[Misc] How drunk do you get when flying?

kingcole · Jul 22, 2017

Garage_Doors said:
Are you saying you can collect air miles by buying petrol at Tesco?

I spend several £1000 each month on a credit card, (always paid off at end of month) but no bugger gives me airmails or any such things.
How do you do it ?

Get Clubcard. For petrol you will earn 1 clubcard point for every £2 spent on fuel. Every 250 clubcard points will buy you 600 BA Miles or a few more Virgin ones.

If you spend £1000 a month on fuel that equates to 1200 Avios a month, Pay for them with an American Express card and you will have earned 18000 Avios from the credit card spend and 14,400 from your clubcard points. You will have also earned a companion voucher to boot as you will have surpassed £10k annual spend.

Those 32k miles are enough for up to 4 return trips to europe or save them up or find a few more ways to earn and you are well on your way for a long haul business class. A business class returrn to say Dubai is 120,000 miles. Using your earned companion voucher would mean two of you can travel for 120k miles.

There will be a sign up bonus (around 20k miles) when you take out the credit card. You are already half way to getting a couple of flights that would retail for between £3000 and £8000!

Garry Nelson's Left Foot · Jul 22, 2017

kingcole said:
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.

I don't fly very often and when I do I've never got out of economy. I had a friend who's mum worked for B.A so he was often able to get flights for the price of the tax. It was the luck of the draw where he would end up seat wise. A few years back we ended up on the same flight back to England, me in economy and him in Business. I spent a little bit of time in the Business section and, to my only ever been in Economy self, it seemed like heaven. Privacy, flat bed seats, big screen, better food, better movies(i think). Since then I always have a look at what the other airlines(when I fly with another airline) offer in business. B.A seems as good if not better. This is based purely on a very brief look as I shleck to my cramped seat at the back of the plane. So what is wrong with B.A's business class and what do the other airlines do better?

Bozza · Jul 22, 2017

Rambo said:
Tell me, I collect a lot of Virgin points and will usually spend over £10k on the credit card a year. At the moment I am using a Tesco Credit card as I thought it would help boost the points, but it actually looks like I may be better off having a Virgin Black card and paying with that?

I don't know the specifics of the Tesco card(s) - I have a vague recollection there are different cards that earn at different rates, but the black Virgin Amex is 1 mile per £ (if a store doesn't take Amex - and it's pretty unusual nowadays in the places you're likely to be spending a bit) you use the companion Visa card and earn a little less.

You'll also get 2 * economy -> PE upgrades (which are pretty useful as you'll only need to spend miles for an economy fare but get to go PE) and a companion fare (less useful in my experience, as you'll have to buy a qualifying fare with cash (and qualifying fares are the cheapest rate) although occasionally you can use one in a worthwhile way).

Using rewards is all subject to availability of course. It can be tricky in school holidays but we've regularly travelled to both Orlando and Miami in PE and Upper in August. Indeed there's still bizarrely good availability for this August so we might well be heading out again in a few weeks (missing football - bad fan). We've travelled to New York in Upper at short notice before as well, out of school holidays.

kingcole · Jul 22, 2017

Garry Nelson's Left Foot said:
I don't fly very often and when I do I've never got out of economy. I had a friend who's mum worked for B.A so he was often able to get flights for the price of the tax. It was the luck of the draw where he would end up seat wise. A few years back we ended up on the same flight back to England, me in economy and him in Business. I spent a little bit of time in the Business section and, to my only ever been in Economy self, it seemed like heaven. Privacy, flat bed seats, big screen, better food, better movies(i think). Since then I always have a look at what the other airlines(when I fly with another airline) offer in business. B.A seems as good if not better. This is based purely on a very brief look as I shleck to my cramped seat at the back of the plane. So what is wrong with B.A's business class and what do the other airlines do better?

BA were the first airline to have fully flat seats in business class many years ago. They truly were then king of the skies and the world favourite airline slogan was accepted.

But they have stood still whilst others, especailly the middle eastern airlines have stormed ahead.

The big moan is the density of seating. In club they squeeze 8 seats wide and in some you have to step over someone to reach the asile. This is very much a first world problem, but many if not most airlines in buisness will be just 4 wide, with all seats having aisle access in a 1-2-1 formation.

The food is not great. Compared to Qatar its embarrasing. The lounges are lacking compared to others, notably Virgin's Clubhouse.

Don't get me wrong. It will be heaven comapred to any economy seat but comapred to other airlines, it's below par.

First on BA is actually often referred to as the best business class in the sky!

