BA Travel Money Double Miles Offer

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Binman62
    Participant

    Got an email from the executive club today offering double miles when ordering currency online via BA Travel Money .com
    Beware…the rate for USD$ today was 3% less than travelex were offering on their own site (1.5155 on travel money but 1.5644 on travel ex.) I am alone in being fed up with the executive club not just because they pump out non offers like this? but because I feel like I am being conned generally.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Travelex rates are shocking, and especially bad at BAA airports and through the BA link.

    Travelex used to be a good source of miles, especially when purchasing GBP Traveller’s Cheques. However, the usorious rates currently typical mean it is better to change your currency at one of the smaller independent money changers near mainline stations in Central London.

    Similar issue with rates at http://www.avisba.com which are usually much more than those at http://www.avis.co.uk using code N744300, and have the same miles earning potential.


    CMoir12
    Participant

    For once I may disagree with VintageKrug. I have booked my hire care through the BA/Avis site and it is the same price as quoted by VK. The difference is that I get an additional driver free with BA and also the chance to be a part of Avis Preferred which ‘guarantees’ a car within xx minutes or a discount.
    At the moment, the best deal on currency is, in the UK, to have a Nationwide debit card – official bank rates and no transaction costs when you use ATMs abroad. However, I think this is changing for non-European transactions soon.
    If you are London based http://www.thomasexchangeglobal.co.uk/ always give a good rate. If you use the Victoria branch be prepared for a wait – there is usually always a queue!


    BAGoldcard
    Participant

    VintageKrug, apologies, but please could you confirm which site provides the best rates, in your experience, and also earns BA miles. I could not instantly find the correct section on the Avis sites. Thank you.

    In the past, I have found that M&S and HSBC have reasonable rates, but no BA Miles.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Well, this one has rather gone “off topic” but I hope this response helps.

    Of course, your experience may vary depending on when and where you plan to book, your Exec Club tier, your propensity to earn miles and the type of car for which you are looking.

    My experience is of cars rented at US Airport locations, normally California/Nevada/Arizona/Florida for main driver only, over 25, preference is a mid size SUV (sorry, Mr Gore!), usually for a week or more.

    I usually check http://www.netflights.co.uk as a benchmark when hiring cars – they give very good prepaid rates, ALL insurance inclusive, with no currency risk. In the US they usually offer Dollar and Thrifty (actually now the same firm) with Thrifty often listing the exact same cars at about 10-15% off.

    However, I had a less than ideal experience with Thrifty in Miami earlier this year. We were bussed to a distant, dump of a rental centre. Long un-airconditioned queues to get my car (no queues at the neighbouring Dollar counter, so I guess they get the best service and cars). Was then allocated the wrong category car (too tired to rejoin queue at this point).

    Netflights is a good deal if you are a sucker for extra insurances, as their deals are fully inclusive, so no need to be scared into signing up to extra cover at the counter and doubling your costs.

    I have an American Express Platinum card (£300 fee) which among other benefits covers you for all extra insurances when hiring cars globally, so the Netflights deal is less beneficial for me.

    Alternatively you can try providers like http://www.insurance4carhire.com who offer 31 day Global Cover for £65, or an annual policy for £109.

    This shows what great value the Amex cc fee is, even if it seems a high number in absolute terms.

    So, to the actual costs themselves.

    First, you can use Avis Preferred on either http://www.avisba.com or http://www.avis.co.uk, so no difference there. Avis Preferred is a great feature, but do make sure you know your flight number otherwise your car may not always be waiting for you.

    The avisba site is a shocking interface, with selection of non-UK rental sites hard to find. It has basic stupidity built in, like not automatically updating the return date to a date after your hire date, plus you are forced to selecting your car type up front, limiting your ability to see the best value car.

    It also does not allow you to vary your selection of car type/rental location by going back and changing things – everything resets to aforementioned stupidity if you click back or even select “change details”. Succeeding, like Sarah Palin, to be both dumb AND irritating. Most sites sorted issues like this years ago.

    I checked and it does seem there is more similarity in prices, but for a random date 12-19 November renting a Chevy Cobalt I got a price of £134 at avis.co.uk using the AWD code listed above, and £137 at avisba as a Gold Card Holder – not a huge difference, but a difference nonetheless.

    I know from experience the discount on SUVs is more at .co.uk (usually about 10% less) and that is why I recommend its use, coupled with the poor interface at avisba.com. As far as my extensive experience goes, I have also received full BA Miles as would have been the case via avisvba using the .co.uk interface.

    Finally, you are crazy to rent the GPS systems by the day.

    A top notch TomTom here in the UK can be picked up less expensively online (try http://www.kelkoo.co.uk for prices) or even last minute in Duty Free (though avoid filling BAA’s coffers by not shopping there if possible) and will have maps for UK, Europe, USA and Canada with the option to download places like Australia and personal interest (eg Vineyards) should you need that.

    Means you have a system with which you are familiar, which you can programme in advance of your trip and get the benfit when you are at home in the UK (including the speed camera info – invaluable!).


    BAGoldcard
    Participant

    Many thanks, VintageKrug, for the very helpful response!

    In your experience, which avis site provides the best exchange rate in addition to earning BA Miles for currency exchange?

