31 tricks to boost and max Avios

How Avios points work – the basics

Avios is a rewards scheme, similar to Nectar and Tesco Clubcard, but with travel-focused rewards. Four frequent flyer schemes use Avios points: the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Vueling Club and the Aer Lingus AerClub, and your points will sit within these schemes. 

To keep it simple, this guide concentrates on earning via and using the British Airways scheme, though it's worth signing up to all of them.

Here are some of the basic need-to-knows: 

• How do you collect Avios points? Avios points are most commonly associated with flights, but you can also collect them when you spend on hotels, car hire and shopping.

• How do you spend points and how much are they worth? As well as flights and upgrades, you can spend your points on hotels, car hire, experience days and wine. However, the value of your points can vary wildly, depending on what you're spending them on and how much it would cost in cash.

  We calculated 1,000 points can be worth as much as £23 if you spend them on business class returns using a 241 'companion voucher', but as little as £5 on certain economy returns. See below for a comparison of different ways of spending your points.
  

• Other key need-to-knows. Availability is limited so you'll need to book way ahead to use your Avios points. It's worth checking budget airline costs before you book, as it can work out cheaper. And you must earn at least one point every three years or your stash expires.

Flights are NOT free – you pay taxes and charges

Gone are the old days of 'Airmiles' when you could redeem miles for a flight without paying a penny. With Avios points you need to pay taxes and fees on flights, wiping some of the gain.

For example, in peak times you'll pay £505 in taxes (plus 40,000 points) for a return flight from London to New York.

You can now pay just £1 in fees on certain routes

Under the 'Reward Flight Saver' scheme, you pay a fixed fee on most short-haul economy return flights to Europe, as long as you earn at least one point during the year before you book. 

Previously this was a flat £35 fee for a return, but Avios introduced a cheaper £1 option in 2019 (though you usually have to use more points than before). It says this is a trial, which doesn't currently have an end date.

For instance, an off-peak return from London to Paris costs £1, plus 8,000 points.

Join all Avios schemes for more offers and availability

There are four frequent flyer schemes that use Avios points as their currency: the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Vueling Club and the Aer Lingus AerClub. 

You can spend and collect Avios points with all these schemes, so join all four to access more offers and availability of flights. Points are usually worth the same, regardless of scheme, and can be freely transferred between them. It just gives you more opportunities to boost and use your points.

You can move or pool Avios between them at any time, log in to the Avios scheme you want to put the points in, go to your account and click 'combine your Avios'.

You need fewer Avios points going off-peak

On British Airways, off-peak means outside the longer private school holiday periods. Enter a route on the BA reward flight finder, and then click 'show peak and off-peak periods' to see the off-peak dates.

If you don't mind when you go, aim for the cheaper period when you need a typical 10%-35% fewer points in economy, for example:

• Madrid return: 15,000 peak, 13,000 off-peak. 

• New York return: 40,000 peak, 26,000 off-peak. 

• Sydney return: 100,000 peak, 65,000 off-peak.

Going in peak times? Avios can still smash hugely inflated cash prices

While we've said above you need fewer points off-peak, if you have to travel during peak times Avios can be good value, assuming you book early enough to find the offers.

While you may need more Avios points, it can be nothing compared to how cash prices can spiral.

London to Europe is good value but ALWAYS check budget airline prices too

With Reward Flight Saver, you can get a flight to Europe from £1, plus the relevant points, as long as you've earned at least one Avios point in the previous year.

If you consider you can sometimes pay £300 for a return flight to Europe, particularly if going to the eastern edges, you can make substantial savings by only using a small number of points.

Where budget airlines beat Avios

Always compare against the cost of paying in cash - see our Cheap flights, Easyjet tricks and Ryanair tips guides to help. If you can get a cheap return flight, it may be better to keep the points for another time.

Do note that Avios bookings come with checked baggage included, so if you need to take a big suitcase, factor that into the cost of buying a flight outright.

Going beyond Europe? Avios can save you £100s but always compare with cash prices first

If you're saving for a particular trip, you can use Avios points towards the cost and cut the price of the ticket.

But if you're weighing up whether to use Avios now or save them for a later trip, the cash price for the same flight will determine whether it's worth using the points.

For flights that don't qualify for the Reward Flight Saver fee, you pay the same taxes and charges you'd pay when booking with cash, which are typically £200-£580 for a return economy flight.

If you find a flight that doesn't cost much more than the taxes and charges for using Avios points, it may be best to save the points.

