Did you know? British Airways Avios aren’t just for flying British Airways flights!
They can be very valuable to Canadian travel hackers, especially American Express Membership Rewards Cardmembers who have the flexibility to transfer their points to a variety of airline and hotel loyalty programs – including, of course, British Airways.
There are plenty of obvious, and not so obvious ways to earn British Airways Avios in Canada. Let’s take a look, so you can maximize the Avios you’ll earn when you travel, and on everyday purchases.
Earn Avios Miles With Airbnb
An exciting partnership between British Airways and Airbnb was formed earlier in 2019 allowing you to earn miles when you book an Airbnb or host for the first time! This is an easy opportunity to take advantage of to turn those Airbnb stays into some free flights.
There are also some credits available for first time Airbnb customers.
When You Sign Up With Airbnb
If you’re new to Airbnb, it’s time to take the plunge, so here’s a little push to get you started.
Use this coupon to apply a $62 credit to your first Airbnb stay, and get $17 off your first Airbnb experience.
Then sign up for a British Airways Executive Club account and book your Airbnb through this link to earn 500 Avios miles as a welcome bonus on your first stay!
When You Book With Airbnb
You can earn 3 Avios for every $1 spent on Airbnb stays! Just make sure you go through the Avios shopping portal when you book your Airbnb so the loyalty program can track your purchase and assign you your points. Your points will post to your account within 60 days after your stay.
When You Host With Airbnb
If you’re thinking about becoming an Airbnb host for the first time, make sure to take advantage of the welcome bonus offer of 8,000 Avios when you host your home for the first time using this link! That’s almost enough for a one-way economy flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
Earn Avios Miles On Travel
Paid Rate Flights
When you fly with British Airways and its partners, you’ll earn Avios miles on most paid rates. The miles you’ll earn depend on 4 main factors. We’ll take a look at those below shortly.
But first, there are certain circumstances where you won’t earn miles. If your main objective is to earn miles and travel hack to vacation whenever you feel, you’ll want to make sure you’re earning as many miles as possible when you fly.
Flights you won’t earn miles on:
- Reward flights you’re redeeming miles for.
- Agency discounted fares.
- Industry discounted fares.
Flights you will earn miles on include:
- Booking direct through British Airways or its partners.
- Using an airline gift card
- Using a travel voucher
In some rare combinations, you may not earn points, despite it being a paid rate.
For example, an extremely discounted fare on a codeshare flight, marketed by an ineligible carrier, will not earn miles.
How Many Avios Will You Earn?
Now, here are the 4 main factors that determine how many miles you’ll earn on British Airways and its partners flights:
1. Fare Class
A fare class is a way for the airline to identify how much you paid for your ticket, where you purchased it, where you’re sitting, and whether you’re eligible to earn points.
Each letter in the fare class indicates what rules apply to that fare. You can look at your airline ticket to see what fare class you’ve been assigned.
Fare classes can get quite complex and are a study in themselves, but there are a few industry standards that are easy to spot:
- “F” represents a full-fare first class ticket.
- “J” represents a full-fare business class ticket.
- “Y” represents a full-fare economy ticket.
2. Loyalty Tier
You’ll climb the loyalty ladder the more you fly with British Airways and its partners which entitles you to earn miles faster at these accelerated rates:
- Bronze – 25% extra Avios
- Silver – 50% extra Avios
- Gold – 100% extra Avios
3. Airline Flown
The Avios miles you earn depends on both the airline flight number that is on your ticket and the partnership agreement in place with that partner.
The amount you earn is determined by the airline code you booked under.
Learn more about the points earning structure for British Airways partner airlines.
4. Distance Flown
You can use the British Airways Flight Calculator to enter your “from” and “to” airports to figure out how many miles you’ll earn, based on the distance, loyalty tier and airline.
The calculator is for direct flights, so if you have a connecting journey, make sure to enter each flight segment separately, then add up your points.
You’ll get a detailed breakdown of exactly how many miles you’ll earn based on your fare class, as well as the loyalty tier points you’ll earn.
Use the British Airways Flight Calculator.
Hotel Stays
When you click through the British Airways Shopping Portal, you’ll earn Avios miles, as well as your hotel loyalty perks and points.
You can also choose to earn Avios when you book with these British Airways partnered hotels and booking services:
Earn Avios When You Book Direct at these Hotels:
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Convert Hotel Loyalty Points to Avios
Although converting your hotel loyalty points to Avios, or another frequent flier loyalty program, doesn’t represent the highest value of points, you may find yourself in a position where you’d like to consolidate your points into one currency. Keep in mind, you’ll likely lose value doing this, so leave this as a last resort only if you need to consolidate your points into one currency.
There are often frequent transfer bonus promotions which you should at the very least wait to capitalize on. Sign up for mailing lists, follow social media accounts, and visit the websites of the loyalty programs you’re interested in to keep up to date with them.
These hotel loyalty programs allow you to transfer to Avios. Pay attention to the conversion ratio:
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Earn Avios When You Book Through These Booking Sites
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Learn more about the hotels you can earn British Airways Avios with.
