Avios.com halves your earning rate when booking a package holiday or cruise

Avios.com (not British Airways Executive Club) is, technically, a travel agency.  You may not be aware that you can use them to book a package holiday and earn yourself bonus Avios points in the process.

The bad news is that the earnings rate has recently been quietly halved.

The first thing to note is that these are avios.com promotions, so you will need an avios.com account to collect Avios points. These can be transferred to British Airways Executive Club later if necessary.

The avios.com homepage for package holiday deals is here.

They do not just work with ‘bucket and spade’ operators. The list includes some decent names (this is just a sample of the list):

• Club Med
• Cox & Kings
• Elegant Resorts
• First Choice
• Inghams
• ITC Luxury Travel
• Kuoni
• Mark Warner
• Neilson
• Thomas Cook
• Thomson
• Travelsphere
• Villas4You

The list of Avios cruise partners is here and includes:

• Celebrity Cruises
• Cunard
• Fred Olsen
• P&O
• Princess
• Royal Caribbean
• Silversea
• Viking Cruises

The recommend way to book is to search for whatever you are after directly on the website of the tour operator and then simply call Avios to make the booking.

They accept Amex and there is no surcharge for using any credit card.

Historically, the holidays team appears to have leeway to reduce prices if you can find a comparable deal – and you will still earn your Avios on the bookings

Reduced Avios earning rate

For the last few years, you have earned 10 Avios points for every £1 spent on a package holiday or cruise.  This was a very good deal.

At some point recently, this rate was halved.  You will now only earn 5 Avios for £1 spent.

This is still a decent return, but you should check that there are not any cashback deals available from TopCashback or Quidco which would be worth more than the Avios points.

The other downside is that you don’t receive your Avios points until 28 days after your holiday, so you may be waiting a while for them.

It is worth noting that you can also REDEEM Avios points for a discount on a package holiday – see here for details.  I do not recommend this.  The discount is just 0.5p per Avios point you redeem which is poor but, to be honest, I could just about live with it if Avios rich.

More important is that, unless the policy has changed recently, you will not receive any Avios points for the portion of the booking which you pay in cash. This makes the net outcome substantially worse.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2025)

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

Get 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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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 Credit Card

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

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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.