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CREDIT CARD AIR MILES HELP REQ


shawn9914
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Hi All

Does anyone know how air miles work regards credit cards as I have no idea, what I was thinking of doing was getting a credit card that issues air miles on purchases. With having my own business I was hoping to pay some purchases say between 10k - 20k per month on the card then pay the card off via my company at the end of each month to avoid any interest charges. 

 

I am pretty sure this would not be allowed but could anyone confirm this for me as I don't seem to be able to find the answer via google so was hoping you lot know more than google does ?

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Well, I've had an Air-miles card for many years. I put all my purchases through it and pay it off every month, so no interest charges,  and the air-miles build up until I buy a second  holiday or a weekend away.

It works and there are no catches

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I've done that sort of thing on my personal credit card. 

Ages ago my business card offered miles but they dropped out.

Just call the card companies to see.

More and more cards are dropping incentives since transaction charges were banned. 

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I do exactly this with my business

I find the best two are BA Amex - get air miles and after £10,000 spend you get a free companion ticket so it’s basically buy one get one free (plus taxes) on your air mile spend. Or Platinum Amex which gives you cash back. 

This does depend on your suppliers taking Amex of course....

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Plus 1 for BA Amex. I use it for everything - Aldi takes it now, the turf supplier I use does too, even the local little DIY shop takes it, as does Wickes.

 

In fact, the only place I have a problem is B&Q!

38,000 points and counting, and we got a companion flight on last year’s spend (£20k, I believe).

 

LS

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We had Virgin Atlantic AMEX and are travelling to Washington for a week in August, using the points. 3 adults and 1 child for just under £800.  Could have done it for a few quid had it been outside of the school holidays. 

 

Done Vegas a few years ago travelling first class with Virgin. Cost £400 for 2 flights (inc transfers from Newcastle to London). I can’t remember how much it should have cost, but you could have bought a new car for it....

 

The virgin one is stopping and probably going to BA. 

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5 hours ago, LondonLuke said:

 

This does depend on your suppliers taking Amex of course....

I have the Lloyds Avios cards ( now converted to BA Airmiles). Lloyds give you an Amex and a MasterCard, so if the Amex doesn't work, the MasterCard will.

Not that many places refuse the Amex and I always try it first because it gives more Air-miles to the pound.

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The biggest problem with BA Avios is using them to get the flight you want. If you are flexible am going somewhere with regular flights then you stand a chance but it’s harder if you try to use them on a journey that flys only twice weekly due to limited availability (there are normally only 2 seats available in club, 2 in first and 4 in economy per flight).  The booking schedule opens 355 days in advance  

They are poor poor value of using them for economy. Club or First is better value. 

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HI all

Thanks for all the replies and sorry for taking so long to get back to you 

I have gone for the American Express Platinum card which seems to be the best one suited to me it does come with a £450 per year fee but this will be more than overcome in benefits, it gives me my wife and both kids unlimited lounge access to over 700 airport lounges world wide it gives me the wife and my kids full world wide travel insurance, plus various upgrades to different hotels etc etc etc 

I will be spending around 20k upwards per month on this card which gives me 2 free return flights to anywhere in Europe every month and from now till Christmas every transaction over 5k will get me double points so the fee soon gets swallowed up but I will be banking the points each month towards business class flights every so often for the wife and myself.

Cheers LB

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8 hours ago, shawn9914 said:

HI all

Thanks for all the replies and sorry for taking so long to get back to you 

I have gone for the American Express Platinum card which seems to be the best one suited to me it does come with a £450 per year fee but this will be more than overcome in benefits, it gives me my wife and both kids unlimited lounge access to over 700 airport lounges world wide it gives me the wife and my kids full world wide travel insurance, plus various upgrades to different hotels etc etc etc 

I will be spending around 20k upwards per month on this card which gives me 2 free return flights to anywhere in Europe every month and from now till Christmas every transaction over 5k will get me double points so the fee soon gets swallowed up but I will be banking the points each month towards business class flights every so often for the wife and myself.

Cheers LB

With that sort of spend you’ll soon get invited to apply for a Centurion card. This is the sought after ‘Black’ Amex card. Fee is about £1,500 pa. 

concierge service plus invites to exclusive events are the main benefits. Plus it’s the ultimate ‘bird’ puller (and not the feathered type).

