You’ve returned from your travels, used the credit card on daily spending, and ensured you’re logged into schemes when making online purchases. Now, you’re questioning how to redeem airline miles for discounted adventures and bucket list experiences. Sometimes, it can feel all too easy to spend away and accumulate the points, but a little harder to put them to good use.
Put simply, airline miles, whether accumulated through British Airways’ Avios programme, Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club or Air France’s Flying Blue, can often be redeemed for flights, cabin upgrades, hotels, car hire, and other rewards. They’re a particularly effective way for frequent fliers to snag deals and perks, but over the years they add up, and can be beneficial for leisure travellers, too. Here, we take a look at how to redeem airline miles and put them to work in the best possible way.
Airline miles at a glance:
What can you redeem airline miles for?
While each airline’s programme differs slightly, airline miles can be redeemed for a range of things, including reward flights, cabin upgrades, flights with partner airlines, hotel and car hire discounts, experiences and vouchers. The value of miles can vary substantially by redemption type. Flights – especially long-haul and premium-cabin flights – can offer better value than exchanging airline miles for retail vouchers.
How do I redeem airline miles for a flight?
The most common use of airline miles is redeeming them for discounted flights to embark on a new adventure. This is the primary purpose of these programmes, including those under the Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and Oneworld umbrellas, as well as partner credit cards. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to redeem airline miles for a flight.
1. Check your mileage balance and expiry date
Firstly, log into your airline or credit card loyalty account and check the total miles available and whether you have any expiring miles, in case you can’t factor these in or need to act quickly to redeem them. Depending on which programme you’re a member of, your account may also inform you of eligible travel dates and the taxes, fees, and surcharges payable.
2. Search the airline’s reward-flight availability
Once you’re logged in and ready to see how far your airline miles could get you, experiment with the airline’s booking tools. For example, if you’re looking on Virgin Atlantic, it’s possible to search for flights and ‘show price in points’, while logged-in British Airways customers are able to see how much flight prices reduce by when Avios are factored in. It’ll work slightly differently from airline to airline, but the format is often very similar.