Tickets for miles: how are airline bonus programs arranged? What are airline miles and how to earn them.

Often, when buying an air ticket, a passenger is asked the question: “Do you have a bonus card for accumulating miles”, “Are you a member of a frequent flyer club”? Many tourists do not issue it, because. fly infrequently and believe that participation in the incentive program will not bring tangible benefits.

All international airlines have developed an individual program to encourage their passengers, which includes a whole list of privileges and pleasant surprises for travelers. The status of the passenger changes depending on the number of points earned, opening up additional opportunities for him with each step. For example, at the initial stage, these are miles as a gift, at the next stage, priority boarding and a separate check-in counter, at the third stage, additional baggage, a discount on additional services or an upgrade, etc.

There are a lot of myths about earning miles and the possibilities to use them: “it’s impossible to save up for a flight” or “I fly with different airlines, why do I need a lot of different cards”.

What are the benefits of participating in the bonus program:

After deciding to become a regular passenger of the selected airline, the next question arises: what does it give, what can honestly earned points be spent on. The choice is very large, each airline has its own list, which is published on the website. Consider the most popular and useful options for passengers:

Separate airline phone line for regular passengers

Often, in order to get through to the air carrier to resolve a particular issue, you need to wait a long time for your turn. But for those passengers who have a bonus card, there is a separate phone number or a choice of this option through the voice menu.

Pay for a flight with bonuses

If they accumulate a sufficient number of miles, they can buy a ticket for miles - compensate for the fare by paying only the airport tax in rubles. Usually, the cost of an air ticket varies depending on the demand and popularity of flights. On holidays, weekends, holidays or just the next few days, the price of the flight is higher than on ordinary days of the week.

But for bonuses, the big advantage is the fixed price for the flight. For example, for Aeroflot, the cost of a one-way flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg is 10,000 miles, European flights are 30,000 miles round-trip, regardless of the date of departure and demand. The restriction exists only on the availability of award seats on the flight, because, as a rule, they leave from 5 to 10 seats at the discretion of the airline.

Upgrade your flight class

If seats are available in Business Class, you can transfer from Economy Class by spending your accumulated miles, either when booking your flight or at the check-in counter on the day of departure.

Book a hotel, rent a car

Airlines that cooperate with the service for booking hotels and car rentals give passengers the opportunity to pay for their booking with miles, receive discounts and at the same time earn new miles.

Pay for the services of other companies with which the airline cooperates

With miles you can buy not only air tickets, but also goods of companies with which the carrier cooperates. For example, from Aeroflot you can buy a suitcase, a backpack, a watch, gift certificates from online stores and much more for miles. And the airline "Siberia" in the list of goods

Use additional services of airlines

Some airlines are expanding the list of frequent flyer benefits to include access to VIP lounges and the ability to carry a second suitcase. Often, passengers who have a bonus card are given a discount on the payment of additional baggage and on the choice of a seat on the plane, when this option is paid additionally. AirFrance, KLM have such bonuses.

Charity

Airlines offer passengers the option to donate miles to charitable causes. With Aeroflot, this can be done through the Mercy Miles program.

Some airlines, such as Siberia, Emirates, give the passenger the opportunity to donate their miles to a friend or family member.

How to earn miles

To start accumulating miles, you first need to register on the airline's website and get an individual membership number in the program. A few miles are often credited as a welcome gift. At Aeroflot, Lufthansa, AirFrance, KLM, 500 points immediately fall on the passenger's account. Then, when buying tickets, this number must be entered into the reservation. After the flight, the balance on the account will grow and please the eye!

In the event that the ticket has already been redeemed, but the bonus number has not been entered, this can be done either at the check-in desk at the airport before departure, or after returning on the airline's website in your personal account. In addition, all flights that were made no later than 3-6 months from the current date can also be counted and converted into miles. These are general rules for all airlines, but further details may vary.

Miles can be bought if you don't have enough for an award ticket. For example, you can buy 10,000 miles from Siberia Airlines during the year, from Emirates you can buy from 2,000 to 25,000 miles per year, AirFrance allows passengers to buy from 2,000 to 75,000 miles depending on the level of the member.

Another quick way to earn miles without making many flights is a bank card. Many airlines jointly with financial institutions, they issue a single card, when paying with which a percentage of purchases from a bank card in the form of miles will be credited to the account of a loyalty program participant. Russian banks cooperate with the national airlines Aeroflot and Siberia. Such large banks as Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, VTB24, Tinkoff Bank, Otkritie Bank have this offer.

For example, Sberbank offers its customers to apply for a Aeroflot Visa Signature debit card, receive 1,000 welcome miles at once, and upon payment for every 60 rubles, $ 1, or € 1 spent, 2 miles will be transferred to the passenger's account.

At Alfa Bank when applying for an Aeroflot debit card, 500 bonuses are credited as a gift, and the calculation of miles for purchases is 1.1 miles for every 60 rubles. / 1 $ / 1 €. Plus, the bank gives discounts on services and card maintenance.

