MummyAiriles emailed this evening to let me know how her latest trip is going. Thankfully for her bank balance, and my inheritance, it is a relatively cheap trip thanks to the bestowal of some Emirates Skywards miles.

Some months ago, MummyAirmiles reported on her Emirates business class trip to Mauritius and back from the Seychelles via Dubai. On this trip there were issues with the in-flight entertainment system and also with the seating. Following a complaint to Emirates, MummyAirmiles  was awarded a significant chunk of miles as a customer service recovery, in addition to those earned for the flights. Whilst these cannot be converted to Avios, or used with any other one world airline, they can be redeemed on easyJet.

This is a great help as BA have not yet started up their Invernesss to LHR service, although this is coming soon, and I wanted to visit MisterAirmiles and his brothers south of the border. We used 32000 skywards miles and went to Luton instead! This gave us 2 return tickets which would have cost us £104 if I had bought them.

 I am pleased to be able to use the miles, and have booked up a further trip to Luton, returning from Gatwick, and a return trip from Edinburgh to Geneva in May. And we still have a stash of miles in the bag! Unlike Avios, there is an expiry date of approximately 3 years, so I’m using them while I can. These also represent a real cash saving, as we would have bought the tickets anyway.

At Luton, we hopped on a bus taking us to the car hire centre where we picked up our group B, 5 door Honda Jazz from Avis. As an Avis Preferred member, and booked through Avisba.com, I was quickly and efficiently attended to, signed papers, got the keys and was in the car within 15 minutes. I will get Avios for the booking and a complimentary second driver. This is actually irrelevant to us as I drive and my husband navigates. This has proved a tried and tested recipe for marital harmony!

I am seeing MummyAirmiles tomorrow after my trip to Concorde, so look forward to checking out her car then.