First of all: what deal?
Second of all: how many tickets?
Third of all: booking class?

If you are just here to rant, we have a special thread for that.

No, not ranting, I am looking for useful feedback on whether or not there was a better way to do this. There is a deal offering 50% discount on miles used on world traveller flights to Bahamas. 2 Tickets were a total of 50, 000 miles but together was about £700 on tax.

I am actually wondering if this kind of deal is useful at all, or whether or not there are better ways to reduce tax charges (e.g. packages)

GBP 350 per ticket in Y sounds expensive. My guess is this is not a 'deal' but you were offered Part Miles, Part Cash (PMPC). In that case you pay a higher part of the ticket in cash.

I've just checked, you are quite right, and I am somewhat annoyed as this wasn't 100% clear from the offer.

Won't be doing this again, not convinced this was worth it.

You can cancel for free. That is why they are relatively expensive. They are semi-flexible.

Just having a think - is this a good deal or not, maybe it is?

Normally would spend 100,000 for 2 people + tax (maybe £300)
This is 50, 000 + £700 inc tax so that is roughly £400 for 50, 000 miles
which sounds quite good now.

What do you think?

I always do part miles part cash when it is offered at 0.7p per mile. Where else can you get BA Miles for that price? I skip at 1p per mile though, given my balance.

I think you should decide if you're happy with the deal or not. Paid tickets are around GBP 1000 each so this way you spend 50K miles and save GBP 1300. Not too bad.

Neither is GBP 400 for 50K miles. Not a huge deal but not bad.

As a general rule, redeeming miles for long haul economy travel is considered a very poor use of miles. Prem Ec, or Club World represent much better value, although on popular routes, availability can be an issue.

Yeah, but you would need 200K miles for two or a much bigger cash outlay to MFU. It is only a short flight so I would not mind Y so much. Cash rich, miles poor: go for MFU. Miles rich, cash poor: go for straight redemption in J. Cash poor, miles poor (or Scottish): go for the deal you have!

Just went back and clicked on a link saying "Original Price" meaning price before discount

It would have been 100, 000 miles + £680 in taxes (2 persons)
Discount means 50, 000 miles + £680 in taxes
Confirming by trying to book without miles, the taxes are still £680 meaning
this looks ok to me.

Thanks for all responses

Looks like the same 'deal' that is getting me to YVR in J next week for 50K miles straight redemption... Maybe the bug is back. @:-)

British Airways visa card issued by JP Morgan Chase
 

I recently signed up for a British Airways visa card issued by JP Morgan Chase. However, I was extremely disappointed when I discovered the airline passed along taxes, fees, and a fuel surcharge to the consumer when it offered free airline tickets. Just curious to know who else has signed up for this card? Have you tried to redeem your two "free" tickets?

Ah, obviously you never do your homework...

Before you started this thread, have you perused this forum and found this humongous thread? 80 pages long at this writing... :D

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...romo-back.html

Quite a bit of the new cardholders are very excited to get a 2nd chance for this fabulous offer which has made a come back from last year... ;-)

Hundreds if not thousands, have redeemed their "free" tickets. Some of them actually put $30K spending on their cards so they can get a 2 for 1 certificate, even that would mean they would pay BA's fuel surcharge and the high LHR taxes because they must fly through London... at over $300 a pop... It is all relative.

Do some reading and you may find things are not that bad ONLY IF you know how to use your miles... more efficiently to suit your need or budget.

To help you get started, here is an excellent source to do your homework reading:

http://thepointsguy.com/2011/03/tips...airways-miles/

Welcome to FT missellison2007!

The BAEC program (or, programme:)) has its pros and cons just like any airline FF program. Actually redeeming their miles for BA flights may not be the best use of their miles due to the fuel surcharges - though some folks have found the premium cabin awards to be a good option for them. A lot depends on your needs and where you want to go.

Partner airline redemptions, particularly using the "one partner only" are one of the better values.

Check out Thepointsguy.com website - he had a very thorough and easy to understand rundown of the different BA redemption options, and their pros/cons (I'd paste a direct link but am blocked from his site at work - however I believe there is a search function that should find it for you easily)

I think BAEC is a very useful FF program - the wife and I have redeemed 150K miles so far with only about $25-$30 in taxes per ticket, for N.America-Asia trip and plan to redeem some more soon for a similar small fee. Good luck and enjoy!