Last Updated: 20 Feb 2024
Need to kickstart your Avios point-building routine and strategy to get that BA Reward Flight? We’ll get you started on racking up as many as you can within a year.
Even if you don’t plan to travel right now there are still a great number of ways you can start preparing for an upcoming trip. There are a surprising amount of ways to earn Avios every day, here we’ll cover a few ways you can be taking off sooner on a BA Reward flight.
Don’t forget, if you have a British Airways American Express Card, you could earn a BA Companion Voucher, letting you redeem two Avios flight bookings for the same number of points that would usually be required for one. Check out our BA Companion Voucher Guide to discover how it works.
How do I earn enough Avios for the best rewards?
Avios points are typically earned through flights, taken on BA and other Oneworld airlines, although they can also be earned by spending money on hotels, car rentals and shopping.
You can earn Avios using the right credit cards for your everyday spend. Nectar points, American Express Membership Rewards points and points earned through several hotel loyalty schemes can also be converted into Avios.
Collect Nectar Points
Nectar is the loyalty points programme, owned by UK supermarket group Sainsbury’s, that allows you to earn points when you make purchases at Sainsbury’s, Argos, eBay UK, Esso, Dulux Decorator Centres or when you buy train tickets from several British rail operators. You can also earn Nectar when you spend on the Nectar Amex card, on BA flights or when you buy from over 500 partners, using the Nectar app.
In short, it’s quite easy to boost your points balance when you do your normal weekly shopping and refuel your car. 400 Nectar points can be converted to 250 Avios. Better still, Nectar lets you swap points in both directions, so you can also save on your shopping when you fly on BA and its partners. There are no charges for converting points either, so you won’t lose any points when you swap them either way.
To convert points, you need to link your Nectar and British Airways Executive Club accounts, which can be done on both the Nectar and BA websites and apps.
Read more about the British Airways Avios x Nectar Points Partnership.
Discover The BA Avios eStore
If you are a money-saving pro, you may have come across cashback websites that give you rewards when you buy by going through their portal, instead of heading directly to the retailer’s website. British Airways has its own one, called the Avios eStore and it’s worth considering if you want to grow your Avios balance.
In many instances, all you need to do to earn Avios is to log in on the BA eStore, then clicking through to the website you would have bought from anyway! Partners include Lego, ASOS, B&Q, Lego, Just Eat, Reiss, Disney, AO and many others.
Choose The Right Airlines
If you are planning a flight it's worth checking which airlines you can earn Avios with. Naturally, you will earn them on BA but you can also earn Avios on its sister airlines, Aer Lingus and Iberia. BA is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, which means that you can also earn Avios when you fly with Oneworld partners such as Qatar Airways, American Airlines, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific. There are even some low-cost fares you might earn Avios on, such as routes flown by Vueling.
You don’t need to join these other airline’s frequent flier programmes to earn Avios, just use your BA Executive Club card number when you make the reservation. When you fly on Oneworld airlines you will also earn Tier Points, gain enough of these and you will progress to one of the elite tiers in the BA Executive Club: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Members on these tiers earn even more Avios, each time they fly.
Whilst it generally makes sense to keep your Avios within one airline loyalty scheme, a savvy move can be to open a free Aer Lingus AerClub account, alongside your existing BA Executive Club membership. AerClub members can easily transfer points between different Avios schemes at Avios.com and this can open up a wider range of reward flight redemptions to choose from too, such as North American routes flown by the Irish carrier, that may require fewer points than their BA equivalent.
If another airline has a far cheaper fare than one of BA’s partners, it might not make sense to fly for the Avios, but always check to see if you can pay with a card that will earn you points that you can put towards your next BA Reward Flight.
Earn Points On Hotel Stays
Most of the big international hotel groups have their own loyalty programmes which reward you with points when you stay at their hotels, drink at their bars or eat in their restaurants.
Some of these hotel programmes, like Hilton Honors, let you convert your hotel points to Avios. If your hotel points are about to expire and you aren’t going to use them anytime soon, this is definitely worth considering. However, the transfer rates are usually poor and the cash equivalent value you’ll receive in Avios might be as low as 10% of the value of your hotel points. It’s always worth having a look at what offers are available, in particular, Marriott and BA have been known to run some interesting joint promotions.
But our top tip is to use an online travel agent or hotel booking site, via the BA Avios eStore. Start your booking at shopping.ba.com and you can earn Avios when you book with Booking.com, Hotels.com, Agoda or on the websites of IHG, Marriott, Accor and Radisson. In short, there aren’t many hotels where you won’t be able to earn Avios in this way. You might not be able to earn hotel loyalty points at the same time, but that would be the case anyway on most bookings through online travel agents. The eStore often has promotions on too, recently you could earn 12 Avios for every £1 spent on a hotel booking on Hotels.com.
