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Get up to 90,000 Avios in a VERY generous (or crazy) Iberia promo – but is there a catch?

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++++ We now have info from Iberia on exactly how it all works and will reveal tomorrow – it looks more promising than we thought ++++

Iberia launched a new promotion yesterday which, on the face of it, looks EXCEPTIONALLY generous.

It appears to be open to all and not targeted.

For every Iberia flight you book between now and Sunday, however cheap, you will receive 9,000 bonus Avios.  Your flying dates can be for whenever you choose.

These Avios will post to your account immediately (within 10 days) and not when you fly.  It appears to pay out on one-way flights, so a return cash flight would net you 18,000 Avios.

Iberia 90000 Avios promotion

ANY flight to ANY destination seems to count.  One-way flights from Palma to Madrid early in 2019 are occasionally under €20 for potentially 9,000 Avios.

You can find full details on the Iberia website here.

Is there a catch?

Possibly.

Let’s look at the small print.

“Special offer of an extra 9,000 Avios for each ticket purchased between 21 and 24 June 2018 (maximum of 90,000 promotional Avios per member) on iberia.com for a flight operated by Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum. Avios will be added within 10 days of the purchase to the Iberia Plus account of all customers identified as members of the Iberia Plus programme during the purchase process.”

The first bit seems OK – you get 9,000 Avios per ticket purchased by Sunday, and any flight on Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum will do.  All you need to do is be logged in as an Iberia Plus member when you book. Importantly, you get the Avios within 10 days of booking.

This next bit also seems fair:

“If the customer requests a refund, either because it is permitted by the fare or for any other reason, the promotional Avios will be withdrawn from their account.”

Then you have this line, which worries me more:

“Extra promotional Avios not redeemed by 1 December 2018 will be withdrawn from the customer’s account.”

What does this mean?  Are these ‘promotional’ Avios going to be somehow different to normal Avios?  There is a clue in the next line:

“For example, if a customer purchases tickets on Iberia.com for three people to fly from Seville to Madrid and two of the people are identified as Iberia Plus members during the purchase process, 9,000 Avios will be credited to both of these people within 10 days of the purchase. These two people must have redeemed at least 9,000 Avios by 1 December 2018, or this same amount of Avios will be withdrawn from their account.”

So …. you MUST spend your bonus Avios via Iberia Plus (remember there is no Reward Flight Saver if you book BA short haul) by 1st December.  If you haven’t had total redemptions between now and 1st December for at least the number of Avios earned under this offer, the balance will be withdrawn.

What happens, though, if you transfer the Avios you earn under this promotion to British Airways?  Does that count as ‘redeeming’?  Or will your Iberia Plus account go into negative territory on 1st December?

You can move the Avios from Iberia Plus to British Airways by using the ‘Combine My Avios’ function on ba.com.

90000 Avios with Iberia

This IS a very generous deal though

If we assume that there is no small print we don’t know about – and the rules are clearly laid out on the promotional page here – then there are clearly bargains to be had here.

I’ve no idea what the cheapest Iberia Express ticket would be, but I’m sure there are some knocking around intra-Europe for a handful of Euro one-way. Palma to Madrid out of season seems the cheapest.

My concerns would be:

that actually you must book a return flight, even though it doesn’t say that (RISK – MEDIUM)

that actually your booking must start in the UK, even though it doesn’t say that (RISK – LOW as the example given on the site does not originate in the UK and this offer seems to be available in other languages)

that Iberia may take back the 9000 Avios if you don’t turn up for the flight, even though it doesn’t say that (RISK – MEDIUM)

that you must book via the promotional webpage here (RISK – NIL as long as you book via the special link)

that Iberia has a track record of ignoring any complaints about promotions, should your Avios not appear (RISK – HIGH)

You can find full details of this offer and the booking link on the Iberia website here.

Do NOT book on the BA website, the Iberia Express site or the Air Nostrum site.  For absolute certainty, only use the special promotional landing page here.

Do NOT book London to Madrid flights operated by British Airways with an Iberia flight number, because the rules say that flights must be operated by Iberia.

I am NOT going to recommend that you make 10 cheap Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum bookings in order to pick up 90,000 cheap Avios.  I simply don’t have enough trust in Iberia for them to pay out. Even if they did I don’t want to risk my Iberia Plus account going 90,00 Avios into the red when I transfer them to BA and don’t redeem them via Iberia by 1st December.

You may take a different view, of course.  Let us know what you decide, especially if you decide to book a cheap fare with no intention of flying it …..

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

Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (241)

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

  • Mark Mathieson says:
    22 Jun22 June 14:26

    Another risk factor.
    Has anyone considered IB would ‘tweak’ the rules by giving an IB Avios VOUCHER (instead of posting directly your account), with some strict T&C’s on it?
    As well as disqualifying no-shows of course…

    • Lee J Thornton says:
      22 Jun22 June 17:42

      This is exactly what I think they will do, I know they have awarded vouchers before and not actual Avios.