    I have always used https://www.travelex.co.uk/AVISBA.


    FrequentTraveller
    Participant

    When I am travelling somewhere I don’t expect to re-visit soon then I do like Travelex or Amex for their buy back guarantee. For an additional fixed fee, within 31 days you can return any unused notes at the same exchange rate as the original transaction. This allows you to get more currency than you expect to need. Providing a safety net just in case you find you actually need more currency than original expected. Beware of other operators claiming commission free transaction on return, they don’t use the same exchange rate so you lose out. Often the difference between the sell and buy exchange rates will work out more than the additional fee for the buy back guarantee. But that will depend on how much currency you are getting.

    The Travelex rates given on-line are always, always better than their airport on the day rates.

    If you are travelling from Heathrow (selected terminals) or Glasgow then you can order in advance on line with Amex and get the transaction commission free. With Amex you can still use cash to complete the transaction at the airport. They don’t update their web site with the rates until about 11am So if possible call the airport desk to check the rate you will actually get, because the transaction is not completed online.
    http://www.fx4you.com/uk/lhr

    When travelling somewhere I do expect to re-visit soon then I don’t use the buy back guarantee. I just keep any unused currency for my next trip. Especially US Dollars and Euros.

    I have found that local Thomas Cook branches will negotiate on rates. If you can quote somebody else local with a better rate then they often try to beat it. I have found this works best by giving them a phone call on the day I which to do the transaction.

    If you register with http://www.cashbackkings.com then you can get 0.55% cash back on your Travelex foreign exchange transactions made on-line. Currency can still be collected at select airport sites commission free. You won’t get BA Miles, but the exchange rates will be the same as those published at http://www.travelex.co.uk

    With http://www.cashbackkings.com you can earn cash back from transactions from a long list of other travel operators including travel agents (e.g. lastminute.com, expedia.co.uk up to 12% back), hotels (e.g. Hilton 6%), airlines (e.g. BMI 2.5% and Singapore Airlines 1%) etc. http://www.cashbackkings.com earn their keep by retaining the first £5 of cash back you earn per membership year. If you don’t earn anything or less than £5 then there is no fee to pay. So you can’t really lose. OK you are not going to save a lot on an individual transaction. But it does build up over time. I have been using this site just over a year and so far have earned £200 back from travel related transactions I was going to do anyway. Which I think is a good result. Do read the site help information about Web Browser cookies to ensure your transactions are correctly tracked through your http://www.cashbackkings.com account.

    If you do decide to join http://www.cashbackkings.com then using my referral link will give me a small kick back at no additional cost to you http://www.cashbackkings.com/?ruid=3004854-keep

    Rates do vary, and who provided the best rate for one trip does not always have the best rate for my next trip. You do need to continue to shop around.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    I don’t actively use the Travelex sites at all these days as their rates are so uncompetitive.

    The BA Travelex link is seriously uncompetitive; I suggest you do your own comparisons between the link you set out above and the regular travelex site; I would be interested to see the results posted here. Perhaps someone can post the rate for USD available in Central London for comparison.

    After many years checking I have never found BA Travelex to be a good bargain vs. the regular Travelex even with the lure of additional miles.

    As I am fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your viewpoint!) to be able to earn a significant number of BA Miles per annum through my business travel, I always look for the most competitive currency deals rather than miles opportunities.

    If you are struggling to reach 25k miles for an annual round trip upgrade from WT+ to http://www.newclubworld.com from personal spend and trips, then these extra miles may be attractive to you.

    Ultimately though the lure of 2000 miles for your £1000 holiday money transaction may seem exciting, you will probably be paying about £20-£30 extra in poor exchange rates for transacting via BA Travelex.

    I would rather put that money towards upgrading to Club Europe (only if they widen those tiny seats!) and earn the miles that way, enjoying the lounges, champagne on board and a trip somewhere I have not been before. Such flights can be had for about £200 rtn with your shareholder discount.

    The best exchange rates are usually to be had in small, independent vendors in central London esp. near stations (and probably other sizeable UK cities I would imagine), then try M&S, Tesco and sometimes even the Post Office.

    Travelex is good for short notice/obscure currencies, though.


    NTarrant
    Participant

    I have not used Travelex via BA for a couple of years now because not only was the rate not that good, but when arranging the currency you have to pay by credit/debit card on the website. I only ever used a debit card but then you get charged a fee through your bank.

    When I questioned this with the banks (yes two completley different banks) they both advised that they were merely passing on the charge made by Visa and Mastercard because I used the card to obtain currency. One transaction cost me an additional £11.00, so I stopped using Travelex choosing to use a local company and withdrawing the cash out!

    On the car hire side, I have found that there have been differences between the avis site and avisba, but perhaps I have been lucky in that my last few car hires have been cheaper through avisba.


    Binman62
    Participant

    Thanks for all the comments which seem to support my view that the BA travelex deal is no deal at all. BA executive club….please take note. Yet another non offer that your frequent flyers do not want or indeed use.
    BA do seem to be having a (nother) bad year and yet again have managed to shot themselves in the foot. For an organisation that actually still has some very loyal customers……..it does treat them shabily via very high fares, rediculous fuel surcharges, nonsensical fees when using BA Amex cards and ludicrous rip offs via so called partners.

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