MilesBuzz! - Fly British Airways Transatlantic Business Class for $970.11 Roundtrip

Fly British Airways Transatlantic Business Class
$970.11 USD Roundtrip (taxes additional)

End Result: Earning 60,000 Asia Miles for $970.11 out of your pocket.

Preliminaries:

1) Must have an eBay account (US based).

2) Must have a US PayPal account. (Any account type works – does not need to be a Premier or Business PayPal account).

3) Must have an eBay Anything Points account. Your EAP account must be linked to your eBay and PayPal Accounts. Sign up for an EAP account here (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?AnythingPoints&target=AnythingPointsSignIn) if you don’t already have one.

4) Pay $9.99 for one month at www.points.com so you can use them to transfer your eBay Anything Points to Asia miles at
1 eBay Anything Point = 1.125 Asia Miles (Max 250,000 points transfer/day)

As eBay has removed all the partner links from their website, there is now only one sure way of earning eBay Anything Points:

Purchasing eBay items offering eBay Anything Points before the published September 30, 2005 end to these listings.

Process:

1) Miles Seeker must find a Friendly eBay Seller who will offer 10 points per $ spent on eBay for items totaling $5334 USD.

2) Miles Seeker pays for item through PayPal and is automatically credited points (10 points/$ x $5334 = 53,340 eBay Anything Points) within 24 hours of payment (http://anythingpoints.ebay.com/offer.html) to Miles Seeker’s eBay Anything Points account.

3) Miles Seeker can then immediately and instantly transfer 53,340 eBay Anything Points to Asia Miles through Points.com resulting in 60,007 Asia Miles (53,340 x 1.125).

4) Friendly eBay Seller refunds purchases minus a percentage (18% used in this case) to cover eBay listing, points, and final value fees along with PayPal fees.

5) eBay will not take back Miles Seeker’s EAP after Friendly eBay Seller refunds the transaction.

6) Miles Seeker receives $4373.88 back having lost $960.12 (18%) and $9.99 (Points.com fee) and gaining 60,000 Asia Miles.

Miles Seeker earned 60,000 Asia Miles for $970.11 out of pocket.



60,000 Asia Miles = 1 Free Transatlantic British Airways Ticket
(Or First Class for $1450.17 USD Roundtrip)
(American Airlines, Swiss International, and all other One World Airlines would also work the same way).

60,000 Asia Miles is good for 5,000 miles of Business Class travel (distance flown) in each direction on any single Asia Miles airline partner.
90,000 Asia Miles is good for the same but in First Class.

The Asia Miles program works differently than most US programs. Awards are distance based, not zone based. So, you cannot fly from the west coast at these miles redemption levels.

Eligible itineraries would include Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, New York and many others to London, Paris, Itally, etc roundtrip.

1) Distance must be under 5000 miles each way (I use http://gc.kls2.com/ to calculate).
2) Only one airline partner can be used for a single award.
(Asia Miles has a separate OneWorld redemption chart for multiple carriers on the same ticket. This chart costs more miles per distance flown.)

Asia Miles also has One-way awards. For example, up to 5000 miles of business class travel one-way costs 35,000 Asia Miles.

Asia Miles can also be used for upgrades on BA or AA - 45K for a transatlantic roundtrip upgrade - or 22.5K for a roundtrip upgrade from world traveller plus on BA.

The deal is earning Asia Miles relatively cheap – and the best use for Asia Miles is British Airways tickets to Europe because:
1) BA has one of the best transatlantic products.
2) BA has very good redemption availability.
And BA generally makes the same redemption seats available to Asia Miles members as to their own members.

Advice for Westcoasters (and anyone not at a BA gateway city) wanting to take advantage of this deal:
By a separate cheap ticket to the nearest qualifying available BA gateway city.

Example: I live in Portland.
Seattle - London is just under 5000 miles.
I buy a separate ticket to SEA, then fly business class using this deal.
Tip: A few gateway cities, Detroit for example, have availability almost every day of the year.


Asia Miles will issue your choice of e-tickets or paper tickets on BA for most routes. Paper tickets incur an additional $30 fee (where e-tickets are offered).

Date changes are free and can be done over the phone with Asia Miles even if you have a paper BA ticket.

