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Which 32 airlines can you book with Avios points?

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In this article I want to look at which airlines you can book with Avios points.

You know about British Airways, of course.  But there are actually 32 airlines which let you use Avios for some or all of their flights.

The list has got bigger in the last couple of years as Qatar Airways and Finnair adopted Avios as their loyalty currency.  This means that you can now redeem via a number of Qatar Airways and Finnair airline partners which were not already partners with British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus, such as Virgin Australia and JetBlue.

You won’t find the information in this article in one place on any of the Avios websites – iberia.com, ba.com, aerlingus.com, qatarairways.com, finnair.com etc – but we have pulled it all together for you.

Which 32 airlines can you book with Avios points?

What flights can you book with Avios?

I have listed all of the airlines below which accept Avios redemptions.

The airlines marked ‘(BA)’ can be booked on ba.com.  This means that the process is the same as booking British Airways redemptions.

An airline marked ‘(EI)’ can be booked via Aer Lingus.  You can open an Aer Lingus AerClub account on its website and then use ‘Combine My Avios’ on ba.com to move your points across. Confusingly, you need to select ‘Avios Partners’ in the dropdown menu. Read this article to learn more about the new Aer Lingus reward booking site, launched in March 2024.

An airline marked ‘(IB)’ means that you can only book from an Iberia Plus account. To transfer to or from an Iberia Plus account, the Iberia account must have been open for 90 days and have ‘earned’ at least 1 Avios.  The easiest way to ‘earn’ an Avios in Iberia Plus is to transfer 1,000 Amex Membership Rewards points.

An airline marked ‘(QR)’ means that you can only book it from a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account.  You can use your British Airways Avios balance on the Qatar Airways website by following the instructions here.

An airline marked ‘(AY)’ means that you can only book it from a Finnair Plus account. You can transfer your Avios from British Airways to Finnair by following the instructions here.

Vueling (VY) flights can only be booked by Vueling Club. You can open a Vueling Club account on its website and then use ‘Combine My Avios’ on ba.com to move your points across. Confusingly, you need to select ‘Avios Partners’ in the dropdown menu.

Which 32 airlines can you book with Avios points?

Which airlines can you book with Avios points?

This list is alphabetical. In brackets, I have added the programmes which let you redeem Avios for that airline:

  • AY for Finnair Plus
  • BA for British Airways Executive Club
  • EI for Aer Lingus AerClub
  • IB for Iberia Plus
  • QR for Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • VY for Vueling Club

Some partners can only be booked by telephone via the service centre of the relevant programme, eg Avianca. You cannot necessarily book all routes operated by a particular airline.

Aer Lingus (EI, BA – taxes can be lower via EI)

Air Nostrum / Iberia Regional (IB, BA)

Alaska Airlines (BA, IB, QR, AY)

American Airlines (BA, IB, QR, AY)

Avianca (IB)

Bangkok Airways (QR)

Binter Canarias (IB)

Braathens (AY)

British Airways (BA, EI, IB, QR, AY)

Cathay Pacific (BA, IB, QR, AY)

Fiji Airways (BA)

Finnair (BA, IB, QR, AY)

Iberia (BA, EI, IB, QR, AY)

Iberia Express (BA, IB)

Japan Airlines (BA, IB, QR, AY)

JetBlue (QR)

Juneyao Air (AY)

LATAM (BA, IB, QR, AY)

LEVEL (IB)

Malaysia Airlines (BA, IB, QR, AY)

Middle East Airlines (QR)

Oman Air (QR, Doha to Muscat route only)

Qantas (BA, IB, QR, AY)

QantasLink (BA – telephone only, read here)

Qatar Airways (BA, IB, QR, AY)

Royal Air Maroc (BA, IB, QR, AY)

Royal Jordanian (BA, IB, QR, AY)

RwandAir (QR)

S7 Airlines (BA, IB, QR, AY but currently suspended)

SriLankan Airlines (BA, IB, QR, AY)

SUN-AIR of Scandinavia (BA)

Virgin Australia (QR)

Vueling (VY, IB)

Oman Air has announced plans to join the oneworld alliance, so you will be able to redeem Avios for all of their flights – and not the existing one route via Qatar Airways Privilege Club – from some point in 2024/25.

Details of British Airways Executive Club partners can be found on ba.com here.

Details of Iberia Plus partners can be found on iberia.com here.

Details of Qatar Airways Privilege Club partners can be found on qatarairways.com here.

Details of Finnair Plus partners can be found on finnair.com here.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

10,000 Avios (to 26th September) 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

30,000 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 £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

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 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 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

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

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

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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: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer 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.

Category

195 BA Executive Club questions answered, British Airways and Avios

Comments (27)

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

  • e14 says:
    27 Jul27 July 05:35

    FI is the IATA code for Icelandair
    AY is Finnair ??

