Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get 25% off selected Iberia Avios redemptions – New York in business for 51,000 return

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Iberia Plus launched a very low key offer last week offering 25% off redemptions to various destinations in all classes.

As Iberia Plus is already a more attractive redemption option than British Airways for a couple of reasons, this offer is a great extra bonus.

Here’s the deal which you can find on the Iberia website site here:

Iberia A330 350

Book between 8th and 14th February

The following routes and travel dates are included:

Madrid to Zurich, London, Vienna and Moscow between 8th February 8th and 14th June

Madrid to Bogota, Medellin, Johannesburgo, Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago, Panama, Shanghai, Mexico and Lima between 8th February and 14th June, except April

Madrid to Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires and Havana from 1st May to 14th June 14th

The following dates are excluded for all routes: 7-18 April, 21-24 April, 28-29 April, 2-3 May, 6-8 May, 9-12 June

There are three good reasons to redeem on Iberia from Madrid (and one bad reason – you need to get to Madrid first):

Taxes are very low – not only because there is no Air Passenger Duty but because Iberia adds lower fuel surcharges than BA.  

Some destinations require far fewer Avios than an equivalent redemption on BA from London.  Off peak, for example, Madrid to Boston / New York / Chicago is just 68,000 Avios return. 

Iberia has a different calendar of peak and off-peak dates than BA which means the savings can be even greater.  This week, for example, is peak on the BA calendar due to half-term but off-peak for Iberia.

You can find out more about redeeming Avios on Iberia in my “Avios Redemption University” article on Iberia which is here.

To book these deals, you need to move your Avios into an Iberia Plus account.  The Iberia account must be 90 days old and have ‘earned’ one Avios point (the easiest option is an Amex Membership Rewards transfer) before transfers are allowed.

If you don’t have an Iberia account, you can’t take part.  Open one and make sure you ‘earn’ 1 Avios in it ASAP – you will then be well placed next time such an offer turns up.

Full details of the deal are here on iberia.com.


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.

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.

Comments (33)

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

  • Henk says:

    Yes – great deal. I stumbled on this earlier this week as I was looking for a flight to Lima next week. BA direct was 60000 Avios each way and around £300 – Iberia in business class was have that from MAD, and only around £100 in taxes. Plus, the married segment concept means that on the way back we get and Avios seat MAD-LHR where none existed on the last day of the half term holiday.

    On the way out we have separate tickets, and a night stay at an airport hotel.

  • newbie says:

    OT re InterConti Ambassador programme – thinking about enrolling:

    1. How does the Ambassador single rate for double occupancy benefit work? When booking, do I select 1 guest even if there will be two of us?

    2. Does the single rate for double occupancy benefit apply when booking 1 double queen room for 3 people? In this scenario, would I enter on the booking form 2 guests even if there will be 3 of us staying (i.e. I pay for 2 people and the additional guest surcharge for the 3rd person is waived)?

    3. Does the guaranteed upgrade also apply to suites? For example, if I book a room one category below a suite, would I then be upgraded to a suite?

    • Genghis says:

      3. There are bookable room categories then there is the hotel’s definition of an upgrade which could be a higher floor room, a corner room etc within the same bookable category.

    • Rob says:

      1. Only really applies in Germany, few other countries vary pricing. But, yes, book for 1.

      2. It would not waive the 3rd person fee because that is technically for the rollaway fee (you could argue this at the hotel).

      3. In theory yes although the T&C list hotels and specific suites you can’t get. Flyertalk is good for guidance here, eg some hotels have room categories they don’t sell but use for AMB upgrades. IC HK will never upgrade your view (ie road to harbour) etc.

  • James123 says:

    O/T

    I want to book the Arts Hotel in Barcelona for a weekend in May, what is the best way for me to book to maximise points and chances of a room upgrade. My thoughts were apply for Amex Platinum card and book through the Fine Hotels service and status match the SPG Gold to Marriot Gold, or would it be better to book direct with the hotel once I have the gold status?

    • Rob says:

      Amex FHR bookings should qualify for an upgrade if available on check-in. You should email Emyr, our luxury hotel booking partner, who can get you special benefits on this as it is a Ritz-Carlton – https://headforpoints.com/2017/01/16/virtuoso-agent-london/

      You will be far better placed via these routes than booking direct and turning up waving a Marriott Gold (a Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold would be a bit better).

  • JamesW says:

    So if one were to take advantage of the current Iberia buy Avios offer “The maximum number of Avios you can buy is therefore 3 x 34 + 2 x 20 = 142,000 Avios for €1,785, less €20 if the coupon code works.” ,
    51,000 Avios would cost ~€630 so add the taxes in and you’re looking at a pretty decent price fromn EU-US business return.

    That’s based upon the €20 discount working but doesn’t take into account the 20 Avios per € Groupon offer, should it work. If it did I guess you’d be getting an extra ~35000 Avios making the 51,000 Avios mentioned above cost just over €500. Add the taxes for the flight and that’s a seriously good price for an EU-US business return.

    Have I done my sums right ?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      It’s 10 Avios per € which is double the usual 5 per €. So if it works you get 6300 Avios on €630 spend

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Also I wouldn’t risk 10 Avios per € for a €20 saving on €630 spend. Possibly split the purchase so use the coupon for a c€100 spend then buy the rest in a separate transaction

    • JamesW says:

      Nope, I haven’t done my sums right 🙁
      Its only 10 Avios per € spent (and from the Iberia plus store too rather than Groupon).

      So you’re not getting an extra ~35,000 Avios but 17,650. So each Avios costs 1.1p (€1765/159650) thus 51,000 = €561 not ~500.
      Sorry !!

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