To gain a better understanding of Asia Miles – read their website:
Award Charts (http://www.asiamiles.com/en/redeem/flights/charts)
Redemption Groups and other award T + Cs (http://www.asiamiles.com/en/site/terms/1,,117609,00.html#11)

While some will debate the ethics of this, the method described above is something that's been discussed in great detail in the past on Flyertalk.

See, for instance: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312953

Perhaps foolishly, I've chosen to stay away from this myself. Ethics aside, I don't like several thousand dollars sloshing around PayPal, even temporarily. I just don't trust Paypal enough.

While some will debate the ethics of this, the method described above is something that's been discussed in great detail in the past on Flyertalk.

See, for instance: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312953

Perhaps foolishly, I've chosen to stay away from this myself. Ethics aside, I don't like several thousand dollars sloshing around PayPal, even temporarily. I just don't trust Paypal enough.

ethically I am totally cool with it. You are utilizingthe services of paypal for one ofthe functions that does in fact work. Sure, some may say that's not what it was intended for, but who will dispute the fact that in order to set up an account, one will most llikely also have to try out at least one "normal" transaction when starting out? Then, you will have used it for its intent anyway, and they win anyway.

besides, iti is our JOB as FTers (or miles seekers, as wannaflyforless puts it) to find WAYS around the "system"

BUT I too have issues with pay pal and so who knows what would work and what would happen if they screwed it up along the way!

Logically it makes perfect sense and I love that about this forum. the OP should be commended if only for that!

Gleff, do we give out awards for such post-ability? He wins one right here!!!
:)MM

Keep in mind that if you want to do it, you've got a whopping 4 days to do it in the US. Anything Points cannot be offered on auctions effective August 15 due to the termination of the program.

That said, if you're going to do this, the buyer and seller had better trust each other at a level of about 1000 percent. An unscrupulous buyer can file a non-receipt complaint with PayPal and get back all of their money. Theoretically, the buyer would then lose their Anything Points - however, this non-receipt claim can be made weeks or months after the sale - long after the seller has returned the excess cash to the buyer and the buyer has converted their Anything Points into Asia Miles. If that happens, the seller is then out the $5300 plus the fees, and the buyer can get their cash back from the seller and a second refund, and when eBay goes to yank the Anything Points, all they'll see is an empty account where these points used to be.

As an eBay seller (even with a merchant PayPal account that would drop the fees further), I'd be loath to consider it.

Mike

Nako - if a partial refund is issued via Paypal itself - (ie full amount minus stated in auciton 18% restocking fee) - you avoid the potential problem you highlighted above.

Also note only the seller has to act within 4 days.

I really have thought this through.

you forgot taxes, cx charged me $200 in taxes besides for 60,000 miles for a j ticket on ba from jfk-lhr-mxp.

Nako - if a partial refund is issued via Paypal itself - (ie full amount minus stated in auciton 18% restocking fee) - you avoid the potential problem you highlighted above.

No, you don't. A non-receipt of goods claim can still be invoked to get the 18 percent "restocking" fee back, because a seller cannot justify keeping 18 percent to restock an item he or she never sent in the first place. Besides, PayPal will wish to see proof that you sent tangible goods to a confirmed address - which will automatically cause you to lose a buyer dispute if you don't.

So, at the very least, the seller is out the $900, rather than the entire $5300, in the case of one unscrupulous party.

Mike

you forgot taxes, cx charged me $200 in taxes besides for 60,000 miles for a j ticket on ba from jfk-lhr-mxp.

Yes - indeed - taxes are additional. In my original post I made this clear - but forgot to mention taxes in my revised post. Taxes vary on the route - my last LHR connecting BA Asia Miles ticket was about $160 for taxes. Less for non-stops.

Besides, PayPal will wish to see proof that you sent tangible goods to a confirmed address - which will automatically cause you to lose a buyer dispute if you don't.


Easy enough to do.

Yes - I am very aware of Paypal's dispute policies and having been through that loop as both buyer and seller a few times.

