Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get £40 American Express cashback with TAP Air Portugal

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American Express has launched a new cashback deal with TAP Air Portugal.

As usual, you need to see if you are targetted for this under the ‘Offers’ section for each Amex card you hold. If it is there, you need to click ‘Save to Card’ before making the transaction.

I wouldn’t waste your time looking if you only have a British Airways American Express card though ….

The terms are:

  • receive a £40 statement credit when you spend £150+ with TAP Air Portugal
  • transaction must be made by 31st December
  • flight must depart from a UK airport

As well as offering flights to Portugal, TAP also offers good value deals to the United States and elsewhere. Like Aer Lingus and JetBlue, it has a new fleet of single aisle A321LR aircraft which allow it to fly transatlantic at low cost.

TAP Air Portugal is a Star Alliance members so any miles you earn will need to go to TAP’s own programme or Lufthansa Miles & More, United MileagePlus etc. There is no way of earning Avios.

You can check your options on the TAP website here.


best credit card to use when buying flights

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Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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