How to redeem RevPoints on travel

RevPoints are one of the more interesting loyalty currencies in the UK, and the redeeming side of it is far deeper than "transfer to an airline and hope for the best."

Between twelve airline transfer partners, a handful of airlines that you can get gift cards for, in-app hotel bookings, and a few smaller redemption routes most people never think to check, there's strategy to be had here too, once you know the order of preference.

This is part three of our three part series on what RevPoints are. I covered the basics of RevPoints in part one, and the earning side in the follow-up. This one goes deep on every way to actually spend your points, including which routes give you the most for your balance, and which are really just a convenient way to burn a small amount you'd otherwise forget about.

Airline transfers

If your plan's earn rate did the heavy lifting on the earning side, airline transfers do the heavy lifting here. Almost every transfer from Revolut works on a simple 1:1 ratio, one RevPoint becomes one air mile, with a single exception: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, which transfers at 2:1, so it takes two RevPoints to get one KrisFlyer mile. There's no minimum for most partners, so even a modest balance isn't wasted, and transfers typically land within a few hours, sometimes instantly, which matters if you've spotted rare award availability and need to move quickly before someone else snatches it up.

One thing worth checking before you transfer anything: the name on your Revolut account has to match the name on your airline loyalty account exactly, or the transfer simply won't go through.

Transfer bonuses

Separately from how you earn points, Revolut periodically runs promotions that boost the value of points you already have, by offering a temporary uplift when you transfer to a specific airline partner. These have included smaller uplifts of around 20% on transfers to Avios for British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. At other times considerably larger bonuses, including a 50% uplift spotted on transfers to Turkish Airlines. The size and target airline of these promotions changes regularly and isn't something you can rely on being available when you need it, which is exactly why it's worth checking rather than assuming.

A big headline percentage doesn't automatically mean a good deal, either. If the destination programme is one with poor redemption value to begin with, a 50% bonus on it can still be a worse outcome than a smaller bonus somewhere more useful, since you're boosting a currency that buys you less to start with. Treat these promotions as a reason to check your options, rather than as a reason to transfer somewhere you otherwise wouldn't.

What actually counts as a good airline partner

Before you start transferring on autopilot, it's worth knowing that not every partner suits every traveller.

Twelve airline loyalty programmes are currently connected to RevPoints, and between alliance partnerships and codeshares, that gives practical reach into a good deal more than that once you count who else you can fly using those miles.

Avios is the one most UK readers will care about first. It's a shared currency used by British Airways Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus AerClub, Vueling Club, Finnair Plus, and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Because Avios moves freely between these accounts, a transfer into your British Airways account can later be shuffled into an Iberia or Aer Lingus redemption if that gets you better availability. It also reaches dozens of oneworld and partner airlines beyond these five.

Flying Blue covers Air France and KLM directly, at the same 1:1 ratio as everything else on this list, and reaches much further through SkyTeam and other partner airlines, everyone from Delta and Korean Air to Kenya Airways, Garuda Indonesia, and Virgin Atlantic. Its Promo Rewards offers regularly knock 25–50% off standard award prices, worth checking even if Air France or KLM wasn't the original plan. We'll come back to the full reach of Flying Blue's partner network below, since it's the single biggest multiplier on this list.

Etihad Guest covers flights and upgrades on Etihad, plus partners including American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles has one of the most generous partner networks in the sky and a great route map.

TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go gives you a bridge into the wider Star Alliance network.

Icelandair Saga Club is one of the newest additions, a handy option if Reykjavik works as a stopover on the way to North America, or perhaps if Iceland is firmly on your list.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is the other new arrival, and the one exception to the 1:1 rule mentioned above, 2 RevPoints buys you 1 KrisFlyer mile. Still worth having on the list, since KrisFlyer opens up Star Alliance redemptions including Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian Airlines, not just Singapore Airlines' own network.

SAS EuroBonus, Aegean Miles+Bonus, Avianca LifeMiles, and China Southern round out the list, redeemable across their respective networks and alliances (SkyTeam for SAS, Star Alliance for Aegean and Avianca).

This list has moved more than once in the past year alone, so it's always worth checking the Miles section of the app before assuming a programme isn't covered, or has changed since we last updated this piece.

The only real strategy here is matching: work out which alliance your usual routes belong to, oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance, then pick the partner within that alliance with the easiest booking experience. For most UK-based beginners, that's Avios.

