Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Wizz Air now accepts American Express cards

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

After Loganair signed a deal with American Express, Wizz Air was apparently the last ‘major’ carrier flying internationally from the UK which did not accept the card.

This has now been fixed.

American Express is now accepted by Wizz Air, both for flight bookings and in-flight purchases.

Wizz Air accepts American Express

As a carrot to give Wizz Air a try, you are promised ‘exclusive offers and discounts’ for booking Wizz Air via the Amex Offers platform in the next few weeks.

Before booking, you may want to check-out Rhys’s memorable Wizz Air review.

We forced him to fly to Vienna on a £1.79 ticket without spending anything extra – no large hand baggage, no checked baggage, no reserved seat, no nothing ….


best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (August 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?

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card 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 Credit Card

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 American Express Premium Plus 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 Credit Card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher 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

Comments (26)

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

  • Lumma says:

    Typical that I’ve just booked several wizzair flights this summer and was unable to use Amex

  • JD says:

    HRX order worked for me buying from the Heathrow Express staff outside the entrance to Heathrow Central station.The machines they use seem to be coded with the same merchant ID as the website. You need to ask them to put your Heathrow Rewards number into the transaction, they are not very good at asking for it. The offer doesn’t work buying tickets from GWR staff at the gateline at Paddington, they use different machines.

  • Aston100 says:

    “In hotel world, ‘midscale’ means ibis (Holiday Inn Express is ‘upper midscale’)”

    Surprising.
    What are examples of low end?

    • Rob says:

      The industry doesn’t admit that the low end exists.

      • Barrel for Scraping says:

        What’s the lowest category hotel groups will admit to? I guess if Ibis is mid scale then Ibis budget will be ‘lower midscale’, where does Ibis Styles fit in (I’ve assumed it’s a slightly better Ibis but I don’t really know). Do hostels that have rooms you share with strangers have a different rating system? Is Premier Inn upper midscale?

      • Throwawayname says:

        Accor do use the word ‘economy’ for ibis and a few other brands (e.g. greet), but I suspect their American competitors don’t embrace such terminology.

      • Tocsin says:

        Is there a HfP tutorial on hotel ‘types’? (Couldn’t find anything on a quick site: search).

    • No longer Entitled says:

      Have you ever stayed at a Best Western?

  • ColinThames says:

    The Garner might well have retained its car park, though it’s open to the public. Unusual for a city centre hotel to have a car park. Only the Sheraton comes to mind. It’s also very handy for the tram, directly linking it to the airport and rest of city centre.

    • Angus says:

      Didn’t understand why it needed a car park. Most of the previous residents arrived in the country on a boat or were dropped off in a police van from Saughton

  • captaindave says:

    TUI dosnt accept amex either ( for in flight purchases )

  • Sandy says:

    I am staying at the Garner Edinburgh mid July.
    Please let me know if I can hello you with a review

  • Erico1875 says:

    The Leonardo Haymarket has a carpark

  • Erico1875 says:

    As does the Britannia and also Travelodge, St Mary’s St

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

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.