A return flight to Europe for €5.50

etselbbuns

1. Buy 3x1.75l Coke at Tesco for €4.50
2. Upload receipt, print form, post form to Sweete for €1 stamp
3. Choose 3 locations & 3 months - you will then be allocated a choice from these.

A no-show will be €25 where the passenger cancels, €85 for passengers who fail to show up.
Destinations: Madrid, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Sofia, Tours & Liverpool.
Loadsa t&c's http://www.coca-colaflights.com/

colm_mcm

I can kinda see how they can do it so cheap now

hawkwind23

Bit of a con really , your gambling on dates and destination.
Personally id rather find a €20 flight on ryanair and know exactly where and when im going.
Still im sure loads will be in a position to take advantage but im not sure if its a return flight?
reminds me of the "free" hotel deals where you had to buy meals and they cost more than a standard B&B rate!

Oat23

I have to drink 5L of coke and may end up having to visit Liverpool? Quite the punishment this bargain is.

Tinie

What are the months they pick from?

etselbbuns

Tinie wrote: »

What are the months they pick from?

Based on the t&c's, I expect it is September-February inclusive. It states application within one month of closing date (25/07) and then travel completed within 6 months

GBX

That's the same crowd who ran the Herald flight offer. Didn't have a good experience with them.

Tinie

GBX wrote: »

That's the same crowd who ran the Herald flight offer. Didn't have a good experience with them.

Care to elaborate as to why you didn't?

CeilingFly

Read the terms and conditions.

In a few words -

If you like to travel on your own (extra person €99 + taxes and charges) on a date we choose and a time we choose to one of three locations you have given us from a very limited choice we gave you and don't change your mind, then you'll get a free ticket. Remember you can't choose bank holidays, Christmas or other periods we decide.


Simpler - "we've got a deal on a load of off peak flights to second-rate locations that normally are sold at €9.99 and if you jump through loads of hoops, we'll give them to you free"


Yep, utter sh1te offer for most people.

Will suit some though.


Now if they did an offer like Hoover did.... (hoover went bust from it)

holly8

GBX wrote: »

That's the same crowd who ran the Herald flight offer. Didn't have a good experience with them.

Dreadful company to deal with ... did the (Indo) flights and hotel offers, never got anywhere with them ... wouldn't bother at all ever again

GBX

As Holly said . Useless and very unhelpful. Yeah you get what you pay for but even still they shouldn't be so amateurish.

Yamanoto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6jAdv14W-M

ED E

Can we get the title changed to reflect its non bargainness?

ted1

I can never understand why successful companies, team up with companies like this to run awful promotions.

etselbbuns

It is still a €5.50 return flight to Europe regardless of how you look at it

Capt'n Midnight

etselbbuns wrote: »

It is still a €5.50 return flight to Europe regardless of how you look at it

You could look at as a €25 bet that their dates will suit you.

Only if they do, you get €19.50 and a flight back.

Odd dates are one thing, but stupid O'Clock means you may need to budget for a taxi too.

Doltanian

I entered it for a laugh anyway as I wouldn't buy Coca Cola normally and got a bit sucked in by the offer of free flights as I am keen traveller.

Sofia is furthest away so getting a free flight there would possibly give the biggest value out of it.

These are the Eight cities and their respective distances from Dublin Airport, all cities are served by Ryanair from Dublin so I am thinking its likely that Ryanair would be the airline you'd get the free flights on.

Sofia (1,546 mi)
Madrid (902 mi)
Milan (861 mi)
Copenhagen (774 mi)
Tours Loire Valley (516 mi)
Brussels (489 mi)
Amsterdam (468 mi)
Liverpool (142 mi)

The promotional material in Tesco is very misleading as it shows Paris, Rome and Lisbon on the advertising but none of these three cities are actually included in the free flights offer.

There is another promotion running involving a serial number on the back of the labels where you might win flights to those areas and my bottle of Coke Zero said Toronto which put me thinking free flights to Toronto; Whats the catch? Are they after adding even more nasty chemicals into it and are we to be unwitting guinea pigs for their vile product .

Anyway never the less after spending €4.50 of basically acidic metal stripper I will plough ahead and firstly try demand free flights to either Paris, Rome and Lisbon as per their dodgy advertising. Failing that I may settle for

Sofia (1,546 mi)
Madrid (902 mi)
Milan (861 mi)

Bearing in mind that if you add somewhere like Liverpool to your choice they will probably give you whichever area is closest and thus likely to be cheapest. As the free flights will be during low winter time season its also worth remembering the weather in some of these places will be less than appealing.

finbarrk

This is the same shower of jokers that had a similar promotion last year with the Irish Independent. No thanks.

holly8

Doltanian wrote: »

I entered it for a laugh anyway as I wouldn't buy Coca Cola normally and got a bit sucked in by the offer of free flights as I am keen traveller.