What keeps me on BA is actually coz I don't have to fly BA. If I'm going to the USA I can earn my BA points on American and with Qatar, Cathay, Qantas, Malaysian, Finaair or even Royal Jordanian, who all have better business class products, IMO.

dazzer6666 · Jul 22, 2017

Garry Nelson's Left Foot said:
I don't fly very often and when I do I've never got out of economy. I had a friend who's mum worked for B.A so he was often able to get flights for the price of the tax. It was the luck of the draw where he would end up seat wise. A few years back we ended up on the same flight back to England, me in economy and him in Business. I spent a little bit of time in the Business section and, to my only ever been in Economy self, it seemed like heaven. Privacy, flat bed seats, big screen, better food, better movies(i think). Since then I always have a look at what the other airlines(when I fly with another airline) offer in business. B.A seems as good if not better. This is based purely on a very brief look as I shleck to my cramped seat at the back of the plane. So what is wrong with B.A's business class and what do the other airlines do better?

All the good stuff you mention is correct - even mediocre business class is still much, much more pleasant than economy. For me, BA seat configuration in business isn't as good as some other airlines (Air Canada in particular is excellent) and the flat beds are quite hard and narrow (particularly if you are broad-shouldered). First World problems I know........

kingcole · Jul 22, 2017

Rambo said:
Tell me, I collect a lot of Virgin points and will usually spend over £10k on the credit card a year. At the moment I am using a Tesco Credit card as I thought it would help boost the points, but it actually looks like I may be better off having a Virgin Black card and paying with that?

The tesco credit card on spend not at Tesco earns 1 point for every £4 spend. A £1000 spend would earn 250 points which would buy 625 (when not on a promo) Virgin Miles.

As [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] just said, with the Black Amex card you get £1/1 point so the same spend would have netted 1000 points.

It's a good idea to have both as not everywhere take Amex. Also, the earning rates are enhanced instore so it may still pay to use your Tesco card in Tesco.

If you opted for a BA Black Amex you would earn 1500 miles as they give 1.5 miles per £1 spent. Don't forget, on either Virgin or BA you are also spending enough to get a companion voucher once a year

kingcole · Jul 22, 2017

Bozza said:
I don't know the specifics of the Tesco card(s) - I have a vague recollection there are different cards that earn at different rates, but the black Virgin Amex is 1 mile per £ (if a store doesn't take Amex - and it's pretty unusual nowadays in the places you're likely to be spending a bit) you use the companion Visa card and earn a little less.

You'll also get 2 * economy -> PE upgrades (which are pretty useful as you'll only need to spend miles for an economy fare but get to go PE) and a companion fare (less useful in my experience, as you'll have to buy a qualifying fare with cash (and qualifying fares are the cheapest rate) although occasionally you can use one in a worthwhile way).

Using rewards is all subject to availability of course. It can be tricky in school holidays but we've regularly travelled to both Orlando and Miami in PE and Upper in August. Indeed there's still bizarrely good availability for this August so we might well be heading out again in a few weeks (missing football - bad fan). We've travelled to New York in Upper at short notice before as well, out of school holidays.

I had heard the Virgin companion voucher can have limited value in all but the most optimum of circumstances. The BA and Virgin ones are very different.

On Virgin you are expected to buy a cash fare in Upper. The companion then just pays the taxes and fees.
On BA you effectly pay half the Avios for 2 of you to fly.

Rambo · Jul 22, 2017

kingcole said:
The tesco credit card on spend not at Tesco earns 1 point for every £4 spend. A £1000 spend would earn 250 points which would buy 625 (when not on a promo) Virgin Miles.

As [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] just said, with the Black Amex card you get £1/1 point so the same spend would have netted 1000 points.

It's a good idea to have both as not everywhere take Amex. Also, the earning rates are enhanced instore so it may still pay to use your Tesco card in Tesco.

If you opted for a BA Black Amex you would earn 1500 miles as they give 1.5 miles per £1 spent. Don't forget, on either Virgin or BA you are also spending enough to get a companion voucher once a year

Makes sense, you earn more with the Tesco card in Tesco and more with the Amex elsewhere, trouble is, if I took out my fuel spend (at tesco) out of the total I may not go over the £7500 for the companion flight, although I probably would qualify for the free PE upgrade, which isn't to be sniffed at.

Deadly Danson · Jul 22, 2017

kingcole said:
BA were the first airline to have fully flat seats in business class many years ago. They truly were then king of the skies and the world favourite airline slogan was accepted.

But they have stood still whilst others, especailly the middle eastern airlines have stormed ahead.

The big moan is the density of seating. In club they squeeze 8 seats wide and in some you have to step over someone to reach the asile. This is very much a first world problem, but many if not most airlines in buisness will be just 4 wide, with all seats having aisle access in a 1-2-1 formation.

