How I earned over 100000 Avios air miles with American Express in 9 months in the UK

I signed up for 3 American Express (Amex) credit cards in the UK over the last 9 months. The beauty is that I didn’t spend any additional money per month during that time (apart from the fee to get the credit card). And here I am now, finishing up my 9 months with over 100000 avios airmiles (130,000+ actually!). AND a ‘companion voucher’ which means the next time I fly Business Class with British Airways, my wife gets a FREE seat beside me in business (even in long-haul, return flights!). God, I wish I had sussed this stuff out years ago.

I also have 2 unlimited Prestige Priority Passes which allow me access to business class lounges in almost every airport in the world, even when I fly economy (hello Ryanair!). These are valued at £339 each! I gave one to my mum, and she loves nothing more than to drink Champagne in the lounge before she boards her 350 quid Aeroflot economy flight from UK to Thailand and back to visit me! You can see how much I love Priority Pass in my Priority Pass review here. I would never travel without it, honestly.

3 Steps to my 100000 Avois miles

Anyway, the process was super easy. The main gist of it is to sign up for credit card, spend your normal spending, get the sign-up bonus, then stop using the card. And get another card. It’s as easy as that. And takes about 5 minutes each time.

WHY THIS HACK WORKS

Normally, it’s not possible because if you get a sign-up bonus with one credit card, it makes you ineligible for future sign-up bonuses. BUT, with American Express UK cards, they don’t recognise sign-up bonuses in different currencies. What does that mean? Well, the 3 cards that you’re going to sign-up for, they give you sign-up bonuses in 3 different currencies.

• Nectar Points
• British Airways Points (known as Avios)
• American Express Membership points

The hack? You can convert Nectar points to Avios. AND you can convert American Express Membership points to Avios. So although Amex sees these 3 as 3 different sign-up bonuses, we can consolidate them all into British Airways AVIOS, meaning we can fly BUSINESS CLASS FOR FREE!

So let me lay it out so you can copy me, and then upload awful selfies on a business class flight like me. Remember, you HAVE TO DO THE CREDIT CARDS IN THIS ORDER.

STEP 1: American Express Nectar

First, you sign up for American Express Nectar. The card is free in the first year (and you cancel it way before then, so it’s free).

• Spend £2,000 within 3 months and earn 20,000 Nectar Points as a sign-up bonus (21,000 with this link). The card is FREE!
• Start using your Amex card for everything (rather than your Natwest Visa Debit or whatever, which gives you almost no bonuses!)
• You get 2 Nectar points for £1 you spent on the card, on top of your sign-up bonus.
• With the Nectar Signup bonus, and the points I accrued from using this for my life expenses, I earned 37,500 Nectar points (I think I spent about £3,500 each month roughly). I then converted these 37,500 Nectar points to AVIOS miles.

TOTAL POINTS I EARNED HERE: 23,500 British Airways AVIOS

Remember, I didn’t do ANYTHING different from my normal life. I simply signed up to this free card, and carried on as normal. The only thing I had to do was register for a Nectar card (5 minutes), and sign-up for the Amex Nectar Card (5 minutes). Everything else, I just lived my life as always. But this time, I was rewarded with 23,500 Avios.

Just make sure you spend at least £2,000 within 3 months (so 670 quid a month) to get the bonus, that’s the key.

STEP 2: British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

After you hit your sign-up bonus with the Nectar American Express, go back on the Amex app or website and sign-up for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card. As soon as it arrives, call Amex and cancel the Nectar Card.

The BA AMEX Premium card is how you get the ‘Companion Voucher’. If you spent £10k in a year (800 quid or so a month), they simply issue you the voucher right into the app. This is the BEST, MOST VALUABLE OFFER IN UK CREDIT CARD HISTORY and it’s here to stay. So try to make sure you spend the £10k in the year to avail of the offer.

