Spend your way to a free holiday
You can pay for flights and hotel using your loyalty points, writes Sarah Marshall
IT seems too good to be true. Is it really possible to bag a free break just by totting up points from a weekly shop?
For years, savvy travellers have been using loyalty cards and airline schemes to accrue enough points to pay for flights and holidays.
To the uninitiated, it can seem like a minefield. But follow a few simple steps and it’s easier than you might think to get started...
Apply for credit cards
“Using credit cards is key when it comes to racking up lots of points, especially because of the very generous welcome bonuses that we’re seeing now and because of the ongoing earning rates on every pound that you spend,” says Nicky Kelvin, of travel advice website The Points Guy (thepointsguy.co.uk).
But you need to keep on top of your game and pay off the full balance each month to avoid hefty interest.
If you are confident to play with plastics, Kelvin recommends opting for the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card and Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard Credit Card, amongst others.
“The welcome bonus on a credit card can be as large as 40,000 points or more. In fact, we’re now seeing on the Barclays Avios Mastercard a special offer of 50,000 points,” he says.
“To put this into perspective, one-way flights within Europe can start at less than 5000 Avios per person, and so even just one credit card sign-up bonus requiring you to spend £3000 in the first three months will earn you enough points for up to 10 one-way flights around Europe.”
Do a supermarket sweep
Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways to earn points outside of credit cards.
Kelvin recommends purchases through airline shopping portals and supermarket loyalty schemes, such as Nectar or Tesco Club Card.
Butlins Family Breaks and Intrepid offer £15 to use for every £5 voucher, and Virgin offer 625 points for each £2.50 voucher. Nectar Points (nectar. com) can also be used towards part holidays payment. Collect points by shopping with Sainsbury’s, Argos and eBay, or pay for petrol at Esso stations. For 400 Nectar points you get 250 Avios, which can be used to purchase flights with British Airways. For every 500 points, using a minimum of 2000, you’ll get £2.50 off Eurostar tickets. To earn faster, check deals on items with more points a buy.
Airline or hotel loyalty programme
Earn points to redeem for future holidays while you fly or stay in a hotel.
Offering the best and the widest range of options for both earning and using points, British Airways Executive Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are two of the top programmes for
UK collectors. “You can spend BA points on all BA flights and partner airlines such as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Qatar,” says Kelvin. “Similarly, for Virgin Atlantic, because of their partnership with Delta, Air France and KLM, you can earn and redeem points on those airlines as well. “It is particularly helpful if you live in the regions of the UK where KLM and Air France fly to a huge number of UK regional airports, allowing people to use their points to connect through either Paris or Amsterdam to reach the entire world.” Finally, a workd of warning when it comes to redeeming points. Busy routes and peak periods can be tricky. Kelvin advises using tools such as Seat Spy (seatspy.com) or Reward Flight Finder (rewardflightfinder.com) to search multiple destinations across multiple dates to find the best availability.