and Virgin's portal. Earn from clicking through. Also earn your clulbcard points and earn again by paying with the right credit card.

Finally, there is the flying!

Airlines reward you in two ways. The first is status (BA is Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Virgin is Red, Silver, Gold).

Each time you take a flight you will earn tier points that give you status. These expire after a set period. Usually a year. You also earn miles (or Avios as BA call them) which are you currency to spend on flights.

In addition. Both BA and Virgin have a program for businesses who can earn business miles. BA's is called On Business.

Status gets you a number of perks. I'm in the BA camp. Silver gets you access to business class lounges and you can select your seat at the time of booking without a fee.

Gold also gets you into First Class lounges and has additonal reward availability when looking to redeem some miles.

All tiers earn you extra miles when you travel. There are other token benefits but not worth mentioning.

You don't earn tier points on reward seats so the only way to climb the ladder is by buying a flight, which can look frightenting cost wise. But there are ways to make it a whole lot cheaper.

For example. Log onto BA or Virgin and price up a business class ticket to LA. At the wrong time it will cost around £5000. If you actually stumped this up you would earn 280 tier points on BA (you need 1500 for gold and 600 for silver) and will earn you between about 20,000 and 35000 miles depending on your status. Mental money.

Now go and book an itinary from somewhere close by in Europe when they have a sale on. Amsterdam and Dublin are great for this.

Instead of booking (forgive the use of airport codes) LHR to LAX. Book AMS to LHR to JFK to PHX to LAX. And the same on the way back.

I've booked an iteinary like this many times for less than £1000 (harder now due to the weak euro but £1200 is still very possible)

This itinary would earn you 720 tier points. As you awarded tier points based on the distance of each leg flown. Crudly it's 40 tier points for under 2000 miles and 140 for over 2000. If you are changing in the USA for the West coast you need to ensure the you get a 2000 leg in otherwise you lose out. Don't for example stop in Chicago on the way to LA as ORD to LAX in under £2k miles.

So one trip like this will get you to silver in one hit. Do it twice and have a jolly to somewhere on the continent and you are gold.

I then spend my miles on trips to europe where the £17,50 one way taxes apply. Coupled with silver or gold status this bargain price not only gets you away, you will have fast track security, lounge access, free seat selection, free baggage and use of first/buisness class check even when in the back of the plane.

For my long haul when travelling with someone I always use one of our companion vouchers. This means you only pay the miles for one person. I always try and go First rather than business on these to get the biggest bang for my buck.

Did Rio last year with a companion voucher. Instead of 480,000 Avios it only cost 240,000.

What you are saving is hard to calculate as I would never be paying for a first class ticket on this route anyhow. But it can cost nearly £10k in some instances.

FWIW I value my Avios as 1p each, but you can get much more value, like in the above example if they are used well.

Finally, I'm on the other side of the coin to [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION]. He sounds like he's in camp Virgin and I'm BA.

Personally, I prefer Virgin's Upper over BA's business (In fact I prefer nearly any airline's business over BA's) but with BA they are part of One World and you can get to a zillion more places with partner airlines and of course all of europe.

The partner airlines also make is easier to get the tier points. On the aforementioned trip to Rio we done a few internal flights in Brazil on LAM. Part of One World so earned miles and Tier Points.

Until recently I had family in Thailand. Instead of flying BA I prefer QATAR. Honestly, their Business is better than BA's First. And then there is the huge bar on some planes! But, by changing in Doha you are flying 4 x 2000 mile + legs instead of 2, so you get twice as many tier points. And they are usually cheaper too!

So sorry to hijack this thread with what might be my longest post. I'm quite passionate about flying. If anyone wants any advice, feel free to drop me a PM.

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LamieRobertson said:

I'd need to be drunk to get on a plane in the first place ....I don't fly anywhere

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Bozza said:

Yep. We've got the black card which has an annual fee, but the benefits are well worth it for us:

1. 2 miles per £ (free white card: 1 mile per £)
2. Econ -> PE upgrade for £5,000 spent (free card: Econ -> PE upgrade for £10,000 spent)
3. Companion ticket for £15,000 spent (free card: companion ticket for £15,000 spent)

I just get a second card on my account so we both earn miles, but you can both get cards, so you'll both get the introductory bonus, or you can be clever and get/cancel cards every 6 months (I think it is) and then get cards for the other person before switching back again so you get the introductory bonus repeatedly.