Flying Blue's reach goes much further than Air France and KLM

Worth a section of its own, since it explains why RevPoints gets talked about as covering "40-odd airlines" when the transfer list itself only has twelve names on it. Flying Blue miles can be spent on a long list of SkyTeam and partner airlines well beyond Air France and KLM:

• Air France

• KLM

• Aerolíneas Argentinas

• Aeroméxico

• Air Corsica

• Air Europa

• Air Mauritius

• Air Baltic

• Aircalin

• Bangkok Airways

• Chalair Aviation

• China Airlines

• China Eastern

• Copa Airlines

• Delta Air Lines

• Garuda Indonesia

• GOL

• Japan Airlines

• Kenya Airways

• Korean Air

• Malaysia Airlines

• Middle East Airlines

• Qantas

• Saudia

• TAROM

• Transavia

• Twin Jet

• Vietnam Airlines

• Virgin Atlantic

• WestJet

• Xiamen Airlines

The rate to get your RevPoints into Flying Blue in the first place is still the standard 1:1, it's only once you're spending Flying Blue miles that this much wider network opens up. So if Delta or Virgin Atlantic is your target airline, Flying Blue is very likely the RevPoints route in, even though neither name appears on the transfer list itself.

The airlines you can only get as a gift card, not a mile transfer

A handful of well-known airlines show up in the Revolut app but aren't mile transfer partners at all, they're gift card redemptions via Revolut Pay and Shops instead.

At the time of writing, that includes easyJet, Ryanair, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, and Wizz Air.

It's worth being clear about the difference: a gift card knocks the cost of a cash fare down, whereas a mile transfer can get you a seat for a fraction of the cash price. If you were hoping to build a Lufthansa Miles & More or Cathay Pacific Asia Miles balance through RevPoints, that isn't currently possible, gift cards are as close as it gets.

Stays and Experiences: the convenient middle ground

Another super easy way to spend RevPoints without thinking too hard is through Stays, covering over 3.6 million holiday properties directly in the app, where 5,000 points is worth up to £100 off a booking, getting you 2p of value per RevPoints.

Experiences, covering over 300,000 activities worldwide, works the same way, knocking money straight off the price at checkout.

It's convenient, no transfer, no alliance research, no name-matching. But if you're chasing maximum value rather than convenience, airline transfers almost can beat cash-off-a-booking, especially for business or first class seats where the gap between cash price and award price is largest.

The smaller, quieter redemption routes

This is where RevPoints gets a bit more mundane, but still worth knowing about. Beyond the airline gift cards covered above, points can be spent through Revolut Pay for discounts at other participating retailers, exchanged for gift cards from a wider selection of brands, or sent to friends who are UK-based Revolut customers.

That last one comes with a catch: a 10% fee taken in points on any transfer to a friend, so sending 10,000 points actually costs you 1,000 extra. Fine for clearing a small balance towards someone else's trip, not something to build a habit around.

What if my airline isn't on the list?

Worth addressing directly, since it's the question we get most. If your preferred airline isn't a direct partner, check whether it sits within one of the three alliances a current partner belongs to, oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance, since award availability often opens up on partner airlines within the same alliance even when the airline itself isn't a named RevPoints partner. Avios reaches well beyond the five airlines that share its currency into the oneworld alliance, and Flying Blue reaches further still into Skyteam.

If your airline only shows up as a gift card option, that's your answer, there's currently no mile-transfer route in, only a discount off the cash fare. And if there's genuinely no route in at all, Stays and Experiences remain there as a fallback, just don't expect the same value per point.

Getting the most out of redeeming

So, the order of preference.

Airline transfers first as redemptions for premium cabins will offer you the best value. For most UK readers that's Avios, for anyone chasing Delta or Virgin Atlantic it's Flying Blue, and for Star Alliance it's KrisFlyer or TAP. Check the app for a transfer bonus before you move anything.

Stays and Experiences second. 2p per point off a hotel or a day out is nothing to be embarrassed about, and it needs no research, no charts and no hunt for availability. If the thought of hunting for award seats fills you with dread, this is the answer.

Everything else, the gift cards, the Revolut Pay discounts... A few hundred points you'd otherwise forget about, moved into something useful, but this isn't your core strategy.

Which brings us back to where we started. RevPoints are more than "transfer to an airline and hope for the best". But the best way to spend them is still, most of the time, to transfer your RevPoints to the right airline, for a well timed business class flight.

Helena

Points Well Made is a passion project from Sam and Helena. If you've enjoyed this and want to help us keep the lights on, please consider buying us a Ko-fi or subscribing monthly. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more of the same. Thanks for reading.