Barclaycard/Nectar

[HighFlyer]

I have lots of Nectar points with my old Barclaycard (that we had before the FC CC)

Has anyone used Nectar points for flights? We have enough for an Economy flight that i want to redeem and upgrade with miles to PE.

Just wondered if anyone had done anything similar?

I think a reward flight bought with nectar points would not be the correct fare class for a confirmed mileage upgrade to PE. You could possibly get lucky at check-in depending on the loading of the plane

[Nottingham Nick]

Nectar appears to let you select a flight with VS, but automatically books it in eco - giving you no choice as to the class of ticket.

It may be worth giving them a ring - the online booking system appears somewhat basic.

Nick

I don't suppose anyone knows anyway of changing nectar points to flying club points ?

thanks

David

[Nottingham Nick]

I certainly don't David.

If you do find a way - please share it here.

Nick

[HighFlyer]

I called Nectar and they issue either a Q or M class Economy ticket, which Virgin wont upgrade with your miles. (Needs to be a Y, B or L)

Needless to say im quite gutted. This whole Nectar scheme is really a bit of a con. I can get one Economy return with my points but that is really of no use to me as we always travel in PE.

I could be lucky and pay to upgrade if the flight was full, but realistically i should look at purhasing another Economy ticket and having a cheap weekend away in NYC or BOS with the other half, somewhere with a short flight time.

quote:HighFlyer Posted - 19/04/2004 : 11:00:15 This whole Nectar scheme is really a bit of a con.

When nectar was first launched I rubbed my hands. I though the nectar points would be transferable directly into my FC account when I read the membership pack I threw it in the bin even the earning rates are crap.

[HighFlyer]

Chris,

Before Nectar started we nearly had enough for 2 flights to NYC. After Nectar, we only have one flight to NYC and are miles away from the second. They completely screwed up the points system and we are worse off than we were before. Nectar have been on Watchdog about this before.

We have 46070 points today, barely enough for a Q or M class flight. That sucks when you think thats the equivlent of £46,070 pounds spent on the Barclaycard. Think where i could have been with the Virgin card by now! (92,140 miles! Thats where!)

I wont be without my FC CC now, but i have no idea what to do with all these Nectar points now. I wish i could sell them or transfer them. Guess i will just take a trip to BOS or NYC for the sake of it?

You may as well take advantage of a free flight if it's there etc, even if it is just in economy

I prefer flying PE (and I'm pretty sure that everyone would rather fly PE or UC to economy), but if there's a free economy flight available with such an offer etc, I'm quite happy to take advantage of it. If the flight is free, the fact that it's in economy really shouldn't matter

Before it changed to nectar points we would go to sainsbury and buy up all the goods on offer with extra points then convert them to Airmiles I think we are still using some soap about 5 years later but I did empty 3 different sainsburys shelfs of the stuff.I can remember reading about the man who bought a load of bananas when someone got their sums wrong we had a couple of CW returns and I think he had a couple of concorde returns but they soon got wise to it.

[RichardMannion]

I have Nectar, I looked at the flight ratios and just laughed. Crap.

I have tonnes of the points as my car drinks Super Unleaded like a thirsty camel, but the points just get used by my sibling at Sainsburys on nonsense.

Thanks,
Richard

I've given up on Nectar.

Only ever collected points in Sainsburys and we now have a brand-spanking new Waitrose! Sainsburys now? I think not

I keep managing to accrue a few Nectar points here & there, mainly because I've got a BP garage down the road which is handy for bits & bats during the week. Do the majority of my food shopping at Tesco though - gotta rack those Clubcard points up

Cheers

[RichardMannion]

Oh no, don't start Pix off on his supermarket habits. Talk about devout follower of all thing Vandevelde....

Thanks,
Richard

[Nottingham Nick]

Ah.. good old M&S.

Round our way we are all becoming converted to Walmart's attempts to take over the world ... one day you will all shop at Asda:)

Nick

Nick - is that like "All your shopping trolleys are belong to us"?

