Flybe credit card sign-up bonus improved – control your excitement ….

Flybe has improved the sign-up bonus on its Mastercard credit card.  Unfortunately it still isn’t great, but if you live in the regions you may find some value in it.

The Flybe Mastercard is issued by Sygma Bank. Sygma is part of Creation, who also operate the Marriott Rewards card and numerous retailer and football club credit cards. Creation may not be a familiar name but they are behind many store cards and are owned by a joint venture between French bank BNP Paribas and French store chain Galerie Lafeyette.

The representative APR is 18.9% variable.

The new sign-up bonus is two free return flights on any Flybe route to / from the UK and Ireland, excluding the longer routes to Spain, Portugal and Croatia.  This is double the standard offer of one free flight.

Taxes and other charges are still due – this is a key problem, as we will see.

You will receive one free flight voucher when you spend £250 within three months of application and the second when you hit £500, as long as it is within six months.

Taxes are a problem with Flybe

The key reason that I don’t love this card is the high level of taxes and charges added to ‘free’ flights.

As a budget airline, taxes and charges make up a huge percentage of the fare.  A random return trip from Birmingham to Paris, for example, was £109 of which £65 was taxes.  This is based on a long weekend break from 21st – 24th November.  You would therefore only be getting £44 of value from your free flight – and that is assuming that the flight was even available for a reward.

With Avios redemptions, taxes are capped at £35 with Reward Saver. This is not the case with Flybe and is a major problem with their Rewards4all scheme.

It can get even worse

There is this interesting comment on the Flybe website:

“Discounted web fares may occasionally be available at a lower cost (including taxes & charges) than equivalent reward flights“

This means that you may end up being asked for £100 in ‘taxes and charges’ to book your redemption flight, whilst a cash ticket for the same flight is available for £80.

That said, if you live outside London then Flybe may be convenient for you.  Arguably even if you only ended up saving £50 per flight after offsetting the taxes required, the sign-up bonus would still have been worth £100 to you.  Given that the card is free it is hard to say that this is a terrible deal.

If you want to find out more about the Flybe credit card and the Rewards4all scheme, I recommend you take a look at my full review of the card.

The offer expires on October 7th.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)