The HfP chat thread – Thursday 25th February

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Cormac says:

26 Feb26 February 16:38

Am I the only one here who things that Eurostar’s offering of converting MR points to Club Eurostar is mostly pointless when:

1. Eurostar charge a £32 fee.
2. MR points are effectively worth 0.8p in Nectar points.
3. Nectar points are usable on Eurostar without any admin fee now.

If I used the example of a fixed standard class return, which is worth 15,000 MR points plus the £32 redemption charge. That is spending the equivalent £120 nectar points plus £32 cash, so in effect spending £152 for a ticket. A cash ticket would have to cost more than £152 for a redemption by converting MR tickets to Club Eurostar to be worthwhile in this instance.

The redemptions are:
15,000 MR points for standard (equivalent to spending £120 of Nectar points, plus the £32 cash redemption fee),
22,500 MR points standard anytime (£180 + £32)
30,000 Standard Premier fixed (£240 + £32),
37,500 Standard Premier anytime (£300 + £32)
45,000 Business anytime (£360 + £32)

Assuming that Eurostar will come out of the other end of this pandemic, there are not many cases where redeeming for Club Eurostar is now worth it. A Business Class is the main outlier, as a cash return is £490 and the MR to Club Eurostar redemption is akin to paying £360 of Nectar points plus £32 cash. However a standard return booking to Paris on Feb 27 to Feb 28 for essential travel would cost £304, an MR to Club Eurostar redemption is much better value here.

Essentially for many planned journeys Nectar is the better option (and can earn Club Eurostar points), but for distress purchases redeeming MR for Club Eurostar points may still have value.
- Rob says:
  
  26 Feb26 February 17:01
  
  A decent summary. The Avios / Nectar deal has made a lot of Membership Rewards redemptions pointless.