Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Did you know iberia.com shows more Iberia business class Avios seats than ba.com?

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It turns out that Iberia offers better Business Class reward availability via iberia.com than it offers on ba.com.

This is a bit bizarre, I admit.  I’m not entirely sure why this fact isn’t common knowledge – probably because of the hoops you need to jump through to redeem on Iberia.

Two months ago, I wrote about how Iberia opens up substantially more Economy redemption seats via iberia.com than British Airways will show you on ba.com.  That article is here.

There is a reason for this, however.  It is because Iberia has two ‘classes’ of Economy redemption and ba.com only shows you the slightly cheaper ‘Blue Class’ seats.

What makes no sense, however, is what I found out last week.  There are more Iberia business class seats available if you book on the Iberia website.

Here are some examples.  Flying to Miami from Madrid on 18th November, ba.com has nothing on Iberia in Business Class (click to enlarge):

Booking iberia flights with Avios

but iberia.com does have seats on one of the flights:

Booking iberia flights with Avios

There were actually THREE business class seats on the Iberia flight available if I booked via iberia.com.

Here is another example, out from Madrid to New York on 12th October.  Here is ba.com with no Iberia availability at all in Business:

Booking iberia flights with Avios

and here is iberia.com with a seat available on the later flight:

Booking iberia flights with Avios

Any sane Head for Points reader would be booking long haul Iberia redemptions on iberia.com anyway.  This is because taxes are roughly 75% lower when booking the SAME Iberia flight via iberia.com compared to booking it via ba.com.  This article explains it in more detail.

You might, as I would, start off by checking availability on ba.com with the intention of booking on iberia.com later.  That would be a big mistake as these examples show.  If you are looking for Iberia reward availability, you MUST search at iberia.com to see the full range of available seats.

Remember, though, that in order to move your Avios points to Iberia Plus via Combine My Avios, your Iberia Plus account MUST be 90 days and MUST have earned 1 Avios point.  If you have never done this, I would prioritise it because you never know when you might want to book.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (41)

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

  • krys_k says:
    31 May31 May 08:46

    I have points distributed between my avios family, exec family and Iberia accounts. When I booked via avios over the phone they managed to move avios around when I understand that that isn’t actually possible within the rules. Is there a way that I can move to Iberia? (are iberia customer service persuadable to do this?).

  • xcalx says:
    31 May31 May 08:50

    “There is a reason for this, however. It is because Iberia has two ‘classes’ of Economy redemption and ba.com does not show you the slightly more expensive ‘Blue Class’ seats.”

    I think you have this the wrong way Raffles. The Blue Class are the LESS expensive IB economy seats which are what show as economy on BA, its the standard economy seats that are not available on BA.

    • Rob says:
      31 May31 May 09:26

      Yes, my mistake. I meant to check that again last night and then, erm, forgot. Sorry.

  • Jon says:
    31 May31 May 13:29

    Hi,
    Off topic, but thanks to this website I’ve just booked my free stay at a Hilton (Park Lane!) using the £750 Barclaycard certificate. It would have otherwise cost £409, so a great bargain!
    Thanks again
    Jon

    • Rob says:
      31 May31 May 13:36

      Excellent result, well done.

    • Andy says:
      31 May31 May 14:43

      Snap! Booked mine for 9th July

      • Jon says:
        31 May31 May 20:10

        Ha!
        Although I seemed to get passed around when I called Hilton up! It seems they don’t have a dedicated UK call centre for this, as even though I called the UK number, everyone I spoke to was American. Did you have a similar experience?

        • Andy says:
          31 May31 May 21:12

          Yes, I had a similar experience
          Making my booking was the second time I have had the pleasure of speaking to them over the phone and on both occasions got passed around from one American to another. At first, I was told Park lane was excluded, but the guy didn’t seem too sure so put me through to someone else.

  • nun says:
    31 May31 May 14:11

    SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH… I hope you consider deleting this post.

    • Rob says:
      31 May31 May 15:22

      As there are 2m or so Avios members in Spain who book these seats as a matter of course as Iberia Plus is their core programme, I doubt a few thousand HFP readers sniffing around is going to have a major impact on availability …..

  • Diego says:
    31 May31 May 15:45

    Just one comment for those members who do not know. For short-haul, there are cases when booking IB flights on the BA website you pay LESS tax than on the IB website. The different is not substantial though.

    Example outbound: IB3611 LHR-TFN 4th October in Business Class
    BA website: 20000 avios + £55
    IB website: 20000 avios + £63

    Example inbound: IB3602 TFN-LHR 4th October in Business Class
    BA website: 20000 avios + £15
    IB website: 20000 avios + £7

  • Modern Day Sinbad says:
    31 May31 May 17:12

    Is there a way to move Avios FROM Iberia Plus to BA Executive Club?

    • Rob says:
      31 May31 May 17:33

      Yes, via Combine My Avios on ba.com or iberia.com (as long as your IB account is over 90 days old).

      If you get an error message, do this – move from Iberia to avios.com, using the Combine My Avios function on avios.com, and then from avios.com to BA. This usually always works.

      • Modern Day Sinbad says:
        1 Jun1 June 20:10

        You are a super star! Thank you! I had to go via Avios.com 🙂

  • Andrew H says:
    31 May31 May 18:37

    Does anyon know if Tesco plans to drop avios? Or if they are changing the excellent conversion rate from 1:2.4 to 1:1?

    • harry says:
      31 May31 May 18:42

      It’s NOT an excellent conversion rate.

      They are not ‘like’ currencies.

      What you’re saying is similar to saying getting EUR1.5 for every £1 is a great deal as it’s half as much again.

      • Andrew H says:
        31 May31 May 19:08

        Let me rephrase – it’s the only merchant who will convert 1->2.4 and is therefore very attractive.

        • harry says:
          31 May31 May 19:12

          Looks like Tesco has dropped Avios

          • harry says:
            31 May31 May 19:23

            I guess 31 July gives slomos a chance to get £50 in this year

          • Andrew H says:
            31 May31 May 19:30

            Wait, what? Tell me you are joking.

          • stuart h says:
            31 May31 May 19:32

            where does it say this?

          • harry says:
            31 May31 May 19:40

            The argument moves on, folks.

            What’s your best chance of getting £50 of credit before 31st July?

            ISTR Experian credits really quickly, as does Lastminute.com

          • Tilly71 says:
            31 May31 May 19:53

            No mention on clubcard site Avios is being dropped.

          • Andrew H says:
            31 May31 May 20:03

            Indeed, both the BA and Avios transfer options on the Tesco site are still there. I have £135 plus in vouchers to convert to Avios, but I was waiting for a 20% bonus promotion.

  • Nick says:
    31 May31 May 19:37

    Pity you can’t use the lloyds upgrade voucher or I’d be booking now!

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