Avios allows you to fly like a king in business without paying a royal ransom

Using your points for long-haul business flights allows you to fly in style (and bag lounge-passes), which for many is unaffordable booking by cash.

In business, it's generally twice the number of economy class points needed for a European flight, three times for the rest of the world. Taxes and charges are also higher, but nothing like the enormous jump if paying fully in cash.

Do note that business class within Europe (called Club Europe) is nothing like it is in Club World – you won't get a flat bed, so weigh up if you want to use so many points for a short flight.

Flying from outside London to Europe? You must stopover and pay twice

British Airways only flies to Europe from London, so if you're coming from elsewhere in the UK, you need to connect via London, and you'll be charged in Avios points and taxes for both journeys. For a return you'll pay for four journeys.

So check prices to fly with another airline based on value and convenience (if you prefer direct flights), as others fly direct to Europe – see our Cheap flights, Easyjet tricks and Ryanair tips guides.

Play with destinations if you don't mind where you go

The number of Avios points you need depends on where you're flying, the cabin class you fly in and when you go.

The old Avios scheme divided the world into geographical zones – these determined the number of points you'd pay. While these zones no longer exist, the number of points needed for each destination doesn't appear to have changed. Here are some examples:

• Zone 1 covered Paris, but stretched as far as Prague – both still cost 9,000 Avios points peak time (plus £35).

• Zone 2 included popular summer holiday destinations such as Barcelona and Rome, but also Finland's capital Helsinki – all still cost 15,000 Avios in peak times (plus £35).

So some destinations are still better value than others in terms of distance flown, and the cost of paying the cash price for your flight. So play around with destinations to see how much you can save.

One-way flights on Avios can be good value

Booking a one-way flight on the likes of British Airways can be expensive. But using Avios points is a good way not to get fleeced.

Unless on a budget airline, when paying cash in full, one-way tickets can be exorbitant.

Eg, we found a Singapore Airlines one-way direct flight to Singapore for £600 (with BA it was an eye-watering £2,670). For comparison, the cheapest BA return around the same dates was £680.

How Avios points work on one-ways – great for Europe

Unlike when you pay cash, the cost of using Avios points to go one-way is simply half the number of points required for a return trip.

Taxes can vary however. For trips to Europe, it's simply half the cost of a return trip. But with longer-haul flights, the amount you pay in taxes and charges is more complicated to work out - it depends on the distance and airport you're departing from, as some charge more than others.

As you can usually get a decent value one-way ticket to Europe on a budget airline, it may be cheapest to book one leg with Avios, one with a budget airline.

The top way to boost points – everyday spending on specialist credit cards

We've crunched the numbers on the big Avios credit cards to find the best way to earn points while you spend. This can significantly boost your Avios stash, simply for doing everyday spending on one.

Before you begin though, a few things to note:

The top Avios-earning credit cards

Our top pick is the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold card. It's fee-free in the first year (£195 thereafter) and there are lots of ways to earn points:

• 20,000 intro bonus points if you'll spend £3,000+ in the first three months

• 2,500 points every time you spend £5,000 (max 12,500 bonus points per year)

• One plus one point per £1 spent.

There are other cards which give decent intro bonuses too – worth checking out if the above card doesn't suit, though to be wary of the high fees these cards typically have.

Refer a friend to earn up to 9,000 bonus points

As mentioned, specialist credit cards are the top way to boost Avios and at the basic level simply involve doing everyday spending on the card, then paying it off in full every month. But on the Amex Preferred Gold, British Airways Amex and BA Premium Plus Amex cards you can max this even further.

Refer your partner (and any interested friends/family/colleagues) and pick up an extra 9,000 Avios boost for the Preferred Rewards Gold and BA Premium Plus cards, and an extra 4,000 Avios for the BA Amex card.

For the Amex Preferred Gold card, your bonus Membership Rewards points will appear in your Amex account, and you'll need to convert them to Avios points before cancelling your card, otherwise you'll lose them.

For the BA card, your bonus Avios points will appear in your BA Executive Club account (so they won't expire as long as you keep the account open and collect, spend, purchase or share at least one Avios point every 36 months).

Companion tickets let you take a friend without using any extra points

Some Avios credit cards give you a companion ticket when you spend over a certain amount, so you get to take someone else with you under exactly the same conditions for no extra points, though like you, they still pay taxes and charges.

