Flybe credit card sign-up bonus improved – control your excitement ….

Flybe has improved the sign-up bonus on its Mastercard credit card.  Unfortunately it still isn’t great, but if you live in the regions you may find some value in it.

The Flybe Mastercard is issued by Sygma Bank. Sygma is part of Creation, who also operate the Marriott Rewards card and numerous retailer and football club credit cards. Creation may not be a familiar name but they are behind many store cards and are owned by a joint venture between French bank BNP Paribas and French store chain Galerie Lafeyette.

The representative APR is 18.9% variable.

The new sign-up bonus is two free return flights on any Flybe route to / from the UK and Ireland, excluding the longer routes to Spain, Portugal and Croatia.  This is double the standard offer of one free flight.

Taxes and other charges are still due – this is a key problem, as we will see.

You will receive one free flight voucher when you spend £250 within three months of application and the second when you hit £500, as long as it is within six months.

Taxes are a problem with Flybe

The key reason that I don’t love this card is the high level of taxes and charges added to ‘free’ flights.

As a budget airline, taxes and charges make up a huge percentage of the fare.  A random return trip from Birmingham to Paris, for example, was £109 of which £65 was taxes.  This is based on a long weekend break from 21st – 24th November.  You would therefore only be getting £44 of value from your free flight – and that is assuming that the flight was even available for a reward.

With Avios redemptions, taxes are capped at £35 with Reward Saver. This is not the case with Flybe and is a major problem with their Rewards4all scheme.

It can get even worse

There is this interesting comment on the Flybe website:

“Discounted web fares may occasionally be available at a lower cost (including taxes & charges) than equivalent reward flights“

This means that you may end up being asked for £100 in ‘taxes and charges’ to book your redemption flight, whilst a cash ticket for the same flight is available for £80.

That said, if you live outside London then Flybe may be convenient for you.  Arguably even if you only ended up saving £50 per flight after offsetting the taxes required, the sign-up bonus would still have been worth £100 to you.  Given that the card is free it is hard to say that this is a terrible deal.

If you want to find out more about the Flybe credit card and the Rewards4all scheme, I recommend you take a look at my full review of the card.

The offer expires on October 7th.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.