However, I'm sure a few of you already collect airmiles but if you don't you should really get involved. (IMHO)
Sadly I am unable to afford First Class travel but you don't necessarily need to spank £8k (or what ever it is) on these seats.
I have only been collecting for about 9 months and already I have enough points for myself and my wife to travel in First Class on British Airways to New York for £1000 inc taxes.
In days of old you never used to have to pay the taxes but unfortunately now you do.
This has mainly been achieved via churning Amex Credit cards. However some places do not accept Amex so another cash back credit in your wallet is beneficial.
There are a number of different cards available, some of which are charge cards and some are credit cards.
(Please note if you churn cards you will receive a search mark on your credit score and this may affect your ability to get credit in the future)
Some examples of the cards are below:
British Airways Premium Plus (£150 per annum charge) - 26000 miles welcome bonus (via referral) - 10k in year gives 2-4-1 voucher on BA metal (valid for 2 years) - credit card
British Airways - Standard (No annual charge) - 10000 miles welcome bonus (via referral) - credit card
Amex Platinum - £450 per annum - 35000 miles welcome bonus (via referral) - charge card - expensive but does have some perks
Amex Gold - Free in first year - 22000 miles welcome bonus (via referral) - charge card - lots of points available via supermarket, fuel spend etc
Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)- £75 per annum 26000 miles welcome bonus (via referral) - credit card
*Please note I would get a referral bonus if I refer you and you are accepted for it. However your welcome bonus is bigger this way so win win!
The quickest way to earn the most airmiles is to register for a card, achieve the minimum spend and then cancel it for a pro-rata refund. (churning)
Once you have got your first Amex (via a referral from me
) you get then recommend your other half, (receive a referral bonus and the welcome bonus) reach the spend and then cancel.There are however some restrictions about which cards you can have at any certain time and also you need to wait 6 months before you can receive certain sign-up bonuses again. However you can register for BA, Gold/Plat, SPG at the same time but obviously you still need to hit the minimum spend.
Other different ways of earning Airmiles is converting clubcard points - however you really need to wait until they run special promotions to get any real value from this.
You can also convert things like Shell points into miles but the chat is this doesn't really offer good value.
I have mainly concentrated on BA but obviously there are plenty of other carriers you may wish to consider.
There are a number of different websites that offer advice and top tips and these are listed below:
http://www.headforpoints.com
http://www.flyertalk.com
A good beginners guide can be found here:
http://www.headforpoints.com/the-beginn ... os-points/
If you want a referral then let me know.
However, be warned, the above does get quite addictive but if gets us cheap(er) Business / First Class travel I feel its worth it.
HTH cheers Ed