So if you're flying business class to Sydney using your Avios, they can go too and all they'll pay is taxes and charges (around £900 for a return). While this does work on short-haul flights too, savings on long haul run into the £1,000s, rather than the much smaller sums you'll save on a return to Europe.

Use companion tickets wisely – they can quickly expire

If you have a card that offers a companion ticket, it's worth waiting until you have the companion voucher before spending your points, as you get much better value from them. Though do note the expiry limits – for the fee-free BA Amex, it's one year from issue, and for the Premium Plus BA Amex, it's two years.

Two years is a decent amount of time, but with one-year companion tickets, you'll need to be more flexible and ready to pounce when reward seats are released, usually a year in advance.

Book way ahead to use Avios points

Availability is much more limited than when paying for flights, so go quick.

Tactically, the ideal time to start checking is around a year before – this is when seats start to be released. Though keep checking, as sometimes there are no seats available when a flight's launched, but extra seats are released later.

If you want to fly at peak times such as Christmas or school holidays, booking well in advance is usually essential.

Don't automatically buy points if you're short – part-pay is usually cheaper

If you're set on using Avios points to book a flight, you don't always need the full number of points for booking a British Airways flight – you're always offered the chance to part-pay in Avios and part in cash.

From our research, we found it's generally cheaper to part-pay in Avios points on the BA or Avios flight-booking pages than buying extra points, especially as points can only be bought in 1,000 increments. However, Avios occasionally holds offers where it will add bonus points to any you buy, so check if one of these deals is on first.

You may only earn 25% of the miles flown

If you have a British Airways Executive Club account, and you fly on British Airways or its partner airlines, you usually earn points to add to your Avios stash. You'll need to register your Executive Club account number on the flight booking, which you can do when booking or online via 'manage your booking' afterwards.

You earn points based on the distance flown, the cabin class and type of ticket you've bought – flexible or non-flexible.

In the old days of the Avios scheme, you often got 100% of the miles flown on any economy ticket, so if you flew 2,000 miles, you got 2,000 points.

Now, a cheap economy ticket gets you just 25% or 50% of the miles flown – that's 500 or 1,000 points for flying 2,000 miles. To get 100% you'd have to buy an expensive, flexible ticket which will rarely be worth it.

Quick points

You can earn points on non-BA flights

The rates we've mentioned apply to British Airways flights, but you can earn points flying on airlines that, like BA, are part of the OneWorld airlines alliance, or other airlines it has chosen to partner with – the full list is below.

Economy earning rates are generally the same, but you usually earn fewer points in premium cabins. See British Airways partner airlines points for what you can earn.

You can also spend points on BA partner airlines

Avios points can be spent on flights with more than just British Airways – reward flights are available on partner airlines too. How many points you need depends on the route, travel dates and the airline or airlines you'll be travelling with.

To check, use BA's Reward Flight Calculator – the results show you the points you'll need to fly with a partner airline.

Upgrades have lost their shine

You can only upgrade expensive, fully flexible economy tickets on British Airways, Iberia or American Airlines, so if you've bagged a cheap flight you often won't be able to.

You'll need to check the 'fare class' of your ticket, which is printed on the booking confirmation, with each class assigned a letter. BA excludes upgrades from economy to premium economy on fare classes Q, O and G.

You can only upgrade one cabin level up – so premium economy to business, not economy to business, and only if there's availability. You can upgrade all BA fares in premium economy (World Traveller Plus) and business (Club World) using Avios points.

How many points do you need to upgrade?

The number of points you need to upgrade is simply the difference between the points needed for each class.

You can check if a flight's eligible for an upgrade by searching the 'book and upgrade' tab on the Avios flight search tool on BA.

There's no one best way to use Avios points – it depends what you'd normally pay for that flight or hotel

We'd love to be able to tell you exactly what each point is worth or what type of reward gives you the best value. However, it's not that simple as it all depends on the equivalent cash price to buy whatever it is you use Avios points for, and these prices can fluctuate wildly.

If you use points on a £400 return flight to New York, you get nowhere near the same value as you would if the flight cost £600, given you pay £300 in taxes either way.

To get you at least part of the way there, we've looked at the average price of popular flights and hotels, and compared them with the Avios points' cost to show you examples of what they can be worth.

Earn points online shopping via BA

British Airways' Executive Club e-Store works like a cashback site – you sign in, then click through to buy something. The site gets paid for sending traffic and gives some of this cash to you in the form of Avios points.

