Iberia launches a new Avios reward chart, reduces some economy prices

As I mentioned briefly in my article yesterday on Iberia’s current ‘25% off some Avios redemptions’ sale, the airline has published a new redemption chart.  Actually, two new redemption charts for peak and off-peak dates.

I will work this into our main ‘Avios Redemption University’ article on Iberia in case you need to refer to it later.

The changes are wholly positive, surprisingly.

Here is the old Iberia reward chart.  This had become out of date because of Iberia’s new Premium Economy seating and the launch of the Tokyo route.  For clarity – this chart is ONLY for Iberia flights and does not apply to BA flights booked via Iberia Plus.

And here are the new 2017 charts:

Prices marked with a * apply from 10th March 2017.  As you can see, many ‘full fare economy’ tickets are coming down in price.   This is NOT the availability you see if you book an Iberia redemption at ba.com – ‘full fare economy’ availability is a lot better and is only available via Iberia Plus.

If you want the upgrade chart, it is on the Iberia website here.

The list of destinations by band is here:

Chicago has been dropped into Zone 5 instead of Zone 6, in the same way the British Airways makes Cape Town and Johannesburg artificially cheap by putting them into a cheaper zone than they should be.

The scaling between Economy and Business is lower with Iberia.  Premium Economy is 2x Economy with BA, whilst on Iberia it is roughly 50% more.  Business (peak) is 2.5 x compared with 3x on BA.

The sweet spot remains the US destinations in Zone 5.  New York, on BA via ba.com, is 120,000 Avios peak / 100,000 Avios off-peak plus roughly £530 in taxes and charges in Club World.  With Iberia Plus, it is 100,00 peak / 68,000 off-peak plus roughly £175 in taxes and charges for Business – although you need to factor in the cost and time of getting to Madrid.

The new Tokyo route is also substantially cheaper off-peak.  With British Airways you are looking at 180,000 Avios peak / 150,000 Avios off-peak plus £500+ for Club World.  With Iberia, it will be 175,000 Avios peak / 119,000 off-peak plus under £200 of charges.

Finally, remember that Iberia and British Airways have different peak and off-peak dates – you can see the full list here.

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.