How to Get Free Flights With Sainsbury’s Nectar Points
If you’ve done any grocery shopping in the UK, you’ve likely seen posters for Sainsbury’s and their reward program, Sainbury’s Nectar. For most people, these Nectar Points are a good way to save a bit of money on the occasional bag of groceries. While this is a nice bonus, the value Sainsbury’s gives you for using your Nectar points towards money off groceries is relatively poor (especially for anyone used to operating with credit card points).
However, did you know that Sainsbury's Nectar Points can actually be an incredibly valuable asset for savvy travelers looking to score free flights? If that interests you, you’re in luck: in this article, we’re going to explain how you can earn Sainsbury’s Nectar points to put towards getting you free flights. We have personally used this exact method to help us fund a business class trip from London to Japan, so we can personally vouch for how effective using your Nectar points for travel can be!
With the background out of the way, let’s jump into the guide!
How to Use Sainsbury’s Nectar Points for Free Flights
Step 1: Start Earning Nectar Points
If you don’t already have a Nectar account, go the Sainsbury’s website and make one for free—be sure to keep track of your Nectar number, as you'll need it for the later steps of this guide.
Pro-Tip: Do not share your Nectar account number with anyone, and set up 2-factor authentication. The Nectar program has had some fraud issues, so it’s best to keep your account safe.
Once you have an account, all you need to do is start shopping at your local Sainsbury’s store or ordering from Sainsbury’s online! When you’re checking out, be sure to either scan your QR code or enter your Sainsbury’s Nectar number. By doing this, you’ll be earning Nectar points for every £ you spend, typically at a rate of 1 point per £ spent.
Once you’ve accumulated enough Nectar points, you can proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Convert your Nectar points to Avios
Pro-Tip: For the next step, you’ll need a British Airways Avios account. If you don’t have one, you can make one for free on the British Airways website.
Now that you’ve earned your Nectar points, instead of redeeming them for discounts on groceries (a common mistake), you are instead going to transfer them from your Nectar account directly to your British Airways Avios account. This process is extremely easy and only takes a few minutes, but feel free to leave a comment below if you run into any difficulties.
Sainsbury’s Nectar points are transferred to British Airways Avios at a 4 : 2.5 ratio, so don’t be concerned if your Avios account does not increase by the same number of points that you transferred!
Step 3: Book a BA Reward Flights or Transfer Onwards
Once you’ve finished the transfer process, you should now have the new points in your Avios account balance. From here, you have two main options:
Option 1: Book a Reward Flight on British Airways
If you want to use your Avios travel on British Airways, all you need to do is go to the British Airways Reward Flight page, put in your desired dates/travel plans, and book your flight(s) of choice. We particularly recommend using BA reward flights to book flights between the UK and Europe, as we’ve found that these routes will consistently give the best value, while still being easy to find availability. For instance, the below example includes pricing for off-peak round-trip flights between London and Paris in economy seating:
Example pricing for a flight between London and Paris in economy seating
Option 2: Transfer Points to Other Avios Airlines
If you’re unfamiliar with the Avios ecosystem, it’s important to know that many different airlines use Avios beyond just British Airways, including:
Aer Lingus
Iberia Air
Qatar Airways
Vueling
Many more
As a result, you can take the Nectar Points that you transferred to British Airways Avios and use them for a much broader range of flights, if you’re willing to put in slightly more effort in managing the points.
For instance, if you wanted to fly from London Heathrow to Tokyo, you could book a flight on Qatar Airways through Doha. To do this, you would first link your British Airways account to Qatar Airways (an easy process, as you don’t even need to formally transfer your Avios—the points are more shared between the two accounts).
Once you’ve linked your account, you can easily search for reward flights using Avios on Qatar Airways. Prices for this particular route (London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita) vary dramatically across the year, but below is an example for the price in Avios for an economy flight between the two airports:
Summary
Sainsbury’s Nectar Points can be an incredibly useful tool to help fund free travel all over the globe! Whether you are hoping to take a quick trip to Paris or a dream vacation to Japan, your Nectar Points can help you take the next step towards booking your free travel and flights.
We hope this article was helpful! If you’re interested in learning about other travel tips, make sure to check out our guides on how to transfer Chase credit card points to Hyatt, the best Hyatt hotels in Paris, in Tokyo, or in London, how to book United Airlines flights with AmEx points, or our review of our favorite hotel (Alila Kothaifaru Maldives).
