UK Miles Rip Off
May 26, 2012, 4:27 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Phuket Thailand
Programs: HH Diamond, BA Gold, IHG Gold, Oman Gold
Posts: 1,038
UK Miles Rip Off
After reading a lot of reports etc on here, it seems to be living in the UK means we pay a lot for to rdeem and use miles. USA seems to have the best deals. I booked 2 x business returns LHR-DXB, 120,000 BMI miles + £900 in taxes....is it fair to say UK customers get the worse deal when it comes to earning and redeeming miles?
May 26, 2012, 5:28 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: RTM
Programs: DiamondClub (rip), Currently an Alliance Treble Champion (BA, A3, AZ)
Posts: 1,786
Much of the tax is due to UK Air Passenger Duty. In the US, sometimes the taxes are lower, but there is nothing that equal(ed) the value of DC redemptions. 37.5k + £210 + tax for business to USA is unbeatable. Travel from ROI, Europe or Scandinavia to save the UK APD.
£450 each for two business returns to DXB is excellent value IMO
£450 each for two business returns to DXB is excellent value IMO
May 27, 2012, 12:41 am
#4
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: N.Wales, UK
Posts: 933
After reading a lot of reports etc on here, it seems to be living in the UK means we pay a lot for to rdeem and use miles. USA seems to have the best deals. I booked 2 x business returns LHR-DXB, 120,000 BMI miles + £900 in taxes....is it fair to say UK customers get the worse deal when it comes to earning and redeeming miles?
If you stumble across a better value program in the world than DC, be sure to let us know. We're all looking.
May 27, 2012, 1:26 am
#5
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW London
Programs: BAEC Silver; Hilton Diamond;a miscellany of other hotel non-statuses
Posts: 3,607
After reading a lot of reports etc on here, it seems to be living in the UK means we pay a lot for to rdeem and use miles. USA seems to have the best deals. I booked 2 x business returns LHR-DXB, 120,000 BMI miles + £900 in taxes....is it fair to say UK customers get the worse deal when it comes to earning and redeeming miles?
If you booked those flights on a US carrier/programme you would probably have still had to pay UK government taxes (but maybe not YQ).
Overall I think DC is considered very good over that end-to-end process.
May 27, 2012, 3:51 am
#6
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Glasgow, UK
Programs: BA, UA, Marriot
Posts: 2,196
It obviously all depends. DC was very good value over the years for me, though paying the YQ on award seats irks me, whether it be BD or BA. I recently redeemed a one-way in F on UA from the US to Switzerland which cost a total of $5 in cash in addition to 67,500 UA miles vs. the 56,250 miles it would have cost me using DC (if my memory serves me correctly) plus £???? in YQ and other taxes.