V-Flyer

We are considering taking the Miles Booster option for our forthcoming flight to the Caribbean, does anyone have experience of doing this & is the consensus of opinion this is worth the money?

I don't feel it's normally very attractive - buying miles is generally quite expensive and now the annual purchase limits are so high, it becomes harder to see the booster as such a benefit.

However, sporadic promotions can make a difference to this assessment and just recently they were offering a good deal where you got 100% extra - I think?! Maybe I'm misremembering. But that definitely makes it an interesting proposition.

Hi taffytorch,

I have done the miles booster when it comes on a good bonus, the last one was a few weeks ago and it was for 25% extra miles, which is quite good, so you got an extra 5,500 miles based on our usual route of lax, it did not include the extra 1,000 miles which you get as a bonus normally.

SO that reduces the incentive a bit, depending on how many miles it is return to your destination. i.e. we normally do the lax route which is roughly 21796 miles plus the 1,000, which cost me £217.96 last year so 1p per mile which is ok not brilliant, but cheaper than buying but not transferring (which is cheaper).On the recent bonus it would have been 27,245 miles for the same money, a good deal in my opinion.

HOpe this helps as I am not very good at explaining things. Linda )

In my honest opinion I see no value in these, the cynic in me asks why are they doing it? Simple answer though really - they want your cash and this is not charity. Secondly how can you spend the miles anyway? Taxes and surcharges on flights are so high that is barely seems worthwhile - personally I use mine on Virgin Wines and also have had 4 balloon rides but otherwise pretty useless anyway...IMHO....

I only use them to boost when I absolutely NEED to redeem. The last one was 2 weeks or so ago, which had a 25% bonus.

saverton wrote:Secondly how can you spend the miles anyway? Taxes and surcharges on flights are so high that is barely seems worthwhile - personally I use mine on Virgin Wines and also have had 4 balloon rides but otherwise pretty useless anyway...IMHO....

I do love how you spend yours... wine and balloon rides Brilliant.

My spends are boring in comparison and go on reward flights and upgrades.

Personally speaking mileage booster is of no use me. However, there are some that it may be of use to. I'm thinking families of FFs mostly who might need the extra boosts in mileage to get into the premium cabins or for the infrequent flyer maximising mileage earning for their next reward flight/upgrade.

Ultimately though, YMMV 8D

For me, yes.

When there's a bonus miles promo running, plus extra 1000, when booking before a certain date. Absolutely

There are times when I can be flexible with dates & routes so it works for me.

Each to their own.

R-P

saverton wrote:In my honest opinion I see no value in these, the cynic in me asks why are they doing it? Simple answer though really - they want your cash and this is not charity. Secondly how can you spend the miles anyway? Taxes and surcharges on flights are so high that is barely seems worthwhile - personally I use mine on Virgin Wines and also have had 4 balloon rides but otherwise pretty useless anyway...IMHO....

I don't have an issue spending either ):

We use them for full redemptions or M to UC but we are flexible on dates, search ahead of time and bag it when we see it.

There's gold in them there hills, if you want to find it.

We use them for full redemptions or M to UC but we are flexible on dates, search ahead of time and bag it when we see it.

There's gold in them there hills, if you want to find it

Would that you could run a tuition class. I'm realising so much that we are not doing this to best advantage.

whiterose wrote:

We use them for full redemptions or M to UC but we are flexible on dates, search ahead of time and bag it when we see it.

There's gold in them there hills, if you want to find it

Would that you could run a tuition class. I'm realising so much that we are not doing this to best advantage.

Whiterose, IMHO the best use of miles is an upgrade from M to either PE or UC. You pay Economy taxes, earn miles and tier points.

With a full redemption (or whatever the terminology) you pay taxes at the redemption rate and earn nothing.

My trip to NYC in November was a full redemption because I wanted rid of being a Virgin :0 but alas they did so well I've decided to keep the Amex, clubcard, Hilton H etc for VS and not Avios....

Work out what you want, collect and save, then spend. When you spend points it's a sweeter experience..... ):

taffytorchy wrote:We are considering taking the Miles Booster option for our forthcoming flight to the Caribbean, does anyone have experience of doing this & is the consensus of opinion this is worth the money?

Can be worth it; depends how much you value what you're planning on spending the miles on....! If you're planning on using them for an East coast economy redemption, then by the time you pay taxes etc, I doubt you'll be getting great value out of having bought the miles. If you're planning on using them for upgrading an M economy fare to an Upper fare (assuming availability!) then it's almost certainly going to save you money buying the miles to spend in this manner, than buying a UC ticket. Of course, whether that makes it "worth the money" depends on how you value the UC experience, etc (and how many miles you need to buy to make that a reality).

I've used Miles Booster before; when the promotional 25% bonus is in effect, then that coupled with the 1000 point Miles Booster bonus made for a reasonable deal in my opinion.

Worth remembering you can boost flights up to 6 months after they've been flown, so unless you need the miles right now it could be worth waiting to see if another bonus deal comes along.

As a bit of an aside there's great value to be had miles boosting a Little Red flight. One way that's 750 miles for £7.50, but of course you get the 1000 Miles Booster bonus too; so 0.42p/mile.

Now I'm totally lost. Boosting flights up to 6 months after they've been flown? 750 miles for £7.50? I'm still in the primary school league here, paying cash for PE to JFK/EWR and hoping to use miles when I find the elusive Gs. Yes, cheaper to buy M but then if I don't find the Gs, we're stuck in Y. Could one of you move next door a couple of times a year and tell me where I'm going wrong - come on, Yorkshire's lovely, God's own county remember!

whiterose wrote:Now I'm totally lost. Boosting flights up to 6 months after they've been flown? 750 miles for £7.50? I'm still in the primary school league here, paying cash for PE to JFK/EWR and hoping to use miles when I find the elusive Gs. Yes, cheaper to buy M but then if I don't find the Gs, we're stuck in Y. Could one of you move next door a couple of times a year and tell me where I'm going wrong - come on, Yorkshire's lovely, God's own county remember!

Here's the relevant extract from the Miles Booster T&Cs:
3. Purchase of Miles through Miles Booster can be made from the time of flight booking until the date of the first sector of the flight in the itinerary. Retroactive purchases may also be made up to the date falling six months after the original date of the first sector of the flight in the itinerary.

Sounds like what you're doing is pretty sensible. You're right to be concerned over lack of G availability, especially if your dates aren't flexible. Nothing wrong with a PE -> UC upgrade as a use of miles. Just remember to claim miles earned for the (paid for) PE fare if you do (you're entitled to this but they don't seem to post automatically, if the ticket was upgraded!).

whiterose wrote:Yes, cheaper to buy M but then if I don't find the Gs, we're stuck in Y.

You can always buy M and use miles to upgrade to PE, then if a G appears at a later date you can use miles to upgrade again. All subject to reward availability of course.

Thank you all, I'm much clearer about it now and it will be a huge help in future. Fingers crossed for the G fairy to produce two for our return flight in October.

Some great advice thanks! I'll wait & see if a 25% promo comes along. I use miles to upgrade M fares, got lucky for our next trip to MBJ & bagged 2x Gs - Lanson BL - bliss!