How to move Avios from BA to Iberia (and vice versa) now the Avios Travel Rewards Programme is closing

The migration from Avios Travel Rewards Programme to British Airways Executive Club is underway.  The first batch of avios.com accounts have already been closed and the rest will be done over the next couple of months.

One common question that comes up is this:

“When my Avios Travel Rewards Programme account is closed, how will I be able to move Avios from British Airways Executive Club to Iberia Plus?  ‘Combine My Avios’ appears to be permanently broken when you try to go directly from BA to Iberia or vice versa.”

The good news is that you are not doomed to pay the price for Avios’s IT failure.

If you want to move Avios between BA and Iberia in the future, you will need to open an Aer Lingus Aer Club or Vueling Club account.  The reason this works is that both of these schemes use the avios.com IT platform and you can use it as a conduit between British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.

Here is a worked example using Aer Lingus Aer Club, although Vueling Club works the same way:

Visit the Aer Lingus website here and click on ‘Join Aer Club’ under the Aer Club dropdown menu

Fill in your name and email, using the same email address you use for BA Executive Club and Iberia Plus

You will be asked if you have an Avios account.  Say ‘No’.

Fill in your address – again, this needs to match your BA and Iberia details

Create a username and password to use on avios.com – use a non-alphanumeric character even though it is not required 

(Aer Club and avios.com do not have the same requirements for what must be included in your password.  This is despite the fact that you will be logging into both websites using the same details.  Your Aer Club password will be rejected by avios.com unless you include a non-alphanumeric character.)

You need to use matching details from your Iberia and BA accounts because that it is the only way to pass the ‘Combine My Avios’ security checks.

So …. my Aer Club account is now happily open:

Off I go to the avios.com website and I log-in by using my new Aer Club details.  Under ‘My Account’ it confirms that this is an Aer Club balance:

And I can now do a test transfer.  I pull in 1000 Avios from my British Airways Executive Club account using ‘Transfer Avios to / from British Airways or Iberia’ under ‘Your Account’:

…. and then I send them off to Iberia Plus, where they arrived immediately:

I then reversed the process and was able to get the Avios back into my British Airways account without any trouble.

So, good news.  Despite the closure of the Avios Travel Rewards Programme, you can still move Avios from British Airways to Iberia by opening an Aer Club or Vueling Club account and logging in to avios.com with those details.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)

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