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Iberia launches flights to Cuba – a great new Avios redemption option

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BA’s sister airline, Iberia, has announced that it is re-launching flights to Havana in Cuba after a hiatus of a few years.  This is an ideal opportunity to visit before the influx of American tourists begins, which will surely change the character of the island forever.

There will be five flights per week from Madrid starting from June 1st.

ba.com was having a problem finding availability yesterday.  The flights are showing OK on iberia.com.  You should book via Iberia anyway as the taxes will be SUBSTANTIALLY lower – Iberia does not add fuel surcharges to Iberia redemptions if you book via its own website, but ba.com does.

You can move Avios points from British Airways or avios.com to Iberia Plus via ‘Combine My Avios’, as long as your Iberia account is 90 days old and has earned at least 1 Avios point.  This can done with an Amex Membership Rewards transfer, crediting a BA flight or even by buying a small number of Avios.

Economy tickets from Madrid to Havana cost 50,000 Avios points return plus £95.40

Business class tickets from Madrid to Havana cost 100,000 Avios points plus £110.40

You should book your connecting flight from the UK to Madrid separately to avoid paying long haul Air Passenger Duty.

As a Zone 6 flight, this trip will actually get CHEAPER for bookings after April 1st if you fly off-peak.  Note that this is off-peak on the Iberia calendar and not the BA calendar, so weeks like UK half-term are off-peak!  Economy flights will drop to 42,500 Avios return whilst Business Class will fall to 85,000 Avios return.  Redemptions on peak dates will stay the same in Economy and increase to 125,000 Avios return in Business.

The route will be flown with an Airbus A330 with the new fully flat business seating.

Don’t forget that you can also get to Havana with Virgin Flying Club miles (a Tesco and Amex Membership Rewards partner) on a direct flight Virgin Atlantic flight from Gatwick – remember that Virgin is currently offering a 30% bonus on Tesco transfers.  Virgin has a short guide to Havana on its website.  You may be able to mix and match Iberia and Virgin availability to get your preferred dates.

PS.  Iberia is also launching flights to Medellin and Cali in Colombia starting on July 3rd.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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 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 card

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 £15,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 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.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Category

Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (36)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Phillip says:
    8 Feb8 February 14:53

    Why did I think that Iberia’s redemption changes come into effect on April 1?

    • stuart says:
      8 Feb8 February 16:04

      Iberia’s redemption changes DO come into effect on April 1…
      the changes start on March 1st, two months before the BAEC changes take place, for miles earning and from April 1st for miles redeeming

  • Mark says:
    8 Feb8 February 17:19

    Completely unrelated… given that under the new rules an off-peak Club World redemption will usually require very nearly twice as many avios as an off-peak World Traveller Plus redemption the upgrade voucher offered as part of the Lloyds avios cards becomes rather more interesting. I think someone did mention that in a comment on one of the articles

    Rob, have you thought about covering the pros and cons for a couple who are aiming for an annual Club World redemption of focusing on earning one BAPP voucher vs two Lloyds upgrade vouchers per year?

    • Mick says:
      8 Feb8 February 19:06

      6. Companion tickets used for flights are available on selected routes with British Airways, Flybe, Aer Lingus, Monarch and Aurigny when used in conjunction with economy class bookings. Airline taxes, fees and charges or Reward Flight Saver (RFS) cost if applicable apply on all tickets booked including the Companion ticket. Routes and airlines are subject to change and availability.

      I can’t see anything in the t and c’s that the companion voucher has to start and end in the uk(might have over looked it … But if it’s the case then I wonder if you would be able to use it with aer lingus DUB to BOS?

      • Mark says:
        8 Feb8 February 20:48

        I guess it all depends on the definition of ‘selected routes’. The upgrade vouchers are potentially more interesting given that the Lloyds 2for1 is restricted to economy only and you have to spend £12K on the premium card to get it, although if you’re likely to spend that much on it and can use both it could be well worth the £140 fee.

    • Rob says:
      8 Feb8 February 22:56

      No, although I am running a recap on the Lloyds voucher tomorrow.

      As CW is now roughly twice WTP, two Lloyds vouchers will roughly equal 1 Amex 241. Lloyds requires £14k spend with £48 fees, Amex £10k but £150 fee. Lloyds voucher does NOT allow First and must be booked – but not flown – within 12 months. Lloyds allows non-Amex spend to count.

      It could work for some, I agree.

      • Polly says:
        8 Feb8 February 23:26

        Yes Rob, but remember you don’t actually have to pay the full £150, if you can do the spend with advance spending, at least we can drop back to the free card, after earning our 241 this can then be better than Lloyds, because we can fly F and have 24 mths to book. We have looked closely at Lloyds, but stil think 241 is better, even if we take the tax hit. But looking forward to the discussion on this topic, as it could be useful say on Aer Lingus etc…

        • Mark says:
          8 Feb8 February 23:52

          You can’t use the upgrade vouchers on Aer Lingus, only BA. In that respect the restriction is exactly the same as the BAPP 2for1.

          • Polly says:
            9 Feb9 February 06:22

            Mark, you seem to know about this Lloyds voucher. Do you know if it’s possible to use it on BA for ex EU flights? Or do they have to originate in the UK. like you we use our 241 to fly F. It’s so great.

        • Rob says:
          9 Feb9 February 08:07

          Agreed. It is a complex trade-off and it won’t be an easy comparison to write up.

      • Mark says:
        8 Feb8 February 23:48

        One benefit of going down the Lloyds route would be flexibility. The upgrade vouchers could be used separately either to upgrade two one way redemptions when travelling together or return bookings when travelling separately.

        From our perspective the BAPP voucher still wins out, not least because we tend to use them in F when we can.

  • brian says:
    8 Feb8 February 20:43

    Off-topic – do Silver members get free seat reservations on BA for all people named in the booking, or only for themselves? Thanks.

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