Make sure to sign up for the respective hotel’s loyalty program to earn and hotel and Avios points.
Sweet Spot
It’s worth paying attention to British Airways transfer bonuses. If you are thinking about converting your hotel loyalty points to Avios, at least try to wait for a sale. They happen frequently enough you can be strategic if you’re planning your travels far enough in advance. These transfer bonuses have been known to reward an extra 35% in points and the window to transfer can last a month or more, giving you time to plan, so it’s definitely worth waiting for.
Exclamation Point!
Keep in mind that if you are booking through a third party booking site, although you may earn Avios points, it will likely be considered a non-qualifying stay which means you won’t be entitled to your hotel loyalty perks, and it won’t count towards earning status with the hotel. Sites like Agoda or Rocketmiles may award you more loyalty points, but the trade-off is you’ll pay more for your room.
Convert your hotel points to Avios miles here.
Car Rentals
When you rent a car with Avis or Budget, you’ll earn Avios miles.
Earn British Airways Avios with Avis Car Rentals
- Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent. You’ll earn a minimum of:
- 500 Avios per one or two-day rental or
- 700 Avios per three-day rental or more.
- Earn 250 bonus Avios when you pay for your Avis car rental using your RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Credit Card.
Earn British Airways Avios with Budget Car Rentals
- Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent. You’ll earn a minimum 250 Avios per rental.
Learn more about earning Avios with car rentals.
Earn Avios Miles With Travel Rewards Cards in Canada
American Express Membership Rewards Cards
American Express Membership Rewards Cards are the perfect travel rewards Cards in Canada to earn travel reward points that can be transferred to your British Airways Avios account, or other frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.
The points you earn on these Cards can be converted at any time to British Airways Avios miles.
Here is a list of the American Express Membership Rewards Cards in Canada that you can earn and transfer your points to British Airways at a 1:1 transfer ratio (1 Amex Reward is equal to 1 Avios).
American Express Platinum Card Canada
Earn a Welcome Bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points.
American Express Gold Rewards Card Canada
Earn a Welcome Bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points.
American Express Cobalt Card
Earn a Welcome Bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
American Express Business Platinum Card Canada
Earn a Welcome Bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points.
American Express Business Gold Rewards Card Canada
Earn a Welcome Bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
American Express Business Edge Card
Now discontinued.
Refer a Friend to American Express in Canada
American Express has a great referral program, and referring friends and family members to sign up for the same Card as you is the quickest and easiest way to start travelling faster.
Here’s what American Express Cards offer referral bonuses in Canada. Keep in mind that you’ll need to be a Cardmember of the Card you’re looking to refer others to.
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Example Time: You’ll earn 15,000 American Express points that you can convert to 15,000 British Airways Avios miles when you refer a friend or family member to sign up for an American Express Platinum Card Canada. You must be an existing cardholder to earn the referral bonus. Apply now!
Sweet Spot
Be ultra PointsWise and transfer your points during the American Express/British Airways transfer promotion and earn an extra 30% in points, and you’ll end up with 19,500 Avios miles just from a referral!
That’s enough for a free one-way flight to Hawaii from the west coast, or enough for a free one-way flight from Toronto to London.
Promotion times vary, but historically this happens from September to October in Canada.
With this scenario you can start to see how referrals add up quickly. All the more reason to keep learning about how to travel hack so you can help your friends and family book their trips, and they can help you with earning referral points.
RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card will allow you to earn 2 Avios per $1 CAD spent on British Airways and British Airways Holidays, and 1 Avios per $1 CAD spent on all other qualifying purchases.
You’ll also receive a welcome bonus of up to 50,000 Avios miles upon reaching these milestones:
- Earn 15,000 Avios as welcome bonus upon approval.
- Earn 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend $5,000 CAD in the first 3 months.
- Earn 10,000 bonus Avios when you renew your card after your first year.
Earn Bonus Points When You Buy Avios Miles
If you’re just short of the miles it takes to fund your next trip, then buying Avios may make sense to you. However, it’s otherwise not good value to purchase large amount of points. Your best strategy is to earn the bulk of your Avios miles from credit card welcome bonuses.
British Airways frequently holds promotions that give you bonus miles when you buy miles.
To purchase Avios you’ll need to login and have at least one Avios point in your British Airways Executive Club account, otherwise you might see an abrupt error message.
Learn more and buy Avios miles here.
Earn Avios Miles with the British Airways Shopping Portal
If you’re not using shopping portals to earn extra points on purchases you’d be making anyway, it’s time to up your travel hacking game!
Learn more about the British Airways Shopping Portal with our detailed guide coming up next.
How to Keep Your Points From Expiring
Avios miles expire after 3 years of inactivity on your account, but it’s easy to keep your Avios miles even if you have no immediate travel plans.
Just make sure to do one of the following before their expiry date:
- Shop via the British Airways Shopping Portal.
- Buy Avios miles.
- Transfer Avios to family member or friend.
- Book a Flight.
- Transfer American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways (learn how to).