RM - ack, I never shopped at Tesco before I moved down South, Morrisons was the fave up in Bratfud Nowadays, I quite like the Tesco in Reading - convenient-ish, takes AMEX (2xMR Points every shop, even on smokes ) and decent petrol prices. Oh, and I get my Marriott Rewards points converted to Clubcard points for my annual stay in FL

Cheers

[Decker]

Yeah but these conversions suck! Spend $1 on Hilton - get 10 HH points. Spend £1 on Amex convert to 2 HH points.... ewwwww - no wonder you can't do it the other way round...

Of course realistically Amex only get a few % of the turnover whilst Hilton get decimated but...

And don't get me started on Nectar tracking you....

Decker

Yeah, but I never stay at a Hilton, and I now use my AMEX charge card for just about all purchases that were previously cash or debit card. I got it in Jan, and on March's statement was up to 5755 MR points already (most of it personal expenditure - wait til I start sticking work stuff on it ) - I don't think that's bad going

Cheers

quote:Round our way we are all becoming converted to Walmart's attempts to take over the world ... one day you will all shop at Asda

Same here since the take over the quality of their goods across the board has really improved as have the prices the sutton store is massive and slaughters all the local opposition.

Know this is an old thread but worth bringing it out of hibernation to mention a few points - especially as everyone seemed so anti when it was circulating - and bring it to the attention of newer members.

1. Nectar points actually has child rates for points which is quite useful if you have kids and dont want to pay a full miles rate - 25k points is pretty good compared with 40k on VS (or 39k on line)

Highflyer said at the time -

quote:... the equivalent of £46,070 pounds spent on the Barclaycard. Think where i could have been with the Virgin card by now! (92,140 miles! Thats where!)

2. Well I know some of you get 2 points per mile by paying a subscription on your Virgin card but you have to include subscribtion fees in this - without that you only get 1 per mile and the ratios lok pretty good (36.5k JFK vs. 39k) - OK if you spend 100k a year on your card ignore this point
3. Sainsburys and most stores seem to attach a £2.5 value to 500 points so the 36.5k fare to NY is £185 + Taxes (which is not too bad) - and a child fare of £125 + Taxes is even better.
4. Not everyone is able to use their miles to UG or fly PE. Of course we'd all like to but those with young families would need 320k miles to fly everyone UC across to the US - Economy is not ideal but it is sensible when you dont want to pay for any flights.
4. If you get a M or Q class ticket then you get miles and tier points on the flight - so in fact you get about 25% of the flight back. (Maybe someone at VS could confirm this). This would bring a child fare across the Atlantic below £100 in real terms.

The biggest problem with profile points is that flights are only a small part of their gift range and therefore assistance in booking is pretty mediocre. Also there is no ongoing commitment to providing the flights at the same price. We were going to but a couple of child tickets to MCO using profile points but they were not taking bookings after end march 2005 on VS.

And some of the ratios on other airlines are poor - 135k to Singapore as an example is pretty awful.

Just thought I'd defend Nectar (actually it turned into a bit of an end of day rant) - and no I dont own any shares

Phil (Buffy)

quote:Originally posted by BuffyTVS65
but those with young families would need 320k miles to fly everyone UC across to the US

I thought there are only 2 UC seats available for reward flights. At least, when I tried to book 4 seats I could only get 2 in UC and 2 (for the kids) in PE. Total cost 253k miles booked online.

im sure its lack of sleep, but which amex card gives 2xmr per £?

quote:Originally posted by davidjw
im sure its lack of sleep, but which amex card gives 2xmr per £?

There used to be a special offer via VS' website that gave a Gold charge card for £120 annual fee (waived for the first year) - card gave 2xMR per £1 on normal spend, and 4xMR per £1 spent directly with VS. Don't think it's available anymore though.

Cheers

Michael

Looks like sainsbury could ditch nectar in the near future.