We're off to North Cyprus next year with my folks and have recently been building up the BMI miles thro shopping and BAA. To get there you can either fly tukish cyprus airways or go via turkey.

So I thought we could use our miles and am having real problems getting the call centre to give me real dedemption values etc. Looking at the table I would need 6000 plus cash or 9000 plus cash (J) to get to Istanbul and the same for the flight to North Cyprus.

Made a phone call and the guy today told me for miles + money I need 10,000 (J) miles plus 105 pound plus the 110 tax. Is this really correct, as if so I'm going to try to book it as the TKY a330 looks really nice and business for up to six hours at 215 quid seems a bargain. Any advise would be very welcome.

PS as a new-be from the dark side why the hell can't *A allow you to book their flights online wouldn't it be so much easier.