Originally Posted by miklcct

KLM will be very helpful for me if I go to Netherlands as it flies from Southampton Airport (although I need to get rid of my Aeroflot bonus points first), the most convenient airport for me living in Bournemouth. But I'll still prefer direct flights if one is available at LHR (direct non-stop megabus route from my home) or LGW (extremely cheap train fare). However, it's very unlikely I'll take Air France because if I want to go to France, I'll prefer going direct using surface transport (Channel ferry) from Poole then travel domestically inside. Under nearly no circumstances I will take anything other than economy as the value of a flight to me is like a bus, where transport is the only value (the only times I took other classes are because they were cheaper than economy or I was upgraded). I generally avoid flight connections except when it is a long-haul flight, the mileage is close to direct (i.e. the connection is on the great circle path of the direct route), and the connecting time is short (close to the MCT).

Nearly all of my spending is online now except groceries, and my preference of supermarkets is Lidl, Tesco, then Aldi and Asda. I don't shop at Co-op because the goods are expensive, and there are no Morrisons near me. My major spendings apart from rent per month are groceries (about £150), transport (about £80 in off-peak train tickets, and £80 in local buses, mostly bought online or in app), and sporting activities (about £120 per month). For my travel, I mainly stay in hostels or "business hotels" (in the Chinese sense), and if I have joined Co-wheels Car Club which give me access to car rentals at convenient locations.

I'm still building my credit score so I'll need to wait for a while for me to sign up the credit card, but I'll only use the fee-free version of the Virgin card as I don't spend enough to justify the £165 annual fee.





When the world returns to normal, I'll expect to fly back to Hong Kong at least once per year (in January or February, i.e. off-peak season), possibly twice (the other will be around Christmas, i.e. peak season) for sporting activities and to visit my family. I'll fly a lot to other European countries on the most direct or cheapest carrier, and also domestically to Scotland if it is faster than taking trains, but unfortunately Virgin Points can't be used to redeem domestic tickets. I'll still only travel on economy though. I want to get something out of my regular train ticket purchases (about £80 per month) though and my choice is collecting Virgin points (at 3 points per £1) or buying through GWR to collect Nectar points (2 Nectar points per £1, equivalent to at least 1% cashback). If I spend about £1000 per year in train tickets it will take me about 8 years to "earn" a round-trip flight to Hong Kong, and if I choose Nectar points it can earn me about £80 in 8 years.

P.S. in the past when I lived in Hong Kong, Aeroflot was almost always the cheapest airline for Europe with good daytime flights and short connection at SVO, so unless I needed stopovers I was loyal to it, but now my circumstances have changed and my 41k Aeroflot miles are no longer that useful. I'll just spend them on the next available flight and forget them.