Collecting Avios Points: Tips To Stack Up Points Fast Without Flying

Want to know how to collect thousands of Avios points on your every day spending to pay for your flights and holidays? You’re in the right place!

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m obsessed with collecting Avios points. I am strategic to a fault in the pursuit of making flying more financially viable, and in saving my points up to fly business class.

Lots of people work at improving their airline status, but it’s increasingly difficult to reach a decent status unless you fly super regularly on business travel. I don’t have status, I’m a regular blue BA Executive Club Member, but I’m an expert on saving up points in ways other than flying.

For years I’ve been saving points up to fly for a few pounds around Europe and to fly business class long haul; I even managed to make my recent backpacking career break a little bit boujie by using my Avios points to fly all my long haul flights in business class. Particularly fun to check in for the good seats when you’re carting around a filthy 15 year old backpack.

In this blog I share everything I know about collecting Avios points without flying, and how to collect them quickly so you can start saving on your future travels and maybe even get to fly business!

Is your seatbelt fastened? Strap on in and I’ll teach you everything I know.

Collecting Avios Points: The Basics

I am no Should-be-Sir Martin Lewis, I just have a lot of people asking how I utilise my Avios points for decent travel rewards and I believe that sharing is caring, especially in this economy. If I can help someone go on a cheaper holiday in a cost of living crisis, that’s fantastic. Likelihood is, there are a lot of points you’re missing out on by not following a few basic rules.

The main rule of thumb is, I use a points collecting card for everything. Everything I can purchase with my credit card, I do. Every coffee, every dash to the Co-op for emergency wine, Netflix, every tube journey, all of it. The only exception is using it abroad.

For every pound I spend I’m building on my Avios points, which allows me to eventually save enough to fly fancy, for free* or maybe even fancy and (nearly) free. We’ll come back to the different options/best card for you in a bit.

*Disclaimer: it’s not actually free, you still need to pay taxes, but it’s very very cheap!

Collecting Avios with Credit Cards

One of the most lucrative ways to quickly collect lots of Avios points is to start using a points collecting card – especially if you qualify for one of the generous sign up bonuses these various cards offer.

Let’s go through the different options of credit cards that give you points every time you spend and you can make a personal judgement as to which one is right for you.

Collect Avios with Amex: Avios Points Collecting Cards

My long time favourite option for collecting points with a credit card.

British Airways American Express Card

The free BA Amex card at a glance:

To qualify for the welcome bonus you can not have held another personal Amex card in the last 24 months – business credit cards are fine, though.

Companion Voucher with Free BA Amex Credit Card

You will receive a companion voucher after spending £15,000 in a calendar year, which is valid for 1 year from issue and can be used for an economy reward flight.

The companion voucher will allow you to purchase a reward flight with Avios points for one person in economy, and receive a second ticket on the same flight for ‘free’. There must be two reward seats available in order to do this; you can read more about booking flights with Avios here.

The only thing you’ll have to do is pay taxes for these two seats, the cost of which can range from £1 for a European flight and steadily going up the further afield you go.

If you are a solo traveller, you can still use a companion voucher but instead only use half the number of Avios points you would usually need for a reward flight. Incredibly good value!

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

The paid-for BA Amex card at a glance:

To qualify for the welcome bonus you can not have held another personal Amex card in the last 24 months – business credit cards are fine, though.

Companion Voucher with Premium BA Amex Credit Card

You will receive a companion voucher after spending £15,000 in a calendar year, which is valid for 2 years from issue and can be used for a reward flight in any cabin including business and first.

Premium Plus card holders will have extra availability for business class seats made to them for use with a companion voucher, which is a real perk as these get snapped up quickly for certain routes.

As with the companion voucher with the free BA Amex, the voucher will allow you to purchase either two reward flights with Avios points for the usual amount needed to buy one flight, or if you’re a solo traveller, to use half the amount of Avios points you would usually need.

The only thing you’ll have to do is pay taxes, which vary depending on class and route of travel.

If you are a solo traveller, you can still use a companion voucher but instead only use half the number of Avios points you would usually need for a reward flight. Incredibly good value!

The Free BA Amex vs the Paid For BA Amex: My Opinion

If you can stretch to pay the £300 fee for the premium plus Amex, it is absolutely the better deal. I like to think of the £300 as extra taxes in order to help justify the cost, but for me the 2 year validity of the voucher and the ability to use it for a business class ticket is most valuable.

It will depend on what’s most important to you, but I am always trying to save up points for long haul business class travel, so the premium card makes most sense for me. The spend thresholds are the same, too, so if I’m spending £15k, I may as well spend £15.3k and get a better voucher for future use.

Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference and what your goal is when it comes to spending your Avios points.

