Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Barry’s SAS million point challenge – Airline 1, Air Europa

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

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 – click here (paywall, or click here for a non-paywall version).

Barry is sharing his trip with HfP readers. Part 1 and Part 2 looked at ‘why’ and ‘how’ (click to read). Today Barry takes the first of his 15 qualifying flights. Over to Barry ….

SAS million point challenge

As far as races go, my own personal race around the world got off to a pretty sedate start.

As it was half term, we decided to take the 7 year old for a city break in Spain as a family and cross the first airline – Air Europa – off my list en-route. This is definitely not the quickest or cheapest way to complete the challenge!

An early morning easyJet flight to Barcelona was followed by a short time ride up to Girona, where we were spending the night. I had bid and won on the Qatar Airways Privilege Club Champions League Avios auction (HfP covered these here) and had VIP tickets to the match that evening vs Slovan Bratislava. The match was great, as was the hospitality – and we even won the signed match ball at the UEFA tent! Very happy 7yr old indeed!

SAS million point challenge

We had explained to him that the trips I would be doing were very similar to the BBC’s Race Across The World, just with planes. When we were booking this trip, we decided to take the train from Girona to Madrid so he could experience a tiny slice of the adventure for himself. Spanish high speed trains are a long way off from an overnight bus in Vietnam. Fast, clean, reliable – they are a long way off public transport in the UK, if truth be told …. 

Madrid is a lovely place for a city break. Flat and walkable, with plenty of transport options and things to do for the whole family, and still warm enough for shorts in late October. We spent three nights – which seemed about right – and in amongst wandering around the city eating tapas and churros, we visited the planetarium, the zoo, the botanical gardens and an interactive gallery called Ikono.

Price wise, Madrid is not too bad as far as capital cities go, and certainly cheaper than London.

SAS million point challenge

The flight home on Air Europa from Madrid was pretty unspectacular. We stopped into the VIP Sala lounge at the airport, which seemed to be the only one there? It was huge, but very busy. And if I’m being critical was pretty basic, with most of the food options being pre-packed sandwiches ….

The only memorable thing about the plane was the drop-down TV screens from the ceiling, at about every 3rd or 4th seat. I tried to explain to the 7 year old about how we all used to have to watch the same film at the same time on planes when I was his age. He just stared at me blankly. I’m so old.

This was, of course, the easiest part of the challenge. It was, literally, a holiday. From now on I would be knocking off at least one airline per day, and often two.

One airline down, 14 to go.

Click here for the next article in this series.

SAS million point challenge

The full itinerary

As a reminder, here is Barry’s full itinerary:

Trip 1 – Gatwick to Barcelona (easyjet), Madrid to Gatwick (Air Europa) booked as part of a family holiday

Trip 2 – Heathrow to Paris (Air France) – Paris to Bucharest (TAROM) – Bucharest to Amsterdam (KLM) – Amsterdam to Stockholm (SAS) – Stockholm to Heathrow (SAS) 

Trip 3 – Heathrow to Atlanta (Virgin Atlantic) – Atlanta to Mexico City (Delta) – Mexico City to Paris (Aeromexico) – Paris to Heathrow (Air France) 

Trip 4 – Stansted to Istanbul (Pegasus) – Istanbul to Riyadh (Pegasus) – Riyadh to Jeddah (Saudia) – Jeddah to Jakarta (Saudia) – Jakarta to Singapore (Garuda) – Singapore to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) – Ho Chi Minh to Taipei (China Airlines) – Taipei to Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines) – Xiamen to Shanghai (Xiamen Airlines) – Shanghai to Seoul (Korean) – Seoul to Shanghai (China Eastern) – Shanghai to Gatwick (China Eastern)

PS. If you are reading this but are not a regular Head for Points visitor, please consider signing up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters. They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and deals to improve how you travel. To sign up, visit this page of the site or click any of the ‘Subscribe’ links on this page. Thank you.

best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (January 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.

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

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

Category

SkyTeam alliance partners

Comments (23)

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

  • Lumma says:
    30 Nov30 November 04:05

    Even if you.get bored of Madrid (I’ve done a few iberia redemptions so far, as well as just visiting). There’s plenty of places nearby to visit. Both Toledo and Segovia are short train rides away and are stunning

  • Alan says:
    30 Nov30 November 07:20

    I agree Madrid is a great city and food can be very good for very little money. Menu del Dia in some places reasonably basic around 15 euros but others closer to €20 can be excellent food.

