MILES

Hi all,

Does anyone have any handy ways of getting some easy miles? Are there any nifty little loopholes or rewards floating around at the mo, giving people nice mile bonuses, compared to just the normal 1 mile per 1GBP spent on a credit card? Or "buy this, and get an extra XXX bonus flying club miles"?

Always good to ask - As you never know. Seeing as 99% of us on here use them for feeling our VS addiction

Have you looked at the 'shops away' section on the FC website?

Also in the partners section e.g. miles from VS wine.

The Miles Booster can be good, especially when there is a 20% bonus (there is at the moment!).

If you haven't already got an ISA you can currently get 6,000 for signing up and depositing £1,000 or £75 per month for the next 6 months.

Virgin black Amex card. costs £140 a year but gives double the miles of the white card. I don't know if there is a big sign up bonus at the moment but it was worth more than the annual fee when I signed up last year. Just checked 18500 on first purchase and a further 13500 if you spend £3000 in first 90 days.

Rocket Miles; I've just booked the Hilton for next years pre flight stay and got 5000 miles for that.

Shops away already mentioned. Some retailers give up to 6 miles a £

Tesco: Sign up to automatic conversion to air miles and get 125 miles per 100 club card points.

E-rewards: On line surveys. Don't earn a lot of miles but if you are willing to spend a bit of time on them the points build up and convert to a few thousand air miles.

But be careful collecting miles can become addictive.
Dick D

Rocket Miles; I've just booked the Hilton for next years pre flight stay and got 5000 miles for that.
Dick D

How did you get this please Dick D ??

Just had a look at rocket miles.

Some good hotels and miles bonus too (depends on which airline programme you use as I checked same hotel with VA an BA and they were different miles bonus)

Will need to do some proper searches and compare to expedia and booking direct. No good getting bonus miles if you pay a lot extra for them.

Serena - http://www.rocketmiles,com

Rocket Miles; I've just booked the Hilton for next years pre flight stay and got 5000 miles for that.
Dick D

How did you get this please Dick D ??

I signed up to Rocket miles and they gave a 4000 mile bonus for first reservation plus 1000 for the actual booking. I did have to book by 30th May.

https://www.rocketmiles.com/bonus-3k

currently 3000 mile bonus

Dick D

Will need to do some proper searches and compare to expedia and booking direct. No good getting bonus miles if you pay a lot extra for them.

I paid £97 for one night at the Hilton Gatwick, which is more that I would have paid if I'd opted for the Bloc hotel, but I figure 5000 miles would cost me £50 if I bought through miles booster.
Expedia have that night on sale at £77!!!
But I certainly take your point because future bookings will only be worth 1000 miles or £10 so I'd be better just paying for the room and spending £20 to buy 2000 miles.
Dick D

Just had a look at rocket miles.

Some good hotels and miles bonus too (depends on which airline programme you use as I checked same hotel with VA an BA and they were different miles bonus)

Will need to do some proper searches and compare to expedia and booking direct. No good getting bonus miles if you pay a lot extra for them.

Serena - http://www.rocketmiles,com

Think it should be http://www.rocketmiles.com

Just had a look at rocket miles.

Some good hotels and miles bonus too (depends on which airline programme you use as I checked same hotel with VA an BA and they were different miles bonus)

Will need to do some proper searches and compare to expedia and booking direct. No good getting bonus miles if you pay a lot extra for them.

Serena - http://www.rocketmiles.com

Just did a quick comparison for a night at the Hilton Islington next weekend.

Shopsaway gives a direct route into the Hilton booking site and therefore picks up the standard "cancel day before" refundable rate of £179 with 6 miles to the £ spent.

Rocketmiles is offering the night at £209 refundable only if cancelled 4 days before, but yields 3,500 miles, so 16 to the £ spent.

Just did a quick comparison for a night at the Hilton Islington next weekend.

Shopsaway gives a direct route into the Hilton booking site and therefore picks up the standard "cancel day before" refundable rate of £179 with 6 miles to the £ spent.

Rocketmiles is offering the night at £209 refundable only if cancelled 4 days before, but yields 3,500 miles, so 16 to the £ spent.

So shops away seems to be the way forward then, unless Rocketmiles is giving a big bonus similar to that received by DickyDotCom

Shops Away has been a real boost for me over the last 18 months or so, just earning miles for my normal shopping habits. If only Amazon would sign up I'd be a miles millionaire...

I use Hotels.com through Shops Away regularly. I find the miles rewards are fairly generous, and if you stay 10 nights using Hotels.com, you get a free nights stay.

It's just what suits you really...

Dan

Take care with RocketMiles as they are often not the cheapest option.

There's also PointsHound, and while not as generous with miles, I bagged 2300 miles for an airport hotel. Their rate was cheapest too and included breakfast.

ShopsAway is a good option too.

Sign up for emails from Headforpoints. You get 3 a day, they won't always be anything you are interested in but you just delete those you don't need.

E-Rewards is good for me, been in it 8 weeks and I have had 2k of miles already!!

Just did a quick comparison for a night at the Hilton Islington next weekend.

Shopsaway gives a direct route into the Hilton booking site and therefore picks up the standard "cancel day before" refundable rate of £179 with 6 miles to the £ spent.

Rocketmiles is offering the night at £209 refundable only if cancelled 4 days before, but yields 3,500 miles, so 16 to the £ spent.

So shops away seems to be the way forward then, unless Rocketmiles is giving a big bonus similar to that received by DickyDotCom

I suppose it depends how much you value the additional miles. One thing I did wonder was whether Rocketmiles allows you to plug in hotel based loyalty numbers?

Generally speaking if you book a hotel through a third party supplier such as Rocketmiles, Expedia, Hotels.com you will not be awarded any hotel loyalty points.

I suppose it depends how much you value the additional miles. One thing I did wonder was whether Rocketmiles allows you to plug in hotel based loyalty numbers?[/quote]

You can also change up hotel loyalty points to airmiles at a pretty good rate.

Generally speaking if you book a hotel through a third party supplier such as Rocketmiles, Expedia, Hotels.com you will not be awarded any hotel loyalty points.

You do through Shopsaway, but I presume their arrangements are different as you are put through to the standard Hilton booking page where you can login under your HHonors number and apply and company or other discount codes.

For me that route has value, as I stay in Hilton hotels for both work and leisure far more often than I fly.

Received another VS airmiles offer on a hotel booking website via HeadforPoint here

Topcashback to Tesco is an easy route to 15000 miles. You just need to earn £50 in cashback (easy if you book hotels, insurance etc) and convert this to 5000 clubcard points. Then convert the clubcard points to Virgin (usually with a 20%+ bonus) at a rate of 2.5 VS miles per clubcard point. This is not quick but is lucrative (more so than shops away). You can reach £50 easier by doing a bit if online gambling. Even if you lose you are buying your points very cheaply given the cashback the likes of William Hill hand out.

Wait - does Hilton through topcashback put you through to the Hilton pages? If so they're offering 14% cashback and I'm in need of some bookings for a trip later this year that will net me well over the £50 needed!

I just don't want to jeopardise my Hilton points as there's a deal on that nets me a few bonuses.

Wait - does Hilton through topcashback put you through to the Hilton pages? If so they're offering 14% cashback and I'm in need of some bookings for a trip later this year that will net me well over the £50 needed!

I just don't want to jeopardise my Hilton points as there's a deal on that nets me a few bonuses.

Yes it links in to the main Hilton site so you earn cash back and Hilton honors points.