Credit card Guides

Best airmiles credit cards

Article updated: Friday 25 March, 2011

By Emma Lunn editorial@consumerchoices.co.uk

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We look at the best Airmiles credit card deals available and find out which will get you the furthest.

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.

And 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.

This 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.

Airmiles credit cards

Company	% Representative APR
	9000 bonus Avios when you spend £1000 in first 3 months with the British Airways American Express Credit Card
Representative Example: 19.9% APR representative (variable). Based on a credit limit of £1,200 and a purchase rate of 19.9% p.a. (variable). American Express Services Europe Limited, Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9AX
	Collect one mile for almost every £10 you spend and collect double miles when you use your cards abroad. Terms and conditions apply.
Representative Example: 15.9% APR representative (variable). Based on a credit limit of £1,200* and a purchase rate of 15.94% p.a. (variable). *Your credit limit may vary depending upon your circumstances. Lloyds TSB, 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN

How many Airmiles do you get for your money?

Although some cards 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 American Express credit card from MBNA offers 1.5 Airmiles for every £1 you spend, while the Lloyds TSB Duo Plus offers only one Airmile for every £10 you spend and the Lloyds TBS Plus card gives you a measly one Airmile for every £50 you spend on the card.

However, you need to check how much you’d need to spend on each card to get to a particular destination.

How to pick an Airmiles credit card

You need to think about what type of spender you are before choosing which Airmiles credit card is best for you.

You might consider the Virgin Atlantic credit card (www.virginmoney.com), which comes in a Black or White version. The Virgin Atlantic White Card (17.9% APR variable) gives you 3,000 Flying Club miles with your first purchase and 1 mile for every £1 spent. The Virgin Atlantic Black Card (18.9% APR variable) offers 6,000 bonus Flying Club miles on your first card purchase and 2 Flying Club miles for every £1 you spend. Both White and Black cards offer 10% off Virgin Holidays packages.

The following table shows how a sample customer, Simon, spent on his Virgin Atlantic White card in one month.

Item	Cost	Miles earned
Petrol	£100.00	100 miles
Daily bagel and coffee before work	£65.00	65 miles
New wedding outfit and shoes	£200.00	200 miles
Restaurant meal	£52.50	52 miles
Two Virgin Atlantic Economy flights to Boston	£490.00	980 miles + 3,268 miles earned flying to Boston
Bonus miles for first purchase	N/A	3,000
Total miles earned	N/A	7,665 Flying Club miles

Simon could use his 7,665 miles to partly pay for a Virgin flight or spend them with one of Virgin’s partners.

Alternatively, the British Airways American Express credit card (www.americanexpress.com) rewards you with one BA Mile for every £1 you earn and you get 3,000 bonus BA Miles when you take out the card and spend £500 in the first three months (only until 15 April, 2011).

Someone spending £2,000 a month on the card would earn 27,000 BA Miles in the first year. This is enough for a return flight to countries including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Russian Federation, Tunisia, or Turkey, amongst others.

Special offers

Before choosing a card it’s a good idea to check what special offers are currently available. Some Airmiles cards give you bonus miles when you take out the card or spend an initial certain amount on it.

Compare Airmiles credit cards

Always clear the balance

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 50.1%.

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.

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