Iberia launches low-tax Avios redemptions to Tokyo and Shanghai

Following the recent announcement of its new service to Johannesburg, starting in August, Iberia has revealed some more big news.

Iberia has announced a new ‘three flights per week’ service from Madrid to Tokyo from October 2016.

It will depart on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, using a brand new Airbus A330 with a two class configuration.

The 13.20 departure time means that it is possible to make a same day connection from the UK.

I tried to get some typical tax numbers for Iberia flights yesterday.  However, this is Iberia we’re talking about and the only response I could get when selecting Narita flights (which are loaded in the system) was:

An error has occurred. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask you to please try again after a few minutes. If the error persists please contact us.

You should expect the tax in Business Class to be under €200 return and no more than €175 in Economy.   You MUST book through Iberia Plus to get this pricing.  If you book via ba.com you will get a large fuel surcharge added to your ticket.

As long as your Iberia Plus account is 90 days old and has earned 1 Avios point (a transfer from Amex Membership Rewards would do it) you can use ‘Combine My Avios’ on ba.com to send them across for free.

To put this in context, a flight from London to Tokyo on BA will set you back £531 of taxes and charges – although, with Iberia, you need to factor in the cost of getting to Madrid.

One downside ….

The new Iberia A330-200 aircraft, whilst brand new, are not ‘Avios friendly’ if you are looking for Business Class redemptions.

With only 19 business class seats, availability will be tight.  Iberia is still be releasing a minimum of two business class seats per flight however – they are already showing.

And Shanghai too ….

Iberia has also announced a new route to Shanghai, also to be flown with a brand new A330-200.

The airline has yet to receive the necessary permissions for the flight so it is not releasing any timetable information, except to say that flights will begin in the Winter.  I’ll let you know when I hear something.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2023)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Successfully apply for either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards by 2nd April 2023 and you will be entered into a free draw to win ONE MILLION AVIOS! Full details are on the application forms here (free) and here (paid). This competition is exclusive to Head for Points readers. T&C apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

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.

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.

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.

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. The bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.