Airmiles loyalty points versus credit card charges

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I had to pay off the balance for a holiday today and thought that it would be a great way to rack up some more air miles if I paid using a loyalty credit card. I was slightly horrified when I went to pay to find that if I paid using any credit card then the charges came to £17.80.

I decided to work out just what the difference is.

I worked out if I used an Airmiles Duo card then I'd earn 71 airmiles and if I used a Tesco clubcard I'd only earn 35.6 airmiles. I quickly realised it wasn't worth the airmiles paying by credit card but wondered by just how much.

Since airmiles are approx worth 8.5p in real monetary terms my 71 airmiles would be worth about £6.03, far less than the £17.80 paid in card charges. Plus if I paid by debit card then I could use the 17.80 I saved in Tesco using my Teso Clubcard credit card to pay then I'd get double points and thereby still earn about 38 airmiles.

So I guess the point I'm making is if you're having to pay any kind of credit card charge when booking your holiday then instead of earning a few airmiles you're better off paying by debit if you can and putting what you save in your holiday savings account instead.