Tesco air miles!!!!! Gobsmacked!

[murdo]

We have option of 8000 air miles or equivalent of £1400 with Cosmos holidays.

With the air miles, if we were travelling first two weeks of October (return flights to Bodrum), it would clear out our airmils PLUS we would have to cough up £800!!!!!!! This was for John and myself and the two kids (under 12). The only option is Turkish Airlines. I know a lot of you use T.Airlines....are they really expensive? How much would an equivalent flight usually cost?

Looks as if we would break even if we booked a Cosmos package and didn't use the room...think some of you said you can do that????

I think I read somewhere that you got some kind of discount if you use Turkish Airlines on a regular basis, what's the terms/benefits like?
Thanks
Jackie

 

[David Burns]

Can't help but would also be interested to know if anyone has an answer to your questions as I am using Turkish Airlines for the first time this August. They are starting a new service next month flying direct from Stansted to Antalya and I have paid for return flights in August, including taxes, £241 per person. This has worked out cheaper than the other charter flights I found being quoted on the web but I would have been prepared to pay out a little bit extra for having the luxury of flying out at 11.30am as opposed to 9.30pm which appears to be the times of departure for charter flights.
I am assuming I am booked on a scheduled flight and from other comments I have seen on this forum it appears I should also be enjoying extra leg room and free drinks on board.
In booking I also applied for membership of their "Miles & Miles" club but have yet to find out what benefits I can look forward to receiving.

 

[merlin]

quote:Originally posted by David Burns

In booking I also applied for membership of their "Miles & Miles" club but have yet to find out what benefits I can look forward to receiving.

Here you go.....

https://www3.thy.com/milesandmiles/jsp/home.jsp;jsessionid=CHsCxH2nGJ76gGbTgQyBmscJYpSgT815wxnlMS6T1y2N1XNvgbCc!2120531319?lang=en


Merv!

 

[alain01]

Think you will find that Air miles a complete rip off. Have over 800 myself and yet to find something reasonable to spend them on...can get hol discount but it usually discount on brochure price so still bloody expensive..got an offer of £5 per 100 air miles towards car hire but still had to be booked thru them and was N expensive....Alan.

 

[murdo]

OK bit more info. Phoned them to say how disappointed I was by the price for flights they quoted. They said "you have additional option of finding flight price with major airlines and then we will book with them for you and deduct airmiles discount of £6.00 per 100 miles. Somewhat better than the online option. They say they deal with Thomas cook, Freedomflights etc. What amazes me is how much these vouchers go for on e bay. Have a look. 1000 vouchers £72...why???? According to the airmiles rate they are worth a £60 discount...I don't get this at all???????

 

[Gail]

Nor me Jackie It's really confusing!

Gail

 

[merlin]

Copied from the Daily Mirror who did some research on Air Miles..... Hope this helps.



21 August 2004
ARE AIR MILES WORTH SAVING?
YOU NEED TO SPEND A MINT TO GET AWAY
MORE than seven million people collect Air Miles by buying their shopping at Tesco or filling up at Shell service stations.

For every £5 you spend, you get one Air Mile - enough to get you to the end of the runway. But just how much do you have to spend to make Air Miles worthwhile?

Daily Mirror reader Daphne Kerr from West Bromwich says she tried to book a flight to Australia to see her daughter paying part cash and using her Air Miles.

"The flight was slightly cheaper than I was quoted elsewhere," she says. "But I would have had to spend thousands of pounds at my local supermarket to have enough Air Miles to make any difference. It was hardly a bargain."


Advertisement
We logged on to the Air Miles Travel Company at
www.airmiles.co.uk to check this out.


For a Qantas flight from London to SYDNEY departing on October 7 and returning on October 28, Air Miles quoted a fare of £718.50 including taxes. You would also have to cough up 1,920 Air Miles - the equivalent of spending a whopping £9,600 in Tesco. That's a lot of shopping!


Exactly the same flight with Opodo.com, which sells cut-price airline tickets, could be booked for £798.50. So by buying nearly ten grand's-worth of baked beans and pot noodles, with Air Miles you've managed to save yourself the grand total of eighty quid.


Some Air Miles Travel offers are quite competitive if you're just paying cash. However, when you add on the amount you have to spend to earn Air Miles, the savings are dubious to say the least.


Here are some other examples we got by trawling the net:


A BA flight to MALAGA departing October 15 and returning a week later costs £93.70 plus 110 Air Miles (£550 spend). The same flight with lastminute.com costs £118.15.


A return BA flight to CAPE TOWN departing October 11 costs £529 plus 1,270 miles (£6,350 spend). The BA website offers the flight for £707.


An Air Miles Virgin flight to MIAMI, departing October 7 and returning two weeks later costs £432.20 plus 880 miles (£4,400 spend). The same flight with Expedia (www.expedia.co.uk) costs £443.40, just £11 more.


And to get this flight for nothing, you would have to have saved 6,660 Air Miles - a monstrous spend of £33,300.


An American Airlines flight to LOS ANGELES leaving October 11 and returning October 18 costs £376.20 plus 930 Air Miles - a spend of £4,650. The same flight with Opodo is £412.20.


Dial-a Flight (0870 333 4488) had an offer for the same dates flying with Swissair for £400, including tax.


Air Miles has a good saving on a Virgin flight to HONG KONG, departing September 30 and returning a week later.


It offers a fare of £497.90, against Opodo's price of £736.90. However, to get this you would have to surrender 1,360 Air Miles, a total spend of £6,800.


Short haul flights are a better bargain. Tickets for a long weekend in ROME, departing with Alitalia on October 2, cost £121.40 with Air Miles and you actually get 19 miles back. Opodo quoted £125.40 for the same flight.


However, this ignores the no-frills airline market. A return flight to Rome with Ryanair, for example, can be bought for under £50.


The Air Miles Travel Company says that if you can be flexible with dates there are good savings to be made on its site. The company also features reasonably-priced hotel accommodation and car hire.


Collecting Air Miles every time you shop is better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick. But if Mirror reader Daphne Kerr wanted a free return flight to Oz she'd need 15,030 Air Miles - a total spend of £75,150. Is that a good deal?


Merv

 

[murdo]

Pity we can't get airmiles for buying property in Turkey!!!!! Thanks for all the info!!!!!! Still can't understand why there's such a market for airmiles on e bay!!!!
Jackie

 

[alain01]

Like I said earlier...it's a bit of a con...