Collect Avios with Amex: Membership Reward Points Collecting Cards

Cards that collect membership points instead of Avios are more flexible because membership reward points can be converted 1:1 into Avios points, but also into other loyalty points for different airlines like Emirates, Virgin and Singapore Airlines. If you are looking to fly to Asia more, this could be a better option for you.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card

To qualify for the welcome bonus you can not have held another personal Amex card in the last 24 months – business credit cards are fine, though.

No voucher available with the Amex Gold, but there are other perks instead:

American Express Platinum Card

To qualify for the welcome bonus you can not have held another personal Amex card that earns membership reward points in the last 24 months. So you can hold the free or premium BA Amex as this earns Avios points, and still benefit from the welcome offer on the Platinum.

No voucher available with the Amex Platinum, but there are other perks instead, so don’t strike out the high annual fee just yet:

Collect Avios with Barclaycard

The Barclaycard Avios credit card allows you to earn an upgrade voucher, meaning you only need enough points for say, a premium economy reward flight, but can upgrade to business using the voucher (as long as there is room in the cabin).

Barclaycard Avios

Upgrade Voucher with Barclaycard Avios

You will receive an upgrade voucher after spending £20,000 in a calendar year, which is valid for 2 years from issue and can be used to upgrade to the next class when booking a reward flight. Vouchers cannot be used to upgrade to first; business class is the limit, and there must be reward seat availability in the class you are looking to upgrade to.

As an example, you will pay the number of Avios needed for a premium economy ticket, then use the voucher to upgrade that seat to business class.

As normal you will also need to pay the taxes for the cabin you are booked into.

You can opt for 7000 bonus Avios instead of the cabin upgrade voucher, but I don’t know why any one would do this!

Barclaycard Avios Plus

Upgrade Voucher with Barclaycard Avios

Same as for the free Barclaycard Avios, the only difference is you only need to spend £10,000 in a calendar year in order to get the voucher. You could also move down to the free card once you have reached the threshold, meaning you won’t pay the £20 monthly fee.

How To Collect Avios Points Without Flying

Using The Avios Website

In addition to using a card that collects points for me with every purchases, another way I quickly stack up Avios points on every day spend is by doing all my shopping via the Avios website.

Shopping Online with the Avios e-Store

There are hundreds of retailers on the Avios website under ‘collect’, and in a similar fashion to a cashback website, when you shop via the links provided, you’ll get extra points per £1 spent.

This way of shopping has gained me literally thousands of points over the months. At the time of writing, shopping at Booking.com will get you 6 points per £1, M&S will get you 4 points per £1, Boots 6 points per £1.

Collecting Avios by Shopping In-store

This isn’t as lucrative as shopping online via the Avios website as there are fewer retailers offering extra points collection when shopping in person, but it’s worth actioning this one just in case.

You can register all your bank and credit cards on the Avios website, and if you use that card at a qualifying retailer instore, you will collect points on those purchases. The cards you register do not have to be one of the BA/Avios credit cards listed below, it could be your regular debit card, but of course if you use a points collecting cards, you’ll collect more Avios.

Convert Nectar Points Into Avios

You can link your Nectar account to your British Airways Executive Club account (which is also your Avios account) and start converting Nectar points into Avios.

400 Nectar points equals 250 Avios, and for ease you can set it to automatically convert these every time you hit the 400 mark. So if you’re a Sainsbury’s shopper, get your petrol at Esso – all of these every day purchases can go towards your holiday.

Collect Avios Points With Uber

Link your Uber account to your British Airways Executive Club account and you’ll earn 1 Avios point for every £1 you spend with Uber or Uber Eats. These points will get automatically added to your running Avios total.

Avios Points: Everything Else You Need To Know

• Avios points are to be used on reward flights. Different flight paths, times and distances will cost varying Avios and taxes. For a full guide on booking reward flights click here.
• Avios can be used for all BA code share flights (e.g. American Airlines, Iberia, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Aer Lingus & more)  as long as they are offered as a reward flight option.
• The companion vouchers can only be used to book reward flights with British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus. For example, I could use my Avios points to book a flight with Qatar, but I would not be able to use a companion voucher for that flight.
• The availability of a flight and the availability of reward flights are not one and the same. There will only be a certain amount of reward flights available to purchase with your points on each flight, so bear in mind that the more flexible you are, the better. The further in advance you book, the more availability. If you want to fly at a peak time, it’ll cost you more points.
• Avios aren’t just for reward flights – they can be spent on hotels, car hire and can be used to be put towards upgrades.
• Although at first glance the annual fees for the premium cards is pretty hefty, you will reap better rewards. They won’t be the right choice for everyone, but consider whether the fee is worth it overall for you.
• You can work towards those coveted points with additional cardholders on the same account. This probably comes with the caveat of having to definitely use the companion voucher with the cardholder, mind. So make sure you really do like them.

Happy Avios Points Collecting!

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