Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

One interesting quirk with the new Avios scheme we never expected

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My main article today summarises all of the Avios changes that took place yesterday.

Everything is as we expected.  Except one thing.

As you will know if you followed my articles on the changes, Iberia is introducing its own reward pricing chart with its own peak and off-peak dates.  It looks like this:

Iberia chart PNG 2

What I didn’t expect is this:

ba.com is using the Iberia pricing chart to price Iberia rewards.

Here is the proof from ba.com:

rsz_iberia_avios

This flight – if priced using the British Airways chart used for BA and all other partner airlines – should cost 120,000 Avios.  However, ba.com is pricing it using the Iberia pricing chart and applying the Iberia off-peak calendar.

You should still not book this flight on ba.com.

If you move 68,000 Avios to Iberia Plus and book it that way, the tax will fall from £323 to £137.  However, not everyone can move Avios into Iberia Plus because a) your Iberia account must be open for 90 days before you can transfer and b) you must have earned 1 Avios point in the account.

If you can’t fulfil both of the criteria above, booking via ba.com will be your only option.  I can see a lot of people heading down to Madrid in the near future ….


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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

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.

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

Huge 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) 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.

Comments (63)

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

  • krys_k says:

    Maybe I’m a dumb-cluck, but how do you get to see Iberia prices via avois from BA site? I’ve tried the site itself as well as through Exec Club and can’t find it. Thanks in advance!

    • Rob says:

      Will show automatically if available, try getting the NYC flight in my screenshot to show.

  • John says:

    Raffles,

    Great website ! – I have been using this website this year and saved money on travel .
    How do I we contact you to advise on offers you don’t have posted currently ?? .

  • aliks says:

    Transferring Avios to Iberia+

    Log in to your Avios account and go to the “combine your avios” it will ask for your IB+ Id and PIN (ie password)

    The key is that the Iberia password has to be capitalised. If your Iberia+ password is

    Fred1234

    then you have to type in

    FRED1234

    I was tearing my hair out for weeks trying to get enough Avios into IB+ to get J class tickets to SJO. Someone mentioned this on HeadforPoints a last week, and now it works perfectly for me.

    Poor security really,

    • Rob says:

      Is that really the answer?! I’m speechless! My IB password is all numbers which may be why I’ve not had serious issues.

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

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