Can someone explain air miles to me?

[jumpyjan]

We have converted our Tesco clubcard points over and have 6500 airmiles which I thought would provide us with a nice freebie holiday. However, its seems that all the airmiles do is bring the price of the flights down a bit - I thought the whole point was that you could fly for free?

In some cases, you can get free flights (for example 6500 miles would get one of you to Antigua and back!), in others you will have to pay as well as contribute miles - sometimes this is because the holiday contains an element that won't take airmiles, say a hotel that isn't a full partner in the scheme.

The flight may be "free" but then there are the additional taxes & charges - so it's best to look at any airmiles scheme as a way to reduce the cost.

There are a number of schemes out there - there is the one branded "Airmiles" then many of the airlines have their own schemes. For example we have booked a flight using BA miles and it still cost us £1000 in taxes and charges but reduced the overall cost by over half.

A good place to look for info on using Loyalty Cards for the best avantage is www.moneysavingexpert.com - if you are looking for hints and tips on flying take a look at flying with children

Thanks both for your replies. It is the 'airmiles' scheme we have vouchers with and only due to tesco clubcard. We don't do a lot of travelling at the moment so won't really be adding to them but want to make the most out of the 6500 airmiles we have accumulated but not that impressed with the enquiry I made re to airmiles as all it seemed to do was to reduced the cost a bit.