TuxTraveller

No I'm fairly sure you don't. Flights can be booked separately from what I have seen.

Also thanks for the OP for the heads up. Didn't realise this change had happened. I'll be informing some friends about this as well I think.

Globaliser

Yes, I'd like to know this too. Can't find any information anywhere on the Air Miles site.

Maybe it's an indicator that there will be a mailing/emailing to let everyone know, before the clock starts ticking.

Bollox

Wouldn't surprise me if they record that you've logged in and accessed the T&C's and set the clock off from that period!

Not sure from a legal perspective but it's something I've come across before.

NickB

I did some online shopping to keep the miles alive but they state that crediting can take up to 45 days. So an idea of when the clock starts and reasonable notice would be useful.

Skipcool3

Have just spoken to a very helpful agent at AIRMILES who claimed that every single member of the scheme will receive the information about the changes by post, some of these letters have already been sent out.
She admitted that some accounts had been dormant for years and that AIRMILES were hoping to stimulate interest in the loyalty program again from these people. She also admitted that they were having issues where people have moved and not updated address etc, and also some good feed back from customers who had forgotten that they were sitting on a pile of miles.(!)
I havn't received any communication by post, neither has Ms. Skipcool3, and we have not added any AIRMILES to her account for at least 3 years.....
Anybody else had the mailing???

mad_rich

Occasional emails but nothing in the post. Except for the card itself.

Shuttle-Bored

Didn't get anything from Airmiles, but did know about this having tried a redemption myself back in November (and posted about it on the BD board for some reason!).

Diary note in place now for an annual Airmiles store purchase.

wobbly wings

Thanks - makes sense. ^

Andrew Swaffield

I wanted to take the opportunity to fully explain the recent changes at Air Miles, following your comments on the subject.
After twenty years of no expiry on Airmiles we have made the decision to introduce it for a number of reasons.
Firstly, our extensive research has shown that sensible expiry rules can in fact increase customer engagement and prevent the accumulation of too many dormant and inactive members. Secondly, it enables us to increase the value of our rewards to our members who are collecting, rather than have mediocre rewards which are available to everyone.
A year ago we changed the flight rewards for Air Miles in the UK to a set of simple zonal prices which remain stable and we included all taxes, fees and surcharges (including fuel) into the mileage price. This was a massive change for us and represents better value than the previous model. In fact, I would challenge you to find a better value frequent buyer scheme for flight rewards, once taxes fees and charges are taken into account (I'm certain you'll take me up on this challenge!).
We have just introduced a change to our Terms and Conditions which states that member's accounts will remain open and their miles will not expire as long as they collect one mile every twenty four months. Members who have not collected for eighteen months and have over five hundred miles will receive written notification from us that they need to collect one mile or more in the next six months to keep their account open. We have also launched a £3.5m TV and press advertising campaign to remind people of the value of Air Miles and the ease of collection.
We are currently sending over twenty thousand letters each day and expect to reach around two million people in total. We have to stagger the communication to avoid call centre and web site congestion. The six months begins for them from when their letter is sent.
We are writing to everyone at their last known address who has a balance of more than five hundred miles to give them notice of our intention to close their account six months after the date of the letter unless they have one mile credited to their account during that period.
For everybody who has less than five hundred miles we will close their account in four years time. If they make contact with us within that period we will give them six months to start collecting, if they don't we will close their account. However, if anyone contacts us after four years and we have no record of having had any contact with them, then we will re-instate their miles and give them six months to start collecting.
Last October we introduced a £30 Administration Fee which applies to all redemptions if the member has not collected at least one mile in the last twelve months. This was designed to ensure that we could continue to offer great value rewards to our members and ensure that we were not forced to make them more expensive for our engaged collectors. This was covered by our existing Terms and Conditions.
It is extremely easy to collect one mile every year and we do not believe that it is an unreasonable hurdle.
We are wholly owned by British Airways and remaining so. There have been a few attempted management buy outs and private equity sales in the past, but in the end the same conclusion has been reached. Air Miles works best when owned by a large airline with access to it's unsold inventory.

I hope this is clear and helpful, and that you will all continue to collect!

