What are air miles?

Air miles are a feature of some reward credit cards. The more you spend on the card, the more air miles you’ll collect. 

It’s a great way for regular travellers to save money on flights or treat themselves to a few perks while travelling.

Every time you use an air miles credit card, you’ll earn air miles reward points. Some credit cards also offer an initial boost of points for new cardholders. 

When you’re ready to redeem your points, you can select available flights from participating airlines. Your points will count towards the cost of your flights. Each point, for example, is the equivalent of travelling a certain distance on a flight. 

If you have enough air miles, you may even be able to cover the full cost of a flight.

It’s not just flights that air miles can be used for. Many air miles schemes also allow you to cash in your points for things like hotels, car hire, days out, or airport parking or lounge access. 

There are lots of credit cards to choose from that offer air miles points for you to collect.

For every £1 of eligible spend on a reward credit card, for example, you might receive 1 reward point – or 2 points if your spend is in another currency. Eligibility criteria and terms and conditions typically apply.

Before taking out a credit card, take the time to understand how credit cards work and how to avoid credit card charges. It’s also a good idea to pay your balance in full each month to reduce the amount of interest you pay.

When you’ve collected enough air miles points to spend, you can choose what you want to do with them. You may have the option to spend them on flights or upgrade an existing trip with airport lounge access.

Many providers have a loyalty portal where you can redeem your reward points online – or over the phone if you don’t have access to online banking. 

Many airlines accept air miles – but not all do. 

Before taking out an air miles credit card, check which airlines the card is linked to, and that they operate in the destinations you’re thinking of flying to. The exact details of air miles schemes can also change, so check before you book.

The short answer is – it depends. Some air miles schemes and airlines will allow you to transfer your points to another person, say your partner or child. For example, British Airways lets you ‘pool’ your air miles with people on your ‘friends and family’ list so you can share the benefit. 

Sometimes, you can transfer your air miles to another person or a different airline. However, if you are allowed to do this under the terms of the scheme, you might need to pay a transfer fee, which can eat into any savings you would make by using the points.