How do air miles work?

How does air miles work? How do I accumulate air miles through my debit card and credit cards?

• Answer:

  The UK company that for many years distributed Air Miles has undergone a change and now distributes Avios.   Much the same thing, all my Air Miles simply became Avios.   A benefit of the change is that British Airways also distrubtes Avios so I can save when I fly as well as other ways (I'll come to that). But every airline (well, nearly) has some form of airmiles scheme.   You fly on one of their planes you get some miles (or points).   For instance American Airlines has their "AAdvantage" program and Lufthansa has "Miles and More". Unless you fly enormous numbers of miles it probably makes sense to only save with one or two programs.   One of the benefits of most programs is that you can save miles when you fly on some other airlines.   For instance I flew London/Sao Paulo and then Buenos Aires/London on British Airways recently.   I also flew Sao Paulo/Santiago/Easter Island/Santiago on LAN and got BA Avios when I flew on LAN as well as from the BA flights. Most programs have a range of ways to save.   Airlines (obviously) give you miles when you fly but they will sometimes also offer a linked credit card and, as you spen on the card, you get points; BA here in the UK offer an Amex card I believe.   BA also have a shopping portal.   Go there, select the shop you want to use, read the conditions to understand whether the transaction you are about to undertake earns miles, shop, pay and get Avios.   What else?   I am a member of the Hilton and Holiday Inn programs; I can earn points for free nights in hotels but I can also convert those points to BA Avios (and I believe other airlines points) The actual Avios company has a range of ways to save, look at their website.   Like BA they have a shopping portal, works much the same way.   The supermarket Tesco offers their own points system and I can choose to swap their points for Avios.   When I but Shell petrol I can convert their points to Avios. BUT Well, there are several "buts".   For a start different airlines (and Avios type companies) have different systems, you need to study each program to see which suits you best.   I have NOT listed all the ways you can earn points. Next "but" relates to spending your accumulated points.   If you're thinking you can just save a few points and get a free flight, forget it.   There are 2 problems; firstly there aren't that many seats made available by the airlines.   Secondly you need to spend a lot of money and do lots of flying to even start looking for a flight.   Many people believe that using the points to upgrade is a better bet and I've done that on a couple of occasions. Here's some better news.   You don't have to spend all your points on flying.   with some programs you can spend points on a day out at a theme park or the theatre or a spa. If you want to earn with your existing cards you probably can't (but ask the card provider).   You will need to obtain one that is specifically linked to your chosen program. Life gets really fun when you earn multiple points in one transaction.   Let's say I buy from Tesco - I get their points which I can convert to Avios.   If I pay with my Amex card (which is linked to United) I get United points as well.   If I'm shopping online I can get to Tesco via the BA portal so I would earn BA points as well. It's a minefield.