What Would You Do With 100,000 British Air Frequent Flyer Miles?

Yep, I earned a hefty 100,000 miles in British Airways' on-again-off-again Visa credit card sign-up promotion, the most generous such offer I've ever seen.

First, new cardholders were awarded 50,000 miles after the first purchase.  Then they received an additional 50,000 miles after charging $2,000 during the first three months.

The card comes with a $75 annual fee, but that seemed like a small price to pay for 100,000 miles.  I went ahead and signed up, and then channeled all by purchases onto the card for the next three months.  And this week I discovered that the bonus miles had posted to my account.

(I have heard from at least one person who seems to have met all the terms of the promotion but was denied the promised bonus miles.  That will be the subject of a future blog post.)

And no, I'm not interested in giving the miles away.  Not now, anyway.

What I am interested in -- for my own sake and for others who might be in a similar situation -- is the first-hand experience of British Airways Executive Club members in redeeming their miles for awards.

The onerous fees and fuel surcharges imposed by British Airways for award travel on its own flights make Executive Club a particularly tricky program to navigate cost-effectively.  And because it's not a program in which I've participated, I haven't yet mapped out a viable redemption strategy.

Any advice?

Comments

[barbara]

Use them for hotels, seems to go pretty far that way. that's my plan.

[Theresa P]

Just asked about booking BA mileage on a partner airline for trip to Spain, e.g. American or Iberia. We were told that same huge fee $400 per ticket fuel surcharge would apply. Clearly a scam. The fuel surcharge is actually part of the ticket fare. They should not charge this for award tickets. They are guilty of very deceptive practice especially given their recent credit card promotions. US carriers cannot legally separate out fuel charges from fares this way.

[Gordon Jones]

Does BA have to publish how many seats that they make available for Frequent Flyer miles?
At the moment there are no seats available in September 2012 from SFO to LHR!
Earning the miles is easy but trying to get seats on popular routes is very time consuming

[bboy]

Ya similar crap. I actually got 50k, of which 25k doesnt post until the end of the month. So, i proceed to buy 24000k for 700 dollars thinking it's still cheaper to use 25k miles from the card, and pay 350 each to fly to vietnam from lax. No go, the fuel surcharges on our two flights came to 700 dollars. So to fly to asia from lax one way... 1400 dollars for the two. I ended up spending 1200 on eva air, and saved my miles, and got a refund on the 24k I purchased. I learned that it's only long cross pacific or atlantic flights that carry the hefty fuel/tax. To fly domestically, or to central or south america, isnt so bad. tax wise. We will save them for when we get back from vietnam by flying to central and south america. RIPP OFF BA... and their customer service is crap...

[BillyB.]

British airways miles can be used in partner airlines: If i booked an international trip on American or Iberia, are the same extravagant "fees" going to apply?

[J Cole]

BA Executive Club is simply an unfair and "rip-off" program. This summer went round trip from Baltimore to Brussels using Continental Onepass program miles for $56.00 total.
Shortly going to Baltimore to London roundtrip on BA using Executive Club miles for $400 RT... this $$ discrepancy led me to Google and then to this site to see what is going on... BA fees are unreasonable and unnecessary, the program is clearly deceptive. From now on I will use only my Continental Onepass MC for all purchases... think I will Cc this BA...

[MORT]

THERE'S AN OLD ADAGE THAT SAYS "TRUST IN GOD - OTHERS PAY CASH". THE NAME GOD DOES NOT MEAN AIRLINES OR CREDIT CARD BANKS.

[MORT]

MY WIFE AND I EACH APPLIED FOR BA VISA CARDS WITH A PROMISE OF 100,000 MI BONUS EACH. AFTER COMPLYING WITH THE RULES, MY WIFE GOT HER 100,000 MILES; I DID NOT. WHEN I CALLED CHASE BANK, THEY TOLD ME THAT I DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE BONUS. I TOLD THEM THAT I WAS SPECIFICALLY ASSURED THAT I DID QUALIFY. THEY DENIED IT UNTIL I TOLD THEM THAT I HAD RECORDED THE CONVERSATION AND THE PROMISE. WHEN THEY HEARD THAT THEY GAVE ME THE MILES.

I CHECKED THE FEDERAL LAW WHICH PERMITS ANYONE TO TAPE A CONVERSATION ON THEIR OWN TELEPHONE WITHOU GETTING PERMISSION OF THE OTHER PARTY. (I ONLY TAPE CALLS MADE FROM MY OWN PHONE WHEN I SPEAK WITH AIRLINES AND BANKS).

[syed]

I think the best way to use BA miles is to book your flight in another airline from one world group .Going to china in cathay pacific business class with the 100000 miles I got from applying british visa

[william hoover]

I guess that if one uses 100,000 BA miles for a flight from S.F. or L.A to London in business class, one is stuck with the fuel taxes or is their another way to use the BA miles to visit London from the U.S.? How much are the fuel fees for this RT flight.?