• Spend £3,,000 within 3 months and earn 40,000 Nectar Points as a sign-up bonus – 42,00 AVIOS with my link. (This is a super special offer, but when I did it, the offer wasn’t on. I got the standard 25,000 Avios miles as my sign-up bonus).
• The card is £250 a year. BUT there is another hack here too. Once you hit your £3,000 spend in the first 3 months, and get your sign-up bonus. You can call Amex and cancel the card, and get the remaining 9 months worth of the 250 quid refunded (about £190 back!).
• Start using your Amex card for everything again.
• Collect 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent, on top of your sign-up bonus. With the BA Amex Signup bonus, and the points I accrued from using this for my life expenses, about 30,000 Avios. This time I only spent about £1,800 each month roughly.
• BONUS: AMEX constantly has promotions and offers for Amex users. I earned an EXTRA 10,000 AVIOS on a promotion that stated if I spent £5k in 3 months, they’ll give me an additional 10k Avios. So I made sure I did that!

TOTAL POINTS I EARNED HERE: 40,000 British Airways AVIOS airmiles

STEP 3: American Express Platinum Card

After you hit your sign-up bonus with the BA American Express premium, go back on the Amex app or website and sign-up for the British Airways Platinum Card.

• When I signed up during COVID, the offer was 60,000 miles for a £6k spend in 6 months (£1k a month). Currently the offer is a 30,000 Mile sign-up bonus (35,000 with my link) after a £4k spend within 3 months.
• The card is £575 a year. BUT there is another hack here too. Once you hit your £4,000 spend in the first 3 months, and get your sign-up bonus. You can call Amex and cancel the card, and get the remaining 9 months worth of the 575 quid refunded (about £430 back!).
• Start using your Amex card for everything again.
• Earn 1 point for every £1 spent, on top of your sign-up bonus. With the BA Platinum Signup bonus, and the points I accrued from using this for my life expenses, I earned about 68,000 Amex Membership points.
• Within the Amex app, I transferred those 68,000 Membership points to my British Airways account at a 1:1 ratio.

TOTAL POINTS I EARNED HERE: 68,000 British Airways AVIOS air miles

TOTAL British Airways AVIOS EARNED IN 9 MONTHS: 131,000 Avios

But remember, I didn’t JUST earn 131,000 Avios. I also now have 2 Priority Passes, one which you can gift to anyone by granting them a supplementary Platinum card (for free). I also have a free travel insurance with the cards, as well as a host of other benefits. But they confuse matters, the real beauty is the air miles AND the Companion Voucher.

So what can I do with 131,000 Air miles and a companion voucher? London to Mexico, over 11 hours, in business class is 125,000 Avios. Now, you have a companion voucher, so your friend/spouse/family member (anyone you want) now can sit beside you ZERO airmiles, you just pay tax.

British Airways business class is called ‘Club World’. So imagine this. You’ve done nothing else but pay a couple of hundred quid for Amex cards, and just spent the same as you always do. But now, when you fly to Mexico (or New York, or Singapore, or wherever), the next time you fly like this with a loved one in the seat beside you!

British Airways Club World

The begs the common question, what is an airmile worth. Or, what is an avios airmile worth? It’s difficult to say. But the very rough rule is that each Avios air mile is worth ROUGHLY 0.05p. But, if you use it correctly, it’s worth much more. My example here?

What is 100000 Avios airmiles worth?

Here, in my example for me and my wife. We’re going to fly from London to Mexico, return, in business class with British Airways (known as Club World).

You can see the normal price of this ticket is £4732 (over $6,000USD). So to get this ‘free’, and just pay taxes, is a HUGE saving. And a wonderful experience for me to share with my wife. Or for you guys to share with someone you love.

I would never pay this kind of price for a flight. But, with these new air mile games, suddenly it’s possible to have the experience. What a winner.

Final thoughts on my journey to 100000 Avios in 9 months

What can I say? This isn’t some complicated, crazy spreadsheet ‘game’ that requires a genius. It’s a simple, step-by-step guide to earn 100000 Avios or more within a year. I tried, I did it, and now I can’t wait to spend my Avios. The Companion Voucher means I can share it with my partner too. And all for a few hundred quid in credit card fees. That’s money well spent! Let me know if it works for you guys too!

Don’t forget to use my link each time you sign up – you get EXTRA FREE airmiles added to your sign-up bonus, and I get referral miles to add to my airmiles too. Win-win!

SIGN-UP FOR AMEX CARDS HERE.