How To Get Free Flights From Your Supermarket Shop

Just by doing your weekly food shop is a great way to pick up enough points to get yourself some free flights for your next holiday! The catch? There isn’t one! You don’t even need a credit card to collect the points! Intrigued? Read on!

Remember…

Avios flights aren’t truly ‘free’ British Airways charge so-called ‘taxes and fees’ on redemptions. Taxes and charges on British Airways short-haul returns are £35pp for economy and £50pp for business with Reward Flight Saver. Long-haul return redemptions in Club World and First Class are around £600 per person.

I don’t need a credit card to get free flights?

No… not at all! Whilst it will certainly increase your earning rate it’s not essential by any means! Whilst you probably already know Airlines & Hotels have their own loyalty programmes and you. Supermarkets also have their own loyalty programmes and with Sainsbury’s & Tescos, they offer the opportunity to swap your points earned on your shopping into flights!

Which one should I register for?

I would recommend registering for BOTH. Why? Because it’s FREE and EASY to do and will allow you to collect points on shopping in both supermarkets. To register see the links below…

Tesco Clubcard – https://secure.tesco.com/clubcard/
Nectar (Sainsburys) – https://www.nectar.com/

One other important thing to bear in mind is what Airlines you can redeem your points for. Tesco is partnered with Virgin Atlantic whereas Sainsbury’s/Nectar is partnered with British Airways. More on this below!

Earning free flights at Sainsbury’s

Recently Sainsbury’s announced their new partnership with British Airways which allows users to exchange between the two ‘currencies’ Nectar and Avios easily. Here is what you could earn shopping at Sainsbury’s…

400 Nectar Points will convert into 250 Avios points

On your shop, you can collect 1 points for every £1 you spend in-store, online and on fuel. On a £200 weekly shop, you’d earn 200 Nectar Points (125 Avios,) over a year that would be 10,400 (6,500 Avios)

Take a look at where you could go with those points here – https://pointsuncovered.com/avios/where-can-i-fly-to-for-5000-avios-points/

You can also double dip your points by purchasing using a points-earning credit card too! Here are some popular options…

Please note…

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards which can earn you travel points including the IHG credit card, If you use my link for a referral to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from

Get a referral for bonus points on American Express cards here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

Sainsburys Nectar Credit Card

Using the Sainsburys Nectar Credit Card (free) you’d earn an additional 2 points per £1 spent in Sainsbury’s. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 400 Nectar points (250 Avios Points) a week or 20,800 Nectar Points (13,000 Avios Points) a year.

American Express Nectar Credit Card

Using the American Express Nectar Credit Card (free for the 1st year) you’d earn an additional 2 points per £1 spent in Sainsbury’s (as well as everywhere else.) On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 400 Nectar points (250 Avios Points) a week or 20,800 Nectar Points (13,000 Avios Points) a year.

British Airways American Express Credit Card

British Airways have two American Express credit cards, The BA Credit Card (free) and BA Premium Plus (£195 annual fee.) Using the BA Credit card you’d earn 1 Avios per £1 spent. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 200 Avios a week or 10,400 Avios a year. If you were using the BA Premium Plus card you’d earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 300 Avios a week or 15,600 Avios a year. On the BA Premium Plus card, you’d also get a ‘2-4-1’ voucher for spending 10K in a year. Read more about the voucher here – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/are-ba-companion-vouchers-worth-it-ba-amex-2-4-1/

Other American Express Cards

Above we mentioned the British Airways American Express cards but you can also earn Avios on any card that earns membership reward points. The American Express Rewards Credit Card (free) & The Amex Gold Card (Free for the 1st year) earn 1 membership reward point per £1 spent. This can be exchanged to Avios at a 1:1 ratio. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 200 Avios Points a week or 10,400 Avios Points a year.

Earning free flights at Tesco

Tesco’s are partnered with Virgin Atlantic, they used to partner with British Airways too but now you can only collect them through Nectar/Sainsburys. Here is what you could earn shopping at Tesco…

250 in Clubcard points will convert into 625 Virgin Points.

On your shop, you can collect 1 point for every £1 you spend in-store and online. With fuel, it’s 1 point for every £2 you spend. On a £200 weekly shop you’d earn 200 Clubcard Points (500 Virgin Points,) over a year that would be 10,400 Clubcard Points (26,000 Virgin Points)

Take a look at where you could go with those points here – https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/points/spend-points/reward-flights.html

Remember you can double dip your points by purchasing using a points-earning credit card too! Here are some popular options…

Please note…

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards which can earn you travel points including the IHG credit card, If you use my link for a referral to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from

Get a referral for bonus points on American Express cards here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

Tesco Credit Card

Using the Tesco Credit Card (free) you’d earn an additional 1 point per £4 spent in Tescos. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 50 points (125 Virgin Points) a week or 2,600 (6,500 Virgin Points) a year.

Virgin Atlantic Credit Card

Virgin Atlantic have two credit cards, The Reward (free) and Reward+ (£160 annual fee.) Using the Reward card you’d earn 0.75 Virgin points per £1 spent. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 150 Virgin Points a week or 7,800 Virgin Points a year. If you were using the Reward+ card you’d earn 1.5 Virgin points per £1 spent. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 300 Virgin Points a week or 15,600 Virgin Points a year. On the Reward+ card, you’d also get a voucher for an upgrade to Premium or a Companion ticket for spending 10K in a year. Read more about the voucher here – https://pointsuncovered.com/virgin-atlantic/major-improvements-to-the-virgin-atlantic-credit-card/

American Express

American Express have a variety of credit cards, to earn Virgin Points you’ll need a card that earns membership reward points. The American Express Rewards Credit Card (free) & The Amex Gold Card (Free for the 1st year) earn 1 membership reward point per £1 spent. This can be exchanged to Virgin Points at a 1:1 ratio. On a £200 weekly shop for a family that’s an additional 200 Virgin Points a week or 10,400 Virgin Points a year.

Are you saving up for free flights?

As you can see it can be quite easy to pick a selection of points just by doing something you’d do normally, buying your food shop! Where do you do your food shop? Do the different loyalty schemes affect this?