Bank VTB 24 the system is somewhat different - by purchasing a card associated with the Aeroflot Bonus system, 1 bonus is awarded for every 50 rubles spent. These bonuses can be exchanged for miles through the "Collection" catalog of goods and services on the bank's website.

Bank Tinkoff cooperates with S7 Siberia Airlines. Customers who have issued an S7-Tinkoff card are given the opportunity to receive from 2 to 4 miles for every 60 rubles spent from a bank card and preferential terms of service. Read conditions>>

Bank Opening gives 1,000 miles to an Aeroflot card after the first purchase from a bank card and credits 1.65 miles for every 50 rubles when paying for goods and services, as well as 3 miles for every 50 rubles when paying for air tickets on the Aeroflot website.

Emirates using the Americam Express card exchanges the earned bonuses for miles with the bank Russian standard and allows you to get 1 point for every 40 rubles. Read program conditions>>> Air France and KLM have the same program.

Where is the best place to earn miles?

Since there are a lot of airlines, each has its own attractive system, the passenger is faced with a choice - where is it better to accumulate miles? It is impossible to issue cards of all airlines, it is inconvenient and very difficult to remember everything. It is important to choose a comfortable way to earn miles and then spend them. Here the system of alliances comes to the rescue, which includes the main major airlines of the world, which have a very large geography of flights.

There are only THREE main alliances, therefore, having issued 3 different cards, the passenger has already covered all countries and continents: Skyteam, Oneworld and StarAliance.

And there are some airlines that are part of each other's loyalty program. For example, a group Skywards

How miles are credited when buying a ticket

It remains to find out how the bonus accrual system works, what does it depend on, how are airline miles accrued? The main criterion is the cost of the purchased ticket and the distance of the flight. Those. A low-cost, short-haul flight earns fewer points than a long-haul one.

Let's analyze the Aeroflot Bonus Mile program as an example. When buying a ticket from Aeroflot, the accrual of miles depends on the fare at which the ticket was purchased: economy and business class, in turn, are divided into sections marked with different letter codes. If the passenger already has a high level in the loyalty program, then the percentage of points is higher.

It is important to keep in mind that each airline will credit more points if the passenger has its card as the main carrier for their flights. For example, on the Aeroflot bonus card, more miles will be credited when flying with Aeroflot flights than with AirFrance, although they are in the same alliance. If possible, this should be taken into account by the passenger when choosing an airline when joining the loyalty program. It is necessary to consider which airlines the traveler uses most often in order not to lose extra miles.

If you know about a sale in a store, then you go there and take something useful for yourself. In the air where planes fly, there are also promotions and discounts.

Airline Miles or Bonus Miles is a program for passengers who fly very frequently. It is not necessary to fly with only one company. Large carriers are united in alliances, which imply mutual offset of bonuses. The most famous airline associations are Sky Team, One World and Star Alliance.

You can become a member of the program on the plane by filling out a paper form that the crew has. But you don't have to be in the air to participate. All the conditions are usually written on the websites of airlines, and you can register yourself in the program on the Internet. You can do this in the office by filling out a questionnaire. You will be credited with a number of welcome miles and you are already "in the system".

Be sure to carefully read the terms of participation in the program. How long your miles will be stored, how they can be spent, whether airport taxes will be increased for you - all this needs to be studied so that later you will not regret the wasted efforts.

First you will have a "temporary" card with a number. You will get a plastic one later, when you accumulate a certain number of miles. But the temporary card also allows you to do the same, and most importantly, it helps you earn miles.

How to earn miles

Special "co-branded" MasterCard and Visa cards also allow you to start earning miles from airlines. At the bank, you issue a card, and then just start making any purchases: in a store or cafe, at a gas station or at the cinema. For example, buying a car for 600 thousand rubles on such a card is a flight to, or.

Accumulation of miles can also happen in a different way. By participating in various promotions, competitions from airlines, you can replenish your stock of “bonus points”. You can subscribe to the airline's newsletter and learn about all the additional services that will earn you miles. It can be dinners in restaurants of a certain chain, car rental in one company, buying things in any stores.

Of course, flights remain the main source of miles. How to earn airline miles with their help? When buying a ticket, you will need to indicate your card number or tell it to the cashier if you are not buying a ticket via the Internet. Then you need to take a flight. After that, usually in a few days, the miles will appear on your account. Business class flights earn more miles than economy travel. You can also save money: a flight with one airline with transfers is cheaper, and brings more miles than a direct flight.

On the website of each company there is a table according to which you can estimate how many miles this or that flight will bring you. For example, a flight from is usually about 2,000 bonus miles.

How to spend accumulated miles

You can spend miles in different ways. You can fully or partially pay for the ticket. You can also upgrade your class of service: pay the difference between economy and business class to fly in more comfortable conditions. And then look at the conditions of your program. You can buy goods or services from your airline partners or redeem miles for charity. You can gift an award ticket to a friend and not use it yourself.

