Avios is the currency obtained as part of the British Airways Executive Club (BAEC). You can redeem it for a variety of experiences, such as free reward flights from short-haul economy to long-haul first class. Avios redemptions can also include hotel stays and even bottles of wine.
This article will explore 10 ways you can collect Avios in the UK. Some of these methods also extend to other parts of the world as well.
Flying
The most obvious way of earning membership reward currency with an airline. BA recently changed the way Avios is calculated when flying.
Previously, Avios was rewarded on a distance-based calculator, with several tiers for different fare classes. Simply put, the further you travelled and which cabin you flew in determined how much Avios you would earn on a flight.
Now, BA have changed this to a revenue-based model, where Avios is given based on the cost of the ticket purchased.
This change means that if you found a cheap long-haul business class ticket in a sale, the chances are you will now earn significantly less Avios than previously. Conversely, if you have to shell out at the last minute for an expensive short-haul economy ticket, you’re more likely earn more Avios under the new model.
The rate of Avios earned also depends on the tier you are within the Executive Club:
Luckily for travellers, Avios can be earned on British Airways flights, as well as any other qualifying OneWorld partner. This includes the likes of Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and American Airlines.
Having a global range of airlines within the partnership makes it easy to collect Avios wherever you are travelling. Just make sure that you book the flights and include your BAEC membership number as part of the booking to make sure that your account is credited accordingly.
Credit Cards
Some credit cards can be used to obtain Avios. There are a few different options. Some specifically give Avios as the only currency per £1 spent. Examples of those in the UK are:
- British Airways American Express Card (1 Avios per £1 spent)
- British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card (1.5 Avios per £1 spent)
- Barclaycard Avios Rewards Card (1 Avios per £1 spent)
- Barclaycard Avios Plus Rewards Card (1.5 Avios per £1 spent)
The American Express Premium Plus card also offers 3 Avios per £1 spent with British Airways or BA Holidays, giving you more ways to boost your Avios earning.
The American Express cards also provide in-app offers that you can register for which have Avios-specific earning opportunities. An example recently that I redeemed was to receive an additional 3,000 bonus Avios when spending £100 at BA’s online wine shop “The Wine Flyer”.
Other cards provide membership reward points that can be converted into Avios at differing rates. Examples include:
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card
- American Express Platinum Card
Each card provides benefits outside of British Airways, such as lounge access, converting reward points into various airline and hotel reward schemes, exclusive travel offers and much more.
Each membership reward point earned through these Amex cards can be converted into 1.5 Avios with British Airways (sometimes there are offers that boost the amount of Avios you can earn).
Choosing which credit card is right for you is based on what you value the most. I have reviewed some of these cards based on my own experiences, so feel free to check them about linked above.
BA eStore Shopping
When shopping online, you might not know that by simply clicking through to the website via the British Airways eStore and confirming your purchase can earn you up to 70 Avios per £1 spent!
Simply sign in using your BAEC account on www.shopping.ba.com and search for the store you are looking to purchase from. Make sure that you enable cookies when being redirected through the portal – as this is what tracks your purchase.
The Avios can be credited to your account as quicky as 48 hours after your purchase. For some larger items or sizeable purchases such as hotel bookings, these can be expected 90 days after your stay was completed.
There are so many brands to choose from, and if you’re already considering a purchase, you may as well earn Avios through the portal.
You can also register your card for collecting Avios in-store, so you don’t need to make purchases solely online to get the Avios for it.
This is also where you can ‘double-dip’ your Avios earnings. By purchasing via the portal using an Avios earning credit card, you get the benefits of both the card and the portal all at once.
Nectar Points
British Airways and Sainsbury’s have partnered to allow you to convert Nectar points to Avios. The conversion rate as of today is 400 Nectar Points to 250 Avios. You can set this conversion to be automated, so that as soon as your balance hits 400 Nectar points it is automatically converted into Avios.
I would recommend downloading the Nectar app for this. Sainsbury’s post weekly offers based on your buying history to earn additional nectar points. For example, I had an offer to earn an additional 90 Nectar points by purchasing tomatoes and scanning my Nectar card at the till.
