When it comes to travel, the flight is often one of the most expensive components of a trip, especially when travelling as a couple or family as the seats are charged per person. Although nothing truly comes for free, there are some ways you can save a huge amount of money on your flight, and we show you how! This gives you more flexibility on your budget, giving you the opportunity to upgrade hotel rooms, excursions and consider more luxurious dining options.
Flying clubs
Most airlines have a flying club you can sign up to for free (except Ryanair, of course!). These flying clubs earn you points that can be redeemed against future flights, or upgrades. It’s a clever tactic from the airlines too, as it encourages repeat bookings so you can earn those ‘free flights’ faster.
A little pro tip: Where applicable, it is worth looking at comparing the cost of a reward flight – where you exchange your points for a ‘free’ flight, vs. points plus money seats- where you can use your miles to discount the cost of the flight. With the ‘free flight’ options, you may need to pay the duties and taxes for that flight seat in full- which can still cost hundreds of pounds per person. Whereas the points plus money options can sometimes offer better savings.
As an example, I made the comparison when booking a flight to San Francisco several years ago, had I used my points for a reward, it would have cost £650 for 2 people to fly return. Instead, as we used points plus money, we used the same number of points and it only cost us £520 for the 2 of us! The flight would’ve cost over £1,000 had we had no points, so it really can offer huge savings.
Just some of the airlines offering free flying clubs:
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club* – reward seats to New York from 6,000 points plus taxes.
- British Airways Club* – collect Avios points you can redeem on future flights. Travel to Europe for as little as 18,500 points with fixed contribution towards taxes from as little as £1.
- Emirates Skywards* – Reward seats start from 5,000 points, plus taxes.
- Norwegian Reward – Measured in CashPoints, 1 CashPoint is equivalent to the value of 1 Norwegian Krone (10 CashPoints ≈ €0.90). You’ll earn 1 CashPoint for every Norwegian Krone spent.
Both EasyJet and Ryanair offer paid-for flying clubs and it doesn’t look like either offer any points that could be redeemed towards future flights. If you frequently use these airlines, it may be worth looking at these programmes. However, from a quick nose at the benefits, it doesn’t look like you’re actually getting value for money. EasyJet benefits, for example, include a large cabin bag, premium seat and fast track for security, the calculations suggest you’re not saving any money on these benefits, they just come included. Of course, if you don’t use them at all, you’re actually paying for services you wouldn’t ordinarily use.
With Ryanair, it’s a flat rate of £79 whether you fly once a year with them or once a month. The benefits include a premium seat, travel insurance and access to 12 member-only sales. Who’d have thought they’d offer the better subscription?!
Topping up your flying club points
*With some of the airlines, you don’t even have to fly to earn points. In addition to flying, you can earn points in lots of other ways, including: Hotels stays, travelling with brand partners, banking and retail.
For example, you can convert Nectar points collected via Sainsburys, Argos, American Express, Esso, Sky etc. into Avios (British Airways) points. With Tesco Clubcard, you can convert your clubcard points into Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. It’s amazing how quickly your points can rack up with everyday spending.
Also, with most flying club programmes you can also buy points/miles to top up your total. You’ll need to calculate the specific flight cost vs. buying enough points to earn a reward flight but sometimes buying miles can be cheaper overall than paying for the flight in full.
Banking benefits
There are often huge incentives from financial institutions – mostly credit cards- to sign up and get a huge boost in flying club points for joining. This includes American Express for Avios points, and Virgin Credit Card for Virgin Flying Club Points.
Not only do you often get a huge joining bonus, but the incentive is if you use your card for everyday spending, you can earn points this way, too. Sometimes, they’ll even incite further with a refer-a-friend bonus.
Of course, it’s really important to remember that these are forms of credit (debt which will affect your credit score and need to be repaid) and you are responsible for repaying all monies on the card within the specified time frame to avoid incurring costs, or pay the applicable fees to use.
Many people use the credit cards to bolster their flying club points potential, using it as a spending card and paying it off the following month. This requires a lot of self-discipline though, as if you don’t pay everything off in one go, you’ll incur interest fees which are usually really high.
How to get the most out of your flying club
It may be tempting to sign up to every rewards programme and just earn as you go. However, in doing this, you’re more likely to spread those reward points out and it’ll take you longer to earn those ‘free’ or discounted flights. To get as much benefit as possible it is worth investing in one club.
Determine the best reward programme for you
Consider the following:
- Personal experience: Did any particular airline offer a stand out service? Is there an airline that feels more on brand for you?
- Destinations: Which airline offers the best range of destinations you’d like to visit? Do they work with partner airlines for other destinations they’re fleet don’t travel to so you can continue to earn and spend points?
- Convenience: Consider your preferred departure airport, is there an airline that is more convenient to get to?
- How you can maximise your earning potential: The programme you join may be swayed by your spending habits… if you shop more at Tesco, you are likely to earn points to Virgin faster. If Sainsburys is your preferred supermarket, maybe an Avios programme is better suited to you.
Once you’ve determined the best rewards programme for your lifestyle, it is worth investing your holiday spend with that airline. I’ve been a member of Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club since 2015, have flown 50,633 miles with them and I have had 3 reward flights during that time- the points earned were through travel only. Using my points, I have flown to San Francisco, Orlando and New York Premium, saving over £1200 (per person!). Flying clubs really can offer huge savings!
Featured image: moodboard, Canva
