[MarcusGB]

Do these moves change your purchasing of tickets ex EU?

Overnight found us waking to a 6 % drop of the value of the £ against the Euro, which has slightly righted itself to 1.14 for the £ on XE.com today.

I recall the day before the referendum, transferring £’s to Euros at 1.31 to one of my EU accounts. A few weeks ago, i was shocked at LCY Travelex, as a walk up rate of 0.95 Euros for each £.

Many of us suck as myself with KLM, have purchased flights ex EU, saving £500+ on taxes and the different ranges in fares. Cash from my EU accounts buying on KLM from AMS remain the same, but not if i have to move the cash over from the UK or via a UK Sterling account now.

Have the days of the discounted EU fare ceased for now, with the drop in value of the £ for you, and changed your booking habits?

[MartynSinclair]

Just looked at random dates in January with BA..

London / Bangkok / London = £2,694

Amsterdam / London / Hong Kong / Bangkok / Hong Kong / London / Amsterdam = £1,514 (at todays exchange rate).

+ with the ex-Europe, I get sufficient avios for several European sectors, which are very easy to redeem…

Will still use ex-Europe for my Far East flights…

[MarcusGB]

Hi Martyn.

Yes, but looking at KLM ex LHR to BKK, or even a an Open Jaw LHR-AMS (Stopover) – SIN, returning from KUL-AMS-LHR (One Dreamliner), it was £1,631 ex LHR!
Many flights with KLM worldwide are far less ex LHR, but the £1,191 deals Ex Amsterdam in Euros on KLM to BKK, is now more expensive paying with sterling / UK cards.

The bargains with Etihad Cathay, EK etc all have now got more expensive ex Europe, unless your cash is there already in Euros. KLM ex LHR perhaps as BA ex Amsterdam, is marketed differently and remain good deals, as you have pointed put.

[MartynSinclair]

Earlier in the year, I paid a similar £1,100 ticket ex-Ams to BKK. Yes the prices have gone up since the fall in Sterling, but the savings are still very significant.

The hot places for ex-Europe BA users, still appear to be Dublin, Amsterdam, both Milan airports and occasionally Frankfurt.. and sometimes Scandinavian countries..

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=766543]Just looked at random dates in January with BA..

London / Bangkok / London = £2,694

Amsterdam / London / Hong Kong / Bangkok / Hong Kong / London / Amsterdam = £1,514 (at todays exchange rate).

+ with the ex-Europe, I get sufficient avios for several European sectors, which are very easy to redeem…

Will still use ex-Europe for my Far East flights…

[/quote]

So I could turn 2 flights into 8 to save a grand? Great if you enjoy flying but I think I’d rather spend the time with the family.

Or I could do £1600 on Emirates, 4 flights on A380, vastly superior business class proposition. And get Skywards miles which I can use on Easyjet for my flights around Europe.

And avoid the dump that is LHR T5.

Not a hard call for me I’m afraid.

[MartynSinclair]

Out of interest SimonS1, on the Emirates option, how many EasyJet sectors will London-Asia generate?

[AMcWhirter]

These things are cyclical. In the late 1970s, early 1980s it was London that was the cheapest long-haul gateway from Europe.

Europeans flocked here to buy their cheap long-haul tickets.

Concorde tickets were cheaper here too. French business people saved huge sums by purchasing their Air France Concorde tickets from London travel agents. These were routed ex-LHR via CDG.

[AlanOrton1]

Regarding EK Skywards redemptions on EasyJet – the number of Skywards miles needed is all down to the price of the Easyjet flights you choose.
It’s been about a year since I cashed in some Skywards miles for EZY flights, but essentially the more the cost of the flights when looking on the EZY website, the more Skywards points you’ll need.
I may well be wrong, but a discounted business return from LON to HKG / SIN generated (I think) about £100 value when redeeming on EZY.
That said I think EK have tweaked Skywards a little in the last 12 months, so may now be different.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=766633]Out of interest SimonS1, on the Emirates option, how many EasyJet sectors will London-Asia generate?

[/quote]

Depends on what and where but on a rough calculation 3 return flights.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=766655]Regarding EK Skywards redemptions on EasyJet – the number of Skywards miles needed is all down to the price of the Easyjet flights you choose.
It’s been about a year since I cashed in some Skywards miles for EZY flights, but essentially the more the cost of the flights when looking on the EZY website, the more Skywards points you’ll need.
I may well be wrong, but a discounted business return from LON to HKG / SIN generated (I think) about £100 value when redeeming on EZY.
That said I think EK have tweaked Skywards a little in the last 12 months, so may now be different.

[/quote]

My daughter was the last person to spend EK miles and two returns to Paris was 30,000 miles. I think a bus return to Bangkok nets about 40,000 miles.

[AlanOrton1]

Hi Simon – I think a discounted EK J ticket return to BKK earns currently either 6,000 or 7,500 Skywards miles.

That said, I think EK have changed Skywards recently, as I just checked my last redemption on EZY with them. It was a one way sector from VLC-LGW in Nov last year, and cost 28,750 miles. I recall the monetary amount, should I have booked direct with EZY, was around £100-£150.

While I found it useful to be able to redeem Skywards on EZY, the redemption rates aren’t necessarily fantastic, IMHO.

[AlanOrton1]

Apologies – the lowest J return from LON to BKK earns 12,000 and the next lowest 15,000 Skywards miles.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=766741]Apologies – the lowest J return from LON to BKK earns 12,000 and the next lowest 15,000 Skywards miles.

[/quote]

Sure – there are variations, much depends on the ticket to Bangkok and also the redemption fare.

It also depends what your motivation is, as I mentioned above Martyn’s itinerary turns a relatively straight forward trip into an 8 flight marathon. Its all a trade off really.

[MartynSinclair]

The reality is that my 8 flight “marathon” extends my journey by around 6 hours, which does not impact on my home/business life at all.

However, based on the number of European flight sectors I earn, circa 7 – 8 sectors, through the avios programme, I maintain that BA pay me to fly.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=766755]The reality is that my 8 flight “marathon” extends my journey by around 6 hours, which does not impact on my home/business life at all.

However, based on the number of European flight sectors I earn, circa 7 – 8 sectors, through the avios programme, I maintain that BA pay me to fly.

[/quote]

Interesting, clearly everyone has their own model that works. At least in AMS you can do a back-to-back on the same plane which removes the risk of a misconnect.

Personally I don’t have a great deal of excitement about ex-EU, I just find the extra flights and the need to ‘manage’ the checked baggage situation (which is a particular problem on the return) too much hassle. I’m quite happy to settle for the 4/5 Easyjet sectors I get and spend the extra hours at home.

[Author]

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