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Compare air miles credit cards
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Collect Avios points from your spending to use towards flights, seat upgrades and holidays
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Find your ideal credit card in seconds
Add your details to our eligibility checker
Explore your options from top credit card providers
Choose the right card for your needs
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Our best air miles credit cards
British Airways American Express® Premium Plus Card
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- New Cardmembers collect 30,000 bonus Avios when you spend £6,000 in the first 3 months of your Cardmembership. T&Cs Apply, 18+, subject to status.
- 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent; 3 Avios for every £1 spent directly with British Airways.
- Companion voucher when you spend £15,000 in one year.
- be 18 or older
- have a current UK bank or building society account
- have a permanent UK home address
- have no county court judgements
- additional criteria for acceptance from the lender may apply
British Airways American Express® Credit Card
More Information
- New Cardmembers collect 5,000 bonus Avios when you spend £2,000 in the first 3 months of your Cardmembership. T&Cs Apply, 18+, subject to status.
- Companion voucher when you spend £15,000 in one year.
- 1 Avios point for every £1 spent
- be 18 or older
- have a current UK bank or building society account
- have a permanent UK home address
- have no County Court Judgements
- additional criteria for acceptance from the lender may apply
Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card
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- Earn 3,000 bonus points with your first card purchase, as long as it's made within 90 days of taking out the card.
- Virgin Money Cashback offers cardholders the ability to earn cashback on their credit card spend at participating retailers when they are enrolled in the programme via the mobile app'.
- Choose from an upgrade to Premium or a Companion ticket when you spend £20,000 in a year.
- 0% for 6 months on balance and money transfers (you'll pay a 3% fee).
- be a UK resident
- be aged 18 or over
- have a UK bank or building society account
- have good credit history
- have a income of at least £7,000
- have not applied for another Virgin Money credit card in the last 6 months
- additional criteria for acceptance from the lender may apply
Barclaycard Avios Plus Card
More Information
- You’ll collect a welcome bonus of 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in your first three months. New customers only. T&Cs apply.
- If you’re new to Barclaycard, you’ll collect 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in your first three months. Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on eligible purchases to put towards flights, hotels, car hire and more. T&Cs apply.
- £20 monthly fee
- Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent on eligible purchases to put towards flights, hotels, car hire and more.
- British Airways cabin upgrade voucher if you spend £10,000 in a card year. T&Cs apply.
- be a permanent UK resident
- be 21 years or over
- not have had any Individual Voluntary arrangements, County Court Judgements and must not have been declared bankrupt
- additional criteria for acceptance from the lender may apply
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card
More Information
- Earn 18,000 bonus points with your first card purchase, as long as it's made within 90 days of taking out the card.
- be a UK resident
- be aged 18 or over
- have a UK bank or building society account
- have good credit history
- have a income of at least £7,000
- have not applied for another Virgin Money credit card in the last 6 months
- additional criteria for acceptance from the lender may apply
Uswitch Limited is a credit broker, not a lender, for consumer credit.
Our services are provided at no cost to you. We may receive a commission from the companies we refer you to, but this does not affect what you will pay for the product you choose.
What is an air miles credit card?
An air miles credit card is a rewards card that earns you travel points for your spending: the more you spend, the more points you collect. They can then be redeemed for flights, seat upgrades, hotel stays, and experiences.
Different schemes include Avios, Virgin Atlantic, and Amex. Some supermarket loyalty points, like Nectar and Tesco Clubcard, can also be converted into air miles.
These cards may come with an annual fee, though some providers waive it for the first year.
How do air miles credit cards work?
When you use your air miles card to make purchases, you build up points.
Extra Avios points can also be collected via stores such as Sainsbury's by converting your Nectar points, The Wine Flyer and The Bicester Collection.
There are five different Avios schemes, and these all let you accumulate Avios points:
British Airways Executive Club
Aer Lingus AerClub
Vueling Club
Iberia Plus
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
You can join all five schemes and shift your points between them. You can also add to your Avios points by converting your Nectar points.
You then ‘spend’ your points on flights and travel, in the same way as you’d spend money.
If you don’t 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 card for the return journey.
Remember, you still have to pay the taxes and charges, so your points flight won’t be completely free.
