Avios changes 7: big Avios savings (up to 43%) on long-haul when you redeem on Iberia

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• Nick says:

  1 Feb1 February 09:57

  but what are the Long Haul Iberian planes like??

  • Rob says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:24

    I did a review last year if you search

  • richie says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:39

    Generally better Than club world

• Colin MacKinnon says:

  1 Feb1 February 10:15

  IB long-haul is excellent. They replaced sloping seats with flat years ago, and have now just about completed replacing the lie-flat with brand new (mainly by buying brand-new aircraft A330s and getting rid of/refurbishing the A340s)
  Food is good, and wine is outstanding. Try the Predro Ximenez Old Particular sweet sherry – it is not a sweet sherry, an ambrosia of a dessert wine!
  Madrid is a quiet airport!
  ps IB crews can be pretty grumpy, but I seem to hear that a lot now about BA! Must be IAG standardising across the company!

• mark2 says:

  1 Feb1 February 10:37

  At first glance the lower Avios/charges flights look like a good idea (assuming that Iberia fly to where you want to go e.g. no flights to Canada). In practice, however, there are other factors to consider. In the discussion of free connecting flights from the far corners of this country it was pointed out that they rarely connect easily with the long haul flight. And what if the flight to Madrid is delayed/cancelled, although your travel insurance may cover the cost but not the inconvenience. So you may well end up with a night in Madrid at each end; which could be enjoyable but will eat into the saving. On our last long haul holiday we stayed in four hotels and two friends’ homes; I would not consider suggesting two more hotels to unpack/pack.
  Also, if you use even part of your luggage allowance for Business let alone First your case can be up to 32kg. I cannot understand the rules for European flights on Iberia, but on a low cost airline you would pay a lot in luggage charges.
  It needs careful consideration in each set of circumstances.

  • richie says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:44

    You should probably be looking to fly a one world airline to Madrid. Eg ba Iberia or the budget one- cant remember the name. That way they should honour your connecting flight? At least that was my understanding???. However if you were to fly Ryanair its best to arrive the day before

    • mark2 says:

      1 Feb1 February 11:13

      Surely one of the bases of this strategy is to split the journey and so avoid APD and charges at Heathrow, so you want to keep the flights separate. How could they honour your connecting flight if you are not there? They could give you another flight, but you may lose a day of your holiday.

      • richie says:

        1 Feb1 February 18:51

        Doesn’t have to be same ticket. But if you miss a one world flight because your oneworld flight was delayed you should be covered

    • Rob says:

      1 Feb1 February 11:41

      Vueling is not part of oneworld but is owned by IAG so I’m sure you would be OK.

• richie says:

  1 Feb1 February 10:54

  Can anyone recommend a decent (avios) value Iberia long haul destination.

  • Rob says:

    1 Feb1 February 12:26

    Cuba, starts soon. Article next week. Costa Rica? They do all the ex Spanish colonies.

    • richie says:

      1 Feb1 February 14:22

      Done Cuba with tc , first and last time we flew with them. Left Gatwick and 10h later emergency landing back at Gatwick. But the country we liked. Would go back so its good to hear there’s an avios option to get there. Also lots of decent places in south America that have to be explored in sure. Lower taxes and fewer avios are always a good thing

    • Edd M says:

      1 Feb1 February 17:06

      Iberia have good coverage to every Spanish speaking country in South and Central America and OK coverage to Hispanic centres in the USA (eg Miami). Their short haul is poor, and I don’t trust them not to lose my luggage, but their product has improved significantly in the past years (whereas sadly BA’s appears to be declining)….

• Luke says:

  1 Feb1 February 11:54

  Looking forward to the partner flights option. I could pick up a RJ flight for my April needs and hopefully be better off.

• Mikeact says:

  1 Feb1 February 12:09

  Despite some great savings, maybe worth pointing out that all of July and August is Iberia Peak Period. (At least BA don’t include Tuesdays and Wednesdays)

• Choons says:

  1 Feb1 February 12:47

  Is there a way of transferring points from a household account with BA to Iberia. I have a BA HH account but I can only transfer the points that are in my name to Iberia, rather than all of the other members. I could set up separate accounts for them at Iberia to transfer to but there is then the issue of all tickets being on separate PNRs and some of those would be under 14s booking separate tickets for themselves, not too mention being a bit of a faff too.

  • JQ says:

    1 Feb1 February 13:06

    You’ll have to set up separate accounts. I think you can book for other people from your Iberia.

    • Choons says:

      1 Feb1 February 15:53

      thanks, you can book for other people but the problem is that if earning from flying as a family then the earnings on Avios go to individual accounts. Was thinking about Cuba too and IB is an option but can use AB for the HHA from BA.com I guess

• David says:

  1 Feb1 February 14:19

  Good value from Iberia redemptions …but slightly less attractive if you’re not going to be flying from London..more Avios and expense once the changes kick it.

  • Rob says:

    1 Feb1 February 14:32

    Yes, you have to factor in the cost of getting to Madrid vs a free BA connection.

    On the upside, if you are in the regions you are facing a plane change in Heathrow anyway so going via Madrid is less of an inconvenience. If you are in London it is more of a mental shift to agree to two flights when you could do it in one.

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