[Stephen Powell]

As the comments show, you will pay BA's high fees if you fly a partner airline on any route also served by BA.

[Todd Hoover]

Well I got the BA credit card in december it got the lesser promotion of 25,000 plus 25,000 but convinced a friend who got the card last month, BA/Chase will backdate this current promotion for 3 billing cycles but not for Dec.

[Henrietta]

I got a RT award ticket from BA to London in early May. I would be flying on AA. Strangely when I tried to get an award ticket from AA none was availabe for May. But of course BA charged $520+ for fees and fuel surcharge,etc. I called BA asking why I wasn't charged the amount ($220+) chaged by AA since all my flights would be operatede by AA. Apparently passengers crossing the Atlantic using BA award tickets, despite flying on non-BA airlines, are required to pay the BA fees.

[Ken Swan]

In Canada we have a program called "Air Miles" and I recently flew from Miami to Heathrow (2 coach tickets) for 12,000 miles. Generally one accumulates 1 mile for each $15 to $20 spent...but it is MILES not POINTS.

But....they charge fees,taxes,fuel,travel agents fee, and other. Nearly $1,000 for my "free" flight MIA-LHR-YVR AND no non stop flights both ways via Newark and Chicago....Yeccccch!

So, it pays, on any so called "free" plan, to check which company screws their loyal clients the least.

[George]

You guys with BA are getting ripped off. I don't have BA, instead I use AA and all I have paid in fees are $56 for a multi city leaving Miami to Rio de Janeiro, and then returning to Miami from Buenos Aires. I just booked another multi city from Miami-Paris returning from Madrid and the fees were $36. Not to mention that each trip cost a total of only 40,000 miles since they are off peak. Sorry, but I work too hard for the miles to pay 40% in fees! I have never used an AA partner so I wouldn't know how that is.

[PHIL]

I SIGNED UP FOR THIS RECIEVED 100000 CREDIT AS PROMISED. WAS ABLE TO USE ON AA FROM BNA TO SJO 3 TICKETS PAID ABOUT $5O TAXES WELL SATISFIED BA VERY HELPFULL AS WAS AA

[Prabha Murthy]

When I spoke to the agent he assured me the special promotion deal was still good. After we got the card we never got the promised 100,000 miles. Contacting the card company lead us nowhere.

[Rudy]

fly business class to asia, but then ... I think, 100K miles is not enough miles

[Shiv Shankar]

Instead of paying hefty Fuel Surcharges & high fees & taxes, I have decided to use my BA miles for domestic travel &/or to Hawaii. If the routes are served by American Airlines, you can book it on BA.com & avoid the $20 ticketing fee. Also, I found the taxes you pay for domestic travel for BA Award redemption is much lower than other Airlines - dont know why but I am NOT complaining ! Most of the domestic Award travel can be booked on BA.com for taxes/fees as low as $7.50 per ticket !! Also, BA requires only 35,000 miles for a RT to Hawaii as opposed to Delta which requires 40,000 miles. Hope this helps.

[Jeff Lemon]

I would like to use them to fly Club World roundtrip between the U.S. and Munich, Germany. Does anyone know what the taxes/fees might be? Routing would most likely be LFT-DFW-LHR-MUC and return. Thanks! Jeff

[John Sullivan]

Voment. Terrible airline. Will not acknowledge your complaints. They stink.

[Richard]

The fees for travel to Europe are ridiculous. Over $300 per round trip ticket. So flights within USA are minimal as are fees to central america. I was planning a trip to Amsterdam from that same promotion untill I found the fees to be about 700 bucks for my wife and I. Choke, gag, faint. So much for free flight to Europe. Booked on US Airways with fees of about $150 for both of us. Checked into flying to Belize and fees were reasonable.

[Sue]

I would gift them to maybe a school for a class trip. I would use them to go see my relatives as much as I could.

[MELODY MARKS]

I WOULD USE THE MILES TO TAKE MY FRIENDS, WHO HAVE JUST LOST THEIR HOMES AND WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO AFFORD A TRIP, TO A DESTINATION OF THEIR CHOICE

[sue]

I used my 160k points with BA and flew business class tix JFK to Perth (Cathay) and return from Sydney to JFK via Toyko (JAL) - booked in April for a Nov 20-Dec 18th trip - as with any of my US accounts - save the points and fly international with the partners! BA Exec Club were fabulous to me - it took a month to find the return tix and only b/c i remembered that JAL was joining the alliance later in the year.
I regularly upgrade with BA points online without issue - buy premium economy and upgrade to Club World with a stopover in London if i want. BA has become my FF account/credit card of choice due to partners and ease of online redemption/booking