Get 25% off ALL Iberia Avios redemptions – New York in Business for 51,000 + £159

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• Ruan says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:15

  Hi. I have an Iberia Plus account (been open for a year but has been completely unused). I just transferred one Avios from BAEC to Iberia Plus. Has the transfer policy recently changed to allow this?

  • AH says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:06

    I thought you cant transfer direct from BA to Iberia?
    Need to transfer to Avios & then from avios to Iberia

    • Rob says:

      28 Mar28 March 07:21

      You should be able to …. it just doesn’t always work.

    • BigDave says:

      28 Mar28 March 08:26

      only if you have a BA Family account you need to use avios go between
      also if your details aren’t 100% matching on BA and Iberiaplus, you may need to go via Avios too

  • Rob says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:28

    Hmmm, shouldn’t be possible!

  • Chris says:

    28 Mar28 March 09:15

    Does this mean the requirement to have earned at least 1 Avios in Iberia Plus is now no longer required?

    • John says:

      28 Mar28 March 12:03

      No, why would it?

• Cat says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:27

  Silly question, but does Iberia have a first class?

  • zsalya says:

    28 Mar28 March 06:33

    No.

• Tony says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:50

  OT: Just had Iberia Plustore Avios added for my previous Groupon Avios purchase. 3450 points added following Groupon purchase of 30000. Really pleased with smooth and easy process – appreciate it hasn’t always been that way for others.

  • rams1981 says:

    28 Mar28 March 09:33

    mine have also posted. 10,982 points costing 0.762p. That will do

    • Cormac says:

      28 Mar28 March 11:23

      How did you get that?

      • rams1981 says:

        28 Mar28 March 11:31

        bought 8k and 2k. They had a % offer code which discounted the 8k and maxed the discount available

        • rams1981 says:

          28 Mar28 March 11:32

          and that’s 0.762p each

• Pascal says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:56

  I recently looked up the costs for Lima avios flights. What I found is that it was (pretty much) the same cost to route the return: LIM-MAD-LHR with avios compared to LIM-MAD and a separate MAD-LHR. If there’s a little extra it might be well worth it due to the through protection and then a quicker connection in MAD.
  It just doesn’t work on the outbound. Outbound and return need to be separate bookings.

• AH says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:08

  Handy, as Cardiff fly direct to Madrid via Iberia Express.
  World is slowly starting to open up for us out West!

• William Avery says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:10

  Cracking spot. That Tokyo offer looks like a total winner.

• Stu N says:

  28 Mar28 March 08:04

  If you connect to or from Madrid just be careful which airline you fly.

  I’d actively avoid Iberia Express as the legroom is terrible. Had a 3 hour flight yesterday from Madrid to Edinburgh. Main issue is that the seats are 28″ pitch – I’m 5′ 11″ and I couldn’t sit straight in my seat. Even with an empty middle seat beside me it was the most uncomfortable flight I’ve ever endured. Also you don’t get a bag by default though One World Sapphire and Emerald get a single 23kg bag.

  Also my girlfriend is currently arguing with BA customer relations and she was refused lounge access at Gatwick as a BAEC Silver flying in IB+ Economy on a IB ticket and flight number. You definitely get into lounges at the Spanish end in this situation but it’s not 100% clear what happens at the other end so will see how that pans out.

  Mainline Iberia is fine – pretty much the same as BA these days, full One World priveleges and if you get the 1500 ex MAD and 1930 ex LHR it’s a long haul plane with lie flat seats in Business, though it’s short haul service.

  • Gavin says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:20

    Interesting about the lounge access. I’ll be in the same situation in a few weeks (a silver and a gold card holder) flying economy on IB express from Gatwick. Was advised on FT that we would have lounge access, but we shall see…

  • Leo says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:32

    A couple of weeks ago the BA lounge had no idea what to do with a J Cathay ticket holder (me). Lounge Dragon said “Is that Oneworld?”

    • Rob says:

      28 Mar28 March 08:43

      Given that for eg Iberia Express is not OW you can see the confusion.

      • Prins Polo says:

        28 Mar28 March 09:14

        I don’t remember what the arrange is now but this has been discussed extensively on Flyertalk. I recall that only Golds and only at Gatwick were getting lounge access when flying IB express.

