How do I build up my Avios air miles?

Irish airline Aer Lingus has recently signed up to the Avios points system, which means there’s another way to earn Avios air miles for European-based travellers. With Avios you can use your points to claim a whole host of rewards. On participating airlines, this means you can either buy a flight in any cabin class from economy to first, or use them to upgrade from one cabin to another.

You can earn Avios with the following airlines now:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Malta
• Aurigny
• British Airways
• Flybe
• Iberia
• Monarch

British Airways is the flagship airline for Avios and one of the lead airlines of the Oneworld airline alliance (one of the big three alliances along with Star Alliance and SkyTeam). Many people who collect British Airways frequent flyer air miles (Avios) may well also use the British Airways Amex card (if you are a British Airways members and don’t have one yet, we suggest that you do).

The next step is to join Avios directly. Why? Because you can collect Avios points in all kinds of ways that you can’t through British Airways membership. For example, you earn Avios points when you buy goods at Tesco and even at places like Alton Towers theme park (5 Avios for each £1 spent)

We tested the system and it’s easy to transfer Avios to your British Airways account online when you have points to switch over. A full list of ways to earn Avios points can be found here: https://goo.gl/2j0Hir

Our advice: if you fly regularly with one of the Avios airlines mentioned above, make sure you join their frequent flyer program but also join the Avios program separately too. When you fly you should still put your miles directly onto your frequent flyer account, but there will be many times where you can only gain points through Avios directly (like Tesco and Alton Towers). Save those points through your Avios account and then transfer them over to your frequent flyer account.