Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Executive summary: post April 28th, you can make SUBSTANTIAL business class savings to certain cities, especially on some BA peak dates, by redeeming your Avios on Iberia via Iberia Plus rather than on British Airways

Key link: ‘Club Changes’ page on ba.com, ‘Club Changes’ page on iberia.com

Here are the other articles in this series you may have missed:

1. Understanding the new tier point rules

2. Understanding the new earning rates

3. Understanding the new spending rates

4. What is an Avios point worth now?

5. Exploiting the ‘no repricing on date changes’ rule

6. Why are off-peak upgrades now more expensive than peak?

8. Partner redemptions may be cheaper if booked on iberia.com

9. What will happen to airline partner earning rates?

10. Are you a winner or a loser overall?

British Airways Executive Club and avios.com are not the only programmes undergoing substantial change.  Iberia Plus, which also uses Avios as its currency, is changing too.

As usual with Iberia, it is doing things in a different way.  This opens up some interesting arbitrage opportunities for you.

Full details of the changes to the Iberia scheme can be found here.  In summary:

  • the changes start on March 1st, two months before the BAEC changes take place, for miles earning and from April 1st for miles redeeming
  • Iberia will move to a similar peak and off-peak redemption structure but with different peak dates
  • Iberia will adopt a different reward chart to BAEC and avios.com

For tickets bought after March 1st and credited to Iberia Plus, Avios earning will have the same structure as British Airways Executive Club, eg 250% of miles flown for flexible Business Class ticket and a 50% bonus for a mid-tier member.

What we do NOT know yet is how many ‘Elite Points’ you will get for each flight.  The table will not be published until March 1st.  It might turn out that you can earn status more quickly by crediting British Airways flights to Iberia Plus.  I will look into this further when we know more about their Elite Points structure.

Is it worth redeeming for British Airways flights via iberia.com?

No.  The redemption rates and the table of peak dates are the same as those used by British Airways Executive Club.

Add in the fact that BA redemptions booked via Iberia are non-refundable and non-changeable and there is no reason at all to use Iberia Plus to redeem on British Airways.

If BA and Iberia fly to the same long-haul city, is it worth redeeming on Iberia via iberia.com?

Oh yes. 

Here is the Avios redemption table for Iberia:

Iberia chart PNG 2

Let’s take a look at New York as a typical Iberia long-haul route which is also served by British Airways.  New York is Zone 5.

This is what a return business class redemption will cost:

British Airways flight:  120,000 Avios + £508 at peak, 100,000 Avios + £508 at off-peak

Iberia flight: 100,000 Avios + £137 (€183) at peak, 68,000 Avios + £137 (€183) at off-peak

Wow.  Big difference.  You can save 32,000 Avios and £371 in charges by getting yourself to Madrid (for cash or Avios) to connect.

It can be even crazier though.  BA and Iberia have different definitions of ‘peak’ and ‘off peak’.  Let’s say you want to fly to New York for October 15th – October 19th which is half-term for UK state schools.  These are peak days with BA, requiring 120,000 Avios + £508.  Iberia Plus treats those as off-peak days, however, so you only pay 68,000 Avios + £137.  That is a huge difference – you save 52,000 Avios (43%) and £371 per person with Iberia!

Taking Los Angeles as another example, a business class Iberia reward will be 85,000 or 125,000 Avios depending on season.  British Airways will charge 125,000 or 150,000 Avios – and the taxes will be £300 more expensive.  Would you buy a ticket to Madrid in order to save £370 and 25,000 – 65,000 Avios per person?

A key feature of Head for Points after April 28th will be a calendar comparing peak and off-peak dates with BA and Iberia!

Remember that Iberia is starting flights from Manchester and Edinburgh to Madrid this year which will give those in the regions an easy option for connecting.

Booking partner airlines via Iberia Plus may also be cheaper – but will be non-refundable

British Airways will be using the ‘peak’ part of the BA reward chart for redemptions on partner airlines such as airberlin.

Iberia, to confuse matters, will be using a totally different chart which is in the PDF document above.

Click for the next article – Partner redemptions may be cheaper if booked on iberia.com

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Club Iberia Plus

Comments (75)

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

  • Dale says:
    1 Feb1 February 15:12

    I’m guessing the Amex 2-4-1 voucher nis not applicable on Iberia avios redemptions?

  • Waffles1 says:
    1 Feb1 February 15:16

    Does an Iberia avios account still need 1 mile earned before you can transfer to it? If so, does anyone have any suggestions on the quickest way to activate an Iberia account?

    • avidsaver says:
      1 Feb1 February 16:11

      The quickest way is either buy some overpriced Iberia Avios or transfer some Amex Membership Rewards.

