wheretocredit.com – a handy resource for maximising your frequent flyer miles

One of the things that is so fascinating about the frequent flyer space is that there are always tools popping up which fill a small but useful niche.

I often get emails from Head for Points readers asking about the best place to credit a particular flight when they do not want to open an account with that airline directly.

In theory it should be simple – just pick an airline in the same alliance (SkyTeam, Star Alliance, oneworld) where you do have an account.  If you are flying Finnair, you could credit it to your British Airways account as both are oneworld alliance members.

In reality, it isn’t that simple:

• Most airlines have additional partnerships with airlines on top of their main alliance partners

• Not all alliance partners treat other members equally.  Airline A may only give 100% of miles flown for a business class ticket on airline Z whilst Airline B may give 200%.

• In the worse case scenarios, some airlines will give no credit at all for certain heavily discounted partner tickets – in which case you might as well credit elsewhere.  This is often an issue with heavily discount Lufthansa business class tickets, for example, which are issued in ‘P’ class and often earn nothing with partners.

What is wheretocredit.com?

There is a website which can guide you around all this – wheretocredit.com.

For ease of use it couldn’t be simpler.  Tell it which airline you are flying and, if known, the exact ticketing class (this should be on your eticket) and it will show you where you will get the best return for the flight.

Take a look at this example for an ‘H’ class economy ticket on Finnair:

The first thing to say is that this chart is not completely accurate. Finnair is a member of the oneworld alliance and so all of the oneworld members should be listed, but Iberia and a couple of others are missing. You should also double check the data you get.

In British Airways Executive Club, you earn 70% of miles flown.  However, credit the flight to Qatar Privilege Club and you will also earn Avios – at 100% of miles flown. You could transfer those Avios to British Airways Executive Club and be better off than if you had credited the flight to BA directly – although you miss out on BA tier points this way.

Finnair Plus, it turns out, will be even more generous.  You will receive 150% of miles flown.  Will you be able to use those miles though?  And does 1 Finnair Plus mile buy you as much as 1 Avios?

One thing to remember, of course, is that miles have no value if you can’t use them.  wheretocredit also doesn’t help with telling you where you will earn status most easily.

You may earn twice as many miles crediting an ‘H’ class Finnair flight to Finnair Plus instead of British Airways, but if you never spend those Finnair miles then you have wasted the lot.  You will also have lost out on the Britsh Airways tier points.  Bear this in mind before you pick an obscure partner.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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:

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.

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.

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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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.

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