Originally Posted by
xjk1
There are plenty of people who travel often and who just collect air miles/ status naturally. On Flyertalk, and these threads everyone clearly loves finding the best TP/ Avios earning, and spending methods and tricks. What got you intrested?
In my case, it was 1989 - when my dad proudly announced we were having a mini-break in Brussels, via BA - a *scheduled* airline! That was apparently A Big Thing, but as a 9-year-old I didn't appreciate the difference.
I don't know how he spent enough to do it, but he mentioned it was paid for by "Air Miles", which he'd got via his NatWest credit card. As a result, my mum, dad and I had a really nice long weekend and yes, the flights were fine (and didn't involve getting up at 3 AM as the trip to Malta two years earlier - my first flight - had done!)
It had such an effect on me that when I later got my own credit card, in 2001, it was with NatWest. The earning rate was pants (1 Air Mile per £20 spent, as I recall, which is 0.5 Avios per pound in today's equivalent). I didn't get close to earning enough for a flight, but it gave me the bug.
It was then with great satisfaction that thanks to Flyertalk, Tesco, Topcashback and a number of online casinos offering silly signup cashback that I was able to take my dad via BA First to LA and Vegas several years ago. I'd like to think it was a nice way of paying him back for showing me what Air Miles could do! We subsequently had a couple more trips paid for by Avios until he died two years ago - he gathered them with great relish and to this day I still have a substantial Avios balance I'm working through.