  • Stuart says:
    30 Nov30 November 08:19

    That VIO Sala lounge had the longest queue I’ve ever seen at an airport around midnight due to all the flights going to South and Central America along with the single slow, inefficient staff member at the desk scanning boarding cards and taking payments – best avoided in the wee hours but there is no alternative.

    • Michael Jennings says:
      30 Nov30 November 08:29

      That Spanish airport lounges only seem to have hot foot at Spanish mealtimes has been complained about in these forums before.

      • cin4 says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:21

        Much better than ones that shut down dinner service far too early.

      • John says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:46

        What times in the evening count as a Spanish mealtime? 8pm-1am?

        • David says:
          30 Nov30 November 10:42

          Everything is late. It’s not untypical for kids to still be up at 11pm-midnight on a school night.

          • Barrel for Scraping says:
            30 Nov30 November 11:44

            I know about the late mealtimes (and Barcelona seems to have the latest of them all) but as a visitor there only for leisure and never business do the Spanish start work later than most other countries or do the sleep less? If they sleep less do office workers have a siesta to make up for it? Not sure what’s real and what’s stereotype.

            My guess is traditionally they may start work a little later than we do, have a longer lunch break than we do but also finish later which is why they have a late dinner.

          • ChrisBCN says:
            30 Nov30 November 11:52

            Barcelona restaurants mostly close at 11 or 12, try getting a meal after that and you will struggle outside of tourist areas. And people start work at 9. The late night and siesta just don’t exist here like other parts of Spain.

  • Chris says:
    30 Nov30 November 08:53

    Nice writing style Barry. Look forward to hearing about the rest of the trip/challenge

  • John Criddle says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:28

    What an utterly pointless selfish way to burn our planet

    • Tezza1978 says:
      30 Nov30 November 10:35

      Bore off with your sanctimonious, pointless comment.

    • David says:
      30 Nov30 November 10:44

      Your on wrong site John. Everything within these walls is not “essential”. There must be a place for you somewhere on www.

    • Barrel for Scraping says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:41

      The planes will be flying regardless of whether you’re in them or not. The odd person taking advantage of a promotion is not going to be sufficient for them to operate a route. Travel broadens the mind and people should be encouraged to see other countries and other cultures.

      Of course if enough people stop flying then it will make a difference. Then routes will be cut which has the consequence of those who needed that route now finding it more difficult to travel and job losses in the aviation industry. I don’t mind if routes are cut or reduced due to natural competition (for example Eurostar reducing the need to fly London to Paris) and we need HS2 built 20 years ago to reduce the need for domestic flights but people should not be guilt tripped into not flying.

    • Fred says:
      30 Nov30 November 16:59

      It’s not burning the planet or selfish. Clearly the articles are entertaining and last time I checked millions of flights go every year without the planet getting burnt. Aviation doesn’t even make a bullet point on the 3 main carbon producing activities, Industry, construction and transport. The main carbon output from transport are from road, rail and maritime. Fly away and enjoy it! It won’t make a difference

      • _aDifferentSimon_ says:
        3 Dec3 December 15:23

        I’m pretty sure we can occupy a happy middle ground where we enjoy aviation but are aware of the impact on the planet? Possibly without the name calling?

  • Cicero says:
    30 Nov30 November 11:08

    Looking forward to the rest of these articles. It’s always interesting to hear a new perspective on travel and miles and points. Good luck!

  • Yorkshire rich says:
    30 Nov30 November 14:34

    Agreed with the above poster. I enjoyed the writing style and looking forward to the other short and snappy articles.
    I also enjoyed Mardrid and another shout out for the short train journey to Toledo

    • Dubious says:
      3 Dec3 December 14:01

      Next time I’m in Madrid I’m going to try to visit Toledo 👍🏻

  • TeesTraveller says:
    30 Nov30 November 16:17

    I like this sort of article. Fir me this is more relevant than some fancy spa hotel in the Cotswolds..

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 50,000 bonus points (worth 50,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 20,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold

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.

Got it!