Calling 44-year-old Barry Collins a “shotgun drinker” feels woefully inappropriate given his level of dedication to the craft. More precisely, he is a points millionaire after completing a challenge set in the last months of 2024 by the Scandinavian airline SAS – to fly around the world using the lines operated by 15 members of the SkyTeam Alliance.
Describing the experience as TV Race around the world without cameras, Barry’s points-collecting odyssey cost him £3,950 and involved 21 economy flights, many of them long-haul. This has earned him 1 million EuroBonus points, which – if spent wisely – can be worth £10,000.
Barry says: “Every single man I’ve told about it says, ‘That sounds so nice,’ but every single woman asks, ‘And WHO taking care of your children?’”
The promotion of SAS has attracted great interest from point enthusiasts worldwide, as well as strong criticism from environmentalists.
SAS declined to disclose the number of passengers who have completed the million-point challenge, but some travel bloggers estimate it could be in the hundreds. Many, like Barry, were doing it for the thrill of the chase. On one flight, from Guangzhou to Nairobi, he discovered that 10 of his passengers – nine men and one woman – were all on the same quest.
I find this very fascinating. What is it that makes so many men worthless for points? What steps will they go to to maximize the technique of collecting points and redeeming them – and if you’re tempted to do it yourself, is it ever worth it?
The consumer outrage this week over British Airways’ decision to change its Executive Club loyalty scheme from April shows you just how important these things are to a certain type of traveller.
The gamification of the points industry creates addictive lure, says Rob Burgess, a former investment banker behind Head for Points, a travel website dedicated to frequent flyer schemes and hotel points.
We met for lunch in the Square Mile but the day before he had taken his teenage son to Paris (dotted over) and they ate at a great Sushi place for next to nothing using his £150 foreign dining credit Amex Platinum.
“It’s human nature to enjoy beating the system,” he smiles. The 40,000 people who subscribe to his Saturday newsletter certainly agree. But to beat the system, you have to invest time in understanding it.
There’s free money to be had – but there’s also money to be lost if you take your eye off the ball. Most cards have annual fees; extremely high interest rates are charged if you don’t clear your balance in full each month, and the temptation to overspend in pursuit of points is ever-present.
And if too many people get too good at gaming the system, airlines can move the goalposts. Rob reckons BA’s changes will make it “very difficult, bordering on impossible” for leisure travelers to gain coveted ‘gold’ status in the future.
However, January is the peak time of year for newbies to start collecting points. The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card offers a bonus token of 30,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply before January 14 (these can be exchanged for Avios, plus a host of other airline and hotel points schemes).
Spend £25,000 on your card in the first year and you’ll get another 12,500 points. There are double points on foreign spending and airline transactions. See how easy it is to get sucked down this rabbit hole?
However, only a few manage to get very good value from points schemes, he notes. As a former banker, he is an expert at calculating points. The main lesson? Trading your points for business or first class flights gives you maximum redemption value.
When you pay with points, a first class fare costs three to four times more than economy. But if you pay in cash, it can cost 10 to 20 times more – so the premium flatbed cabin is (surprisingly) much better value.
“If you’re the kind of person who would pay £3,000 to fly first class, that means you have really of course £3,000 of your own money,’ he says. Understanding that this search is about getting the best value, rather than the lowest prices, explains why so many wealthy people are obsessed with collecting points. Plus, if you travel a lot for work, the points you collect from flights and hotels are effectively free.
Barry, a property developer and kitchen designer, was turned on to collecting points 10 years ago by another business owner who spent a lot of work-related expenses through points cards. He has never paid for a luxury flight in his life, but in the last decade, his hobby has flown his family in first or business class to Orlando, Cancún, the Caribbean and many other places for no more more than taxes and airline fees. the seats.
He is sad to learn that I have never flown anything but economy. I rarely fly and prefer to forego lounges and lie-flat beds to spend the money on first-class experiences in my chosen destination. You can’t lose what you never had.
However, a hidden benefit of paying airfare at points is flexibility. Give 24 hours notice and most airlines will only charge a nominal fee of £30 to change your flight. The forums are packed with tips for booking flights, such as using SeatSpy to notify you of new seats popping up instantly or SeatGuru to view airline seating plans.
Double or triple stacking is Barry’s top tip to maximize your points collection in 2025. Use the British Airways Avios shopping site as a portal to other retailers’ websites and you’ll rack up extra points. At the time of writing, you can get 16 Avios per £1 spent at Harvey Nicks and 18 at Diptyque. Great news if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind blowing £85 on a stylish candle. But there are always deals on hotel booking sites, travel insurance and other essentials you’ll probably need to buy anyway.
Barry then selects one of his 10 cards from a mobile wallet app called Curve, which adds another possible layer of collecting points or cash back — finally, there’s the points in the card transaction itself.
Nectar card points can be converted to Avios; you can also earn them on Uber rides. Do you like a tip? Wine Flyer always has good Avios offers. Energy companies, including Octopus, will allow you to pay your bill in Amex (forums advise setting up a low value direct debit and then top it up). You can also pay your council tax bills using a Visa or Mastercard points card.
However, Barry warns: “To collect a good amount of points, you have to do it for everything, every time. It’s all in or don’t bother.”
There are quite a few of my FT colleagues – all men – who are extremely interested in this topic. Dare I say, I think it’s even made Christmas shopping enjoyable for some of them!
Which brings me back to Barry’s wife, Cheryl. She was happy to look after the kids so Barry could fly and has booked a solo swimming holiday in Turkey – plus now she can share the millions of points with him.
Claire Barrett is consumer editor at the FT and author of ‘What they don’t teach you about money‘. claire.barrett@ft.com Instagram @Claerb