Yes - indeed - taxes are additional. In my original post I made this clear - but forgot to mention taxes in my revised post. Taxes vary on the route - my last LHR connecting BA Asia Miles ticket was about $160 for taxes. Less for non-stops.
well then your title should be revised to ~$1150 or so in order for it to be less misleading...
Also ymmv, but i found ba availbility to cx members significantly worse than to ba members, i.e. many dates that were open for jfk-lhr for ba members, were not availble to me as a cx member.

Easy enough to do.

Yes - I am very aware of Paypal's dispute policies and having been through thet loop as both buyer and seller a few times.

I'm not doubting that you are aware - I'm just saying that there are so many ways that this could go wrong, even if all of the bases are covered. What happens if your buyer tells PayPal that your "tangible good" was a box of rocks? What happens if PayPal decides to freeze your account or otherwise go after you for Anything Points that they're trying to take back, but you've already yanked from your account?

From an ethical standpoint, I'm relatively neutral on this one. For the time being, it's within the rules, though it may come close to violating eBay selling policies (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-no-item.html) where no item is actually being sold. I just don't think the drawbacks (from the PayPal standpoint) are worth it, no matter how much the risk can be minimized.

Mike

well then your title should be revised to ~$1150 or so in order for it to be less misleading...
Also ymmv, but i found ba availbility to cx members significantly worse than to ba members, i.e. many dates that were open for jfk-lhr for ba members, were not availble to me as a cx member.

Yes - so I added (taxes additional) to the first line - I think this is best as taxes vary (and are much more this year than last somehow).

RE availability - well, I guess I stand corrected. Only the 20+ itins I have checked have had identical availability to my BA.com account (no BA status).

I just don't think the drawbacks (from the PayPal standpoint) are worth it, no matter how much the risk can be minimized.

Mike

Yes, I agree there is risk no matter how it is done. The risks can be minimized, but not completely eliminated.

So...plan sounds semi-bulletproof. Next - how do you find a seller on ebay willing to do all of this? That seems like a catching point to me.

Aren't there any Nigerians that need help laundering money anymore? :o

Aren't there any Nigerians that need help laundering money anymore? :o

:D :D :D

So...plan sounds semi-bulletproof. Next - how do you find a seller on ebay willing to do all of this? That seems like a catching point to me.

I'll do it. Everybody, please send me $5300. Don't delay! There's only four days left or whatever...

So...plan sounds semi-bulletproof. Next - how do you find a seller on ebay willing to do all of this? That seems like a catching point to me.

And due to productivity improvements, we now have a sucker born every 45 seconds.

And today is a great day to be getting a BA business award.

British Airways Cancels [all] Heathrow Flights (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165443,00.html)

Having dealt with PayPal likely longer and more than anyone else on FT (since the month they launched, more than $20M/month), there's no way I'd even get close to doing anything like this. I don't trust PayPal enough with my own money to leave any balance or try to launder anything through there. When things go wrong, even with these types of volumes, it's nearly impossible to get anyone there to help out and fix the problem.

Aren't there any Nigerians that need help laundering money anymore? :o

^ ^

Your excellent post summed up my feelings about this "technique" for earning miles for next to nothing.

Hmmm, on second thought, I will just fly economy. Direct flight from BOS-AMS is high right now (summer rates) but 6-7hrs in a new plane with an Aisle seat in coach is fine by me. They give you wine, you smuggle in some more, and all is well in the back of the plane where you can flirt with the flight attendants if they are cute!

$700RT, includes taxes!

:)MM

Ebay Anything points are dead and gone anyway. I never found a single seller that gave them in 100s of auctions.

Hmmm, on second thought, I will just fly economy.

To each his own - I'll see you on your way past... I prefer a flat bed myself.


Ebay Anything points are dead and gone anyway. I never found a single seller that gave them in 100s of auctions.

You missed the point of my post.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update:

Before starting this thread, I had already used the eBay process described to earn over a milllion Asia Miles.

After starting this thred, I used the methods described to earn more than a million Asia Miles.

I did not consider it prudent at the time to post those facts in a public forum eBay might read.

For those stuck on the problem of finding a friendly eBay seller to trust:

- Do you have friends you can trust?
- Can any of your friends navigate the intenet well?
If yes, your friends can sell to you on eBay.

It wasn't that hard!

I think he realized it all too well. I'm with Marathon Man.

If you have such a "compliant and friendly" seller, good for you! ;)