Welcome to 2017!
Instead of doing the generic post about what resolutions I've made and my general ramblings about the fact I am sure to break it in two weeks time. I thought I would combine and create a post about collecting air miles and my top tips about how to do this as I've had lots of people asking me recently how I've done all my travelling over the past few years, and part of it was due to the wondrous world of air miles, and in particular, I collect Avios points. There are many ways to collect points, the biggest one being by booking flights with airlines that are part of the one world alliance such as British Airways and Iberia to name a few. Therefore I thought I would share some of my top tips for collecting air miles so everyone can get themselves free flights (although you do have to pay the taxes), upgrades, or even holidays! When we are all strapped for cash in the new year, what better way than getting a discounted holiday from your everyday spends.
1. Is the ticket free with air miles?
Ultimately, no, as when you purchase flights with air miles you still have to pay the tax on the flight. However, this can be as little as £50 for short-haul flights and £200-£400 for long-haul flights, but it certainly varies depending on airline and flight.
2. Do I have to pay for my own ticket to collect air miles?
No, you can collect them from anyone you are travelling within the same booking or if you are booking flights through work!
3. So how can I collect air miles?
- Flying: pretty self-explanatory, whenever I fly I always try to book my flights with an airline that allows me to collect Avios points. The first thing I did was to sign up for a BA executive club card, as although I don't fly enough just on BA for all the rewards, it is the easiest place to combine all your points on. Click here to sign up.
- Credit Card: The next step was to sign up for a BA Amex Card. I use this card as much as possible as it earns me 1 point for every £1 I spend and bonus points for spending with British Airways. Also, within the first 3 months, there are an extra 10,000 points to be awarded for spending £1000. The 22.9% APR is high but I just pay the balance before the end of the month or as soon as I can to avoid any interest. This card is then linked to by BA exec account where the points are transferred to each month. If you decide to apply for this, use my referral link here to be awarded more bonus points.
The downside is that Amex is not excepted in every shop, however, I have found a way around this with another credit card I have which I will explain later.
- Clubcard: As much as possible, I shop at Tesco and have changed my preferences in my account online so instead of receiving Clubcard vouchers to spend in Tesco I have it linked to my BA exec account again to earn Avios points. Click the link here to sign up for a Clubcard.
To go hand in hand with this, I also have a Tesco Bank credit card which is a Mastercard which is accepted in all shops. With a Tesco credit card, I collect 1 Clubcard point for every £8 spent not in Tesco and 1 point for every £4 spent in Tesco. Although this is not a huge amount, as this credit card is linked to my Clubcard which is already collecting Avios points for me, it works well too. The BA card earns me more points so I use that where I can, but having the Tesco Mastercard as a back up where Amex is not accepted. With a Tesco Mastercard, there are plenty of options, I have the card with 5.9% APR but there is one with a 0% charge on balance transfers for 40 months which may be a better option for those who might use it to pay rent or bills. Click here to apply for one!
- Shell Petrol Loyalty Card: Just pick up one of these cards from your nearest Shell garage, register it online and choose the option to collect BA Avios points which will be then linked to your exec account and every time you fuel up at a Shell garage, just have them swipe your card and you'll start collecting points. Here is the link to the website to register your card.
- Shopping: If I'm shopping online, the first place I'll go is to avios.com where I have signed up for a free account, and I periodically move my points to my BA exec account or to my avios.com account if I want to spend points. avios.com features hundreds of well-known retailers such as ASOS which often has bonus point collections earning up to 8 points per £1 spent!
All of this might sound a bit much, but trust me, once it is all done and set up, every time you spend money you will be collecting air miles, and soon you will be jet-setting across the world in high-class style for budget prices! If you need any help with it just email me here.
Good Luck and Happy Collecting!
Have a good week my loves!
Lots of Love, Kate xxx