Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Anyone received Avios points from a Flybe service yet?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Flybe launched as an Avios partner on October 27th.  Since then, you have been able to earn points by including your avios.com number in your Flybe booking.  Only codeshare services with a BA flight number can be credited to ba.com.

The earnings rate (2 or 4 Avios per £1 spent excluding taxes) is not fantastic although, to be honest, it will be a lot more competitive with BA after the changes of April 28th kick in.

I have received a handful of emails recently from Flybe passengers who have not received Avios points from their flights.  These are not one-offs, they are from people who take Flybe services on a regular basis and are not receiving anything.

Here is one quote from a reader:

“I’ve flown 5 times with them in the short space of time they have had Avios and not one single flight has been credited to my account.  I’ve been in contact with Flybe, who duly investigate and reply saying I’ve been credited the miles.  I then look at my Avios account and I haven’t.”

Here is a quote from the HfP comments section on Monday:

“I had 2 Flybe flights credit ok in early December but of the 3 flights flown since none have credited.”

and another:

“Yet to see a single point posted for my husband.”

Paul posted a possible solution:

“I got my Avios for 2 flights after writing locators to technicalsupport@flybe.com and sending them my Avios.com number with spaces between each number (otherwise their system sees it as a CC number and does not show to support staff).  Takes around a month for them to answer but works.”

Flybe has made retroclaiming incredibly hard.  You only have a 10 day window in which to file your claim for missing miles.

Here are the official rules from flybe.com:

Please ensure you have checked the eligibility criteria which are detailed in the Terms and Conditions and allowed 30 days after completion of your whole Flybe itinerary for the Avios to be credited to your Avios account.

Contact the Flybe Customer Service team for investigation via our dedicated Avios contact form here.

You have up to 40 days from completing the eligible Flybe flight to query your Avios application. In the event that you do not make a claim within the specified period, any Avios that are not claimed will be lost.

You must do it no earlier than 30 days and no later than 40 days from the date you flew.  I’ve never seen anything like this before ….. except of course from firms selling goods with dubious ‘cashback’ deals which can only be claimed by posting the claim form on a full moon in June from Hong Kong.

Do post below if you have any experiences to add.  Sadly, my planned Flybe trip this month was scuttled when the flight time was moved by a modest six hours and I was forced to cancel.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

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.

Comments (31)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • mark2 says:

    Perhaps the research asked whether people would prefer Nectar points or points for the Notrh Korean airline. As Sir Humphrey pointed out you have to ask the question that will get the answer that you want.

    • Rob says:

      It is more subtle than that, something like ‘Would you prefer a rewards scheme that mainly let you redeem for train tickets or one that let you redeem for money off a range of exciting high street retailers’ ….

  • Scott says:

    I got 3 credited to Avios in Dec but not my subsequent 9 flights.
    All 12 of these got reward points.
    Only one of these has fallen into the ’10 day window’, when I tried to claim online it said Reward Points had been credited so I couldn’t claim. I’ve submitted a claim via the online contact form. I also notice they stopped the 60/60 refunds, must have cost them too much!

  • Rich says:

    2 flights myself though they were recent. I’ve put a reminder in my diary after the second to make a claim. To be honest it hardly feels worth it – so few Avios – but sometimes it’s the principle.

    • Rob says:

      Ironically, given that BA will only be giving 125 each way on short domestic economy flights after April 28, Flybe may be more generous!

  • Sean says:

    I have flown Flybe 3 times since the Avios partnership started, I got Avios for the first flight no problem, but for some reason I got Flybe rewards points for the other flights.

    What makes it stranger is that I had never flown Flybe before the Avios partnership started.
    Quite disapointed, even if it is just a few avios.

  • Grant Clelland says:

    None yet for a flight on 30 December ‘London’ Southend to Caen.

    Mind you that was FlyBe operated by Stobart Air (who knew?)

    Quite excited to find out how many we get as am hoping to enter the ‘fewest avios per flight ever earned’ competition given virtually all the fare was tax/airport fees etc.

  • Zoe says:

    Rob I wonder what their press office would say if you point out this stunning customer service to them?

  • Shaun Jones says:

    Three of us flew on 17th and 19th January. I made great efforts to get the Avios number for myself and spouse noted on the booking. Since our return I note 2 rewards4all points against me but the flight in Jan was my first and my understanding is rewards4all was closed in October. I have written once again but not raised them to get avios points credited.

  • Stu R says:

    FlyBe’s T&C’s in relation to Avios (amongst other things) are certainly far from fair.

    IIRC, the Avios / FlyBe partnership was announced in late September or early October, commencing 27th October.

    I booked in mid-October to fly in early November. After the flights, I tried to claim the Avios (a la ‘Rewards for All’ process), only to get a message stating flights booked before the launch of Avios were not eligible for Avios.

    I emailed FlyBe to suggest that, in fact, the date of the flight was the date of earning, not the date of booking.

    I’m certain that if I booked a flight today, didn’t turn up for the flight, and didn’t claim a refund, I wouldn’t earn the Avios because I didn’t fly.

    I received an email back from FlyBe (might almost have been written in crayon by a 10 year old given the phraseology and repetition) stating that their system was correct and apologising for the fact that I was only eligible for Rewards for All points which “we’re sorry if they might not be of any use to you”.

    Fly(may)Be, collect Avios maybe …. not impressed!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.