THE January sales are about to land and now is an excellent time to bag yourself a bargain, whether it’s a summer holiday, homeware or that
set of golf clubs you’ve had your eye on for months.
But don’t just spend your cash willy-nilly. I’m going to let you in on
my top travel hack that will help you score big in the sales – bagging
yourself a free holiday, just by doing your ordinary shopping.
I can truthfully say, there is no catch. The more you spend, the
greater your getaway.
So, what’s the secret? Avios. But not in the way you know it.
You’ll likely have heard of the flight rewards system, whereby travel
spend is converted into points that can be redeemed against flights,
hotels, shopping and more.
The chances are, however, you’re not using the system properly. And by that, I mean reaping mega benefits every time you spend.
Read More on Money Saving Tips
I’m not just talking about flight spend. You can earn points every
time you catch the train to work, fill up your car with fuel, or do
your weekly grocery shop.
Say hello to the Avios portal. I believe it to be the BEST
points-benefits system out there for travellers – and I’m an avid
subscriber to rewards schemes (special nod to my Boots card and the
MyWaitrose account).
Right now, I am just shy of enough points to fly to New York City in
business class with British Airways (I have 80,000 to be exact).
A business class seat would cost me 88,000 points flying at an
off-peak time. Although I would still have to pay a £199.50 flat fee,
a nominal charge that covers taxes, carrier fees and a fixed Avios
amount.
That cost is small, though, when you consider the fact that the
absolute cheapest business class flight you can currently book to NYC
with British Airways is £1,832 – and that’s in the January sale,
meaning I would have saved a minimum of £1,600 by using points.
To put this into a wider perspective, I could also fly to Sydney in
Australia (55,000 points) or Tokyo and back again (38,500 points each
way) or even to Amsterdam and back again up to FOUR times (10,000
points each way).
Flat fees are tiny on short-haul flights too, with costs to
destinations like Amsterdam, Corfu and Gran Canaria capped at just £1
as opposed to the near £200 for my fancy NYC business class seat.
My high points score has nothing to do with me being a travel editor,
either. In fact, I earn very little from my adventures through work
and barely anything from flights alone.
Instead, it’s my regular, everyday spending that helps me earn big with Avios.
My commute to work, my trips to the BP for fuel and my incessant
fashion purchases on ASOS are what stacks those points up.
Better still, if you’re doing a big splurge in the January sales, you
can rake them in thick and fast.
So, how does it work and where can you earn?
Thousands of retailers have partnerships with the Avios store. You can
earn when you spend on hotels, homeware, sports, fashion, toys,
attractions and entertainment from Argos and TravelZoo to Boots and
Alton Towers.
The number of points you earn varies per retailer, for example when
you purchase from M&S Flowers & Hampers you will earn up to 24 Avios
per £1 spent, whereas booking a rail journey through Trainline will
earn you 1 Avios per £1 spent.
Many retailers have bonus offers for January, including Booking.com where you can bag 8 Avios per £1 until January 31, up from 4 Avios per £1 and Viator which has a 12 Avios per £1 offer until February 7, 2026.
My rule of thumb whenever I shop for something (big or small) is:
check whether the retailer I want to buy from is on the Avios shop,
and if not, can I buy the product I want from another retailer that
will earn me points?
To collect points on in-store purchases, you simply have to link your
card – any card – to your account and spend on this card in
Avios-linked stores.
To make online purchases, you have to register your visit to the
retailers website by first going through the Avios shop website
(avios.com).
Simply log on, click on ‘collect avios’ and search for the retailer in the ‘search for brands’ box.
Once you’ve found the retailer, click on ‘shop now’ to register your visit and carry out your online shopping as you would normally. It really is that simple.
If, like me, you do a lot of shopping on your phone, I’d recommend
downloading the Avios app, which makes things a little easier and
keeps you logged in.
Your Avios is then redeemable with certain airlines, which includes
OneWorld Alliance partners like British Airways and Qatar Airways as
well as Aer Lingus and Vueling.
You can also book holiday packages, including flights and hotels, through British Airways Holidays.
So, how long does it take before you earn yourself enough for a free
flight or holiday? Well, that’s difficult to answer.
Last time I wrote about Avios was in April 2025 and back
then I had 57,000 points. Now I have 80,000 – so I’ve earned myself
23,000 points in 8 months, the equivalent of a return flight to
Brussels, Paris or Turin in Italy.
But I’m single and in the process of buying my first home, so my
spending is frugal.
If you use this hack to do your January sale shopping, however, you’ll
certainly be one step closer to bagging yourself a free getaway.
Here’s some useful tips for shopping through the Avios Shop….
Get yourself an Amex
First things first, get yourself an American Express (AMEX) credit
card, if you don’t already have one. Yes, you don’t technically need
one in order to collect points, but it’s an easy way to boost your
earnings. I have the free British Airways Amex.
Just make sure you pay it off in full every month. And if you don’t
trust yourself to do all of your spending on that card, start by
committing to a small and regular spend, like the weekly food shop.
If you’re successfully approved for a British Airways free Amex,
you’ll be given a bonus 5,000 Avios if you spend £2,000 in the first
three months of having the card.
It’s an incentive – and credit card companies are hoping that you forget to pay them back, so just make sure you have enough money in your current account to pay off the spend and don’t get caught out.
Link your accounts
Accounts that you use regularly like Uber are a great way of boosting
your points. You can link certain regular accounts you use to your
Avios account.
For example, I have my BPme Rewards and Uber account both linked to my Avios one, which means I don’t need to log on and register my visit as
explained above, with normal online shopping.
Everything is done automatically and I’m earning points without lifting a finger.
I book my train to work through Uber every time and it earns me a
steady and regular number of points every month.
Look for deals
Right now you can bag a bonus 50 per cent Avios with certain retailers.
There are so many deals at various times of the year. There’s
also special offers on certain deals such as The Wine Flyer, whereby
you earn a promises amount of points if you spend over a certain
figure on bottles.
Most recently, over the Christmas period, if you spent over £150 on wine through the Avios shop, you’d bag 5,000 bonus Avios on top of the usual 5 Avios per £1 spent,
But my rule is never to spend unless you really need it. The whole
point of a free holiday or flight is that you’re only spending on what
you would normally.
Sign up your parent/partner/pal
You’ll bag a bonus 500 Avios if you refer a friend – a simple referral
code does the trick.
You’ll also notice certain offers, such as a bonus 9,000 Avios if you order a second Amex linked to your account for a partner or child to spend on.
You’ll then be responsible for paying off their spend, however. But there’s nothing stopping you from ordering a second card and not passing it over to that person, though.
That way you’ll bag the bonus points without the panic. Just keep your
eyes peeled for those offers in your inbox.
For more on how to save money on your next travel trip, read more from one woman who flies every month and does 7 things to save herself cash.
And here are our Sun-approved booking tips, plane hacks and travel products that can save you hundreds on holiday.