Money homeCredit Cards
- Credit cards
- 0% balance transfers
- 0% on purchases
- Reward credit cards
- Airmile credit cards
- Adverse credit cards
- Credit card charges abroad
- Prepaid credit cards
- Cashback credit cards
- Credit card guides
- Credit card directory
- Top tips to avoid being turned down for a credit card
- Balance transfers FAQ
- Loyalty vs cashback cards
- Contactless Payment Credit Cards
- Explaining Credit Card Ts and Cs
- Online credit report
Credit Card Directory
Airmiles calculator
Updated: Thursday 15 December, 2011
By Martin Fagan
Find out how much you need to spend to earn a free flight with an airmiles credit cards.
The airmiles calculator
Select your destination from on the drop down menu and the airmiles calculator will tell you how much you need to spend on each particular card to earn a free return flight.
Alternatively, browse the map and click the jet icon on your destination of choice. The airmiles calculator will then show you how much you need to spend on your card in order to earn a free return flight to this destination.
Airmiles cards - the range
Virgin Atlantic credit card (Amex) - Collect one Flying Club mile for every £1 spent
Virgin Atlantic credit card (Visa) - Collect two Flying Club miles for every £2 spent
Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo Amex credit card - Collect one Airmile for every £1 spent
Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo MasterCard credit card - Collect one Airmile for every £5 spent
Tesco Clubcard credit card - Collect one Clubcard point for every £4 spent, plus points when you shop at Tesco - £2.50 in Clubcard vouchers will get you 60 Airmiles
British Airways credit card - Collect one Airmile for every £1 spent
British Airways Premium Plus card - Collect three Airmiles for every £1 spent with BA or 1.5 Airmiles for every £1 spent elsewhere.
What are airmiles credit cards?
Airmiles credit cards allow you to collect points that can be redeemed against free flights. You can also spend your Airmiles on a range of other things, including hotels, car hire and even days out at a health spa.
However, collecting Airmiles is for the long haul as an economy return flight from London to Paris will cost 9,000 Airmiles or, if you can’t wait to accumulate 9,000 Airmiles, you can get the flights for 4,500 Airmiles and £50 per person.
Factors to bear in mind when choosing a card
There are a number of different things that you need to think about when choosing an Airmiles card. As well as the number of points that you'll get for every £1 you spend, you also need to take into account how many points you need to get to your chosen destination. Use our Airmiles calculator to help you choose the best value Airmiles card.
While you will obviously need to spend on your card to build up points, you should make sure you always pay your credit card balance off in full every month to avoid paying interest - any interest that you do end up paying will soon cancel out any savings you've made on flights from collecting Airmiles.
You also need to look at the small print of your chosen card - some will make you pay the airport taxes on your flight, while others might add an annual fee, which can be as high as £150 a year.
Read the Creditchoices.co.uk Airmiles credit card guide for more information and to find the right Airmiles card for you.
How the swap from Airmiles to Avios affects you
If you already have an Airmiles card and have accumulated points on it prior to the switch to Avios, there are some things to bear in mind.
Since Monday 14 November, 2011, Airmiles points have been converted into Avios points at a rate of one to 10, so 600 Airmiles points have become 6,000 Avios points. Many destinations will see a direct equivalent of points required for a flight, although a trip to New York will require fewer, and Paris more. Unlike with Airmiles, the Avios scheme allows passengers to use points for one-way flights and some flights in and out of different airports.
For more details, refer to the Avios website.
Other useful tools
Use our other free, useful tools to help you save even more.