The farce that is booking UK-Spain reward seats with Avios
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
I have finally got around to booking the free night at a luxury Melia hotel that is available to all American Express Platinum cardholders.
(This offer is also available to anyone who takes out a Platinum card and can travel before 30th November – see my full Amex Plat review here.)
As I highlighted in my original post, the best package is at the Grand Melia Fenix in Madrid.
This is because the hotel throws in the benefits Amex offers via the Fine Hotels & Resorts programme, so I actually get:
- Double room for free (currently selling for €220) plus upgrade on arrival if available
- Free breakfast
- Free lunch or dinner
- Guaranteed 4pm check-out
Nice!
So, with the hotel booked, all I needed was a return flight on Avios (business class) between London and Madrid.
If only it was that easy ….
You now need to remember six silly rules when booking Avios flights between the UK and Spain:
BA flights qualify for Reward Flight Saver (so flat £50 tax return in Club Europe)
Iberia flights do not qualify for Reward Flight Saver
Mixed airline bookings mean that the whole trip does not qualify for Reward Flight Saver
Iberia charges lower taxes on reward flights at iberia.com vs ba.com
BA reward flights booked at iberia.com are not refundable or cancellable
All reward flights booked at ba.com are refundable
What does this mean in practice?!
For the flight times I wanted, I would be travelling out on BA and back on Iberia.
These were the permutations I had to go through:
Book the flight on ba.com as a return flight – total taxes were a whopping £116, because the inclusion of an Iberia leg means I have to pay the full taxes on both legs, even the BA flight
Book the flight on ba.com as two single flights – total taxes reduce to £78, because – whilst I would still be paying full taxes on the Iberia leg of £53, booking the BA flight separately would mean it qualified for Reward Flight Saver so the tax outbound was only £25
Book the flight on iberia.com as a return flight – can’t be done, as Iberia Plus does not seem to be capable of mixing Iberia and BA reward flights on the same booking
Book the flight on iberia.com as two single flights – can’t be done, as Iberia Plus does not allow oneworld flights to be one-way bookings (at least, not if booked online)
Book the Iberia flight on iberia.com – this reduces the taxes on the Iberia leg to £17 instead of £53 on ba.com
So, this is what I did in the end:
Booked the outbound flight (on BA) on ba.com, to get the £25 Reward Flight Saver tax amount
Booked the return flight (on Iberia) on iberia.com, to get the ‘no fuel surcharge’ £17.60 tax amount
Total taxes – £42.60. Ironically, the tax on the Iberia leg is lower than it would have been in the old Reward Flight Saver days! I saved £74 over booking the same Avios reward flights as a return trip on ba.com.
This is, of course, totally crazy. How many people actually know that this is how to do it? Someone at IAG really needs to bang some heads together, because there must be a better way.
PS. After I’d booked, I realised something else. I had accidentally booked myself on one of the handful of short-haul Iberia flights operated by an A330, so I get the ‘proper’ long-haul business class seat. Which is nice.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable 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
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Huge 60,000 points sign-up bonus (until 9th April) and free for a year 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.
Comments (24)