Bank your Clubcard points until there is a boosted offer. Usually it's 650 miles per £2.50, but they enhance this rate periodically for limited periods.

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dwayne said:

Hats off that is some dedication !! It seems to be a big status thing with the English middle class to use an airport lounge and fly business or first.

My questions would be do you really want to change planes on a long haul just for the sake of getting more points? I find this absolutely mad. Also you go to all this trouble to fly at the front but when you arrive you will stay in a dump like the Hilton or raddisson?

I upgrade when I have enough points but will never pay the extortionate fees for the sake of a bit more comfort for 9 hours of my life. Hotel stays are far more important for me and that's where I direct most of my budget, I find it interesting the obsession with business and first class flights, I rarely notice that much of a difference. Whereas I find a big difference between say a Hilton and a four seasons hotel.

Each to their own .....

Sent from my SM-G9350 using Tapatalk

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dwayne said:

Hats off that is some dedication !! It seems to be a big status thing with the English middle class to use an airport lounge and fly business or first.

My questions would be do you really want to change planes on a long haul just for the sake of getting more points? I find this absolutely mad. Also you go to all this trouble to fly at the front but when you arrive you will stay in a dump like the Hilton or raddisson?

I upgrade when I have enough points but will never pay the extortionate fees for the sake of a bit more comfort for 9 hours of my life. Hotel stays are far more important for me and that's where I direct most of my budget, I find it interesting the obsession with business and first class flights, I rarely notice that much of a difference. Whereas I find a big difference between say a Hilton and a four seasons hotel.

Each to their own .....

Sent from my SM-G9350 using Tapatalk

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LamieRobertson said:

I'd need to be drunk to get on a plane in the first place ....I don't fly anywhere

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dwayne said:

Hats off that is some dedication !! It seems to be a big status thing with the English middle class to use an airport lounge and fly business or first.

My questions would be do you really want to change planes on a long haul just for the sake of getting more points? I find this absolutely mad. Also you go to all this trouble to fly at the front but when you arrive you will stay in a dump like the Hilton or raddisson?

I upgrade when I have enough points but will never pay the extortionate fees for the sake of a bit more comfort for 9 hours of my life. Hotel stays are far more important for me and that's where I direct most of my budget, I find it interesting the obsession with business and first class flights, I rarely notice that much of a difference. Whereas I find a big difference between say a Hilton and a four seasons hotel.

Each to their own .....

Sent from my SM-G9350 using Tapatalk

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Thunder Bolt said:

I went to the doctor who gave me some tablets to help. I, therefore, avoid alcohol, as they don't mix.

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bhanutz said:

Nail on the head. When I flew first to NY with Virgin (I didn't pay by the way, it was work), we had access to the lounge. What a bunch of pretentious twats there were in that lounge. Talking down to staff etc.. I couldn't believe it. Give me economy or premium economy with no lounge access any day! Keep it real!

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kingcole said:

I proper get into it.

I'm a self certified air miles whore which means I can often travel in the front on the plane and the use First Class lounges with minimal expense.

There is nothing like spending £17.50 on tax and spending airmiles earned just on a monthly shop at Tesco and a few quid spent on the right credit card. And then guzzling down £100 worth of champagne before you board!

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dazzer6666 said:

Some great tips there. Do you think you'd get a LAX ticket for £1200 in business though going via Amsterdam ? If so that type of routing well worth considering.

I'm in camp BA rather than Virgin too, but only because I try to stick to one airline (or oneworld partners) if I can as it's little use having miles/points spread around. Singapore, Virgin, Emirates, Air Canada plus others all arguably better in-flight in business class and if cheaper I'll use them (company policy).

I've got a BA Amex card for the points/companion voucher and we try to put as much spending as we can through it, a Hilton branded Barclaycard (points, plus instant Gold status with Hilton Honors, meaning almost guaranteed upgrades at Hilton hotels even on reward stays, free breakfast, lounge access, free wifi, late checkout etc) and a BA Gold Card (for now anyway) which significantly bumps up the miles collected on non-reward flights and gets me into First lounges at most airports.

Best use (or value) of miles always seems to be for first or business class long haul or business class europe, particularly if you have a companion voucher.

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