Easy methods to use Avios for (nearly) free flights: Get rewarded in your on a regular basis spending

In case you’ve ever dreamed of flying for (nearly) free, upgrading your Financial system seats to the a lot fancier, Enterprise Class, or treating your self to an opulent getaway with out blowing your funds, studying how one can gather Avios factors is your ticket there — actually. 

Avios is the rewards foreign money of the British Airways Membership (and different airline companions together with Qatar Airways and Iberia), and with the appropriate technique, you should use the factors you gather to e book flights, upgrades, and extra. 

Right here, I’ll stroll you thru how one can go about incomes Avios factors and how one can use them to e book elusive reward seats on British Airways flights.

What are Avios factors?

Avios are the loyalty foreign money utilized by a number of airways, together with British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Qatar Airways. In case you’re a member of the British Airways Membership, you’ll earn and spend Avios by their system. You should utilize your Avios factors pot to e book flights on British Airways and accomplice airways, improve your cabin to take pleasure in a extra unique journey expertise, and pay for accommodations, automotive rent, and different journey extras. If you wish to go all in, you possibly can even pay in your total vacation utilizing your factors with BA Holidays

Personally, I discover the great thing about Avios to be of their flexibility and attain—particularly if you perceive how one can gather and redeem them well.

Easy methods to earn Avios factors

Flying with British Airways and Oneworld companions

When you’ve joined the British Airways Membership, everytime you fly with British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways, American Airways, or any Oneworld accomplice, you’ll earn Avios, which shall be deposited in your BA Membership account. The variety of factors you earn relies on your fare class, what you pay in your flight, and BA Membership tier standing. Sadly, you don’t earn Avios on any reward seat flight you e book.

Tip: Everytime you’re reserving a flight, all the time embrace your British Airways Membership quantity to make sure you earn your factors.

Bank card sign-ups and spending

One of many quickest methods I’ve managed to rack up Avios is by utilizing a co-branded bank card. Within the UK, that’s usually the British Airways American Specific, or Avios Barclaycard bank cards:

British Airways American Specific Bank card

This card has no annual payment, and gives a very good Avios welcome bonus to new cardholders. You’ll gather 1 Avios per £1 spent, get further Avios bonuses for card referrals and supplementary cardholders, and have the power to earn a Companion Voucher (2 flights for the price of 1 in Financial system) should you spend £15,000 in a yr in your card. This can be a stable card to start out out with should you’re new to Avios assortment. I started with this card and my welcome bonus lined half the Avios price of my first reward seat reserving!

British Airways American Specific Premium Plus card 

That is the subsequent stage up from the fundamental BA Amex card. It has a better Avios incomes fee of 1.5 Avios per £1 spent, and an unique earn-rate of three Avios for each £1 spent with British Airways and BA Holidays. The welcome bonuses are a lot larger, plus you possibly can earn a Companion Voucher if you spend £15,000 on the cardboard in a single yr. The distinction with this Companion Voucher is that you should use it in any cabin class – together with Enterprise or First, whereas with the fundamental BA Amex Companion Voucher, you possibly can solely use it in Financial system.

Use your card for on a regular basis spending—groceries, payments, journey—and watch the Avios add up. I make all my ordinary purchases every month utilizing my card to earn as many factors as I can. So far as I’m involved, that is cash I’d be spending anyway – so why not get rewarded for it?! Simply keep in mind to pay your invoice in full each month, because the Avios incomes worth isn’t any good if you think about curiosity. 

Procuring on-line

The British Airways eStore is a goldmine for Avios collectors. You’ll discover over 2000 retailers that reward you with Avios for each pound spent. These embrace Apple (5 Avios per £), John Lewis (1), Samsung (5), Reiss (12), B&Q (4) and Dyson (8). Merely click on by the BA eStore earlier than making your buy. 

You get these factors on prime of the factors you earn on the BA Amex card – a double dip!

Bonus tip: I prefer to stack this with cashback websites for much more worth.

Lodge and journey companions

Now, you may not be capable of earn Avios in your reward seat flight reserving, however you CAN earn them by your resort keep. You may earn Avios when reserving BA Holidays or the BA Avios retailer, in addition to by Reserving.com, Lodges.com, Accor, IHG, Marriott, and extra. 

In case you already gather resort loyalty factors, together with Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors, you’ll be pleased to know which you could convert them into Avios.

If you should rent a automotive throughout your journey, automotive rental corporations like Avis and Funds additionally allow you to earn Avios in your bookings.

Eating, wine golf equipment and way of life gives

British Airways companions with a number of eating places and way of life manufacturers, together with The Wine Flyer and subscription platforms like The Spectator or The Economist. In case you’re already spending with these, it’s positively value it to verify should you can earn Avios too.

In case you store at Sainsburys, or have a Nectar card, you possibly can earn Nectar factors and switch them to Avios at a 400:250 fee. This one is nice for topping up your pot. I modified my grocery store to Sainsburys once I began to gather Avios as a result of we spend at the least £150 per week on the household meals store – that’s an additional £600 of Nectar factors (375 Avios) each month!