For the "accumulator" of bonus miles, it is also important to pay attention to the restrictions that may be specified in the conditions of the program. Sometimes it happens that you will not be able to choose the date of the flight or its time. But all these are small nuances that will never spoil the impressions of the first absolutely free flight.

The Aeroflot Bonus program, created by the country's main air carrier, allows you to fly almost free of charge in any direction on Aeroflot and Sky Team alliance flights. The miles accumulation system is simple and similar to any other bonus program - make purchases at Aeroflot and its partners, get a certain number of miles for each purchase. You dial the required number - you are welcome to board, while you do not need to pay for a ticket. However, as elsewhere, this program has its own nuances, so let's take a closer look at how to buy a ticket for miles at Aeroflot.

Before you can buy an award ticket, you need to earn miles. Miles are conditional non-monetary units that are credited to the client's account for flights by Aeroflot or members of the Sky Team alliance, as well as for cooperation with program partners. As soon as the required number of miles is accumulated, you can use them to pay for tickets or other services of the alliance companies.

Miles are premium and status. Status miles allow you to move from one category in the program to another. Upon entry, the status "Basic" is assigned, which can later be upgraded. Upgrading status implies privileges, for example, the ability to add additional baggage, waiting for flights in a business lounge, and so on. Award miles do not increase status, but they can be used to pay for tickets later.

How to earn miles?

There are different ways to earn miles. The first thing to do is to register in the Aeroflot Bonus program on the airline's website. After registration, a personal number is assigned to the client and a mile account is opened, on which the accumulated bonuses will be stored.

To earn miles you need:

• Fly regular paid Aeroflot flights at least once every two years, otherwise all accumulated points will expire. In addition, miles are also credited for flights with airlines participating in the Sky Team alliance.
• Get a credit or debit co-branded card from one of the banks that are partners of Aeroflot. Among the most popular are Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff Bank. Miles will also be credited to the customer's account for each purchase made with the card. About the features of such cards with us.
• In addition, customers receive welcome miles for joining the program, miles for birthday gifts, for participating in surveys, and for using partner services such as car rentals or hotel rentals.
• Buy miles on stock exchanges or accept as a gift from friends or acquaintances.

Where can you spend miles?

There are many ways to spend miles:

• Buying an award ticket.
• Service class upgrade.
• Charity.
• Purchase of goods and services in partner companies of the program.

However, most often they use the options associated with upgrading the class of service or buying an award ticket.

Features of buying Aeroflot award tickets

To buy Aeroflot award tickets, you need to have a certain number of miles on your account. The purchase system is built in such a way that the ticket price consists of two parts: the main part of the cost and service fees. The main cost can still be paid with miles, but the service fee will have to be paid from your own funds.

The whole world in the system is conditionally divided into several zones, for example, the central strip of Russia is conventionally called "Russia 1", the territory of Siberia "Russia 2", the European part of the continent "Europe" and so on. Depending on the flight distance and parts of the trip, as well as on the basis of the chosen class of service, the number of miles that a ticket will cost will be completely different. For example, you will have to pay 25,000 miles for a round-trip flight from Moscow to Munich, and 120,000 miles for a flight from Yekaterinburg to Los Angeles, given that you will be flying in business class. Flights in economy class will cost about half as much.

A special issue is the cost of service fees. The fact is that it will be absolutely the same when choosing tickets for both business and economy, so it is more profitable to fly business class for miles on Aeroflot flights. As for the amount of fees, they are the most affordable when flying from Moscow to neighboring countries, they are record low for traveling to Kazakhstan - only 348 rubles. For long distances, such a fee is more, for example, for a flight to the same Los Angeles from Yekaterinburg, you will have to pay fees in the amount of 14,500, but this is mere trifles compared to the fact that the total cost of tickets without miles is about 120,000 rubles.

Buying an award ticket: instructions

There are several ways to buy an award ticket, but the most convenient way is to do it directly on the Aeroflot website.

Online purchase

1. On the website of the Aeroflot Bonus program or by calling the hotline, we find out the status of our mileage account.
2. On the airline's website, go to the "Premium Calculator" section. In the fields "point of departure" and "point of arrival" enter the cities of interest. The calculator will then automatically calculate the number of miles required for the flight.
3. Go to the ticket booking section. Here it is necessary, again, to select the desired destinations and dates of the flight, and then check the checkbox "Pay by miles". Next, fill in the rest of the fields, including the newly opened block, where you will need to enter the mileage account number.
4. If there are seats on the flights for the selected dates, all that remains is to pay the service fees and receive an e-ticket.

Purchase at the Aeroflot office

To purchase an award ticket for Aeroflot flights or Sky Team flights, you can contact the Aeroflot office or its representative offices. In this case, you must have money with you to pay the service fee, as well as an identity document, on the basis of which the ticket will be issued. Having announced the desired dates and destinations, as well as saying that you want to buy a ticket for award miles, you can relax - the airline employee will carry out the entire procedure for you.

