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How we got started with points - earning 250,000 points in 2 years

  • Writer: Jordan Sinclair
    Jordan Sinclair
  • Apr 17
  • 4 min read

If you haven’t already read our points overview, find it here.


Just to clarify - this is not financial advice, this is just our opinion, and what we’ve done to maximise the introductory points bonuses. Make sure you check the terms for any card before you apply, and ALWAYS pay it off in full every month.



Step 1 - Jordan’s Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card


  • This card is free to hold for 1 year, and after that, has an annual fee of £195.

  • Jordan took this card out first, using a referral code AND timed it during the twice - yearly points boost.

  • Jordan added Chrisy as a supplementary card holder for THAT points bonus AFTER receiving the card (not on application).

  • We did all of our normal spending on this card - think weekly shop, fuel etc, to reach the minimum spend for the bonus.


***** AMEX CURRENTLY HAVE A BOOSTED INTRODUCTORY BONUES OF 45,000 FOR NEW CARDHOLDERS, BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE A REFERRAL CODE. This offer is running until 26th May 2026 -  send us a message on socials or email hello@spendlesstravelmore.co.uk for a referral.



Step 2 - Chrisy’s Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card


  • After (almost) 1 year, Jordan referred Chrisy so we both received a point bonus, then downgraded the Amex gold to the basic Amex card to avoid the £195 annual fee but retain the points. (You must either transfer your points eg. To Avios, or downgrade your card to keep them as Amex membership reward points, which are more flexible).

  • We then did all of our normal spending on Chrisy’s Gold card to achieve the minimum spend.

  • Chrisy added Jordan as a supplementary card holder.

  • Chrisy downgraded to the basic Amex before the card anniversary to avoid the £195 fee.


Step 3 - Avios shopping portal


  • Meanwhile, where possible, we used the Avios shopping portal to gain extra points on purchases we were going to make anyway just by clicking the link (but always check the price doesn’t change).


Step 4 - Amex Travel portal


  • We booked some flights through the Amex travel portal to gain the additional bonus points.

  • We only did this once as we found that often the flights were more expensive doing it this way, and not worth the points, but it’s worth checking.



Step 5 - Sign up to EVERY airline loyalty or frequent flyer programme


  • Anytime we took a flight, we signed up to the loyalty programme to collect the points. We also backdated some points from a flight we took a few months before we were clued up on them!

  • Aer Lingus is the only short haul airline in the UK that has a loyalty programme - helpful for us for flying to/from Ireland!

  • We eventually transferred Q points (from Qatar airline) and Aer Lingus points into Avios to redeem, as they are in the same alliance as British Airways.


Step 6 - Pool Avios in a household account


  • We pooled our points in a British Airways Club household account, meaning Chrisy could transfer points earned through Aer Lingus (he flew a lot to Ireland that year) and we could both make use of them.

  • This is also a way of children earning points - under 18s cannot have a standalone account but they CAN earn points from flying if they are added to a household account.



TIP - check if your airline points will expire. Qatar’s points expire after 36 months of inactivity. So ensure you transfer them to an active account (we transferred ours to our British Airways Club account) before you lose them.


Step 7 - Link Tesco Clubcard account with Virgin Red account


  • Jordan used a referral code to sign up for a free Virgin Red account, then linked her Tesco Clubcard to autoconvert the points.

  • She sent Chrisy a referral code, and he did the same.

  • As long as we both have 250 clubcard points in the accounts by 10th May 2026, we’ll receive a total of 12,000 Virgin points.




**** This offer is running until 10th May -  send us a message on socials or email hello@spendlesstravelmore.co.uk for a referral.


Step 8 - British Airways American Express (free)


  • Jordan now has the British Airways Amex card, which entitles the card holder to a companion voucher (meaning buy one flight, get your travel companion’s free - in economy class only) subject to a minimum card spend within the year.

  • Jordan added Chrisy as a supplementary card holder, gaining a bonus for that. We now do all our everyday spending on this card to get to the threshold for the companion voucher.

  • There is a premium version of this card, with an annual fee, which allows you to book a companion voucher in any seat class.


Our plan going forward…


Once we qualify for the BA Companion Voucher, we will likely look at one of the Mastercard points cards (Barclaycard or Virgin Atlantic) but will hold out to see if there’s any inflated points bonuses, and only if we think we can achieve the minimum spend in GBP. As we’re off on our year sabbatical (adult gap year), it might not be worth it for us, as we won’t use the card abroad due to foreign transaction fees. The Virgin Atlantic cards are a consideration, as they have no foreign exchange fees in Europe, but our trip plan (at the moment) doesn’t involve much of Europe.



Play the long game


We started earning points using all of these methods YEARS before we intended to use them. We initially aimed to earn enough points to upgrade to business class for our honeymoon, but we didn’t end up doing this due to our flight path and times - we figured it wasn’t worth it for that journey in the end. Instead, all the points we’ve been squirrelling away for years will pay for the majority of our flights on our sabbatical / grown up gap year (economy class).


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