The food is not great. Compared to Qatar its embarrasing. The lounges are lacking compared to others, notably Virgin's Clubhouse.

Don't get me wrong. It will be heaven comapred to any economy seat but comapred to other airlines, it's below par.

First on BA is actually often referred to as the best business class in the sky!

What keeps me on BA is actually coz I don't have to fly BA. If I'm going to the USA I can earn my BA points on American and with Qatar, Cathay, Qantas, Malaysian, Finaair or even Royal Jordanian, who all have better business class products, IMO.

Agree about Qatar - used them last year for return flights to Adelaide (from Frankfurt) for around £1600 in business. Equivalent to BA first and much better than Club World or Virgin upper.

kingcole · Jul 22, 2017

Deadly Danson said:
Agree about Qatar - used them last year for return flights to Adelaide (from Frankfurt) for around £1600 in business. Equivalent to BA first and much better than Club World or Virgin upper.

That's a terrific fare to NZ. A great example of departing from a non UK location.

Deadly Danson · Jul 22, 2017

kingcole said:
That's a terrific fare to NZ. A great example of departing from a non UK location.

Yep, paid about £20 using avios to get to Frankfurt. Easy and got plenty of tier points for the journey to Oz.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jul 22, 2017

Managed to fall asleep and spill red wine all over myself in business on a flight to the US, after a glass too many. One the way back, with exactly the same crew, I did exactly the same again. punk:

(or do I mean :tosser:

)

For the price of the ticket (which was several thousand quid, FFS) one would have expected someting a little more secure for resting a glass. These days I drink little or nothing on a flight, regardless of whether I'm paying or somone else..

CorgiRegisteredFriend · Jul 22, 2017

An hour and a half in The Flying Horseman before heading for gate relaxes me to just the right level.

Brok · Jul 22, 2017

The last time we flew whilst pissed was from Gatwick to Newcastle. As we were coming in to land, my co-pilot said to me "This is a bloody short runway, it's only about 20 yards long!"
I said "You're right, but the bloody thing must be at least 2 miles wide!"

The old ones are the best.

Yoda · Jul 22, 2017

I might sometimes have a tipple, but not if it's before noon. Have a self imposed rule about not drinking in the morning (apart from the one time when on the way to Benidorm for a mates stag weekend).

Weststander · Jul 22, 2017

Bozza said:
I don't know the specifics of the Tesco card(s) - I have a vague recollection there are different cards that earn at different rates, but the black Virgin Amex is 1 mile per £ (if a store doesn't take Amex - and it's pretty unusual nowadays in the places you're likely to be spending a bit) you use the companion Visa card and earn a little less.

You'll also get 2 * economy -> PE upgrades (which are pretty useful as you'll only need to spend miles for an economy fare but get to go PE) and a companion fare (less useful in my experience, as you'll have to buy a qualifying fare with cash (and qualifying fares are the cheapest rate) although occasionally you can use one in a worthwhile way).

Using rewards is all subject to availability of course. It can be tricky in school holidays but we've regularly travelled to both Orlando and Miami in PE and Upper in August. Indeed there's still bizarrely good availability for this August so we might well be heading out again in a few weeks (missing football - bad fan). We've travelled to New York in Upper at short notice before as well, out of school holidays.

Bozza, please can I tap your knowledge, especially as you knew an awful lot too about Florida and Orlando.

Naively, on this subject I was only aware of Air Miles and have never bothered.

Last December pre-Christmas we had an amazing holiday with Virgin in Orlando, the first for the four of us.

What is the most financially effective route by switching all our spending, that is, to particular credit or debit cards, and using particular UK shops, to gain meaningful Virgin Atlantic flight savings?

We would be able to travel outside of UK state school holiday dates to Orlando again. Say 4 x £500 economy paying normally. Looking at that scenario, roughly how much would we have to spend in the UK, to gain upgrades to business class at no extra cost?

Apologies for any overlap in answers you've already given, but the stack of information given by [MENTION=23572]king[/MENTION]cole and your good self is overwhelming!!!

Bozza · Jul 22, 2017

Weststander said:
Bozza, please can I tap your knowledge, especially as you knew an awful lot too about Florida and Orlando.

Naively, on this subject I was only aware of Air Miles and have never bothered.

Last December pre-Christmas we had an amazing holiday with Virgin in Orlando, the first for the four of us.

What is the most financially effective route by switching all our spending, that is, to particular credit or debit cards, and using particular UK shops, to gain meaningful Virgin Atlantic flight savings?

