Topic: Demise of Airmiles = More Cruisers?

More people could be considering going on cruise holidays in future as airlines face increasingly tough times and tighten their belts, reducing deals for customers.

After the rise in Air Passenger Duty, which may have seen holidaymakers look for cruise deals in greater numbers, the latest news from the airline industry suggests flying is becoming less appealing.



British Airways is changing its Airmiles scheme to Avios at the end of 2011, ending many of the free flights currently enjoyed by point collectors.

Instead, people involved in the scheme will have to pay taxes, fees and charges on flights.

Chris Gray, acting assistant editor at Which? Travel, reckons the airline industry has had one of the toughest times in its history: "The end of the Airmiles scheme is a blow to travellers because the taxes and charges they have to pay are much higher than they used to be".

Don't think it will matter . Unless you want to sail from Southampton or other British ports or are scared of flying, there won't be a material effect on fly/cruises because these are probably the majority that people want to go on bearing in mind the ports and destinations and the avoidance of spending days cruising through colder northern waters. The only downside I do concede is the flying element of fly/cruise holidays where some of the airports (eg. Dalaman) can be a bit of a nightmare. But overal, I think that people want to get to the hotlands and cruise a.s.a.p.
Bob (Just back from the Aegean)

I used to save the old Air Miles. Every time I tried to use them there were no "air mile flights" available. In the end I stopped saving them and changed my credit card to a “cash Back" card. I eventually found a flight that I could use them on, so we booked it. They charged me a surcharge of £35 because I had not made any bookings or added any points to the Air miles in 2 years. How on earth could I use them if there were never any "Air Mile" flights left!!!

That is not a problem now as we have decided not to fly any more. But that leaves me with another problem. We always flew BA, and were members of their frequent flyers reward scheme, we managed to amass 350,000 BA miles over the years which we won't be using and they are not transferable.

We have never used airmiles for flights. We have used them for other holidays eg discount off package holidays or rental for holiday cottages. You don't get as much for your points as with flights but at least you're not wasting them.

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... But that leaves me with another problem. We always flew BA, and were members of their frequent flyers reward scheme, we managed to amass 350,000 BA miles over the years which we won't be using and they are not transferable.

I can 'gift' the FF miles I have with another British airline. Can you 'gift' BA miles?

Thanks for that. The only way I can "gift" them is to take someone else with me on a flight. I am at present looking into getting my daughter onto a "family group” then she might be able to use them, but it looks like we are in catch 22, she cannot be in a "family group" until she has taken a BA flight that will get her some BA miles, and she cannot use the BA miles to get her first BA flight with.

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I can 'gift' the FF miles I have with another British airline. Can you 'gift' BA miles?

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Thanks for that. The only way I can "gift" them is to take someone else with me on a flight. I am at present looking into getting my daughter onto a "family group” then she might be able to use them, but it looks like we are in catch 22, she cannot be in a "family group" until she has taken a BA flight that will get her some BA miles, and she cannot use the BA miles to get her first BA flight with.

Ah...I can also actually 'give/gift' a certain number of airmiles per year as well as buy a companion ticket with them.

I see you live near M/ch/. A cheap shuttle for an away day in LHR would do the trick re first flight. Simples... as I think has been said before.

What a shame this is happening, although nowadays I try to avoid flying if possible, due to the nightmare that passes for airport security, in the past I have used Airmiles flights. It is possible to get a good price on cruise only holidays as opposed to a package from the cruise company. Airmiles were particularly useful if you were not starting and finishing your cruise at the same port as there was no penalty for booking a one way flight. Also if you book your own flight you have the freedom to choose which airline to fly with and the time of the flight.
I think the problem most people have with a fly cruise is the reduction in weight allowances on all airlines, very tricky as generally more clothes are needed for a cruise evening togs etc...

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Don't think it will matter

I think it will gradually have an effect. We don't fly anymore, and when explaining why to fellow cruisers we can see the lights coming on at the back of the eyes. It is not just that flying is less pleasant in economy than it used to be, cramped seats etc. but the nonsense (*) at the airports is getting to more people. The loss of air miles is just another straw. We noticed a lot of Americans that flew to UK for European trips because they had air-miles to use up. We also noticed Americans coming over on one boat (e.g. Ocean Princess to Dover) and then staying in London for a few days and going back via Southampton.

Unless you want to sail from Southampton or other British ports or are scared of flying

Not so much scared as fed up, we used to enjoy the thrill of flying. Now there is hassle and weight limits, so we do back to back only from UK ports. I suppose we are lucky that we have plenty of choice with Dover, Tilbury, Greenwich and Harwich on the doorstep and at a pinch could use Southampton. We also prefer the smaller (upto 700) size ships.

the avoidance of spending days cruising through colder northern waters.

That is the attraction for us, we go to Arctic in the summer to escape the heat. I don't think that this will stop flying, but it will limit their expansion, which in the current climate of rising prices they will need to stay in a healthy profit position.

(*)We agree that we need security but many of the measures in place do not improve security. The shoe check is useless as it is round the corner out of site from the baggage scanner, so things can be moved from "yet to be checked shoes" to "already checked" baggage. The water restriction is a con. Sealed bottled water is no threat except to the profits of the Airport authority in their confiscation scam where you have to buy their water at their prices.

JG

QUOTE:

I think it will gradually have an effect. We don't fly anymore, and when explaining why to fellow cruisers we can see the lights coming on at the back of the eyes. It is not just that flying is less pleasant in economy than it used to be, cramped seats etc. but the nonsense (*) at the airports is getting to more people. The loss of air miles is just another straw. We noticed a lot of Americans that flew to UK for European trips because they had air-miles to use up. We also noticed Americans coming over on one boat (e.g. Ocean Princess to Dover) and then staying in London for a few days and going back via Southampton.



Not so much scared as fed up, we used to enjoy the thrill of flying. Now there is hassle and weight limits, so we do back to back only from UK ports. I suppose we are lucky that we have plenty of choice with Dover, Tilbury, Greenwich and Harwich on the doorstep and at a pinch could use Southampton. We also prefer the smaller (upto 700) size ships.



That is the attraction for us, we go to Arctic in the summer to escape the heat. I don't think that this will stop flying, but it will limit their expansion, which in the current climate of rising prices they will need to stay in a healthy profit position.

(*)We agree that we need security but many of the measures in place do not improve security. The shoe check is useless as it is round the corner out of site from the baggage scanner, so things can be moved from "yet to be checked shoes" to "already checked" baggage. The water restriction is a con. Sealed bottled water is no threat except to the profits of the Airport authority in their confiscation scam where you have to buy their water at their prices.

JG

I fly frequently out of LHR and I always have to put my shoes in the tray for hand luggage inspection so not sure which airport security you're talking about. As for sealed bottles, I agree with you to a point but who is going to take the time to check if the seal is intact?

Maybe I'm naive, but if I want to fly, I'm prepared to put up with all the checks if it makes the aircraft that teeny bit safer.

Flying is set to get more expensive, or so the industry tells us but as long as you get folk who will find the wherewithall to meet the new costs, then the industry will survive in some shape or form.

Flying to a holiday destination is still cheaper than cruising for most.