Generous Avios deals with package holidays are ending on 31st December

Avios.com (not British Airways Executive Club) is, technically, a travel agency.  You may not be aware that you can use them to book a package holiday and earn yourself bonus Avios points in the process.

Until late 2015 this was a very generous deal.  You earned 10 Avios per £1 spent on your booking which, for an expensive family package holiday, often meant a lot of Avios points.  About a year ago the earning rate was cut to 5 Avios points per £1 although occasional ‘double up’ offers meant it remained generous.

This is all now to end.  From January 1st, it will no longer be possible to collect Avios points from package holiday bookings.

You can see the announcement on the avios.com homepage for package holiday deals here.

This means, of course, that you CAN still earn Avios on your package holiday bookings for the next six weeks.  They do not just work with ‘bucket and spade’ operators. The list includes some decent names (this is just a sample of the list):

• Club Med
• Cox & Kings
• Elegant Resorts
• First Choice
• Inghams
• ITC Luxury Travel
• Kuoni
• Mark Warner
• Neilson
• Thomas Cook
• Thomson
• Travelsphere
• Villas4You

The list of Avios cruise partners is here and includes:

• Celebrity Cruises
• Cunard
• Fred Olsen
• P&O
• Princess
• Royal Caribbean
• Silversea
• Viking Cruises

The recommend way to book is to search for whatever you are after directly on the website of the tour operator and then simply call Avios to make the booking.  They accept Amex and there is no surcharge for using any credit card.

Historically, the holidays team appears to have leeway to reduce prices if you can find a comparable deal – and you will still earn your Avios on the bookings

It is worth noting that you can also REDEEM Avios points for a discount on a package holiday until 31st December – see here for details.  I do not recommend this.  The discount is just 0.5p per Avios point you redeem which is poor but, to be honest, I could just about live with it if Avios rich. 

More important is that you will not receive any Avios points for the portion of the booking which you pay in cash. This makes the net outcome substantially worse.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.