How to redeem your Avios on Air Malta
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
When the Avios scheme was launched in late 2011, avios.com brought in a range of new airline partners alongside BA, Iberia and American Airlines.
As per this page, it is a little known fact that you can redeem Avios on Air Malta, Flybe, Aurigny (the Channel Islands airline) and Monarch. I will look at the latter three in a separate article, but I wanted to do Air Malta separately because it links to another story.
The first thing to note is that these redemptions are with avios.com, not British Airways Executive Club. You need to open an avios.com account and use the ‘Combine My Avios’ function to move Avios from BAEC into avios.com. There is no charge to move your Avios and you can reverse the transaction if required.
Air Malta has a grand total of 12 planes, carries c 2 million passengers per year and is State-owned.
You can seach for Air Malta flights using the standard avios.com reward booking site. If there is availability, it will show up. (And there is not a huge amount of availability in the system, so be prepared to be flexible.)
Now, there is a very good site called MaltaPoints. Tom, who writes it, also reads and comments on HfP, and he took a look at the redemption offerings for me.His conclusions were (paraphrased by me, any errors below are my fault!):
The only Air Malta flights offered with Avios appear to be London Heathrow, London Gatwick and Manchester to Malta. There are some other seasonal departure points, but they do not seem to be included. You also cannot use them to fly from a 3rd country to Malta.
Economy flights cost 20,000 Avios return plus £43 – £57 of tax depending on departure airport. Business class seats do not seem to be available.
A return flight from London to Malta for cash costs from £129 return in November to £299 in August, bought well in advance (they can top £350 at short notice).
On this basis, if you can get seats in August for Avios, you would be getting over 1p per point (but it may be a big ‘if’). Based on the November price, you would be getting just 0.36p per Avios which is a very poor deal (20,000 Avios + £57 for a £129 cash flight).
When considering ‘value per Avios’, remember that Avios bookings are refundable up to 24 hours before departure for a £25 fee. This makes them more flexible than a cheap cash ticket. (The Avios rules do say that partner airline bookings have the same cancellation rights as BA redemptions, but do double check the rules which are shown during the booking process.)
But Air Malta is joining Star Alliance ….
What makes this redemption option rather odd is that Air Malta is apparently on the verge of announcing that it is joining Miles & More and becoming a full Star Alliance partner.
Air Malta is already a de-facto Star Alliance partner. You can already earn and spend Miles & More miles when flying on Air Malta, as well as redeeming Air Malta Flypass miles for Lufthansa flights.
This may mean that the Avios / Air Malta partnership will not be with us for much longer. However, it is worth a look whilst it exists.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
Sir Stamford 
Rob 
Ant 
MaltapointsTom 
Wandering Aramean 
gnarly 
Darren 
Uri 
Comments (15)