If you're buying something small and haven't collected an Avios point in the last year, this is an easy way to ensure you earn the points you need to qualify for Reward Flight Saver or bonus points offers.

Sounds great, but check cashback sites as well – rates for some retailers can easily be beaten.

Want to know more about cashback sites? Full info's in our Top Cashback Sites guide.

Avios flight bookings are flexible: you can change them for £35 per person, per flight

It's worth noting, changes or cancellations can be made for £35, up to 24 hours before a flight, regardless of where you're going. So if you change your mind about a flight, you won't lose your points, even if you want to cancel it. You'll be refunded the Avios points and taxes and charges, minus the £35 per person, per ticket fee.

In comparison, if you'd booked a Ryanair flight, you'd pay up to £95 to make the change, plus the price difference of a new flight. You can't cancel for a refund – you simply have to forfeit what you've paid.

Booking a non-Avios British Airways flight would cost up to £40 to change or cancel if it's flexible, though some are non-refundable (other than some taxes and charges).

Keep your eyes open for sales

Avios sometimes holds points sales that temporarily cut the number of points needed to fly to certain destinations, or reduces the flat-rate Reward Flight Saver fee charged on short-haul flights. In the past we've seen sales offering 40% off the number of Avios needed for long-haul flights.

They're always short-lived so be ready to pounce when they happen.

BA tier points – how they work and how to earn them

As well as Avios points, you also earn tier points on flights. Tier points allow you to move up the four British Airways Executive Club levels. You start on blue then move to bronze, silver and gold if you earn enough tier points in a membership year (each year ends on the anniversary of you joining the BA Executive Club).

The different levels give you more perks, such as lounge access and larger baggage allowances. See what each level gives you.

Being frank, only frequent travellers are likely to earn enough points flying to move up a tier, usually business travellers. For example, moving from blue to bronze requires 300 tier points.

You can't buy, sell or share tier points. The only way to earn them is on flights with BA and its partner airlines including Iberia, American Airlines and Qantas.

Quick points

Earn Avios points for your opinion but beware spam

Rewards for Thoughts allows you to earn Avios for your opinion. Join it to bag an easy 600 Avios just for signing up and doing one survey.

Anyone can sign up and you'll get the bonus points after you complete your first survey. Subsequent surveys will get you up to 50 points. Points are automatically added to your BA account.

A word of warning though – you'll be sent a fair few emails about new surveys. If you'd rather not have to deal with them, unsubscribe after you've got the bonus, or sign up using an email account you don't regularly use. For more ways to earn with online survey sites and focus groups, see our Top 25 Online Survey Sites guide.

Earn at least one point every three years or lose them

Points on all Avios schemes expire if you don't collect or redeem at least one point in three years. If you're nearing expiry, consider signing up to a survey site, or going via the Executive Club e-store to boost.

Plus, earning at least one point the year before you book means you're eligible for its Reward Flight Saver. 

You can use points on more than flights – experience days, wine and car hire are all options

We think the best-value use for your Avios points is on flights, but just so you've got all the information, we've put details below about some of the other spending options.

The full list of what you can use points for can be found on the Avios site and includes things like theatre tickets and cases of wine to days out at theme parks – it's a bit like other major loyalty schemes such as Tesco Clubcard and Nectar in that way. The details in brief...

You can combine points to create a household account

You can combine Avios points with up to six other BA Executive Club members living at the same address as you by creating a household account. The only criteria is you must live at the same address – you don't have to be related.

It also allows children to earn points for travel – something they can't otherwise do until they're 18 and have their own account. This means your collective Avios points stash can be boosted further (though children on the account can't spend Avios points until they're at least 18).

Household accounts allow members over 18 to spend the collective points in the account. However, once you've created a household account, you can't transfer points between the various schemes (eg, BA Executive Club to Iberia). You can only do that with individual accounts.

Extra ways to boost points via Nectar card partnership & more

While credit cards are the best way to boost your Avios, there are a few quick other ways to do so, which may work for some, depending on your shopping habits:

Reward flights in Europe include hold luggage, saving approx £30/return

When you book a flight to Europe using your Avios points, you get more than just the basic hand-luggage-only fare with British Airways – you get to take a checked bag too. If you were paying cash for flights, return fares with checked luggage can cost around £30 more per return flight.

This makes the Reward Saver flights better value – especially for those who can't comprehend packing light. For long haul, checked luggage is often included as standard and factored into the cost already for both Avios and cash fares.