Compare our best airmiles credit cards

An airmiles credit card is a type of rewards card. Airmiles cards give you travel points and perks in return for your spending. The more you spend, the more points you get.

You can swap your points for free or discounted plane tickets, seat upgrades, hotel stays or for days out. That’s why they’re often referred to as airmiles credit cards.

There are different points schemes, such as Avios, Virgin Atlantic or Amex (American Express only).

Sainsbury's also lets you swap your Nectar points for Avios and vice versa.

You can use Avios and other points for more than just flying. Redeem them on flights and hotel stays, or use them on gig tickets or theme park entry.

Some cards charge you an annual fee, though the card provider might waive it for the first year.

Travel cards aim to give you the best rates on spending abroad. Plus, you’ll have the added protection of using a credit card.

You could save a lot of money on your overseas trips by using both an airmiles card and a travel card.

Some airlines, like British Airways, also provide credit cards. These are sometimes called rewards cards or airline credit cards.

Airline cards give customers points and rewards based on every mile that they fly with that airline. You can also get points for normal spending on the card.

Plus, you’ll earn points if you book hotels and arrange car hire through the airline.

When you use your airmiles card to make purchases, you build up points.

Extra Avios points can also be collected via stores such as Sainsbury's, The Wine Flyer and The Bicester Collection.

There are 4 different Avios schemes, and these all let you accumulate Avios points:

• British Airways Executive Club

• Aer Lingus AerClub

• Vueling Club

• Iberia Plus

You can join all 4 schemes and shift your points between them. But British Airways is the most commonly used.

You can also convert your Avios points into Nectar points, and vice versa.

You then ‘spend’ your points on flights and travel, in the same way as you’d spend money.

If you do not have enough points for a return flight, you could use your points to go one way. You’d then need to pay by cash or credit card for the return journey.

Remember, you still have to pay for the tax, so even your ‘points flight’ will not be completely free.

You can often upgrade your flight using your points. So you could pay with a credit card for economy flights, but use your points to fly business class. For frequent flyers, this is a decent perk.

There are lots of different schemes and reward plans from airmiles credit cards. You can compare deals using our comparison service.

The best airmiles credit card is the one that fits your spending and lifestyle. Some airmiles credit cards give you:

• Airmiles or points to use on airline travel and packages

• Free flights and holidays

• Discounts on gig tickets, theme parks and other days out

So ask yourself if you want to use your points for gigs and day trips as well as flying? Or are you a frequent flyer who’d get the most benefit from the perks of an airline credit card?

Remember, when you do book a flight with your points, availability is likely to be more limited than if you were paying normally as you will be limited to the airlines your points work on. And you still have to pay taxes.

Think about when and how you would use your points. If you do not think you’ll use them much on flights, you might be better opting for a cashback or other reward card instead.

When you fly or spend money on your air miles card, you accumulate loyalty points. You can then combine these to put towards a flight, hotel or another trip.

You may be able to add an automatic setting, which means you do not have to manually convert the points.

Some credit cards give you different points which you can exchange or convert to airmiles.

For example, Sainsbury's Nectar scheme lets you exchange your Nectar points for Avios. 

Every 400 Nectar points is worth 250 Avios, while every 300 Avios is worth 400 Nectar points. You can go in and convert points yourself, or set up an automated conversion.

If you’re a member of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club loyalty scheme, you can swap your Tesco Clubcard points for Virgin Points. Currently, you can turn every Clubcard point into 2.5 Virgin Points, so £1.50 of Clubcard vouchers is equivalent to 375 Virgin Points. 

However, from 14 June 2023 for manual exchanges and from 21 July 2023 for automatic exchanges, every Clubcard point will only be worth 2 Virgin Points. That means £1.50 of Clubcard vouchers will be equivalent to 300 Virgin Points. 

Likewise, £5 in Tesco vouchers currently gives you £15 to spend via Hotels.com. But from 14 June, £5 will only give you £10 to spend via Hotels.com (2x the value, rather than the current 3x).

American Express Membership Rewards points can also be swapped for Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points on a 1:1 basis.