This is the second article in a series of posts on mileage programs. Before you start reading it, check if you have read the first part :)

Well, now that the concepts have been sorted out, let's deal with the myths and typical mistakes of beginners. As a rule, those who are too lazy or did not consider it necessary to understand the concepts and system of work of loyalty programs, that is, EVERYTHING, are subject to them. Most people don't take it seriously, so they miss a lot of opportunities before they figure it out. We also didn’t figure it out right away, and then we bit our elbows when we realized how many stupid things we managed to do :)

Myth one. I fly little/rarely, so I will never save up for any bonus, I will not even join any programs.

It's amazing how many people refuse freebies, and this is in Russia, where, as you know, freebies are sacred. Let's start with the fact that a little is a relative concept. In some programs, 4,500 miles (!) are enough for a one-way premium ticket for a short distance, and you can earn them successfully by flying once in economy class on a business trip from Moscow to Irkutsk and back. What is successful and unsuccessful, we will understand a little later.

Myth two. I can only get flight bonuses from the airline I fly with.

This is a misconception that is surprisingly still extremely common among many passengers. And many, having bought a ticket for the first time for a new airline, get an account in its program, add bonus miles there, then never fly with this company again and these miles will someday burn out. We dealt with this myth in the first article. Bonuses for a completed flight, most often, will be given by all partner airlines, including members of the same alliance as the airline you are flying with.

Myth three. If I often fly with one airline, then it is optimal to add bonuses to its program.

Sometimes that's true, but sometimes it's a terrible mistake. We were somehow very surprised when Aeroflot credited 0 miles to our accounts for a flight to Europe. It all depends on the airline you are flying with and the fare at which the ticket is issued. We repeat: loyalty programs in different airlines, even within the same alliance, differ very much. And the number of bonus miles for the same ticket in different programs may be different, depending on the program and fare.

Myth four. I have an account in the XXX program and something is accumulating on it. And well, the rest is nonsense.

This attitude has a variation - they let me fill out a questionnaire on the plane, they said that it was free - I registered, they gave me a card. Of course, simply adding miles for completed flights into some kind of program is, of course, better than nothing. But you need to understand that you can get almost as many such cards as there are airlines. On their own, they do nothing. And of course, the efficiency of using bonuses with such an attitude will be practically zero.

Myth five. To receive free tickets and other bonuses, you must fly a lot.

If you carefully read the first article, you know that this is not so. Those times are long gone. With the advent of co-branded plastic cards, which are now in abundance in Russia, you can earn miles simply by paying for your everyday purchases. We will definitely write a separate article about co-brands, this is another unplowed field.

Learning to count bonus miles

Now that we have dealt with the errors, let's move on. Let's learn how to count today. Calculate how many bonuses and where we can get for our flights.

Why is learning to count so important? It's very simple: we can get flight bonuses ONLY in ONE airline. It is not possible to receive awards for the same flight with Miles and More (Lufthansa), FinnAir Plus and Miles and Smiles (Turkish Airlines) at the same time, even if any of these companies according to the rules gives award miles for this flight. You need to choose in which ONE bonus program you use this flight and present this card (or say the number) at check-in.

1) the airline we are flying with

This is usually pretty simple. Your ticket always contains a flight code starting with two Latin letters. This is the IATA code for this airline. SU - Aeroflot, S7 - S7 (Siberia), UN - Transaero, AF - AirFrance, AZ - Alitalia, LH - Lufthansa, TK - Turkish Airlines, EK - Emirates, etc. If we don’t know, it’s not a problem to find which a / c which code on the Internet.

2) the fare at which the ticket was issued

Here again, you need to understand in detail. There are only three service classes - first, business and economy. But each airline has a great variety of booking classes. They are designated by ONE Latin letter. The booking class is specified separately on the ticket (booking class, booking code, etc.), or it is the first letter in the fare name.

Let's go over it in more detail. On the same flight, in the same economy class, people fly at different rates. Someone bought it at a sale about promotional fares, someone until recently did not know if he would fly or not and bought a ticket with the ability to return or change at flexible fares, someone flies on a business trip and bought at the last moment when there were tickets left only at full fares, and someone flies on an award ticket. Each of them has a DIFFERENT booking class on the ticket. And accordingly, each of them can receive a different number of bonus miles for their flight (or not receive anything).
For example, Aeroflot tickets are issued on the next. booking classes: economy - Y,B,M,U,K,H,L,Q,T,E,N,P,R,O,X,F,G,V,Z, business - J,C,D ,I,Z.
If you cannot find your fare on your ticket, you can call the airline and ask. Knowing the rate at which the ticket is issued is the most important thing in order to properly manage bonuses.

