Let your money take you places with an Airmiles credit card. If you want to earn a nice reward for your spending, an airmiles credit card could get you a free flight to a tropical destination for a well-earned break.
In recent years, airmiles credit cards fell out of fashion for all but the biggest spenders, simply because of the sheer amount you had to spend to actually get off the ground.
While newer Airmiles cards have been revamped to offer a much better return on your spending, many people struggle to work out exactly what they need to spend to get to their desired destination.
Our new airmiles guide sets out exactly how many airmiles you get for money and what you need to spend to get to Paris, New York or Rio de Janeiro.
Although some cards clearly offer more points per £1, you also need to compare what you would need to spend to get to each destination in order to really make an educated decision.
For example, the BMI Classic offers 1.5 airmiles for every £1 you spend, while the Lloyds TSB Amex offers only one airmile for every £10 you spend. But looking at the table below you would only have to spend £3,000 on the Lloyds TSB Amex to get to Paris, compared to £6,000 on the BMI Classic.
It’s also a good idea to see whether or not you can top up your points by paying cash to get to your desired destination. Many companies offer this option and by doing so you can get your flight at a cut price, much quicker than if you waited until you had the full amount of points.
From the tables below, you can see that there’s more to each airmiles card than how many points you get for every £1 you spend. Some require far more points to get anywhere, so you need to think about how much you’ll be spending, where you want to go and also ensure that you always pay the balance off in full at the end of every month to ensure that you don’t pay the often high rates of interest on these cards.
You need to think about what type of spender you are before choosing which airmiles credit card is best for you.
Consumer A:
Trevor pays his mortgage with his Lloyds TSB Amex, and as well as spending a little on himself each month, he manages to rake up £10,000 a year - which of course he always pays off in full at the end of the month when his wages come in to avoid the 15.9 per cent APR.
Spending this much gives Trevor enough points to take three European trips a year - two to Paris and one to Brussels.
He also has the option of redeeming his points on days out at theme parks (spending £3,500) and even paint balling (spending £3,500).
Consumer B:
Janet spends an impressive £20,000 a year on her Virgin Atlantic Black credit card, which gives her enough airmiles to claim a free return flight to Mumbai, India. And as she spends more than £15,000 a year, she also qualifies for a complimentary flight for her partner Peter.
Janet and Peter are very careful about paying the card off in full every month because it carries a very high 37.1 per cent interest which would soon cancel out her “free” flights. They have set up a direct debit from their joint account to pay the full balance just after payday each month.
Consumer C:
Roy spends a lot on his credit card. By paying for bills and sometimes even his mortgage, he usually manages to rake up £30,000 over the year. Over the past few months however, Roy has let his finances slip and now wants to transfer his remaining balance to cut down on his interest payments as well as getting airmiles.
Taking out the BMI Classic card, Roy can take advantage of the 12 months interest free balance transfer offer and get one free flight to Rio de Janeiro, and another for skiing trip to Switzerland.
Although he’ll have to pay a three per cent balance transfer fee, it’s still worth his while to switch to this card as it also offers 0% on purchases for three months, and has a competitive standard APR of 15.9 per cent - lower than most airmiles cards.
For example, both the BMI Classic and the BMI Mastercard are currently offering 20,000 destination points if you spend just £250 in the first three months of opening your account. This gives you enough for a return flight to anywhere in Europe, or if you want to fly further, helps you on your way to that paradise island.
Another example is the Virgin Atlantic White credit card which is currently offering 3,000 flying club miles as soon as you start using the card and a complementary flight for a companion if you spend more than £15,000 on your card in a year.
Almost all airmiles cards have similar offers so it is definitely worth checking them out before making your choice.
Because of the rewards on offer, many airmiles cards have higher than average interest rates - for example the BA Amex Premium Plus has a standard APR of 37.8 per cent.
This means that you absolutely have to pay your balance off in full at the end of every month or you’ll have soon paid far more in interest than your free flight is worth.
