Avios and Reward flights can save you big time

Have you heard of Avios?

It's a reward program that can reduce the cost of flights on British Airways and partner airline flights. It's open to everyone and you can earn points through taking flights or normal spending in the same way you collect Tesco Clubcard, Sainsbury's Nectar or any other reward program points. The benefit with Avios is you can use them to buy or upgrade flights on BA and partner airlines.

It's easy to open an Avios account if you don't have one - all you need is an email address and you can open one on the main Avios page. If you want a little kick start, you could use my referral and you'll get 500 points to start you off.

Avios accumulation strategy

The best place to accumulate Avios points is to have a BA Household account. It makes accumulation, tracking, boosting and joint spending easier. Each person will have their own BA Executive Club membership and will accrue their points individually, but the Household account joins all members Avios into a single pot. So get all family members over 18 to sign up to Avios and have one of them setup a Household account and have everyone join that household account.

Now the fun begins. 

You could just collect Avios by taking flights, or converting this month's Nectar points to Avios, or even buying them outright. But by far the fastest and most cost effective way to accumulate points is by using an Avios based credit card. There are lots out there, some are free and just acrue points based on spending (ie £1 spent gives 1 Avios, whilst others charge an annual fee for boosted Avios (is £1 spent gives 1.5 or more Avios) or special benefits like upgrade  or Companion Vouchers. Both types generally have a Sign Up Bonus (SUB) which gives you a large initial Avios amount if you meet the initial spending criteria.

Here's one scenario........

1. Get a credit card with a good Sign Up Bonus (SUB). I chose the BA Amex Premium Plus card (see note at the end of this page for more card thoughts) as it had a bonus of 30k Avios if you spend £6k in first 3 months. Most cards have a referral scheme which can increase this, so if possible get referred so your SUB is increased (if you don't know anyone to give you a referral, send me an email and you can use my referral)

This is particularly beneficial if you have a big spend coming up (eg a new bathroom or kitchen; a big holiday etc) as this means you'll definitely meet the Sign Up spend requirements

The BA Amex Premium Plus card costs £300 annually. Your Avios total at this point would be 30k

2. Once you have received your card, call up and request a Supplementary card for a spouse, partner or anyone - even if it won't be used. Amex will give you a bonus of 3,000 points just for adding the additional card. Even if the other person doesn’t use the card, you will still get the bonus points.

So your Avios total is 33k and your spend so far is £300

3. Now do all your normal spending using that card. Weekly shopping, paying for petrol, insurances etc. Basically any normal spending that will let you pay for it with a credit card. Every pound spent will get you Avios points. If your spend reaches £15k per year, you'll be awarded a Companion Voucher. This is the most lucrative Avios reward available anywhere - especially as earning it on this card will mean it's valid for 2 years.

Keep in mind that not only will you get 1.5 points per pound (on the BA Amex Premium Plus card), some shops will accumulate additional Avios points. One good example is Nectar points which whilst accumulated on shopping can be converted to Avios. So you get the credit card purchase Avios plus the Nectar points to convert to Avios.

So if you spend £15k that's over 22k of Avios for £0. Meaning at the end of the year you'll have 55k of Avios for £300

4. At the end of each month, consider doing an Avios boost. The boost is a purchase of Avios based upon the last 30 days spending, and the rate of buying the Avios is favourable when compared with other buying options. So if you did a 2x boost every month, by the end of the year your Avios total would be 165k (55k boosted 2x, plus the original 55k). The cost to do a 2x boost of 55k Avios is around £1k

So if you boosted every month, by the end of the year your Avios total would be 165k and the total cost so far is £1.3k

5. Now consider taking out another card. Let's say a no fee card like the American Express Nectar card (see note at the end of this page). Being a no fee card the Sign Up Bonus will be less. Again ideally do it at a time when you might have a big spend to ensure the SUB spend criteria is met (in the case of the Amex Nectar card it needs a spend of £2k in first 2 months, but you will get 20k bonus plus the 2k Avios from spending). 

Your Avios total is now 187k, total spend so far £1.3k

6. That's 187k Avios and a Companion Voucher for the princely sum of just over £1.3k. That's an Avios accumulation cost of under 0.7p per Avios. This won't mean much just now, but the cost per Avios is a way of working out it's value.

7. This is just one person accruing points. If you and a partner both did this, ensuring you referred each other, you would double that Avios to over 370k Avios and two companion vouchers.

Tip: when it comes to selecting and signing up to the credit card, keep an eye out for incentives which includes doubling or tripling the Sign Up Bonus. At certain times the BA Amex Premium Plus card has had a SUB of 90k Avios, and other cards have similar incentives.

So why would you do this and how does it benefit you?

Whilst small amounts of Avios can be used for flights to Europe (you can get short haul flights for around 18k Avios plus £1), the best value is to use them on long haul business class flights.

For example if you fancy a Safari - a business class flight to South Africa costs around £3.2k - or it would without Avios. If you look at the options for using Avios for this, then you have a few worth considering

Solo flight - Avios only

If you book a solo reward flight just using Avios, it's 180k Avios plus around £475 in taxes - that means you've got a £3.2k business class flight for under £1.8k (£475 plus the £1.3k already spent on annual credit card fees and Avios boosts). That's a saving of £1.4k 

Solo flight Avios and companion voucher

If you book a solo reward flight using Avios and a Companion Voucher, you'll get the flight for half the Avios. So it's 90k Avios plus around £475 in taxes - that means you've got a £3.2k business class flight for £1.8k (£475 plus the £1.3k already spent on annual credit card fees and Avios boosts). Again that's a saving of £1.4k and you'll have over 90k Avios left for future flights 

A couple flying using Avios and companion voucher (the best option 😁)

If you book a reward flight as a couple using a companion voucher, you'll get the second ticket for zero Avios plus taxes. So it's 180k Avios plus around £950 for two people. That means you've got two £3.2k business class flights (£6.4k) for £2.3k (£950 plus the £1.3k already spent on credit card annual fee and Avios boosts) a saving of over £4k. That's a business class flight for economy money!!! Let me just restate that:

 Two business class flights normally totaling £6.4k (£3.2k each) for around £1.2k each

  A saving of over £4k

Now I have to warn you........

If you've got to this point having successfully accumulated and spent some Avios for a reasonable (or exceptional) saving - your passion for collecting Avios, companion vouchers and reward flights will be insatiable. Everything will focus on accruing points and vouchers for the lowest outlay.

To help with this addiction, there are other ways to build your Avios pot - for example you can do the accumulation steps above again using an alternate credit card - there are lots out there, just remember these points

 1. Watch out for the SUB rules as some will limit the sign up bonus if you've had an associated credit card in the last 24 months

 2. Ideally take out the card when a biggish spend is due to ensure you get the sign up bonus

 3. Always pay off the card each month

 4. If the card has an annual fee (like the BA Amex Premium Plus card) consider if the annual fee represents value for you. If not cancel it and consider one of the no-fee cards for accrual 

5. You don't need a credit card with an annual fee, you can still get bonuses for no fee cards - they're just smaller than the fee based ones

6. There are various combinations of credit cards you can hold - some with fees and others not. You can find more detail on this on the Head For Points Credit Card web page 

Next step: You've got the Avios now book the flight

Lastly a small request. If this blog has helped you - please consider buying me a coffee