So the question is, how much are these airmiles worth ?
I'm a member of bother Qatar and Emirates schemes - but never have collected enough for a free flight or even an upgrade.
Last month I decided to give up and spend my Emirates miles on a new watch from their catalogue. All worked OK, nice new Rotary watch chosen and filled in all the forms online.
And then the "RyanAir like" crunch hits.
You then have to pull out a credit card to pay for carriage from somewhere (doesn't tell you where but it's expensive) and then you get hit for duty as well (wonderful UK) before you complete the transaction.
Beware....