Go Off Peak
For your points to take you further, redeem your Avios for off-peak flights and you’ll spend less of your hard-earned points to get you where you want to go. Off-peak redemptions are typically available for flights taken outside of school holiday times. However, on some routes, there can be options when school’s out too.
To get a comprehensive view of the peak versus off-peak point pricing for reward flights, search for flights to your chosen destination on Reward Flight Finder, you can then toggle between off-peak and peak flights, to see how many Avios you’ll save through choosing the best available dates.
Look For Reward Flight Savers
Reward flights are tickets where you pay the entire airfare using points and the only cash you have to pay is for the taxes and surcharges. One of the downsides of redeeming Avios for Reward Flights can be the high levels of air passenger duty (APD) levied by the Uk government on departures from British airports. However, with BA Reward Flight Saver flights, you pay a fixed fee to BA and they cover the taxes and fees. The fixed fee can be as low as £1 in fees on short-haul European routes.
BA Reward Flight savers used to only be available to European destinations. Now, as part of its efforts to increase demand after the coronavirus pandemic, BA has widened its scope. You can now fly to North America from £100 and 50,000 Avios, Caribbean destinations from £150 and 60,000 Avios, South and Central Asia from £150 and 60,000 Avios, the Middle East from £100 and 50,000 Avios, Africa from £150 and 60,000 Avios or the far east from £200 and 70,000 Avios.
To be eligible for a Reward Flight Saver you may have to earn one Avios in the year prior to your flight, but as this guide shows, that’s not hard to do without even setting foot in an airport!
Read more on Reward Flight Savers.
Utilise Credit Card Welcome Bonuses
Because credit card issuers compete fiercely for new business, it's possible to rack up Avios at an incredible pace by taking advantage of the hefty sign-up incentives they offer. Always do some research and find the best credit card and welcome bonus scheme for you.
Never rack up additional debt or incur interest charges just to earn points! But, for those able to pay for their regular shopping by credit card and clear their balance each month, there are some terrific points earning opportunities when you sign up for a new card.
If you are aiming to earn points for a BA Reward Flight, look for cards offering one of the following: A sign-up bonus in Avios (BA Amex cards are the most likely to offer this), a signup bonus in Nectar points (these can be converted to Avios) or American Express Membership Rewards points bonuses. Amex Membership Rewards can be exchanged one-to-one for Avios.
Buy Avios Points
We don’t normally recommend buying Avios as it's rarely an inexpensive way to achieve your points goals. Yet, in some situations, it can be worth it to buy Avios points directly from the BA website. Look out for offers from BA when you get bonus Avios with each purchase.
If you buy the points with a card that earns you extra Avios on the transaction, and the total points get you over the line for ticket redemption, it can make sense. Other times it might be worth buying points could be to qualify for card welcome bonuses, for BA Reward Flight Saver redemptions and to double-dip on qualifying spend and Avios towards an Amex 2-4-1 BA Companion Voucher.
AMEX Avios Earning Credit Cards
A British Airways co-branded American Express credit card is one of the easiest and quickest methods to acquire Avios, Executive Club's loyalty currency. Check out the available BA credit cards for boosting your Avios points.
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card
One of the most cost-effective ways to build your Avios points and earn Companion Vouchers.
The Companion Voucher is the most valued credit card travel perk available. When redeeming Avios for a BA reward ticket, it allows you to bring a companion on your journey, in the same cabin, without spending any additional Avios.
Annual Fee of £195 which will change from Sept 1, 2021, to £250.
To earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher (that’s valid for two years) - spend £10,000 on the card in a year. Your companion is still subject to taxes, fees, and other carrier costs.
Welcome Bonus: Collect 25,000.
British Airways American Express Credit Card
This is the free version of the BA Amex card. There is no annual fee and you can still earn a BA companion voucher, but it’s harder to do and will only be valid for a year. There are some great Avios earnings opportunities on this card though. Every £1 you spend will earn 1 Avios.
From 1 September 2021 companion vouchers earned with the free BA Amex card will only be eligible for reward flight redemptions in economy class. Typically the best value with reward flights is gained by exchanging Avios for premium tickets since the taxes and fees payable on economy tickets can offset the saving on the airfare. Nonetheless, Reward Flight Savers can negate that issue.
Annual Fee of £0
To earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher - spend £20,000 on the card in a year. Your companion is still subject to taxes, fees, and other carrier costs. This will reduce to £12,000 minimum spend from Sept 1, 2021.
Welcome Bonus: 5,000 bonus Avios welcome offer, if you spend £1,000 in your first three months with the card.
American Express Membership Rewards Cards
American Express offers points called “Membership Rewards”, with a number of its payment cards, that can be exchanged for Avios on a 1:1 basis. These include the classic “green”, American Express Charge card, the Gold and Platinum Amex charge cards, The American Express Rewards Rewards credit card and the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card.
Amex has other airline partnerships too, including Virgin Atlantic, so they’re a flexible rewards currency. Some Amex cards charge a membership fee, some may charge extra to join Membership Rewards and the sign-up bonuses can vary, so it’s always worth checking which is the right card for you.
