Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Big 50% bonus when you buy Avios points via Iberia – 1.0p each

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Let’s party like 2008.

With the IAG share price falling fast, the word has clearly gone out that cash needs to start coming through the door.  We have already seen British Airways offering a 35% bonus on point transfers from hotel loyalty programmes which means BA receives a large cheque from the hotel company.  I would even be willing to bet on seeing a Tesco conversion bonus soon.

Avios wing 7

I normally do not recommend buying Avios unless you need to ‘top up’ an account for an immediate redemption. With a few exceptions, buying a large proportion of the miles you need is rarely a good deal.

This is different.  Iberia Plus is currently offering a bonus of 50% on purchases of Avios points. This deal runs until Wednesday 6th July, see here for further details.

Note that you need to log-in to see details of the bonus offer. Without logging in, the page just shows the standard pricing.

There is no minimum purchase.  Even a 2,000 Avios purchase gets you 1,000 bonus Avios.

At the top end, you will be paying Euro 1,800 for 150,000 Avios (100,000 + 50%).  It is slightly foolish putting in an exchange rate as it will be hopelessly out of date by the time you read this, but assuming €1.20 this works out at exactly 1.0p per Avios.  You would need to add a 3% foreign exchange fee to this price if your credit card has one.

I would not usually be a buyer, even at this price.  1p per Avios is usually my target value when I redeem, not my target price to buy.  Your personal valuation may be different – if you only ever redeem using 2-4-1 vouchers, for example, you are likely to value a point more highly.  It may make sense for you if:

you have a specific redemption in mind where you know you will get over 1p per point of value

you value the ‘easy points’ aspect of this offer (no need to visit Tesco, apply for a new credit card etc etc)

You MUST have been an Iberia Plus member for 90 days before you can buy points. You must also have a balance greater than zero. This is easily fixed if you have previously earned an Avios via Iberia with a transfer in from British Airways. If you have never earned an Avios via Iberia Plus then you are stuck and cannot buy until a transaction has gone through your account.


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.

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.

Comments (46)

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

  • James67 says:

    Good to see you being more explicit on merits of buying avios at 1p. I think this will help prevent the newbies and less experienced falling into a bad redemption trap.

    Just to add to this, as an example the 150,000 avios you quote for €1800 is enough for a return CW redemption to zone 7 off peak which may require additional tax/fees of about £700 depending on where one is going. By contrast €1800 can buy a return flight to Asia exEU or just about exUK in an AY or TK sale, and these flights also earn avios/miles.

    I hope you are right on transfer bonuses, I’m holding out on tesco and also MR in anticipation of that.

    What will be interesting to see is whether BA hikes fees in light of falling £ though because that may offset benefits of any extra avios we can collect in this period.

    • harry says:

      But it’s not a binary situation.

      Any self-respecting points hound needs a decent contingency ‘bank’ of Avios sitting there to give them the choice of using them when opportunities arise – or paying cash instead.

      If you are finding it slow-going to accumulate a few hundred thousand, this is an excellent opportunity to buy 150K (or 300K for many of us with 2 adults in the household) at a fair price.

      Worth watching the GBP/EUR rate as IMV we could easily see the 1p edge closer to 0.95p.

      • James67 says:

        I wasn’t suggesting it was Harry, just saying that it helps those who are less aware of the pitfalls if we point them out. I concede that vast majority of HFP readers are more knowledgeable but judging by some comments there are those who are still, by their own admission getting to grips with the hobby. It is inevitably complex though, taking the zone 7 example I discused, exHKG to UK could make this IB deal a cracking offer.

      • Bob says:

        Good point re keeping an eye on the exchange rate and maybe leaving it until later in the offer period.

      • Mr Dee says:

        I am expecting the exchange to get better in the new few weeks so probably worth checking on the 4/5th of July before it ends

  • Gordon says:

    Can you buy more avios under this scheme even if you have already bought 100,000 under the previous bonus offer a few weeks ago?

    • Rob says:

      Probably not, if Iberia’s IT is working (which it might not be!)

      • rams1981 says:

        you can’t. Just tried and I can’t access the buy page having already bought some earlier this year. If i create a new account for my wife can I buy for her or does her account need to be 90 days old?

  • Scallder says:

    Starwood route is now 1.09p per Avios given fall of the Pound since that article (used $1.33/£)

  • Ed says:

    Is anyone else having trouble logging into their Iberia Plus? I keep getting the following message: “Iberia Plus service is not available at present (A003).”

    • Andrew H says:

      I’m getting it too. Just maintenance I expect. Happened before.

  • Nick says:

    Hoping this triggers Virgin to do a similar deal !

  • Andrew H says:

    Iberia Plus now accessible.

    I’ve had a look at this deal and I’m not keen. Given I paid £15 for 2000 Avios in Plus Store recently, there’s no way I’m going to pay £44 for 3000.

  • Andrew H says:

    75 quid for 6000 isn’t a great deal either. Looks like you have to spend a lot more to get a good deal. I’ll pass.

    • Chris says:

      Yeah the groupon deal is better but for smaller amounts.
      you cant get anything like100000 avios through the groupon deals…they where limited to 50/60 K max.

  • rams1981 says:

    I still can’t log in

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

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