Sofia is furthest away so getting a free flight there would possibly give the biggest value out of it.

These are the Eight cities and their respective distances from Dublin Airport, all cities are served by Ryanair from Dublin so I am thinking its likely that Ryanair would be the airline you'd get the free flights on.

Sofia (1,546 mi)
Madrid (902 mi)
Milan (861 mi)
Copenhagen (774 mi)
Tours Loire Valley (516 mi)
Brussels (489 mi)
Amsterdam (468 mi)
Liverpool (142 mi)

The promotional material in Tesco is very misleading as it shows Paris, Rome and Lisbon on the advertising but none of these three cities are actually included in the free flights offer.

There is another promotion running involving a serial number on the back of the labels where you might win flights to those areas and my bottle of Coke Zero said Toronto which put me thinking free flights to Toronto; Whats the catch? Are they after adding even more nasty chemicals into it and are we to be unwitting guinea pigs for their vile product .

Anyway never the less after spending €4.50 of basically acidic metal stripper I will plough ahead and firstly try demand free flights to either Paris, Rome and Lisbon as per their dodgy advertising. Failing that I may settle for

Sofia (1,546 mi)
Madrid (902 mi)
Milan (861 mi)

Bearing in mind that if you add somewhere like Liverpool to your choice they will probably give you whichever area is closest and thus likely to be cheapest. As the free flights will be during low winter time season its also worth remembering the weather in some of these places will be less than appealing.

I'd be surprised if you even hear back from them regarding your choices ... then when you call them, they will not be able to access your information or someone that you need to talk to is not in the office but they will call you back later ... and they never do ... and then when you call again, several times later, they will offer you something there and then on the phone, never in writing ... something very, very short term and completely unrealistic (your 3rd choice at best) and you get to decide within 24/48 hrs ... and if you don't, then they will cancel the offer ... and then that's it ... what a deal!!

Wheety

Could you return the coke after uploading your receipt?

Daniel112

Has anybody heard back after signing up for this?

Doltanian

Not yet and I printed off the form and returned it on the 4th of July, one month ago exactly.

okidoki987

Can't believe Coke would use this company for one of their promos based on previous problems.
You will be waiting a while and then have to wait again to get the offer(s) afterwards.

NikoTopps

missed a call from Sweete today,look like they are finally start to give out offers for flights

mel.b

I'm bummed i missed this i've got flights to Paris coming up as a result of the Applegreen reward points that is also run through Sweete. The choices are much more interesting in the coke promotion. I think if you don't mind where & when you go then these are a good option for cheap flights.

The_Conductor

CeilingFly wrote: »

Now if they did an offer like Hoover did.... (hoover went bust from it)

Hoover was fine until they got greedy........
Their UK arm was manufacturing vast quantities of appliances they weren't able to sell- so they came up with a whizz- two free tickets to Europe with any appliance priced at over £100. It was the year I went to Uni- 1992- we followed it in marketing- with a sense of glee. All went well with the initial leg of the promotion- the two flights were worth about £40-£50- it was a nice fillup- and only a small number of customers went on to claim- meanwhile the warehouses emptied somewhat. Execs then got greedy- and figured- look at all the stuff we still have in storage- if we change the promotion to a choice of flights to Florida or New York- which at that time cost in the region of £600-£700- that they'd be sure to flog the contents of their warehouses. So they did. Only for whatever reason- they left the qualifying spend at £100- so you could spend £100 buying an appliance- and claim a £700 flight.........

A group of appliance purchasers got together in one of the first class action lawsuits- and brought Hoover to court- when a story was published in a tabloid newspaper- indicating Hoover hadn't bought any flights for anyone at all. Quelle suprise- they won the case......... Hoover ended up shelling out over £50m in 1991-1992 money for flights- which was about 4-5 times their annual turn-over at the time.

The American owner of the company- fired most of the UK Management- and flogged the gutted carcass of the company to Candy, then an Italian company, for a pittance.

The original scheme- where you got 2 tickets to a selection of EU destinations- with a lot of caveats- was fine- but the company got greedy- and imagined they'd be the belle of the ball if they flogged the entirety of their warehouses- and some fool somewhere- never changed the qualifying spend- in a commensurate manner (which would have put the qualifying spend up at well over a grand- and *not* a hundred quid).

Hoover is still around as a brand- the European branch continues to be owned by Candy- and it sells about 12 times more in value in washing machines and driers than it does vacuum cleaners- whereas the US and worldwide leg of the company- are owned by the original Hoover holding company.

Pity I didn't have a hundred quid to spare at the time........

CeilingFly

I enjoyed flights to florida on them, stayed with friends, saw space shuttle blast off, played loads of golf.

Their basic error was not having any conditions attached to the flights like most similar promos had - such as you would have to stay in a certain group of hotels and eat meals there.

Nope, zero conditions attached except buy the appliance.

Oat23

The_Conductor wrote: »

Hoover

There's a good video about the whole thing on this guy's youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZCl1dE4mqc

whiteshorts

t if we change the promotion to a choice of flights to Florida or New York- which at that time cost in the region of £600-£700- that they'd be sure to flog the contents of their warehouses. So they did. Only for whatever reason- they left the qualifying spend at £100- so you could spend £100 buying an appliance- and claim a £700 flight.........

And most people flogged off their unwanted Hoovers after taking the flights for small money .

etselbbuns

Doltanian wrote: »

Not yet and I printed off the form and returned it on the 4th of July, one month ago exactly.

Any update after almost two months?

Doltanian

etselbbuns wrote: »

Any update after almost two months?

No contact here as of yet.

Doltanian

Anyone hear anything back from these cowboys? I for one didn't.

okidoki987

Bought & drank the Coke but didn't bother sending in the forms after a previous
"no flights promo with the Herald" offer.
Not the best promo from Coke.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

okidoki987 wrote: »

Bought & drank the Coke but didn't bother sending in the forms after a previous
"no flights promo with the Herald" offer.
Not the best promo from Coke.

So you didn't send the forms in and are complaining about the offer? Okay then.

alksander

Not receiving the offer might be a more lucky outcome than receiving one. A few years back one of the driving schools did the same promotion with one of these promotion companies (don't remember which one). They made you decide on the spot when they called with an offer, to a not so desired destination and asking 99 euros for a second person to join the trip. Another condition was, if you do accept the offer, but fail to turn up for the flight, they charge you another 99 euros.

Had to decline as it was quite a big risk to take it, then find out that hotels are horrendously expensive and not going, yet to be charged for nothing.

okidoki987

So you didn't send the forms in and are complaining about the offer? Okay then.

No I didn't send in the forms, previously sent 3 different forms off for 3 different people (all related) via the Herald, same sort of offer and it took months before they even came back about any of them.
2 of the chosen flight dates had already passed at that stage!
Sent them mails, rang them but took them so long to organise, ended up
we booked flights via ryanair ourselves, much easier.

Swore I'd never do it again and if you have a look through the comments on boards over the years, there are loads of people who have had the same problems.

okidoki987

They made you decide on the spot when they called with an offer, to a not so desired destination and asking 99 euros for a second person to join the trip. Another condition was, if you do accept the offer, but fail to turn up for the flight, they charge you another 99 euros.

Probably Sweete again.
The Coke offer was an extra person for €99 and if you didn't turn up, they charged you this time, €25.
Most of the flights are cheap Ryanair destinations.

DR_HOUSE

I've sent in everything needed for me and my wife (two separate purchases) and never heard back from them. Also I tried to call several times, without luck. Now I'm thinking if what they did is not illegal. Who would be to blame? Tesco for promoting a scam?
Any ideas?

The_Conductor

I had bought the drinks- and had the receipts- so I sent them in.
I was going for 4 flights.
Not a peep out of them.

fryup

is this Liveline material ?

The_Conductor

fryup wrote: »

is this Liveline material ?

Ah now, Joe- you see, if Hoover were forced to send their European operations into Administration- over a botched travel promotion- by god, the least we can do- is try to wring the same concessions out of Coca-Cola..........

Joe Duffy- is marmite- some people love him, some hate him- I'm in the latter camp.

You win some, you loose some- this is one that had the writing on the wall from the get-go, I'm not sufficiently motivated to waste time and effort chasing it- and its not like its going to have any impact whatsoever on Coca Cola's declining sales- the reformulation and the sugar tax will put pay to that- more so than of us here kicking up a fuss.

Doltanian

I will pursue it on point of principle. I was abroad since I posted last but watch this space.

Doltanian

I tweeted Coca Cola Ireland about it and they then advised me to ring them and they made contact with Sweete Ireland. Anyway the result is I have my free return flight with Ryanair in a few weeks time to look forward to. So a great result for me. A short trip for two nights and I'm looking forward to it now already.

eirbear1989

Doltanian wrote: »

I tweeted Coca Cola Ireland about it and they then advised me to ring them and they made contact with Sweete Ireland. Anyway the result is I have my free return flight with Ryanair in a few weeks time to look forward to. So a great result for me. A short trip for two nights and I'm looking forward to it now already.