Another thing to consider is the perks that are bundled with some Amex cards, like free family travel insurance or lounge access.
When you do the maths, for frequent travellers, the Gold credit and charge cards or a Platinum charge card can make sense, even taking into account the annual fees.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card
This is a sweet spot card for many people looking to balance annual fees, perks and points-earning potential. The card earns you Amex Membership Reward Points that can be converted at a 1:1 ratio to Avios points but also Virgin Points depending on whether you’re part of British Airways Executive Club or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
In fact, there are 12 airline schemes you can swap your points into. You also get up to £10 each month off with Deliveroo, which is handy if you can’t be bothered to cook on your return from the airport!
Annual Fee of £140.
Earning rate: 3 points for every £1 spent directly with American Express Travel; 2 points for every £1 spent directly with airlines and for any transactions made in a currency other than GBP; and 1 point for every £1 spent on any other purchases.
Welcome Bonus: Earn 20,000 Membership Rewards® points when you spend £3,000 in your first three months of card membership. Enough for a £100 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card.
The Platinum Card by American Express
This premium card comes with a plethora of advantages and possibilities to earn Avios points. You also benefit from a slew of perks, from access to lounges to hotel discounts and more.
This is a charge card, with no spending limit and the elevated perks and benefits go beyond what you would normally expect from a credit card, including automatic qualification for premium membership of several hotel and car hire loyalty schemes, premium family travel insurance, access to a concierge service and much more.
Annual Fee of £575 makes it the most expensive American Express card membership you can opt for in the UK, apart from Centurion (Black) membership, which is by invite only.
Premium earning rate: 1 Reward point per £1 spent on all purchases; 2 Membership Rewards points per £1 spent with American Express Travel.
Welcome Bonus: Earn 30,000 Membership Rewards® points when you spend £4,000 on your first three months of card membership. The welcome bonus is worth around £420, which, in itself, goes a long way to offset the annual fee.
Other Points Earning Credit Cards
Premier World Elite Mastercard
HSBC’s Elite Credit Card enables you to convert HSBC Premier Reward points into BA Avios points at a ratio of 2 HSBC points to 1 Avios point. Since Lloyds have withdrawn their Avios credit card, this is the best option for UK consumers looking for an Avios earning card that isn’t an Amex. You will also need to qualify for an HSBC Premier account to be able to take out this card.
Annual Fee: £195
Welcome Bonus Receive 40,000 reward points when you spend £2,000 on your card in the first 90 days of card membership.
Earning rate: For every £1 on your credit card: you’ll earn 2 HSBC Premier Reward points if it’s in GBP or 4 HSBC Premier Reward points if it’s in non-GBP currency. Every 2 points are worth the equivalent of 1 frequent flyer mile. A spend of just £9,000 for example converted into Frequent Flyer miles could be enough to fly to Paris.
Reward Annual Bonus Spend £12,000 or more on your card within your first 12 months of membership to receive a further 40,000 reward points on the anniversary of card membership.
Capital On Tap Business Rewards Credit Card
There are business versions of the BA Amex cards and of the Green, Gold and Silver Amex charge cards, that you can earn Avios or Membership Rewards points with. However, for small businesses and freelancers, there is a relatively new card that might be worth looking at.
The Capital On Tap Business Rewards Credit Card is targeted at smaller businesses and offers 56 days of interest-free credit on purchases and a credit facility of up to £100,000 that might be particularly useful to start-ups trying to weather the impact of the pandemic. There are no ATM or foreign currency fees either.
Annual Fee: £99
Welcome Bonus 10,000 bonus points that you can redeem for £100 cashback or 10,000 Avios when you spend £5,000 on your card in your first 3 months
Earning rate: Earn 1 point on the card for every £1 of card spend, across up to 20 supplementary cards.
Conclusion
Understanding the Avios earning opportunities out there can help you take off on a BA reward flight faster than you might expect. Choosing the right payment card, one that suits your earning and spending habits without incurring unnecessary fees and interest, will allow you to build your Avios balance on a daily basis, getting you closer to the points you need for a Reward Flight. Use the Nectar programme too, and you’ll soon be double-dipping for points on everyday purchases.
It always pays to set Avios earning and spending goals for yourself. If you know how much your ideal flights will cost in terms of Avios points, versus the cash price, you can then work out how to earn enough Avios, spending less than the alternative cash outlay- whether you have a BA Companion Voucher or not.
Reward flight availability is limited so you'll probably need to book way ahead of your departure date to use your Avios points effectively. The best way to discover reward flights in advance is to use Reward Flight Finder.
With Reward Flight Finder you can see available reward flights for a whole year ahead!
Sign up today.
Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. You should seek separate specialist advice if unsure. Opinions are based primarily on the ability to earn Avios points. Reward Flight Finder discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself.