Idiots Guide to Avios

[JimberlyJo]

I have over 20k Avios points which are expiring soon. I always just seem to lose them as I use lots of different airlines, not just BA.

How can I keep them live? Any way to earn some bonus points to give the points a boost, and maybe be a useful amount?

Was thinking of booking a Qatar flight for January, and know there is a tie-in, would getting an Amex now help? If so, which one?

Also can someone explain "companion voucher"?

Sorry, am clueless...

We use Avios and companion vouchers for flights. We flew to and from Austin (family of 6) for around £3K instead of about £7K using a mix of companion vouchers and avios. Just booked flights to Florida for next year for 5 and it's £2,800 instead of over £5K. Yes there are restrictions on which flights you can use them on but you can use them in school holidays and you just have to plan ahead as tickets go quickly to popular destinations. If I remember rightly (it's my DH who sorts it all I'm a bit clueless!) you earn a companion voucher once you earn a certain number of avios points. There is a time limit on the vouchers but I've never lost avios points (as far as I'm aware) they just keep clocking up. We have AMEX cards and put pretty much everything on them.

Avios don't expire unless you have no transactions for 36 months. It's quite easy to earn extra using online shopping through the app so this shouldn't be a problem. 20k isn't a lot and will just about get you one return flight to a U.K. or near Europe destination. You can also use them as part payment. I don't acquire very many either so usually just use them to discount flights that we would have booked anyway. If you don't think you can use them, you can turn them into Nectar points.