Best Business Credit Cards with Air Miles in 2024

If your business's employees travel frequently, you may be looking for a way to handle expenses or even receive discounts when traveling abroad.

Business credit cards with air miles provide one way to help your business earn flight points every time you make purchases with eligible merchants — and those points can go towards discounted travel costs and perks, just like a rewards credit card.

You may be keen to select a credit card for businesses and receive these travel perks, and you’ll find that multiple options are available. Therefore, selecting one may require some thought and comparison.

However, in this article, we will provide a comprehensive set of first-hand reviews for the best business credit cards with air miles.

Card Name	Score	Details
1. Capital On Tap Business Rewards	★★★★★	Click Here
2. British Airways American Express® Accelerating Business Card	★★★★★	Click Here
3. American Express Business Platinum Card	★★★★★	Click Here
4. HSBC Commercial Card	★★★★★	Click Here
5. British Airways American Express Premium Plus	★★★★★	Click Here
6. NatWest Business Credit Card	★★★★★	Click Here

What Is a Business Credit Card With Air Miles?

Your business credit card with air miles allows you to earn air miles every time you spend your pounds.

It involves converting business expenses into reward points, referred to as miles. You'll be able to redeem these points for flights as a business, which is a significant bonus as it helps eliminate some of the high travel costs. In some cases, your business might even receive free flights.

An air miles credit card for businesses rewards your businesses in many other ways. You'll get free lounge access, priority boarding perks, free baggage check-in, and insurance benefits with many options.

You will also gain extra cardholder benefits with this type of business card, including the chance to add additional cardholders to the business account. With your cardholders earning points, you can easily build up your points balance to redeem for extra rewards.

Also Read:

• 10 Best Business Credit Cards in the UK (+ Pros & Cons)
• 6 Best Avios Business Credit Cards in the UK
• 9 Best Bank Accounts for Travelling Internationally

How Do Air Miles Business Credit Cards Work?

The simplest way to understand these cards is that as you spend pounds at specific merchants as a business, you earn points.

Each card offers a different number of points per pound spent. Your earnings will be based on eligible purchases, so you can accumulate points when you spend with eligible companies.

Since your air miles business credit card company partners with the airline company and buys significant air miles at a discounted price, they can pass the savings on to your business.

They'll also be able to charge transaction fees to merchant companies, helping them earn revenue and offset air mile reward programs. You'll get more miles by using the business card frequently.

You'll also be able to earn double points in some cases. For instance, buying a flight and paying with your air miles card is one expense that may earn you double the air miles points.

Promotional sign-up bonuses are also provided with some cards. As a business, you'll be able to reap the extra rewards offered by these cards. Continue reading to learn the features, pros and cons of these cards.

What Are the Features of a Business Credit Card With Air Miles?

To dig deeper into these card types, let's closely examine the key features of Air Miles credit cards for businesses.

• Annual fees — As a business, you'll have to pay an annual fee to business credit cards with air miles. Similar to interest rates, this is an additional cost you must offset against your rewards to determine if the card is worthwhile.
• Interest rates — In the event you carry a balance on your card, you'll need to pay interest. For the card to be worth using, your business needs to ensure the interest you pay is less than the rewards and air miles you receive.
• Expense management tools — Your company can track and manage expenses with these credit cards. The provider will offer spending report features you can integrate with accounting software, facilitating expense tracking.
• Additional employee cards — It's possible to receive extra cards for each employee to maximise the number of rewards you earn. Since these cards also feature expense management tools, you can get the balance correct between spending money, earning rewards and controlling spending.

6 Best Business Credit Cards With Air Miles in the UK — Reviews

We used six key credit cards for businesses with air miles and looked closely at their features.

Here are our direct reviews to help you select a card for your business.

1. Capital On Tap Business Rewards

When we used Capital On Tap, we found that we could receive 1% cashback and air miles points for all eligible transactions. Regarding the points for air miles, we earned a single point for each pound we spent using the card.

We could fly abroad to distant locations, book hotels and select flights using the air miles points. Thanks to the sign-up bonus, after spending £5,000, we earned 10,000 points over the initial three months.

We earned plenty of savings, including savings at Slack and with Microsoft. We also received cabin upgrades, hired cars, and saved 35% on Norton 360.

Some airlines we could fly with and redeem our air miles included British Airways, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Iberia. Although we could not transfer points to others, we could book flights for other members of our business.

With this card, we had to pay a 15.5% annual percentage rate when we carried a balance on our card. The annual fee we paid equated to £99. Redeeming points was relatively straightforward. We accessed our account via the Capital On Tap app and provided our British Airways Avios account details to use them.

2. British Airways American Express® Accelerating Business Card

We used the British Airways American Express® Accelerating Business card and found that we could earn two points for the purchases we made British Airways. We earned two points for each pound we spent.

With other eligible purchases, we could earn 1.5 points for each pound. When we used this card, we could apply for complimentary employee cards for our team members. When our business spent more than £60,000 in the first year, we earned 30,000 points. These air miles points were awarded in batches of 10,000 three times a year for each £20,000 we spent.

We found that the annual fee for this card is £250. When we carried a balance on the card, we had a 108.4% annual percentage rate to factor into our expenses. However, with this card, we could avoid paying interest for 56 calendar days when we paid our balance in full.

Additional perks came with this card. For example, we could gain travel accident protection and purchase protection. With travel accident protection, we received cover of up to £250,000 when travelling on a business trip via public transport.

Related perks include £250 worth of protection when there were delays with a British Airways flight and £400 worth of protection if no alternative arrangements had been established within six hours. We also received up to £750 worth of protection when our baggage was delayed for six hours and £1,000 worth when we flew with British Airways.

