How To Get (Almost) Free British Airways Flights

If you’re good with your money you may think having a credit card isn’t necessary. But I wholly disagree, I did a whole post on why you should have a credit card. I’ve had quite a few credit cards over the years, but the American Express British Airways card is by far the best. I’ve had mine for just over two years and have been wracking up the points to help get free British Airways flights. When you sign up for a British Airways American Express card you get 5,000 bonus Avios points if you spend £1,000 in your first three months, and this is halfway to a free flight to say Berlin. From there you can earn about 1 point per £1 you spend but there are companion deals if you spend more per year, or you recommend others to get the card.

The (virtually) free British Airways flights I’ve had

When you use Avios points you pay just for the taxes and charges which is usually £35 per person. For a British Airways flight, this is so cheap. In November 2017 me and Luke managed to use points to get a free British Airways flight home from Rome after our trip to Italy. Since then I’ve been saving them. As me and Luke are saving I managed to use points to get us both return flights to Vienna for our anniversary in November which will be nice. And I have enough points left for about 2 more cheap flights in Europe so I’m debating where to go/ whether to save them.

I know you can buy cheap Ryanair and Easy Jet flights for less than the £35 taxes of BA but you get much better service and facilities. As I’ve grown older I’ve moved more into the middle range of not wanting to go too cheap, or too expensive.

Use it for big purchases to save points

Of course, the larger purchases are going to earn you more Avios points. So even if you’ve saved up the money to buy that bit of furniture or a holiday, whack it on your card and earn more. I tried to buy my car on my Amx a few years back but sadly Renault didn’t take American Express which was a shame.

As we’re going to be spending quite a lot next year when we move on furniture and home stuff I’m hoping to buy as much as I can on my Amx. This way we get an added bonus after we’ve spent like crazy on the house. Maybe we’ll even be able to afford a weekend away *fingers crossed*. The thought of free British Airways flights is enough to get me through.

Take advantage of the offers

To get free British Airways flights, the welcome offer is one of the best offers around. All you need to do is spend £1,000 in the first 3 months which is easy to do. When I first got mine I pretty much did all my day to day spending on it. And then I paid it off at the end of each week so I had no balance. Not only does this get you Avios points, but it also helps your credit rating. When I got my first mortgage one of the things which really helped was having previous credit. By doing this it showed that I was good at paying off any credit and always made payment.

Save the points to treat yourself

Once you’ve saved up the points stay pending in your American Express account (to cover for returns). And then every month they whizz into your BA Avios account and it’s amazing how they can add up. As I said above I didn’t use points for about 18 month’s and I had enough for around 4 separate free British Airways flights. This meant we could afford (and justify) a weekend away later in the year. You might want to just book a flight as soon as you have points. But it’s worth saving them up and using them as a treat.

Do you have a card to help save you on airfare?

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