3) the airline that makes the flight

You may have thought we were wrong. After all, we have already found out about the flight of which airline we are flying at point 1. But no, there is no mistake here. A lot of flights are joint and have 2 codes, and sometimes 3. Although physically there is only one plane! This is called code sharing. For example, one flight Moscow-Paris may have the code SU-Aeroflot and AF-AirFrance. In this case, the aircraft will belong to one airline - either Aeroflot or AirFrance. Suppose you bought a ticket for AirFrance, and Aeroflot flies - in this case, your ticket will be marked flight AF .... (operated by Aeroflot). If there is no mark, then the airline is the same as in paragraph 1. In what cases it is important, we will understand a little later.

4) flight duration

Airlines most often give bonus miles depending on the distance that each flight flies. Some sites have calculators, but they are not always convenient. In addition, if you have several airlines flying on your ticket, you will have to look for it all on different sites, which is inconvenient. But on the Internet for a long time there are convenient services that measure distances. For example, this one. It is enough to drive in the airport codes and it will immediately show the distance in miles in one direction and in both.

So, now that we know everything we need, let's look at examples.

Example 1

We love cheap Alitalia promo tickets to Europe. But they are most often sold at the rate R. For example, Turin, which at one time was available for 5.7 thousand rubles. So, we know, all that is needed is the carrier airline Alitalia, fare R, Alitalia flies, the duration of the flight on the route Moscow-Rome-Turin is almost 4000 miles. How and where to get bonuses?

We start checking. “Darling” Alitalia, already selling these tickets on its website, informs us that in its programs Alitalia MileMiglia shines for us 0 miles. Let's see who else in the SkyTeam alliance can turn out to be kinder - the "kind" Aeroflot in its Aeroflot Bonus also wanted to spit on such travelers - miles are not credited under the R Alitalia fare: (Flying Blue from AirFrance and KLM will give 25% and then only for domestic flights (that is, Rome-Turin). Have you already given up and think that the rest will be the same? Read the previous article again. ALL programs are different. Therefore, it is too early to despair. The main thing is to find the right one - if you continue to search, you will definitely reach the Delta SkyMiles program and your patience will be rewarded 100% from the distance you have flown. For a flight at the rate R Alitalia Moscow-Rome-Turin in this program, you will earn your 4,000 miles, which, by the way, will never burn out :)

1. It is necessary to check the possibility of receiving bonuses in several programs.
2. The company that sold the ticket will not necessarily give more bonuses than another partner.
3. Miles can and should be accumulated in several programs (especially where they do not burn out).
4. If this is your special case, take note of the Delta program if you like to fly to Europe for the weekend on cheap Alitalia tickets, which are issued at discounted R-type fares.

Example 2

Two tickets in one. We try to indicate such significant bonuses in offers. Sometimes, even when buying a cheap ticket, you actually buy much more. Take the offer we wrote about: an Iberia special rate in Chile en route Irkutsk-Moscow-Madrid-Santiago . The distance is 11,500 miles there and the same number back. Total 23,000 miles. It's a lot. This means that when you buy (very cheap, by the way) a ticket to your dream trip, you actually get yourself practically ANOTHER trip as a bonus. Why? We understand in order.

1) the airline we fly with is Iberia (code IB). Moreover, ALL 6 flights have this code, this is important.
2) Booking code N
3) Irkutsk-Moscow flights are operated by S7, Madrid-Santiago flights are operated by LAN, Moscow-Madrid is operated by Iberia in one direction, S7 in the other.

This example will just show us why it is so important to know exactly who is flying. When we check the Iberia Plus program, we will see that for the discounted economy (and fare N belongs to this group of fares) we will be given 80% of the distance on Iberia flights. And, of course, we will not stop there and go to check other programs (as in the example above). Then we will quickly find the British Airways Executive Club program, where we will be offered 100% of the distance for all flights under the Iberia code. Victory? Nearly. This is where we need to make sure that companies that operate codeshare flights (in our case S7 and LAN) will be counted. The alliance rule almost always works here. If these companies are in the same alliance as the company in which you plan to receive bonuses, then you will receive miles. In this case, everything will be fine, both S7 and LAN are members of OneWorld, as is British Airways, so for flights under the code Ibeira you will receive 100% of the miles. If any of the flights under the Iberia code were operated by a company that is not part of OneWorld, then British Airways would not give bonus miles for this flight and we would have to “add” this flight to the Iberia Plus program, even if for 80% from distance.

If it is difficult, re-read it again, this is a very important example. It is important precisely because the most delicious cheap fares very often appear exactly where there is a code-share and one company sells seats on flights to another.

Then everything is already simple, we register in the British Airways program, indicate this number everywhere when registering for a flight, we receive our 23,000 bonus miles. And then we buy an award ticket for them. For example, Moscow-London-Moscow on British Airways or Moscow-Verona-Moscow on S7 costs 20,000 miles, Moscow-Berlin-Moscow on AirBerlin or Moscow-Yekaterinburg-Moscow on S7 costs 15,000 miles :)

Let's take a look at this example:

1. And again - you need to check the possibility of receiving bonuses in several programs.
2. Be sure to check when buying a ticket which airline operates each flight.
3. We look not only where and how many miles you can get for a flight, but also WHAT YOU CAN SPEND THEM ON.