Yours
Andrew

Andrew Swaffield
Managing Director
Air Miles Travel Promotions Limited

Skipcool3

Thank-you for the clarification, Andrew. I don't think many of us would argue with the value that AIRMILES give (apart from no longer being able to book one-ways and the requirement for 3X mileage in Club) (Remember years ago when AIRMILES offered shrinks the world.... 5800 Miles in Club to New-york? (with no charges)... We then had creeping charges added, fuel supplements etc.
Now asking 15,000 AIRMILES to New York in Club, despite the economic downturn....
The trouble is, as a collector for twenty years who came along to the Polo, I would like to see certainty, so that when I set out to save for a reward, the requirement doesn't keep changing.
Further, the lack of point offers at Tesco has seriously reduced my opportunity to aquire AIRMILES and is now starting to make me consider shopping elsewhere.
I hope you can look at these issues.
Regards
Skip.

Radioman

Andrew,

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to our little part of FT. It is really appreciated and I wish that some other people at Senior level at BA might also look at doing the same, it does go a long way to show people that you guys actually care about whats going on.

I have seen the various adds on the TV, not bad at all. My wife's account has just under 1000 miles in it so with advice from one of your agents we are now going to create a household account, which is good as I still earn Air Miles via the BAA World Points as well as some paper miles I pick up now and again. At least this will allow me to keep on earning miles, not as fast as I would like but a few hundred every so often.

Its a pity there is no easy way to redeem the paper miles i.e. some sort of voucher number, similar to the Tesco and BA is pretty good.

Oh, I think you should also make sure that the 500 Air Miles that we have to pay extra from the Regions should be make a bit bigger as folk might not notice that at all.

Regards
J

Cluster One

I have collected airmiles since the scheme first started, in fact I found a small collection of paper vouchers in my filing cabinet the other day! I gave up being a collector when NatWest left the scheme and have now switched to the BA Amex with a bmi Mastercard as backup. The BA Amex has given me far more benefit in terms of long distance travel than Air Miles ever did, but at the same time I see the value of AM for European travel. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who could be tempted back if you offered a better reward rate on your non-Amex credit card.

I don't recall ever being sent notification about the £30 surcharge. I was unexpectedly hit by this charge on a booking in December, unfortunately it was too late to do anything about it.

Regards

mad_rich

Welcome to FT, Andrew. Great to have a view from Airmiles. I hope you will stick around.

There are some great elements of the AIRMILES scheme (zero taxes, obviously, and the opportunity to top up with cash*). But, as Skipcool3 pointed out, the lack of one-way redemptions and relatively expensive premium cabins are a downer.

Also, speaking as someone who lives in the regions, the 500 mile supplement is hard to accept (BA Exec Club doesn't charge a premium). Even if I happen to find a direct fight avoiding London, I'm still hit with the extra charge.

The AIRMILES website is, in general, excellent, and the PDF itinerary sent by email is something which all airlines should copy ^

*Incidentally, a question: why does the cash element in cash & miles vary? For redemptions that cost 2000 miles, I've been quoted anywhere between 1630 miles & £20 to 1630 miles & £35.

Roger

So once again, FlyerTalk has advised me of changes to a loyalty scheme that the organiser hasn't bothered to tell me about.

I learnt about the £30 surcharge ('administration fee' my @rse) from FlyerTalk, not from Air Miles. I learnt about expiring miles from FlyerTalk, not from Air Miles.

Neither my wife nor I received advice of these changes from Air Miles. When clicking to accept T+Cs online, one assumes they are the same as before unless previously advised of changes.

While congratulating Mr Swaffield in coming to FT in his attempt to justify the changes, it is clear to me that they have been shamed into doing so. I have a rather large balance which could theoretically have disappeared without this advice.

No doubt we will soon receive the promised letter - a real letter rather than unappealing hotel offers. Remember when flights were discounted?

BA1A

To be fair, Andrew Swaffield did allude to this point in his response.

"We are currently sending over twenty thousand letters each day and expect to reach around two million people in total. We have to stagger the communication to avoid call centre and web site congestion"