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15 minutes ago, amateur said:

...and if you are using it in your business, the fee will be tax-allowable

Ooh that’s a point. I was ‘invited’ once but baulked at the £1,500 fee. Even though I could pit it through the company I doubt I would be invited again as I am not as rich as I used to be since I set up on my own! 

If the OP gets invited for a Centurion card and he can put it through his company he should go for it. 

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14 hours ago, shawn9914 said:

I doubt very much I could justify the huge joining and annual fees no matter what the rewards I thought the £450 I've paid for this card was high but I will soon recover that cost

What would a centurion card get you if you had one 

Same as platinum plus:

Personal concierge service

additilnal airport lounge access (used to include Virgin Upper class lounge not sure if it still does)  

top tier membership of most top end hotel loyalty schemes. 

Top tier membership of some airline loyalty schemes

Top tier membership of most car hire loyalty schemes 

Invitation to exclusive events

Bragging rights down the pub

You’ll be fighting off the totty 

This article sums sums it up..

https://www.ft.com/content/fdfc0ee6-6b9d-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0

 

Edited by AVB
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On 31/07/2018 at 21:55, shawn9914 said:

HI all

Thanks for all the replies and sorry for taking so long to get back to you 

I have gone for the American Express Platinum card which seems to be the best one suited to me it does come with a £450 per year fee but this will be more than overcome in benefits, it gives me my wife and both kids unlimited lounge access to over 700 airport lounges world wide it gives me the wife and my kids full world wide travel insurance, plus various upgrades to different hotels etc etc etc 

I will be spending around 20k upwards per month on this card which gives me 2 free return flights to anywhere in Europe every month and from now till Christmas every transaction over 5k will get me double points so the fee soon gets swallowed up but I will be banking the points each month towards business class flights every so often for the wife and myself.

Cheers LB

Don't forget "free flights" ain't truly free - you have to pay the taxes plus, if you use a BA Amex companion ticket, you have to use 100% air miles for the first ticket.

Was recently offered a £380 discount by BA if I part paid for a flight with 68,000 air miles - but if you need to purchase 68,000 air miles it's over £800

I'm still north of 1.5m air miles and getting all air mile flights is a bl**dy nighmare.

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4 minutes ago, Eyefor said:

Don't forget "free flights" ain't truly free - you have to pay the taxes plus, if you use a BA Amex companion ticket, you have to use 100% air miles for the first ticket.

Was recently offered a £380 discount by BA if I part paid for a flight with 68,000 air miles - but if you need to purchase 68,000 air miles it's over £800

I'm still north of 1.5m air miles and getting all air mile flights is a bl**dy nighmare.

Agreed entirely, hence my taking of the cashback rather than the air mile route.

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13 hours ago, Eyefor said:

Don't forget "free flights" ain't truly free - you have to pay the taxes plus, if you use a BA Amex companion ticket, you have to use 100% air miles for the first ticket.

Was recently offered a £380 discount by BA if I part paid for a flight with 68,000 air miles - but if you need to purchase 68,000 air miles it's over £800

I'm still north of 1.5m air miles and getting all air mile flights is a bl**dy nighmare.

There is an art to it. 

I get two return club class tickets to Mauritius every year (in school holidays) so it can be done but it takes planning and cunning. 

Just booked up next years plus club class to Orlando as well. 

Where are you trying to go to and when? 

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1 hour ago, AVB said:

There is an art to it. 

I get two return club class tickets to Mauritius every year (in school holidays) so it can be done but it takes planning and cunning. 

Just booked up next years plus club class to Orlando as well. 

Where are you trying to go to and when? 

Tampa, biz class, twice or maybe 3 times a year.

Have managed it via various means for the past 12 years (via Noo Yuk, Boston, Miami, Washington etc) and had a break for a look around at most stopovers, but much prefer to travel direct.

I do check availability on the 355 day rule but also tend to check out the sales offers because there are quite often better deals for cash (£1104 each return last year).

Have you been through Orlando before? Time to practice not being British.

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This subject has become timely for me now. I have been using a United Airlines Mileage Plus card, which got me UA miles that can be used in Star Alliance partners.

It was also useful as it was a dual Amex and Visa. However, MBNA who were behind it just withdrew it, and now it is just a Visa card with a small amount of cashback.

I would like to find an Amex card now, partly because Costco only allow Amex credit cards ( or any Debit card ).

I guess it is time to weigh up BA Amex vs the various cashback ones.

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