Were the days and times half decent? I applied through the Applegreen rewards with Sweete. After me chasing them up I finally got a response. I sent in two vouchers, (one with my name and the other with himself's name) They are refusing to let me book that way, instead want to charge me €99 plus taxes and charges. Flights for the same day on SkyScanner (mix of Ryanair or Aer Lingus) are from €62 return.

The dates they gave me are all Tues to Thurs, which is ok I guess after I book them off work, but my issue is if they end up being late on the Tues and early on the Thurs they are a waste of time.

If I had taken the voucher for less points for two flights and having to book my accom through them at least I would have got three nights as it is in the t&c that it is a minimum of 3 nights.

Wondering should I just cancel the vouchers all together.

Doltanian

eirbear1989 wrote: »

Were the days and times half decent? I applied through the Applegreen rewards with Sweete. After me chasing them up I finally got a response. I sent in two vouchers, (one with my name and the other with himself's name) They are refusing to let me book that way, instead want to charge me €99 plus taxes and charges. Flights for the same day on SkyScanner (mix of Ryanair or Aer Lingus) are from €62 return.

The dates they gave me are all Tues to Thurs, which is ok I guess after I book them off work, but my issue is if they end up being late on the Tues and early on the Thurs they are a waste of time.

If I had taken the voucher for less points for two flights and having to book my accom through them at least I would have got three nights as it is in the t&c that it is a minimum of 3 nights.

Wondering should I just cancel the vouchers all together.

I was given flights to Milan Bergamo on a Thursday Morning from Dublin at 06:25am and returned back on Saturday morning at 10:25am. I was travelling by myself but they did have a clause for €99 if you wanted to take a friend/partner etc.

It caused me to have to book a night in the TravelLodge near Dublin airport and when I factored in the cost of that, the anti-social hours and such a short stay it was a bad deal looking back in hindsight. Best bet is if they can't give you flights at suitable times or dates then just go book your own. For me coming from Kerry by Train to Dublin I'd always need an Afternoon flight and arriving back to Dublin in the morning or afternoon to catch a train home, otherwise the cost of hotels in Dublin basically wipeout any savings of going there. I only fly from Dublin on routes not available in Kerry, Cork or Shannon.

okidoki987

They are refusing to let me book that way, instead want to charge me €99 plus taxes and charges.

That's one of the many problems with the offer.
To have to pay another €99 for the same flight for another person is bonkers when you have enough tokens for 2 flights.
I tried doing different bookings for same flight but could never get 2 flights together.
Terrible flights times as well and if you don't show up, there's a €25 charge p.p.
Avonmore milk doing the same offer, won't be doing that one either.

Tusky

okidoki987 wrote: »

That's one of the many problems with the offer.
To have to pay another €99 for the same flight for another person is bonkers when you have enough tokens for 2 flights.
I tried doing different bookings for same flight but could never get 2 flights together.
Terrible flights times as well and if you don't show up, there's a €25 charge p.p.
Avonmore milk doing the same offer, won't be doing that one either.

Is it impossible to get 2 people on one flight using this offer? Was hoping to do that with the Avonmore offer. Was just gonna send the 30 tokens each separately but pick the same destinations and months and hope we get offered the same flights.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

okidoki987

Is it impossible to get 2 people on one flight using this offer? Was hoping to do that with the Avonmore offer. Was just gonna send the 30 tokens each separately but pick the same destinations and months and hope we get offered the same flights.

I've tried over the years and never managed it.
Used different people at same address, same last name at different address, different names at different addresses same dates & destinations all with no joy.
That's why they say it's €99 plus charges for another person otherwise wouldn't make sense for them to offer 2 to the same place at same time.
Never tried to get 1 flight from offer and try booking same flight with Ryanair though.

It's an offer for 1 person and that's the way they sell it.

How can they charge a no show fee? No airline would dare do that.

Considering the flight would cost nothing apart from a couple of stamps, from their point of view, it makes sense.
It's to stop people just booking a flight and not turning up as it was free.

Tusky

okidoki987 wrote: »

I've tried over the years and never managed it.
Used different people at same address, same last name at different address, different names at different addresses same dates & destinations all with no joy.
That's why they say it's €99 plus charges for another person otherwise wouldn't make sense for them to offer 2 to the same place at same time.
Never tried to get 1 flight from offer and try booking same flight with Ryanair though.

It's an offer for 1 person and that's the way they sell it.
[/quote

How much are the charges? I mean two return flights for €50 each isn't too bad I guess, once the charges aren't too high.

okidoki987

I mean two return flights for €50 each isn't too bad I guess, once the charges aren't too high.

True but really depends on where you are going.
Flights to Manchester & London wouldn't be that dear via Ryanair.
Other European cities would be dearer.