Get double Avios when booking a package holiday or cruise via avios.com
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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.
Until 7th July, the earning rate is doubled and you will earn 10 Avios points per £1 spent on your booking.
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 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
Double Avios points – but less of a deal than you think
Until 7th July, you earn 10 Avios points for every £1 spent on a package holiday. It isn’t clear from the wording if cruises are included or not.
This is being advertised as ‘double Avios’. However, late in 2015, avios.com quietly halved the earning rate on package holiday bookings. 10 Avios per £1 used to be the standard rate – now it is only 5 Avios per £1. This promotion simply brings it back to what it used to be every day.
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 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. Indeed, the ‘double Avios’ promotion is only valid on 100% cash bookings.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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 £12,000 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
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Huge 60,000 points sign-up bonus (until 9th April) 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.
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