Example 3

The authorities send you on a business trip to Irkutsk from Moscow. And your favorite company in the person of the director's secretary should buy you tickets. Here, if you leave it to chance, you can suffer very much :) Fundamental points 2.

First, Aeroflot or S7?

Secondly, at what rate will tickets be bought for you?

At stake is no less than 5246 miles. This distance is Moscow-Irkutsk-Moscow, and this is quite a decent amount of bonuses.

Let's assume that the secretary took the cheapest thing for you and it turned out to be S7 at R fare. 2623 miles. British Airways, AirBerlin, American Airlines - 25%, i.e. only 1310 miles. Iberia Plus - 30%, i.e. 1570 miles. In any of these programs, this is not enough for any bonus. What to do in this case? If we fly S7 a lot more, we will make S7 a priority for ourselves. If this is a one-time mockery of the body, then we add up the miles in Iberia - according to the terms of the program, they can be combined with an account with British Airways in a few months, and there they will not be lost, because there award tickets for short distances start from 4,500 bonus miles (for comparison in S7 from 15000). In any case, we swear, hit ourselves on the head, fire the secretary and ask the boss for permission to fly in the future on business trips only in business class.

If you control the process and make sure that the correct tickets are selected, you can win significantly. The same economy class, but already at the tariff H or K will give you 100% in S7 Priority (where you won’t buy anything for these 5000 miles). But he will also give 100% to British Airways, where 5,000 miles are already enough for a one-way ticket to Kyiv, for example, by the same S7. And if you suddenly manage to knock out a business class from the boss (tariffs D, C, J), then again the situation will be different again. British Airways will only give 125%, i.e. 6,500 miles, and S7 Priority will give 200% of the distance - i.e. almost 10,500 miles. Not enough for a ticket to S7 yet, but already very close to a minimum of 15,000 round-trip in Russia or for short flights to Europe. There is an incentive to fly on another business trip ...

And if you have already accumulated many miles in Aeroflot Bonus, then it’s better not to suffer in these calculations, buy a chocolate bar for your secretary and tell that S7 has an uncomfortable schedule, bad seats, and in general you are annoyed by their green color, like Domodedovo Airport, and Sheremetyevo at you around the house. Therefore, we ask Aeroflot at a rate not lower than L and calmly receive our 4-5 thousand bonus miles to the bonus account in the Aeroflot bonus (where to spend these miles later is a separate issue).

Let's recap again:

1. When buying tickets, you don’t have to grab anything - you need to look at the fare at which tickets are bought. Sometimes with a small difference in money (which no one will pay attention to, especially if you are flying on a business trip), the number of miles earned will differ by 3-4 times.
2. Tickets of one airline, depending on the fare, may be beneficial to add to ONE or ANOTHER program.
3. Be sure to take into account our plans for the future - whether we fly ONCE with this company or plan to fly with it again in the future.
4. And again - we look not only where and how many miles you can get for a flight, but also WHAT YOU CAN SPEND THEM ON.
5. If you fly a lot for work - try to do it with the same airline (or the same alliance) - so you can save up for bonuses faster.

And now, as a test task: take any offer to your taste from those that we posted over the past week (except for Transaero, because this airline is not yet a member of any alliance, there is nothing to count there), select one flight and count where would you put the miles. If you want, write in the comments, we will check your calculations :)

That's all with the second part. Next time we'll talk about mileage strategies and how many programs to join.

In this article I want to talk about the so-called "mile" bank cards, with which you can get a free air ticket. Let's see if it's realistic to save up for a free flight, how long it will take to accumulate enough miles and which card is still worth getting. The information in this article is current as of September 2018.

What are miles cards, what are they for and how to use them to fly more often

A "mile" card is a co-branded bank card issued by one or another bank, for purchases on which you are credited with "conditional units" - miles, which you can later spend on a free or shareware flight. Usually the card is used in addition to flights with certain airlines in order to accumulate miles faster (often flying with an airline for a certain period of one or two years is a prerequisite when purchasing a ticket for miles). Each card and each bank has its own conditions for earning miles and buying free air tickets. It should also be said right away that in most cases the flight will not be free, but shareware, that is, fees and taxes will still have to be paid (as a result of this, some flights become completely unprofitable).

Which airlines have such bonus programs?

Most airlines have similar programs (with the exception of low-cost companies). You can earn miles by flying with this airline and paying with a co-branded bank card.

