Points, explained

Card companies give you points for spending. There are two kinds. Bank points (Amex Membership Rewards, Capital on Tap) are flexible: you can turn them into airline points, hotel points, gift cards or cash. Airline points (Avios, Virgin Points) are for flights and a few extras.

A point has no fixed value. The same 10,000 points might be worth £45 as money off your bill or well over £100 on a long-haul business-class seat. Getting more for each point is the whole game.

Reward seats are priced in points, but you pay much less for them than the cash fare. The gap is biggest on long-haul business class, so that’s where each point goes furthest. Economy and short trips often work out close to what you’d get from a gift card. Explore shows both side by side for your balances.

1. Pick a goal (a trip, or a cashback target).
2. Put each kind of spending on the card that earns most towards it. Wallet shows which.
3. When you have enough, find dates with reward seats.
4. Only then move bank points into the airline, and book straight away.

Moving points is one-way: Avios can’t go back to Amex. If you move them and then can’t find seats, they’re stuck. Bank points keep your options open (Virgin, hotels, other airlines, transfer bonuses), so leave them where they are until you’ve found seats.

Airlines only sell a few seats on each flight for points. Popular dates go months ahead. That’s why you check dates before transferring. Our flight search links to free tools that show which dates have seats.

No. You pay taxes and charges in cash on top of the points. On BA long-haul business class they can run to hundreds of pounds per person. They vary by route, and flights from some airports cost less in charges than others. We show them where we have a source, and always say to confirm on ba.com.

The BA Amex cards and the Barclaycard Avios cards give a voucher once you spend a set amount in your card year. You book two reward seats for the Avios of one; the second person pays only the taxes and charges. For couples it can roughly halve the Avios needed. The outbound flight must be before the voucher expires.

Cashback is certain: a pound is a pound. Points can be worth more but only if you use them well, usually on flights. If you won’t fly with them, a cashback card or Capital on Tap’s 1p-per-point cash option is often the better deal. Set a cashback goal on Goals to track it.

No. Interest on a credit card is far more than any points are worth. Only use rewards cards for spending you’d make anyway, and pay the balance in full every month.