At the conversion rate, that’s an earning of 56 Avios for essentially free! There’s also a generous ‘Fruit & Veg’ challenge that they run, where you can earn hundreds of Nectar points upon reaching milestones based on the number of portions of fruit and veg you purchase from Sainsbury’s.
Essentially, the ‘gamification’ of healthy eating and channelling more of your daily food shopping into Sainsbury’s can be turned into a decent Avios earning rate for everyday spend.
Hotel Membership Conversion
British Airways partners with several hotel loyalty programmes to convert those points to Avios. This means that when travelling, you can earn on both the flying and accommodation segments of your trip.
BA converts to Avios at the following rates:
- 3 Marriott Bonvoy points to 1 Avios – An additional 5,000 bonus Avios is earned when transferring 60,000 Bonvoy points in a single transaction.
- 5 IHG One Rewards points to 1 Avios.
- 2.5 World of Hyatt points to 1 Avios – An additional 5,000 bonus Avios is earned when transferring 50,000 World of Hyatt points in a single transaction.
- 10 Radisson Rewards points to 1 Avios.
- 10 Hilton Honor points to 1 Avios.
- 2 ALL Reward points to 1 Avios.
- 3.33 MeliaRewards points to 1 Avios.
Membership points with each of the following hotel chains can be earned by staying in hotels provided you have an active membership with them. You also want to check that you are eligible for points collection on stays – when booking hotels through travel agents you can often be ineligible for hotel membership points.
Some of these chains also have UK-based credit cards, similar to the Avios-earning ones mentioned above. Once again, any membership points earned on these cards can be converted to Avios. Once again, choosing the right card for you is entirely up to your preferences and which benefits you value the most.
BA Avios Hotels
British Airways Avios Hotels is an online booking portal for hotel stays by Avios Group Ltd. What’s great about it is that you have the choice of either purchasing a hotel stay in either cash or by redeeming Avios.
While the Avios redemption rate isn’t the best, it gives you flexibility with what you spend your Avios on, rather than always using them for flight redemptions.
The example below shows some search results for a 1-week stay in New York. The portal shows how much you would spend in either cash or Avios, as well as how many Avios you would earn if you made the purchase in cash (this is just the cash price x 10).
While 10 Avios per £1 spent is a great offer, sometimes it’s not the best! When thinking about booking a hotel stay, be sure to check the BA eStore before booking, as sometimes Booking.com or Hotels.com offer better Avios earning rates.
Online Surveys
You can earn Avios through completing online surveys. There are a few options for this, but the most notable one is Rewards For Thoughts. Signing up and completing your first survey grants 600 Avios – so it’s well worth doing it for just that.
Other options include the likes of Nectar Surveys. Completing surveys grants Nectar points to your account, which as discussed above can automatically be converted to Avios.
These options can be more time consuming, so if you have time to spare it can sometimes be worth checking.
Car Rentals
You can also earn Avios on car rentals from the following car hire companies:
- Avis – 5 Avios per £1 spent.
- Budget – 2 Avios per £1 spent.
- Zipcar – 1,000 Avios sign-up bonus and 50 Avios per booking.
It’s also worth noting that if you add a car rental to a flight as part of a ‘BA Holiday Package’ that you will receive an additional 1 Avios per £1 spent on the holiday total.
Promotions
Every now and then, Avios will partner with companies to provide unique bonuses or special offers. One that I benefitted from was setting up an account with Nutmeg, a robo-advisor investing platform.
Nutmeg is owned by J.P. Morgan, and offered 2,500 bonus Avios when setting up an account and depositing £500 into an ISA, pension or general investment account.
Nutmeg are also offering a promotion currently where you can invest with no management fees for 6 months when signing up using this link. Terms & Conditions do apply so be sure to check them should you be interested.
Uber
British Airways and Uber have partnered to give you the chance of earning Avios on Uber rides within the UK. Simply register your BAEC membership number in your Uber app and you will receive 1 Avios per £1 spent on Uber rides.
I have found that the Avios are credited to your account very quickly, usually the day after.
