Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Now Iberia launches its own Avios redemption sale – with low taxes

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Following on from the current Avios 50% offer redemption sale – which still runs for another 10 days – Iberia has launched a sale of its own.  This offers 35% off on selected routes.

For anyone prepared to travel via Madrid, there are good savings on both Avios and taxes to be had.

Iberia promo

Remember that taxes on Iberia are substantially lower than taxes on British Airways.  You will need to fly to Madrid to connect to your Iberia flight but the tax saving should offset the cost.

These sale deals need to be booked by July 14th.  Travel dates are 1st October to 28th February.

Only economy seats are available.  Seats must be booked in ‘Blue Class’ rather than ‘Economy Class’ to get the reduced rate.

The reduced routes and prices are:

13,500 Avios each way

  • Chicago
  • New York
  • Boston
  • Luanda

16,250 Avios each way

  • San Salvador
  • San Jose de Costa Rica
  • Panama
  • Bogota
  • Caracas
  • Quito
  • Guayaquil
  • Lima
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Mexico
  • Santo Domingo
  • Guatemala
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • Sao Paulo

19,500 Avios each way

  • Santiago de Chile
  • Montevideo
  • Buenos Aires

As an example of tax, Madrid to Miami (return) comes out at €170 plus 32,500 Avios – a substantial saving on the £350 taxes asked by BA.  Business Class seats are not reduced although you still benefit from the large tax saving.  Miami is €190 plus 100,000 Avios in Business Class for example compared to £550 with BA.


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 (16)

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

  • Daniel says:

    Can this only be booked if you have an Iberia account? Or can it be done through the BA website?

  • avidsaver says:

    Good morning! Where do I find this information on the Iberia site? I can’t see any sign of it.

  • xcalx says:

    Yes, you must have an Iberia account and you need to have the account 90 days before BAEC Avios can be transfered into it.

    • Tim says:

      if you don’t have such an Iberia account then you may be too late for this offer, but you should open an Iberia account now and creid your next hotel stay to it (I think Accor still offers enhanced earning rates for Iberia verus BAEC so you should credit to them anyway)

  • callum says:

    That’s a different sale that’s been going on for a while now.

  • Oliver says:

    MAD-JFK in economy return
    26000 avios + 150 euro

    you’d have to get to MAD though
    MAD-LHR is a reasonable 7500 avios + 20 euro on iberia website
    LHR – MAD would be 7500 avios + £17.50 with BA

    Cash money LHR-JFK is £585 for early feb (the dates I used)

    • Andy says:

      Yes but £585 cash for LHR-JFK is a lot because most of the USA is not included in the current BA WT sale. You can get this route for £400 or less in a sale plus you would earn Avios so that redemption isnt that great value.

      • Lady London says:

        plus the value of the miles accrued on a cash fare

      • Rob says:

        I priced up Norwegian from Gatwick for October half term and it was £389 all-in, very decent and far less than BA. That is also only £50 or so above BA’s taxes.

        • andy stock says:

          Don’t forget when we are comparing economy class. Norwegain use an 787, with touch screen Ife, USB and plug sockets at every seat, same leg room as BA, mood lighting. I priced up LGW to JFK for £400 rtn inc 20KG suitcase, meal and seat selection . Adding £20 each way for drinks, the fare was £140 cheaper than BA/AA.

          I would chose the 787 over the very tatty BA 747 economy class.

  • Caroline says:

    Hi can anyone advise how I earn any Avios points on Iberia? I have recently opened an account but I can’t transfer over Avios until after 90days and if I have earned any points. I’m not planning to book a flight or anything but was reading last year you could earn 15points through their Facebook page. Any suggestions for quick/free earning of any points? Thanks

    • Rob says:

      If you have some Amex Membership Rewards points you can transfer 1000 from there. Alternatively you could make a small hotel points transfer depending on what schemes you are in. You could credit an upcoming hotel stay or car rental as well but that is probably too slow for this.

      The quickest option is simply to buy some Avios but I think (check) the minimum with Iberia is 2000 which is expensive.

      Unfortunately you may need to put this one down to experience and find a way of earning an Iberia Avios over the next month or so, so that you are prepared next time this offer comes around.

    • avidsaver says:

      Hi Caroline. I believe you will find that if you have an Amex rewards account and transfer some points that should set your Iberia account to “Active”. Alternatively, buying the minimum amount of 2000 Iberia Avios (54 Euros or wait for a sale) should also work. The 15 points Facebook offer sadly finished ages ago. Hope this is of some help.

      • Matt says:

        Anyone else receive the error, Unable to connect to system scorer, when trying to redeem for Iberia or Vueling flights on Iberia .com. Tried loads of different cards, normally call, call centre and they weive the telephone charge but recently they have refused to do this.

    • RICO says:

      If you travel on an Iberia flight you can earn points on in flight purchases some for as little as €10-20.

  • Tim says:

    Back from travelling yesterday and was all set to book a one-way from Buenos Aires to Madrid for 1st December today, the last day of this promotion. When I failed to get the sale fares I trawled the Iberia Plus site for the T&C. There are two exclusion periods not mentioned in this article: 1st -10th Dec and 18th Dec -10th Jan, both inclusive. Also, the 35% off does apply to ‘Economy’ as well as ‘Blue’ fares in contradiction to what is stated above. Not that it will help me this time.

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

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