    • BJ says:
      27 Jul27 July 07:58

      I wondered why the logic didn’t extend to AY and was sure it would come up 🙂

      • riku says:
        27 Jul27 July 08:38

        But EI is used for Air Lingus rather than AL

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
          27 Jul27 July 16:42

          Because EI is a contraction of the Irish version of the name and how it was first registered as an airline and given its code.

          AY is derived from the Finnish name of the founding company.

  • Timothy Firmager says:
    27 Jul27 July 07:04

    This is a super helpful reference article! Thank you

  • Jukka kamarainen says:
    27 Jul27 July 08:59

    Nordic Regional Airlines (Norra) is missing from this list. Relevance? You can’t book Norra operated Finnish domestic Avios redemption flights using BA but you can with AY/Finnair. I haven’t checked other Avios carriers.

    • Rob says:
      27 Jul27 July 09:14

      Thanks Jukka.

    • BJ says:
      27 Jul27 July 09:28

      Does that include NORRA flights independent of Finnair, is there even such a thing? Via the other partners you can only use avios on NORRA flights operated on behald of Finnair. Frustratingly you still have to call BA to book such sectors and even then many CSA don’t know how to find them.

      • BJ says:
        27 Jul27 July 11:12

        Just found their website flynorra so they do have their own network and I guress Jukka ,eabs al, of that can be booked with avios via Finnair.

  • Paul says:
    27 Jul27 July 09:05

    Because Ireland in Irish is ‘Eire’

    Aer Lingus means air fleet l

    • BJ says:
      27 Jul27 July 09:21

      I’m a Dunedian but I don’t write or say Dun Eideann (refer any questions to @Andrew, or @NorthernLass as I’m sure she knows).

  • Kate Last says:
    27 Jul27 July 10:22

    Is there a way to know where the redemption is cheaper in Avios or taxes? Is there a search engine that have up to date redemption tables for all the airlines etc?

    • BJ says:
      27 Jul27 July 10:38

      No, nut Finnair and Qatar generally offer better value than BA on most airlines to most places. Some prices should be the same, for examp,e when booking Qatar fligh on BA or vice versa. There were xome glitches though but these seem to be getting fixed. Worth noting too that Finnair and Qatar Airways offers broadly comparable value to BA even with a voucher (when factoring in both avios and co-payments. The amex and Barcs vouchers still have value but less than they used to have

    • Rob says:
      27 Jul27 July 10:58

      No

  • Vicky says:
    27 Jul27 July 10:36

    What this article clearly highlights is the airlines are making it unnecessarily difficult. Why does it take an external company to put this information together. It’s almost like they don’t want you to use Avios across different airlines.

    If they all take Avios, why can’t I go on any of their websites and book a flight with any airline. Or even have a combined website where one can search?

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      27 Jul27 July 12:05

      Careful what you wish for. The more friction points along the process, the more casual users will abandon the process.

    • BJ says:
      27 Jul27 July 12:07

      No, they’re not, they”re just different companies with their own partners and loyalty schemes. All explain everything clearly and in depth. At one time there was a greater vision of avios as an all-singing all-dancing single loyalty platform but AFAIK this is long gone and no longer even on the back burner.

    • JDB says:
      27 Jul27 July 12:13

      @Vicky – these are independent companies with their own reservations and accounting systems, even those which are under common ownership. The cost and complications would be totally disproportionate to the benefit. I think that we should count ourselves fortunate to have BAEC/Avios as our ‘home’ scheme vs the upstart UK airline loyalty scheme and many international ones.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      27 Jul27 July 16:46

      But they don’t all take avios.

      This is e.g. BA selling a seat on say AA but enabling you to pay in avios (and vice versa for AA miles)

  • Colin_Thames says:
    27 Jul27 July 20:46

    Thanks Rob
    Really useful article.
    I certainly agree with others; this would be a fabulous opportunity for a search engine or AI to find the best use of Avios across all the various partners.

  • Steve says:
    1 Aug1 August 11:30

    Apparently you cannot combine avios between BA exec account and Vueling club, been trying it all day on the website and have n.been told it’s not possible by BA customer services twice now with different agents. Anyone been able to do this please ?

    • Rob says:
      1 Aug1 August 11:45

      Yes you can. You select the ‘Avios Partners’ option in the dropdown and put your 3081xxxxxxxxxx number into that box.

      • Steve says:
        1 Aug1 August 12:16

        Hi Rob, I tried reseting my password on Vueling club, although it was fine logging in, added my passport number on my Vueling account and logged in using my ( same ) email as my username and it worked 😁. So it appears Vueling can only offer part pay avios at about 0.5p each to book flights, but great to have that option. Many thanks to the HFP team for this.

        • Rob says:
          1 Aug1 August 12:43

          Correct, only part pay. If you want to do direct redemptions on Vueling off their reward chart, you need to do it via Iberia Plus.

          • Steve says:
            1 Aug1 August 12:51

            Ok I understand, using my Iberia avios rather than Vueling Avios.

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

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