‘I’m doing the SAS million points challenge – here’s why’

Rob writes: Last month, SAS announced the million points challenge – here’s our article. If you can fly 15 of the SkyTeam alliance carriers by the end of 2024, you will receive 1 million bonus SAS EuroBonus points.

It’s not a competition – everyone who hits the target will get the points.

A number of HfP readers took up the challenge. One of them was Barry Collins, who you may have seen discussing the challenge in The Times last week – click here (paywall, or click here for a non-paywall version). In fact, everyone featured in that article is a HfP reader.

We have teamed up with Barry to bring you a diary of what is, let’s be honest, a slightly crazy thing to do. That said, it is also financially a good deal. The flights can be done for around £3,000 and the points could be worth £10,000+ of premium flights if used well.

Below, in Part 1, I asked Barry to answer the obvious first question – ‘why?’. In Part 2, we’ll move on to ‘how?’ and then hopefully look at all 15 of his flights! Over to Barry ….

Why am I doing the SAS million points challenge?

“Hi, my name is Barry, I am 44 years old, and I am having a mid-life crisis.

There, I said it. Acceptance is the first step, as they say …. 

I am probably fairly indicative of the readership of the HfP newsletters – middle aged, married with young kids, prefer to turn left whenever possible, but also prefer not to pay full price too.

My wife has been pointing out I have been having a mid-life crisis for a while now (there is a LOT of LEGO in the house right now) but it wasn’t until I saw the article on the 10th October about the million points challenge that I knew it too.

I immediately forwarded it to my wife, saying I wanted to do it. I think she is still feeling guilty about booking a sea swimming holiday in Turkey next year, so she told me to go for it.

Being self employed, when I was young and single I had previously taken months off at a time to travel around Australia and Thailand, but haven’t done anything really big since going to Brazil for the World Cup in 2014. However this trip is more about the challenge, and doing it as cheaply as possible means you get the best value for those million points!

So instead of going away for a solid month, the plan is to take as little time off of work as I can, and carry on with real life too – so that means work, school drop offs, birthday parties, doctors appointments and long booked gigs all need to be accounted for in the planning. 

15 SkyTeam airlines, at least once, before the end of the year. I registered on the SAS website, and downloaded the app. The game was on.

In the next article – click here to read it – I will explain how I picked my route, where I am going and what it will cost me.

I’ll also bring you mini-reviews of my 15 flights. Don’t worry – HfP isn’t going to start running detailed economy flight reviews! It will be more of a diary, helping me keep track of which country I am waking up in each morning.”

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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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