      • avidsaver says:
        1 Feb1 February 16:13

        Also your account must be 90+ days old.

      • Waffles1 says:
        1 Feb1 February 16:14

        Unfortunately I don’t have an amex card. I’ll maybe just wait until the next time the Economist bonus is up since I’ll have to wait 3 months to transfer across to it.

      • Rob says:
        3 Feb3 February 19:21

        No

  • VP says:
    1 Feb1 February 15:16

    I recently flew Iberia in Business Class from Sao Paulo to Madrid with my wife and Dad (his first Business Class flight !!) using Avios thanks to Raffles and this wonderful blog. I would never have got so many avios without Headforpoints. (Tesco deals and Economist promo in particular)
    Booked tickets in their 50% Avios sale so paid 25K per person + £35 in taxes. Wonder if Iberia will now have these kinda sales in future. I personally thought their product outscored BAs business class in all aspects except IFE (less choice, less friendly to use)
    Food and service( for me) was way better. For ex: Before reaching Madrid all connecting passengers were told personally which Gate they have to go to and whether there is a change of terminals and how much time should it take. I have just had 1 business flight with BA but never had such personal attention. Had shower in Madrid lounge (toiletries managed by Melia I believe so was really nice..even got a small bottle of perfume!!) The BA lounge has better lunch options but Iberia lounge had Ice cream (probably Haagen Das but don’t remember). If flying to same destinations I will now try for an Iberia flight rather than BA for the Avios and Money savings (unless severe time constraints or 2-4-1). Wish Iberia had a much wider coverage outside S.America

  • Graham says:
    1 Feb1 February 15:18

    Hi Rob,

    Are you sure that avios booking via Iberia are non-refundable?
    I just did I dummy booking which contained the following:

    ‘Refund
    Permitted 24 hours before departure the first flight of the ticket with a penalty of 25€ . If ticket not contains flights IB5XXX’

    This was for an IB6XXX flight so that implies they are refundable no?

  • VP says:
    1 Feb1 February 15:30

    Offtopic but would be very grateful if Rob or anyone can answer this for me,
    I am planning a couple of trips in Europe and BA Hello Weekend offers with hotels are almost £80 cheaper per person than booking just the flights for the same date and time !!! If I book the package and don’t even bother to check in the hotel what happens? Does it impact my return flight?
    Also, would I get full avios (assuming I book before 28th April) for flights booked as part of BA holiday package or are these deeply discounted tickets not attracting any avios?

    • VP says:
      1 Feb1 February 17:24

      Ok Thanks. Actually I don’t require the hotel at all just the flight but will look into just checking in

    • Rob says:
      1 Feb1 February 20:34

      No, you’re fine. You don’t need to check into the hotel. You will receive 100% Avios on the flights, BA does not have any ticket classes (except redemptions) which do not earn.

  • Mark says:
    1 Feb1 February 16:46

    Am I reading it right that an Air Berlin return to Abu Dhabi is only 46k avios in business class when booked via Iberia under the new rules? And better still that applies to flights from Düsseldorf as well as Berlin?

    I realise it would be non-refundable and it has to booked as a return, but even so with BA wanting 75k avios from Berlin or 120k avios from Düsseldorf in future booking via Iberia surely has to be a no-brainer in most cases….

    • Don says:
      1 Feb1 February 19:19

      Please confirm Raffles?

    • stuart says:
      1 Feb1 February 20:29

      i was thinking the same but now i think the mileage shown is for the total return flight miles…
      ie: 5,001-8000 miles = 100k avios.
      hope i’m wrong

    • Rob says:
      1 Feb1 February 20:33

      No. Berlin to Abu Dhabi is 5,800 miles return which (using the partner table) is 100,000 Avios return.

      The table is confusing because the mileage is for the TOTAL trip. You can tell this because it goes up to 50,000 miles which is clearly wouldn’t if it was just one-way!

      • Mark says:
        1 Feb1 February 20:45

        Shame. That said Iberia’s clunky website doesn’t seem to recognise Abu Dhabi as a destination anyway. It doesn’t recognise Doha either, even though it offers Qatar routings via Doha!

  • Nathan says:
    1 Feb1 February 21:00

    Do Iberia have a pay cash and upgrade with avios option?
    I always find the WTP upgrade to Biz class with avios to be the best way to use them

    • Mark says:
      1 Feb1 February 23:15

      Yes. Upgrades are shown in the table. In the case of Iberia it is upgrades from economy since they don’t have premium economy. I suspect (as is the case with BA WT to WT+ upgrades) that it is not available with the cheapest fare buckets though.

  • Aaron says:
    1 Feb1 February 21:36

    There might be a small error on the Iberia redemption table for full economy fares (band 6) in peak season. 375,000 miles is quite a lot 🙂

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!