There are a lot of good programs, participation in which really allows you to save up for a free flight, even for fairly long distances, and this will actually be profitable. Basically, these are European airlines, for example, they praise Lufthansa's loyalty program very much, as well as Swiss Airlines. And if residents of Moscow can join these programs (it makes sense for them to do this) and earn miles from European airlines, then residents of the regions have to choose from what they have. And there are mainly our Russian carriers - Aeroflot, S7, Ural Airlines (I highly do not recommend the loyalty program of the latter). This is what I will talk about today.

Bank card All Airlines - Tinkoff

The first card (and, looking ahead, in my opinion, the most profitable) that allows you to accumulate miles and spend them on buying tickets from ANY airline is the Tinkoff All Airlines card. The essence of the program is as follows. Paying with a card, you get miles, which you can use later compensate purchase any ticket.

That is, you buy tickets through any site, paying with a card for All Airlines, and then write off miles in your personal account and the cost of the ticket is compensated (I wrote how to use miles). The main “minus” of this system is that miles are written off in multiples of 3,000. For example, when buying a ticket for 11,500 rubles, you need 12,000 miles to compensate, and when buying a ticket for 12,500 rubles, you will need 15,000 miles to compensate. Therefore, you need to select tickets very carefully.

All the details of using this card have already been described in. You can find more detailed information there.

Bank card Tinkoff – All Airlines

It seems to me that the All Airlines Tinkoff card is the most beneficial of the miles cards. In the review, I considered how many miles you need to accumulate, and it turned out that it is quite possible to accumulate, especially if you use a credit card and pay off your debt on time.

How to order a Tinkoff All Airlines card

If you want to order a Tinkoff All Airlines credit card, then you can do it on the official website Tinkoff.ru, and when ordering an All Airlines debit card using this link, you will receive 500 miles as a gift.

All Airlines bank card from Alfa-Bank - AlfaTravel.

To begin with, Alfa Bank's Alfa Miles program for September 2018 was replaced by another similar program - AlfaTravel, which allows you to accumulate miles and compensate with them for the purchase of any air tickets purchased through the site https://travel.alfabank.ru

The block of information posted below and related to the accrual of miles in the Alfa miles program is no longer relevant. My attempt to carry out the same detailed analysis of the new map was not successful, because. the Alfa Bank website contains a minimum of information that I personally would not have had enough to make a decision on ordering this card. If you figure it out and decide to order this card, you can do it at the link.

The main principles of this card:

• Increased cashback is credited when buying air, railway tickets and booking hotels through the website travel.alfabank.ru
• Airfare is higher than when searching through aviasales and skyscanner aggregators
• The cost of the hotel is higher than when booking on booking.com
• When applying for a VISA Signature card, privileges are Priority Pass (free or reduced access to airport business lounges), unlimited Internet in roaming for 14 days, free luggage packing 4 times a year, up to 35% discount on car booking, personal travel assistant, who, according to Alfa-Bank, will book you a table in a restaurant, help with the development of the route and visa processing. Whether all Alfa Travel cards are issued as Visa Signature or not is not clear.

The information on accrual of miles and the cost of service that I could find is in the plate:

I did not see interest rates on credit cards, a grace period, penalties for non-payment on the site. What and how to spend the accumulated miles - too. Dear representatives of the bank, if you get to this page, please tell us in detail about the operation of this card!

What is the programAlphamiles

The essence of the program is that when making purchases with the Alpha Miles card, you get miles that you can later spend only on alfamiles.com on the:

• Flights
• Train tickets
• Hotel reservation
• car rental
• Charity

If you buy on the site alfamiles.com for money, then you are credited with an increased number of miles.

Alfa Miles cards are standard debit and credit. Debit is issued in any of the three currencies, credit - only in rubles.

Debit card Alfa Bank - All Airlines (VISA)

Credit card Alfa Bank - All Airlines (VISA)

To open a Signature card, you need the “Maximum” service package, for Signature Light, the “Comfort” package is enough! See the descriptions of all packages at the link https://alfabank.ru/everyday/package/

How many milesAlphaMiles can be earned in one year

Let's count again. I take a family as an example (2-3 people who fly on vacation once a year, use a card at the Classic tariff, and spend 40,000 rubles a month.

Buying tickets not onalphabets for 50,000 rubles will bring 1,666 miles. Hotel payment (60,000 rubles) - 2,000 miles, car rental on vacation (15,000 rubles) - 500 miles. Also, when spending 40,000 rubles per month, we get 1,333 miles, that is, 16,000 miles per year.

In total, you can earn 20,200 miles in one year.

Is it profitable to buy tickets, book hotels and cars on the site alfamiles.com

Let's see how much it costs air ticket on the alfamiles website and on the aviasales website. For example, let's take the flight Moscow - Barcelona from 5.09 to 10.09. When buying on alfamiles, a ticket costs 17,633 rubles (+ 1,032 miles will be credited for the purchase). Exactly the same ticket for air sales costs 16,486 rubles, that is, 1,000 rubles cheaper. I will not attach screenshots, I hope you believe me anyway :)

Hotels. A hotel in Barcelona for two from September 5 to 10 (the first Mellow Barcelona hotel that came across) costs 16,410 rubles when ordering on alfamiles (1235 miles in the piggy bank), on booking it costs exactly the same.