Pros and cons of an air miles credit card
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Cons
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How to choose the best air miles credit card for you
There are lots of different schemes and reward plans from air miles credit cards. You can compare deals using our comparison service.
The best air miles credit card is the one that fits your spending and lifestyle. Some air miles credit cards give you:
Air miles or points to use on airline travel and packages
Cheaper 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 not all seats will be bookable in this way and you will be limited to the airlines your points work on. You also still have to pay taxes.
Think about when and how you would use your points. If you don’t think you’ll use them much on flights or holidays, you might be better off opting for a cashback or other reward card instead.
How do I collect Avios points?
One of the best-known ways to earn airmiles such as Avios is to make regular flights with the airlines that are part of the scheme.
Airline credit cards are another great way to get air miles as you can earn points from your regular spending whenever you make an eligible purchase on your card.
You’ll earn a set number of points depending on what you spend. For example, you might earn one Avios point for every £1 you spend on the card.
Most airline credit cards will allow you to earn air miles for virtually any purchase on your card. The standard exceptions include foreign exchange and any spending over your credit limit.
Some airline credit cards offer you bonus miles when you activate the card or make your first purchase.
You can also earn bonus Avios points for hitting certain spending triggers - for example, if you spend £3,000 in your first three months of card use. If that’s the case, an airline credit card may only be right for you if you spend a lot.
Some airline reward schemes also let you earn air miles by opening a linked current account.
Finally, some store reward cards allow you to convert your loyalty points into air miles (for example, Sainsbury's Nectar).
What perks can I get with my air miles?
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 something else.
Some credit cards give you different points that you can exchange or convert to air miles.
For example, the Sainsbury's Nectar scheme lets you exchange your Nectar points for Avios. There’s even an automatic setting so you don’t have to manually convert the points.
Every 400 Nectar points is worth 250 Avios, while every 300 Avios is worth 400 Nectar points.
If you’re a member of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club loyalty scheme, you can swap your Tesco Clubcard points for Virgin Points. You can turn every Clubcard point into two Virgin Points, so £1.50 of Clubcard vouchers is equivalent to 300 Virgin Points.
For £5 in Tesco vouchers you can get £10 to spend via Hotels.com, while American Express Membership Rewards points can be swapped for Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points on a 1:1 basis.
Are air miles cards different to travel credit cards and airline rewards cards?
Travel cards aim to give you the best deals 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 air miles 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 pound they spend with that airline. You can also get points for other spending on the card.
Plus, you can earn points if you book holidays and arrange car hire through the airline.
Air miles credit card FAQs
Are air miles cards worth it?
You should only get an air miles credit card if you know you’ll be able to pay off the balance in full every month. This is because they charge relatively high interest rates on your balance.
Some cards also come with hefty annual fees of up to £250, though these cards normally offer higher rates of reward.
If you’re looking to borrow money and pay it off slowly, you’ll be better off getting a credit card with a low interest rate. See our list of top 0% purchase credit cards.
How does an Avios credit card work?
Avios is a rewards scheme that is linked to airline frequent flyer clubs. Avios credit cards work in a very similar way to supermarket loyalty cards, such as Nectar and Tesco Clubcard.
The value of your Avios points varies depending on how and where you spend them. They don't have a fixed value. Sometimes they’re worth more if you’re taking advantage of a special promotion.
You can move or combine Avios points from different sources in order to build up enough to exchange for flights, holidays and other things.
How Uswitch compares credit cards
What does ‘most popular’ and ‘popularity’ mean?
When we say a credit card is ‘most popular’ or refer to its ‘popularity’ on Uswitch, we’re ranking cards based on how many times they’ve been clicked on in the last 30 days.
The more clicks a card receives, the higher it appears in our rankings. This means the cards at the top of the list are the ones most visitors to Uswitch.com are interested in.
Does Uswitch compare all the credit cards on the market?
We compare over 100 credit cards from all of the major banks and credit card providers.
However, we do not compare all the credit cards that are available in the UK.
This is because some credit card providers have offers that are only available exclusively through their own website or branch, or through other comparison websites - in the same way some credit cards are exclusively available through Uswitch.
There are also many credit cards that are only available to people in member organisations and clubs.
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