      • Stu N says:

        28 Mar28 March 09:20

        IIRC Iberia Express is a OW affiliate, rather than member but they seem to give BA status passengers all the benefits of OW status. Neither of us had any problems in Madrid on cheapo economy tickets – they offer seat selection, Business check-in, fast track security, lounge access and priority boarding for OW Sapphires and you get tier points and status bonus Avios on the flights. BA will quite happily sell you an Iberia Express flight under a BA flight number too, either standalone or as a connection.

        The IB Express website talks about lounge access, but specifically mentions VIP lounges which is the branding on the Spanish lounges. She got a cut-n-paste response from BA followed up with by voicemail from customer relations, she hasn’t had a chance to speak to them yet.

        She went to The Grain Store instead with PP (another HfP top tip) so not a complete disaster, but a bit embarrassing and a missed opportunity to see the new Gatwick lounge.

        • Keith says:

          28 Mar28 March 16:52

          Not just Iberia Express – I was coming back from MAD – LHR a couple of weeks ago on an Iberia flight, booked via BA. I’m BAEC silver and my wife has no status – we weren’t allowed to use fast track security – I could have, and sent my wife along the corridor, but I didn’t think that would go down too well! However, lounge access was fine. My boarding pass stated Fast Track, and my wife’s did not – as pointed out by the dragon guarding the fast track entrance.

        • Stu_N says:

          29 Mar29 March 22:41

          So – to update, Customer Relations have confirmed she should have had access in these circumstances – BAEC Silver on an Iberia Express economy ticket with IB flight number. BA have apologised for inconvenience and embarrassment and awarded her 5,000 Avios as compensation. I think she’d rather have had the lounge access without the rejection but it’s not a bad outcome by recent standards. I’ll stick something on the “bits” tomorrow as well as I doubt many people will see this.

      • Julian says:

        28 Mar28 March 09:24

        Odd that IB Express is quite happy to use the main Iberia Ronda In Flight magazine as though it is IB Main when it is every bit as much not part of IB Main as Vueling and Level.

        IB seem very confused indeed about where IB Express fits in their family as even its external plane decoration and decals are strongly suggestive that it is just Iberia.

        • Callum says:

          29 Mar29 March 03:25

          Not really. Iberia Express is a subsidiary of Iberia, Vueling and Level aren’t.

          You could say IAG are confused I guess, though it seems simple to me: BA and Iberia are mainline carriers, Iberia Express and Vueling are short haul budget airlines, Level is a long haul budget airline.

          The only real confusion could be between Iberia Express and Vueling having seemingly similar roles, but as Iberia Express operates from Iberia’s main hub providing feeder flights and Vueling is a standalone budget airline ala Ryanair, that seems logical to me too?

      • Leo says:

        28 Mar28 March 13:29

        I’m just saying they don’t really know what they are doing full stop with other carriers at the LGW lounge. I’ve had no issue with OW benefits with IB express in Spain. Not tried here no will I due to their leg-room.

  • Alan says:

    28 Mar28 March 09:11

    Ahh, that’s not good to hear at all re legroom. Had been considering connecting direct EDI-MAD but if it’s that poor I don’t fancy it – I’m 6ft and poor legroom like that is a major annoyance on anything over an hour.

    • Stu N says:

      28 Mar28 March 09:55

      I wouldn’t do the Edinburgh flight again; even in Business there’s no guarantee of additional legroom unless you get rows 1 A-C or 2 D-F. It was just tolerable on an hour flight from Madrid to Seville (again with empty middle seat).

      I’m not that fussy, I am perfectly happy on Easyjet, Aer Lingus regional and the short haul BA slim line seats but this was too cramped.

      • daftboy says:

        28 Mar28 March 11:33

        Sounds a bit like Vueling when I flew them a few years back – I was very surprised at just how uncomfortable it was, having flown plenty of economy flights across a variety of legacy airlines and LCCs in my time!

      • Leo says:

        28 Mar28 March 13:31

        The one and only time I flew IB Express I got the exit seat – was able to reserve seats free due to OW Sapphire. I did have an IB code – don’t know if that helped. Wouldn’t fly them otherwise at 6’1.

• Simon says:

  28 Mar28 March 08:13

  We have 5 IB J redemptions in two weeks MAD-JFK, any way to renegotiate them with the discount without losing the reservations? 🙂

  • @mkcol says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:31

    Is the redemption availability even there for your dates?

  • Rob says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:44

    Unlikely availability will be there to rebook, given what I saw yesterday. Autumn is best time to book for.

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