We would be able to travel outside of UK state school holiday dates to Orlando again. Say 4 x £500 economy paying normally. Looking at that scenario, roughly how much would we have to spend in the UK, to gain upgrades to business class at no extra cost?

Apologies for any overlap in answers you've already given, but the stack of information given by [MENTION=23572]king[/MENTION]cote and your good self is overwhelming!!!

1. Get a black Virgin Atlantic Amex card (with accompanying Visa card).
2. Get secondary cards on the same account for your wife/partner.
3. Both of you use the cards wherever you can, regardless of purchase size. Always use the Amex where it is accepted, the Visa otherwise.
4. If convenient - do all shopping and fuel purchases with Tesco.
5. Do not convert your Clubcard points to Virgin miles until you are notified they are offering a boost on the conversion, then convert all you have. Rinse and repeat.

Doing this should enable you to accrue a fair few miles pretty quickly. We're a household of only 2 adults and a child and we don't do a huge amount of miles in the car either.

Additionally, you can:

1. Register for the free white card when there is something like a "spend £1000 and get 10,000 miles" offer. Spend the £1,000, get the miles and cancel the card. You can have the black and the white cards at the same time.
2. Then register for the free white card for your wife. Do the above again.
(3. I believe you can do the above again 6 months after cancelling)

Additionally 2:

1. Sign up for an Amex Gold Card (this one: https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/...knav=uk-amex-cardshop-details-browse-GoldCard) - it has a £140 fee but is free for the first year. Register, spend the £2,000 in three months, get 20,000 points which will become 20,000 miles. Cancel the card.
2. Do the above for your wife.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 22, 2017

4am LGW Wetherspoons pint of normally Devil's Backbone with a large G&T chaser comes as standard. Then the short-haul two-shite-wines-for-£7 deal everytime the trolley comes round. Which isn't nearly often enough.

Whole new world of challenge when flying to Oz business class on a really really cheapo Asian airline. So many lounges, so much in-flight time and insanely-elongated stopovers. Surprisingly, even if I say so myself, I manage to remain witty, charming and devastatingly attractive to women for the full 26 or 39 hours. Guess all those years of dedicated training finally paid off.

The Spanish · Jul 22, 2017

kingcole said:
BA were the first airline to have fully flat seats in business class many years ago. They truly were then king of the skies and the world favourite airline slogan was accepted.

But they have stood still whilst others, especailly the middle eastern airlines have stormed ahead.

The big moan is the density of seating. In club they squeeze 8 seats wide and in some you have to step over someone to reach the asile. This is very much a first world problem, but many if not most airlines in buisness will be just 4 wide, with all seats having aisle access in a 1-2-1 formation.

The food is not great. Compared to Qatar its embarrasing. The lounges are lacking compared to others, notably Virgin's Clubhouse.

Don't get me wrong. It will be heaven comapred to any economy seat but comapred to other airlines, it's below par.

First on BA is actually often referred to as the best business class in the sky!

What keeps me on BA is actually coz I don't have to fly BA. If I'm going to the USA I can earn my BA points on American and with Qatar, Cathay, Qantas, Malaysian, Finaair or even Royal Jordanian, who all have better business class products, IMO.

American business knocks BA into a cocked hat on transatlantic now.

Weststander · Jul 22, 2017

Bozza said:
1. Get a black Virgin Atlantic Amex card (with accompanying Visa card).
2. Get secondary cards on the same account for your wife/partner.
3. Both of you use the cards wherever you can, regardless of purchase size. Always use the Amex where it is accepted, the Visa otherwise.
4. If convenient - do all shopping and fuel purchases with Tesco.
5. Do not convert your Clubcard points to Virgin miles until you are notified they are offering a boost on the conversion, then convert all you have. Rinse and repeat.

Doing this should enable you to accrue a fair few miles pretty quickly. We're a household of only 2 adults and a child and we don't do a huge amount of miles in the car either.

Additionally, you can:

1. Register for the free white card when there is something like a "spend £1000 and get 10,000 miles" offer. Spend the £1,000, get the miles and cancel the card. You can have the black and the white cards at the same time.
2. Then register for the free white card for your wife. Do the above again.
(3. I believe you can do the above again 6 months after cancelling)

Additionally 2:

1. Sign up for an Amex Gold Card (this one: https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/...knav=uk-amex-cardshop-details-browse-GoldCard) - it has a £140 fee but is free for the first year. Register, spend the £2,000 in three months, get 20,000 points which will become 20,000 miles. Cancel the card.
2. Do the above for your wife.

Many thanks. I must get on with this. The kids and grown ups really want go back to the States asap.

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