With purchase protection, we were granted up to £2,500 for each eligible item when they were damaged. This cover only applied to the items we purchased with the British Airways American Express® Accelerating Business card.

3. American Express Business Platinum Card

Using the American Express Business Platinum card we could earn 40,000 membership rewards points when we spent £6,000 in the initial three months of having the card. The annual fee we paid was £650.

We also could receive £200 of annual travel credit with this card when we spent money at American Express Travel Online. While we could only redeem these points when booking our arrangements, we found this a good perk for our business.

Since we had a UK business bank account, a permanent UK home address and the ability to pay the £650 annual fee, we were eligible for this card.

We could access airport lounges, resorts and fine hotels, receive hotel benefits, and use car hire services with the points on this card. Our airport lounge access applies to over 1,200 airport lounges at 500+ airports. We found that these lounge perks applied to any airline we flew with.

We were able to use the card to access five-star hotels and take our pick of 1,000 different options. Additional hotel benefits, such as early check-in and check-out, applied when we used this card. However, these advantages were subject to availability. We could choose from Hertz and Avis when looking at our car hire options.

Our business could receive the welcome bonus as we did not have a separate American Express Card enrolled with a membership rewards scheme at the time of application. We also received travel insurance advantages when travelling with other colleagues. This insurance was offered for a maximum of 120 days.

4. HSBC Commercial Card

While not an air miles business credit card, we discovered multiple travel advantages of using the HSBC Bank Commercial Card. We could pay in the local currency when we travelled within the European Economic Area. This advantage meant we could avoid fees charged by the point of sale (POS) provider.

We found that there wasn't an annual fee for the initial year when using this card. After the 12 months, this card's annual fees cost us £32 each year. We could not apply for a credit limit of less than £500, and the maximum amount was set depending in line with our status.

A non-sterling transaction fee is applied to our overseas transactions. These equated to 2.99% of the value of the transaction. We could also use the HSBC Commercial Card ATM locator to find out where in the world we could withdraw. 

Although this card did not offer Avios points, Nectar points or Virgin points for the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, we could gain notifications automatically for unusual non-sterling transactions. This additional HSBC security gave us the peace of mind that our purchases and accounts were protected.

We found that this card is accepted at 40 million locations across the globe.

5. British Airways American Express Premium Plus

As a sole trader, you may not instantly be accepted for a business credit card. In that case, the British Airways American Express credit card is one option that offers air miles if you need a personal credit card that you may want to use for sole trader purposes. In the initial three months, if you spend £3,000, you can earn 20,000 Avios points with this card.

You can earn three Avios points for every £1 you spend using your British Airways American Express Premium Plus card at Britsh Airways. You can also add supplementary cards and earn 3,000 points when you add your first one. 

Once we earned 30,000 Avios points, we learned that we could redeem these points for business-class flights as part of the Club Europe option. 

We found that we could enrol for travel inconvenience insurance with minimal difficulty. We were also able to arrange travel accident insurance with this card provider, and with their Global Assist® service, we could receive support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, when travelling outside of the United Kingdom.

With the travel accident insurance, we could earn £250,000 cover on public transport.

6. NatWest Business Credit Card

We used the NatWest Bank business credit card and found that although it doesn't offer air miles and we couldn't collect points, it provides a few travel benefits. We could use the business credit card to pay for items and goods anywhere in the world and withdraw cash in any location with the MasterCard logo.

We found no annual fee for the initial year with NatWest's business card and that with expenditures of more than £6,000 each year, the provider would waive the fee. This benefit was beneficial and helped us avoid high annual fees.

When using this card, we noticed we were eligible as a business even with a turnover of less than £2m. 

Instead of air miles or the ability to earn Virgin points, we earned cashback reward points for our travel. Though this didn't include a free flight, some of the cashback reward points we earned included eligible fuel and electric vehicle charging stations.

We learned that there was a £30 annual fee for each card we applied for. There was also a 24.3% annual percentage rate fee to pay if we carried a balance on our business credit card. This estimate applied to our business card, which had a credit limit £1,200.

Fees applied when we made late payments or exceeded our credit card limit.

Business Credit Card With Air Miles Pros and Cons

If you select air miles business credit cards, you should consider their advantages and drawbacks to make the best decision.

Here are the pros and cons you should keep in mind.

Pros

✔️ Travel cost savings — Thanks to the travel rewards points, your business can significantly save on travel costs. These savings are also possible if you use the promotional bonus points.

✔️ Tiered rewards — As your card offers tiered reward structures, you can focus your spending on specific categories to gain more points faster.

✔️ Access to airport lounges — As you accumulate points, you will gain access to airport lounges with specific card providers. This perk makes business trips more convenient.

Cons

❌️ Interest — If your company carries a balance on this card, you will have to pay interest. This interest can cost your business more and outweigh the benefits of air mile rewards. In fact, these interest rates can be very high, so you'll need to consider whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

❌️ Foreign transaction fees — When using your card overseas, in some cases you may be charged a high foreign transaction fee, which might not be worth the air miles points you earn.

❌️ Point devaluation possible — Despite earning reward points, you may find they could be less than they're originally worth if your airline changes its policies. 

Best Business Credit Cards With Air Miles: The Verdict

Business credit cards with air miles can significantly affect your business expenses in a positive way when you weigh the costs of having the card with the amount you can save. It's still crucial to look at multiple providers and their exact perks before selecting a credit card for your business.

Make comparisons between business credit that offers air miles and travel rewards before you choose one for your business to begin reaping the rewards.