Confused about airmiles & prices

[Famous Graham]

Right, bear with me on this one

I'm looking into visiting Brazil later in the year.

A quick look on Opodo, Expedia etc gives flights with Air France, for example, at £474 all in (taxes, booking fee etc)

Then I give BMI a ring, as I have 45000 points with them, and Lufthansa, amongst others in the Star Alliance, also fly to Brazil.

They tell me I need 50000 points to do it for nothing - except the tax. Bargain, thinks I, it'll only cost me 60 quid to buy 5000 points off them.

Then they tell me the tax is £305!

So is the actual fare with Air France "only" 169 quid? To Brazil?

I'm tempted to pay the Air France fare instead of using my points, as I'm only better off by £109 quid, yet I lose all my points (which are quite handy for domestic flights).

[V8mate]

OK. Thanks for letting us know.

[Famous Graham]

There is a question buried in there

[V8mate]

Famous Graham said:

There is a question buried in there

And you resolved to not answer it but plan a course of action all by yourself.

Thread closed on maiden post

[Breadknife]

Try looking at the Air France website if you want to know the taxes - it should give a breakdown of the fare one you have selected dates and flights as if booking.

I collect points with Virgin and find using their "miles + money" scheme works well. Earnt nearly 8,000 points on a return flight to Vegas (cost £330 2.5 years ago). Saved about £65 this year on a flight by cashing in 2,000 points and about £100 on a flight for next year using another 2,000.

[Famous Graham]

Breadknife said:

Try looking at the Air France website if you want to know the taxes - it should give a breakdown of the fare one you have selected dates and flights as if booking.

I collect points with Virgin and find using their "miles + money" scheme works well. Earnt nearly 8,000 points on a return flight to Vegas (cost £330 2.5 years ago). Saved about £65 this year on a flight by cashing in 2,000 points and about £100 on a flight for next year using another 2,000.

Hmm..236 tax & fees. Guess the discrepancy is booking fee variation. The actual flight's only 239.

I did ask about miles+cash - that worked out at 475 - exactly the same as the Air France one, but losing half my points.

[Puggit]

How about miles + cash business class?

37.5k points, plus £255 plus taxes. If you start your journey outside of the UK, then you don't have to pay Brown's envy tax.

[Puggit]

btw - Air France ----> Brazil.

There's a reason that flight is cheap!

[Breadknife]

Famous Graham said:

I did ask about miles+cash - that worked out at 475 - exactly the same as the Air France one, but losing half my points.

That's rubbish! Hang on to those miles...

[Nicholas Blair]

Have you tried TAP - Air Portugal on any search engines ?

[Famous Graham]

Not yet, but Puggit mentioned them in an email, cheers

Was just a cursory check thus far to see the "value" of my BMI points. I'll get down to the proper digging around later

ETA - just had a quick look and they're a fair bit more expensive. 800 quid or so. Even from Lisbon to Brazil is 800 odd Euros.

Edited by Famous Graham on Tuesday 23 June 15:39

[Dakkon]

Taxes can make booking flights using points expensive, I find that a good way to use points is to book your economy flight and then use points to raise yourself to business or first class.

[Puggit]

Dakkon said:

Taxes can make booking flights using points expensive, I find that a good way to use points is to book your economy flight and then use points to raise yourself to business or first class.

Not possible with bmi.

Which is sad - because I've flown so often down to Joburg, and never been allowed to bump myself up