My baby will pay for my holiday

All that spending on nappies and cots can be used to cover the costs of jetting off for some sun.

With five months to go, I’m quite enjoying this expectant father lark. OK, I’m spending far more of my life in Mothercare than I ever expected, but it’s not been that bad. And reading stories to your wife’s stomach, while somewhat peculiar at first, is actually pretty cool.

Of course, I hadn’t quite appreciated just how much having a baby costs. But I've figured out a way to ensure that getting the baby’s room just right and sorting out its clothes and toys won't be financially crippling – it will actually pay for next year’s holiday!

Airmiles with your groceries

My honeymoon last year was paid for with Airmiles, so it’s fair to say I’m something of a fan of the scheme. Without my dad doing so much shopping in Tesco, it would have been Aberdeen rather than Antigua for us.

The Airmiles came about thanks to Tesco’s Clubcard scheme, whereby you can exchange the points you accrue from shopping in the supermarket for Airmiles. £2.50 in Clubcard vouchers works out at 60 Airmiles.

I already do all of my grocery shopping in Tesco, and the amount I spend is only likely to increase with another mouth to feed, and nappies to buy. And more pounds spent means more points, which means more Airmiles!

Getting clever with your spending

However, thanks to my choice of credit card, I can actually rack up Airmiles wherever I spend my money, whether it’s in Tesco or elsewhere.

I put all of my spending on the Tesco Clubcard credit card. I first took it out last year when I had a wedding to pay for, as it offered a year free of interest on purchases. However, it’s got even better on that front now, offering 13 months at 0% interest – more than any other card.

Of course, the added bonus of the Clubcard credit card is that it earns you extra Clubcard points. You earn one point for every £4 you spend on the card wherever you spend it, while the card also doubles as your Clubcard itself. In other words, for every £4 you spend in Tesco, you get three Clubcard points – a pretty awesome return.

Currently we have about 600 miles in Airmiles thanks to converting Clubcard points into Airmiles over the past six months. That leaves us a little short of a trip to Zone 1 destinations, like Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, but judging by the cost of a pram, we’ll be there in no time!

The Airmiles credit cards

In truth, we are taking a slightly circuitous route towards racking up our Airmiles for next year’s holiday. If we really want to get the most from our money, then we will have to consider signing up for the Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo cards, the official cards of the Airmiles scheme.

The concept of getting two credit cards certainly threw me at first, but it does make sense. With the Duo cards, you get an American Express card, but also a Mastercard to cover for those stores that don’t accept American Express.

With the Mastercard, you’ll earn one mile for every £50 you spend on the card, which isn’t exactly fantastic, though the return on the Amex is far better – one mile for every £10 spent.

What’s more, new account holders will get a 1500 mile voucher, the equivalent of two Zone 1 flights. So just for taking out the cards, we would clinch that trip to Paris!

Everything’s Premier but the prices...

The Airmiles scheme offers an even better return on your spending should you sign up to the Lloyds Duo Premier Account. Again you get two cards, but the return from spending on them is increased by 25%.

You still get the 1500 air miles voucher, while you also qualify for a free Worldwide companion ticket should you spend £15,000 on the cards over the year.

However, you will have to fork out £50 in an annual fee for the cards.

The BA alternative

Of course, there are those that aren’t big fans of the Airmiles scheme and prefer to go with British Airways (a brave choice given the constant threat of strikes at the moment).

American Express runs the BA loyalty card, so again you will have to accept that your card will not be welcome everywhere. With the basic British Airways American Express card, you collect one BA mile for each £1 you spend, with a bonus 1,000 BA miles if you spend £500 in the first three months.

If you redeem your miles on a BA flight, and you’ve spent £20,000 on the card over the year, you’ll then get a free companion ticket for the same flight.

Alternatively you can go for the Premium Plus version of the card, which offers 1.5 miles for every £1 spent (and double if you spend that money on BA flights or holidays), with a bonus of a whopping 18,000 miles should you spend £3,000 in the first three months.

What’s more, you’ll only need to spend £10,000 on the card a year to qualify for the free companion ticket. However, you will need to shell out a £150 annual fee.

It’s worth remembering that you’ll need 9000 miles to pay for a flight to a Zone 1 destination with the BA scheme though.

The best of the rest

Inevitably, most flight operators boast their own credit card with loyalty points attached. Virgin Atlantic for example offers a choice between the excitingly named White Card or Black Card.

With the White Card, you get 1 Flying Club mile for every £1 you spend, with a 3,000 mile bonus for your first purchase on the card. Spend £10,000 on the card in a year and you’ll get an upgrade to Premium Economy, while you’ll also enjoy a 10% discount on all Virgin Holiday packages.

With the Black Card, you’ll get two Flying Club miles for every £1 spent, 6,000 bonus miles for the first purchase, 10% off all Virgin Holiday packages and an upgrade to Premium Economy for spending just £5,000 a year. However, a £115 fee applies.

Of course, given Virgin only cover long-haul flights, you’ll have to collect an awful lot of miles before you can jet off.

Elsewhere, if you love Ryanair, the firm reckons its credit card can earn you up to five bonus flights in the first year. Spend £100 in the first 90 days and you’ll receive one return fight, then spend £3,000 in each half of the year and you’ll secure a further four free flights.

The holiday pipedream

Truth be told, the reason I’m sticking with my Tesco card is not just because I’m lazy, but because I realise that the chances of us really going on holiday with a newborn baby are pretty slim. This way, if we don’t change up our vouchers for Airmiles, we can at least get money off our shopping.

However, if you’re determined to use your spending to sort out those flights to the Algarve, all of these cards represent a fantastic option.

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