shurochka

I've been an Executive Club Member since 2000 and never had any issues with them. I receive a booklet in the mail on April 15th that clearly stated that you can spend your Avios(miles) on EuroStar. I could not find anything related to that on ba.com executive club site and I googled this forum suggesting to call Executive Club. I called them on April 29th(Sunday). After 29 minute hold I said "Hi, I got a booklet that says I could book a EuroStar train ticket using my Avios". I was cut off with the following phrase: " I'm not Avios, let me transfer you." A lady picked up the phone and I told her the same thing. She said she had nothing to do with miles and didn't understand why I was calling that number. I explained that I was transferred from Executive Club. She told me that I should call them back because they are the right people to talk to. So, I called back after another 15 minute hold a guy answers my call. I tell him that I want to book Eurostar with Avios. His response "EuroStar with Avios???? You can't do that." I told him that I have received a booklet and it says that I can. His response:" MAAAAAAM! I told you, you can call whoever sent you that booklet and ask them". I tell him:"you work for BA EC, right?" He says yes, so I say "this is who sent me the booklet, maybe you need to talk to your manager maybe you're not aware of the program?" His response: "MAAAAAM, WHEN IT'S NECESSARY I WILL BE MADE AWARE OF IT!" I should mention that his tone was plain rude. So I gave up and hung up.
I will try calling UK office tomorrow they must know more about it.
Did anyone actually succeed in booking EuroStar with Avios??

Raffles

You cannot redeem BAEC avios for Eurostar.

You can redeem avios.com avios for Eurostar.

Solution
Open an account at avios.com
Move some avios across via Combine My Avios
Ring avios.com to book Eurostar
Move your spare avios back to BAEC via Combine My Avios

And Welcome to FT!

OverThereTooMuch

I know some forum regulars will be shocked, but it appears that Chase US is providing some slightly misleading info to cardholders!



This is from a booklet that was recently sent to me (even though I cancelled my card a few months ago). There's no mention in the booklet of having to go through the extra steps mentioned above in order to redeem on Eurostar.

Enigma368

I think 0.75p for me is generous. I would probably pick a value between .4p or .5p per avios, and would generally not spend more to earn/obtain them as I would feel I am potentially paying more than I am benefiting.

Shorthaul flights in Western Europe cost 9000 avios return + £27(£22ish if you Eurocheat). I would value as a good deal on shorthaul return flight to places like Berlin or Milan from London, at about £75. Therefore if 9000 avios + £27 gives you flights worth about £75, that means 9000 avios are worth £48, or .52p an avios(.47p if you Eurocheat).

Longhaul TATL flights to the west coast in J cost 100k avios return plus about £600 in taxes. I personally would be unlikely to pay more than £1100 cash to fly J on such a route(about £250 extra each way over economy). That means the 100k avios are worth about £500 or .5p an avios on long haul at my valuation.

Obviously my valuations are on the stingy side and there are many other ways to use them, MFU, companion tickets etc. that alter their value depending how used. And of course the value you place on them is completely personal: simply put, they are worth what they are worth to you. That said for me about .4p/.5p an avios seems appropriate.

I obtain most of my avios through Tesco (as well as credit card offers(Lloyds/Amex) etc.) and I will never pay more than 1p per clubcard point, usually less, which works out at maximum .41p per avios.

In summary I don't think .75p per avios is a ridiculous valuation, I just think if you were spending that much to obtain them, you are not really getting that great a deal, especially when you take into account the effort involved to get them. But as I said, it is completely personal...different people's need and use of avios may make for a completely different valuation.

Raffles

Totally agree with everything above ... I also do not go out of my way to pick up Avios unless the net cost is around 0.5p, because I cannot be sure of getting more than 0.75p of value for them.

The only time I pay more than 0.5p is when there is really no work involved ... such as BA offering me Part Miles Part Cash where the net cost is 0.75/0.8p, or when I pay tax on my '2 miles per £1' BMI Mastercard for a 1.4% fee and thus pay 0.7p per mile.

Although this debate is becoming a bit pointless for me, because we will be over 2m Avios after the BMI conversion and the Lloyds Amex is put to bed, and at that level I'm not sure that any price is worth paying for more!

Enigma368

I agree, if the avios are obtainable at almost no effort, then i will pay a bit more to get them.

The problem is that collecting them is so addictive!

OverThereTooMuch

http://www.avios.com/spend/deals-of-...?from=spendNav

They're having a deal on Standard Premier redemption rates this week.

Normally "From 31.5k miles", now "From 18k miles". 5k supplement for travel Friday before noon, all day Sat & Sun.

Not clear if this is return or one way, but seems likely that it's return travel.

coatieexpat

Does anybody know how far in advance you have to book Eurostar to get the 9,000 Avios price ?

Thanks.

Gagravarr

I believe that to get it at the 9000 avios price, Eurostar need to be selling the ticket for £34.50 each way (so the return is the cheapest available at £69).

For a popular train, you'd therefore basically need to book the moment the tickets become available, which is around 120 days. For a less popular train (eg Wednesday mid afternoon), you might be in luck 3 weeks out.

The simplest thing is probably to search on the Eurostar website, look for the cheapest tickets on the rough days you want to travel, then ring up Avios to book. (In theory, you ought to be able to use the ITA Matrix to search, as I believe that Eurostar expose their trains via some travel agent systems, but I've never managed to get it to work when searching from QQS to XPG)

Shanye2233

Can I book a train from Lille to london return using avios and whom do I call to do so?

Thank you.

stewardo

See post #17

As this thread outlines however, the avios scheme that allows eurostar redemptions is generally only open to UK residents. (It is a separate scheme from British Airways)