Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

NEW: earn Avios and British Airways tier points on one particular KLM route

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

One of the quirks of British Airways Executive Club is that you can earn Avios and BA tier points when flying on Emirates.  Very few people know this.  All you need to do is book on a Qantas codeshare and ensure that your boarding pass has a QF flight number and not an EK flight number.

Not every Emirates route is a Qantas codeshare, but most destinations eastwards are included.  In this article (click) I show how my wife earned BA tier points flying Emirates to Singapore using Qantas flight codes.

There is now a new way of exploiting this trick.

Qantas KLM

From 31st October, Qantas has been codesharing with KLM on its flights from Amsterdam to Singapore.  In return, KLM has added its flight codes to Qantas services from Singapore to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

If you book Amsterdam to Singapore on KLM, but using the Qantas flight code, you can credit it to British Airways Executive Club and earn tier points and Avios.

Qantas is the ONLY oneworld airline which works this way.  You do NOT receive Avios or tier points if you book a codeshare flight with any other oneworld airline if the actual flight is operated by a non-oneworld carrier.

The carve-out for Qantas is outlined on this page of ba.com.  In small print under Qantas it says:

Executive Club Members can collect Avios on:

  • Flights marketed and operated by Qantas or Qantas Airlines affiliates under the QF designated code.
  • Flights marketed by Qantas but operated by Jetstar booked as oneworld fare in L class only.
  • Flights marketed by Qantas or Qantas Airlines affiliates and operated by Qantas, a Qantas affiliate, BA, another oneworld carrier, or another third party under a codeshare agreement.

There is no similar wording for any other partner.

You can find out more about the codeshare on klm.com here.


How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (December 2024)

Air France and KLM do not have a UK Flying Blue credit card.  However, you can earn Flying Blue miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Flying Blue miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Flying Blue mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, with any airline.

Comments (108)

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

  • BJ says:

    OT Bit: Anybody recall if BA did anything exciting for Black Friday last year? Any thoughts on likelihood of cheap Xmas and New Year last minute cash fares in CW this year?

  • Lady London says:

    When I saw that Icelandair had picked up WOW Air for $18 million I thought “that’s not much more than the price of the Chairman’s lunch”.

    Thank goodness for all involved that WOW is more secure… for now.

    I really hope not too many more of these little challenger or niche airlines go under this winter or as oil prices rise. Surely their presence must keep the fares down on the larger airlines who would otherwise gouge us even more ?

    • RussellH says:

      Or maybe these collapses just show that if you price too competitively you do not have enough margin to cover the hard times, which winter usually is.

      • Shoestring says:

        Don’t forget Ryanair & EasyJet were little challenger airlines when they started out. Thank goodness they’re around in Europe (& strong these days) as otherwise we really would be played like patsies by BA, Lufthansa, AF/KLM.

        • Lady London says:

          +1. and thank heavens for EU261. I can almost forgive the Americans their monster credit card bonuses , for that.

  • Alex says:

    OT – what’s worth more an Avios/Iberia point or a Marriott/SPG point?
    I’m looking at a hotel which is redeemable on Iberia+ for 20,350/night, and on Marriott Rewards for 25,000.
    Thanks!

  • Alex W says:

    According to where to credit dot com Icelandair can be credited to Alaska, Finnair, JetBlue and Royal Jordanian. Alaska miles are very valuable and you can also credit BA flights there.

  • mr dee says:

    OT: Does anyone know if with the Credit Card IHG Free Night, if I cancel online does the voucher go back into my online account ready for me to book elsewhere?

  • Benylin says:

    OT: IHG REWARDS CLUB: £10k to trigger free night, is that in the same calendar year as receiving card, or 1Y from receiving the card? Thanks

    PS Curve is being a pain with the IHG card

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.