Everything you need to know about collecting Avios, the loyalty program of British, Iberia, Vueling and many others

After the Millemiglia program, in Italy it is definitely Avios that is the most popular and has the most partners that allow you to accumulate points without flying.

Which companies allow you to accumulate avios

All of the companies in the One World alliance allow us to accumulate avios by flying, so all we need to do is indicate our BA or Iberia card number when we fly Qantas or American Airlines, for example, to see the relevant points credited to our account.

In detail we discuss the companies belonging to the IAG group: British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling.

The first peculiarity to know is that each of these 4 companies has its own loyalty club, but it is possible to share aviosios between programs. It means, for example, that you can move aviosios accrued with Iberia to your British account to book a flight with Aer Lingus.

This first special feature is able to allow, depending on the promotions and clubs they belong to, passengers to take advantage of promotions and bonuses but without scattering points in individual programs in which the necessary amount would hardly be reached.

Unfortunately, a great opportunity was missed with the bankruptcy of Air Italy, the former Meridiana airline; it was part of the One World alliance and had specifically chosen Avios for its My Air Italy Club.

When the avios expire

Unlike the happens with millemile points, the points avios practically never expire. Or rather they have a term of 36 months, but all it takes is any transaction that changes the portfolio that the term is renewed for another 36 months. This means that it will be enough to earn even 1 avios every 36 months not to see one's collection reset.

This is no small advantage, allows those who do not fly often with these companies to be able to accumulate virtually indefinitely while waiting for their award ticket to be redeemed

How to accumulate avios in Italy

The first mode is to fly, then there are all the commercial, financial, tourism partners as with Alitalia.

It starts with cobranded credit cards that allow you to earn avios with everyday spending.

Then there is the possibility of turning Esselunga strawberry points at a 1:1 ratio into Avios, just as there is with the coop points with Alitalia.

There are also classic partners such as car rentals, hotels, and insurance in addition to the dedicated shopping portal that allows you to buy virtually anything by earning avios on every expense.

It is also possible to transform Membership Rewards points of American Express into Avios with a conversion ratio of 5:4, the best after Alitalia's 1:1.

Why choose to accumulate Avios

As we explained in this article, the choice of accumulation program should be made on the basis of personal needs.

The One World alliance encompasses companies all over the world, and this translates into a greater opportunity to find the desirable flight, such as from Hong Kong to Tokyo, a domestic flight in the United States, to Australia.

How many avios points are needed for a flight

Again, the difference with Alitalia, apart from the hundreds of destinations, is that the award table has two different costs between high and low season.

For example, a round-trip ticket from Milan to London in economy during peak season (such as the Christmas vacations) costs 18 thousand avios plus 61€ in taxes. The difference with an off-season ticket for this type of flight is small, only 1,000 avios, but if you are looking for a London-New York ticket you can save as much as 30% of the necessary avios.

As with Alitalia, British Airways also charges taxes on the award ticket and in this case BA is even more evil: Fees vary depending on the class of travel and the country of departure. If you depart from England they are much more expensive compared to those in other states such as Ireland, Italy or Holland.

Can I turn Membership Rewards points into avios?

Yes, you can transfer from the dedicated page the membership points in avios, the partners are Iberia, British and the conversion rate is 5:4, it means 100 thousand MR points correspond to 80k avios.

Can I connect the dots in my family?

One of the questions often asked about membership points is whether they can be accumulated with friends and family, the answer unfortunately is no. Many frequent flyer programs allow you to create a kind of family account to pool the points accumulated by all members to get award tickets. Avios is one of them you can do account pooling and in this way transfer MR points and find yourself then one family nest egg.

• Avios
• One World