Shopping for Avios

In case you’re quick on factors for a dream journey, however you don’t need to wait round to e book it, you should buy Avios straight by the British Airways web site. Whereas this often isn’t the perfect worth, gross sales providing 30-50% bonus Avios could make it worthwhile. Simply hold a glance out. 

Reserving reward seats on British Airways

Why use Avios to e book reward flights

Avios collectors could make vital money financial savings on flights by utilizing factors to pay for them. Some travellers have reported money financial savings of round £7000 when reserving a visit to Japan in Enterprise Class, by paying with factors and utilizing their American Specific Companion Voucher. I’d suggest valuing 1 Avios as 1p when contemplating financial savings. All you should do is verify the Avios price of your journey and evaluate it to the equal money fare on the BA web site to indicate you ways a lot you’re saving by utilising Avios to e book seats. 

One of many lesser identified ‘Avios hacks’, which is definitely a selected favorite of mine, is which you could cancel a reward seat reserving with BA for simply £35 per particular person as much as 24 hours earlier than your flight. In case you decide to do it, you additionally get your full Avios price refunded, in addition to taxes and charges – minus £35 an individual. That is actually useful in case your plans change for no matter cause, and it’s an additional profit if you’re deciding whether or not to e book a selected money fare or to make use of Avios factors. Utilizing this explicit hack means that you can probably e book a lot of locations and flight occasions, then decide your best choice. 

Understanding Reward Flight Saver

British Airways gives Reward Flight Saver fares, which allow you to e book flights with a hard and fast low payment (taxes and prices) plus Avios. In case you’re trying to spend the least money potential in your flight reserving, short-haul flights inside Europe, typically begin from simply 9,250 Avios + £1. Lengthy haul flights have a better money price – beginning at round £40 – as a result of taxes and prices are larger for these routes. 

Easy methods to discover and e book Avios seats

It’s actually easy to really e book your reward seats. Simply go online to the British Airways web site or cellular app to seek for “Guide with Avios.”

As a result of BA releases a really restricted variety of reward seats per flight (14 throughout all cabins) availability may be restricted, so plan and e book early—BA releases reward seats 355 days upfront. There are at the moment round 40m Avios collectors internationally on the lookout for reward seats, and if you keep in mind that BA solely releases 14 seats per flight, you in all probability need to do every part you possibly can to get forward of the group. On this case think about using an impartial UK reward flight finder instrument the place you possibly can monitor availability, see flight by flight info and set Alerts to get immediately notified when your excellent seats grow to be obtainable. I all the time use these instruments – I set as much as 10 Alerts for various routes that I need and wait to get Alerted. Then I let the instruments do the work for me.

Professional suggestions

You’ll have higher luck bagging reward seats should you’re versatile with dates and occasions in your flights – my solely guidelines are that my flights have to be at school holidays. I set my Alerts at the least 6-8 months forward. It’s additionally value noting that should you’re quick on Avios if you need to e book, you possibly can prime up your fare with money – so you utilize a combination of Avios and money to e book your seats. All you should do is use “Avios + Money” choices if you’re on the BA web site.

Utilizing Avios on accomplice airways

Avios aren’t only for British Airways flights—you possibly can redeem them on all Oneworld companions, together with: Qatar Airways (who typically have decrease money surcharges), Iberia (nice for long-haul to the Americas with decrease charges), American Airways, Finnair, Japan Airways, and extra

Frequent errors to keep away from

There are a number of golden guidelines to all the time keep in mind – NEVER let your Avios expire: They’re legitimate for 36 months, however any incomes or spending resets the clock. Think about how heartbroken you’d be should you’d saved factors for all that point, just for them to fade since you hadn’t used them! 

I’d additionally steer you away from utilizing your Avios for poor-value flights. At all times evaluate the money value vs. the worth of your factors. I persist with the 1p per 1 Avios rule so I can evaluate the money price of a fare to what I might pay if I booked with Avios. I really like doing this as a result of it reveals me how a lot cash I’m saving in comparison with the money seat reserving – it’s an awesome motivator to maintain on amassing.

Final however not least, don’t neglect you’ll must pay money taxes and charges. This isn’t even value interested by if you’re reserving a brief haul flight in Europe that often has a £1 payment, however some redemptions, particularly long-haul in premium cabins, include money prices of as much as round £600 for First Class. Don’t neglect you’ll must pay this if you e book. 

Last ideas

Accumulating Avios isn’t only for frequent flyers or journey hackers—it’s for anybody who needs to make their cash go additional when touring. I prefer it as a result of I’m in a position to journey extra with my household simply by having a sure bank card, doing the weekly store or paying a family invoice. I even earn factors whereas I’m on my vacation to make use of on the subsequent one. With a little bit of planning and some on a regular basis habits, you may be effectively in your option to a reward seat on a British Airways flight. In case you spot me on the airplane, remember to say hi there!

Have questions or your individual Avios suggestions? Drop them within the feedback.

Kayleigh Hepworth

Kayleigh Hepworth is Head of Advertising and marketing at Reward Flight Finder. Reward Flight Finder is the right instrument to seek for British Airways reward flights. If you need to be a visitor blogger on A Luxurious Journey Weblog to be able to increase your profile, please contact us.