Rent a Car from 05 to 08 September in Barcelona when booking through alfamiles costs from 1892 r (199 miles will be credited). The same car (Fiat 500) in the same rental office (Firefly Espagne) when booking on rental cars will cost more - 2,360 rubles.

That is, in fact, if you need to accumulate miles faster, then you can book on alfamiles, and sometimes it’s even a little cheaper.

How many miles do you need to get a free flight

In order to buy a ticket on the Moscow-Barcelona route in September, you will need 27,915 miles and 10,229 rubles (taxes and fees), and the same ticket costs 16,500-17,500 rubles “for money”. I would not say that it is very profitable. Let's see more options. Buy a ticket foralfamiles is possible without additional payment in rubles! But for the same ticket, you need to pay 38,567 miles extra! That is, the total cost of the ticket will be 66,482 miles. It will be difficult for an average family to accumulate such an amount.

For a flight on the route Yekaterinburg - Barcelona, ​​also in September, you will need only 18,780 miles, but taxes need to be paid 16,506 rubles. The flight is operated by Turkish Airlines, and the same ticket when purchased through aviasales will cost only 3,000 rubles more, namely 19,800 rubles. Doubtful economy.

And here's another option. On the alfamiles website, you can book not only tickets, but also car rentals. Completely for miles, you can order a car in Barcelona for 3 days from 7,133 miles. The downside, which I managed to find, for some reason, is not looking for rent for all dates.

Perhaps if you look for options, you can find a suitable, and economical one. The main thing is to know what you are looking for. There will also be a benefit if you order not the simplest card, but at least Signature Light - and miles will accumulate faster, and even various “buns” as a gift. Especially important for those who fly is access to airport business classes and travel insurance. The Signature Light card is issued as part of the Comfort package, and it is quite affordable - when spending on the card from 40,000 rubles per month (or a minimum balance of 300,000 rubles), its maintenance is free, then you only need to pay for the card maintenance. Otherwise, the package maintenance costs 499 rubles per month.

How to order an Alfa Miles card

If this card suits you, then you can order it on the bank's website. You can also consider a cashback card from Alfa-Bank (), by which you can get cashback in rubles - 10% for refueling at a gas station, 5% from a bill in a cafe or restaurant, and 1% for all purchases.

Bank card Travel bank "Opening"

Another card, thanks to which you can buy a free ticket - map Travel from Otkritie bank. At its core, this is an ordinary cashback card, cashback is accumulated in the form of bonus rubles that can be spent on hotels, air and train tickets only on travel.open.ru(Let me remind you that you can compensate with miles for an air ticket bought on any site) . This card is similar to the Alfa-Bank card. The main advantage of the Travel card is that with bonus rubles a ticket (or hotel) can be pay in part or in full, no minimum amount and without a "step" of 3,000 rubles, as, for example, with Tinkov.

The site travel.open.ru, apparently, works on the basis of the onetwotrip.ru service. The service, in principle, is reliable, I use it, but the price is not always the best. For example, I compared the price of the same ticket through aviasales and travel.open.ru. A ticket worth about 20,000 rubles on the Otkritie website is about 500 rubles more expensive. The same hotel on travel.open and on booking (which I compared at random) costs exactly the same. The minus of the travel.open.ru website is the incomprehensible work of algorithms; in order to find a suitable ticket, you have to “dig around”.

I will move on to the tariffs so that you can calculate the benefits of using this card for you. There are two tariffs - Optimal and Premium. As far as I understand, cards of both tariffs - debit.

I will write the "pros" and "cons" of the cards in my opinion.

• It is possible to pay for a ticket or hotel with bonuses in part
• No minimum payment threshold
• Ability to use bonuses 1:1
• A fairly high percentage of bonuses (3-4%)
• The price of air tickets is not much higher than for air sales, the price of hotels is commensurate with the price of booking.
• Free insurance
• Business Lounge Access for Premium Rate
• Normal (medium) requirements for free lounge access
• Unlimited complimentary lounge access for two (as long as you meet normal average requirements)

• Expensive service
• High minimum requirements for the "Optimal" tariff
• The “Optimal” tariff insurance does not cover many popular tourist countries; for those who travel not only within the Schengen area, it becomes almost useless.
• Most of the bonuses for the Premium fare seem far-fetched to me (transfer, baggage packing)

Co-branded card Aeroflot - Sberbank

I would call this card the most patriotic))) I think you can guess why. Nevertheless, jokes are jokes, namely, I had such a card before I started using it. I must say that it was with the help of this card (+ Alfa Bank's Aeroflot card) that I managed to save about 40,000 rubles on flights over several years.

When choosing a card, be guided by your conditions, calculate which card will be more profitable, because even just using the “correct” bank card, you can save a lot of money.

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