  • DrPositive Snell says:
    22 Jun22 June 14:53

    Brought one ticket from Palma Mallorca, Spain to Madrid, Spain for €27.79 which is £24.38.

    Hope it works and I get 18,000 Avios a bargain for under £50 if true.

    Also brought with my Amex blue reward card so MR Points to????????

    • DrPositive Snell says:
      22 Jun22 June 14:55

      Brought both tickets for November 2018

    • Cormac Murray says:
      22 Jun22 June 17:55

      I bought a return for that hoping to snag 18,000 points, turns out it needed to be 2 singles. Wasted £25, I guess it’s the price of the learning curve. However, 0.55p per avios point is still pretty good.

  • Barry says:
    22 Jun22 June 15:16

    ++++ We now have info from Iberia on exactly how it all works and will reveal tomorrow – it looks more promising than we thought! ++++

    Interesting update… but why the delay until tomorrow? Only have until Sunday to book!

    • shd says:
      22 Jun22 June 15:23

      Serious question? If we all come back tomorrow it doubles the pageviews…

      • Rob says:
        22 Jun22 June 15:41

        Look at Instagram and you’ll see why I am not doing it 🙂

        • Callum says:
          22 Jun22 June 17:59

          So you’d say it’s safe to buy now? I have planned out a complex itinerary of ten flights and would prefer to book now in case availability changes!

          • Rob says:
            22 Jun22 June 19:17

            Safe to earn them for 10 x one-ways booked on ib.com, yes.

            Spending them will have issues unless you are willing to abandon your IB account.

        • callum says:
          22 Jun22 June 20:25

          That’s annoyingly cryptic… I’d much rather you just didn’t say you knew anything if you weren’t willing to say what it is!

          • Rob says:
            22 Jun22 June 22:08

            I was watching the tennis down at Queen’s Club via some VIP Emirates tickets.

        • callum says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:13

          Never mind, I don’t know if Rob is happy for links to competitors here, but Loyalty Lobby and Onemileatatime also have this information that we can’t see until tomorrow!

          Seems that these will appear in your Iberia account as normal avios and can be moved to BA. If you don’t spend the equivalent via Iberia by December however, your account will then go into minus 90,000. The consequences of this beyond not being able to redeem via Iberia any more I don’t know.

        • the real harry1 says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:21

          what is your cost per Avios if it pans out?

        • callum says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:42

          0.3p per avios. You can get it slightly cheaper but I created a trip I’d actually complete – all be it far more elongated than I would otherwise do! In the few hours since I made that the prices seem to have changed a lot (particularly on the Palma leg!) so I may need to tweak it now.

          Manchester – Madrid
          Madrid – Seville
          Seville – Madrid – Mallorca
          Mallorca – Madrid – Santiago
          Santiago – Madrid – Tenerife
          Tenerife – Madrid – Toulouse

        • the real harry1 says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:49

          Very good – you won big time on that schedule

    • Rob says:
      22 Jun22 June 15:41

      See Instagram ????

      But there was a massive problem I would tell you.

      • PZE says:
        22 Jun22 June 15:57

        Looks like another hard day at the office… enjoy (and I trust if it was even a medium sized problem you’d tell us)

    • Jeff says:
      22 Jun22 June 16:10

      Look forward to tomorrow’s article. Hope it may also clarify why on earth they are doing such an apparently generous promotion. Since everyone will be buying non-refundable tickets it will fluff up their Q2 sales but can’t see the numbers would be meaningful enough.

      • Rob says:
        22 Jun22 June 16:19

        Can’t answer that!

      • Boobaholic says:
        22 Jun22 June 21:06

        Either someone didn’t think it through or we’re about to see a vicious devaluation ala Qatar meaning all the 90K Avios will get you is a one way London to Faro in economy 😉

        Worth the risk nothing bad’s about to happen though.

    • james says:
      22 Jun22 June 22:52

      I think the complication is that we will have to redeem via Iberia and not move them over to BAEC to spend there as your Iberia account will deduct the 90,000 Avios from you Iberia balance and even leave you in -90k ‘debt’ to them.

      Whether that just means you have to basically throw away your Iberia ccount and never use it again OR if they’ll try to recoup the cost somehow I don’t know.

      BUT if you want to be able to keep your Iberia account (as in not have a -90K balance) or any Avios in it then you will have to spemnd the Avios via Iberia and not via BAEC.

      If you have 100K in it now, get 90K through this promo, transfer that 90K to BAEC, leaving 100K still in your Iberia account – Iberia will actually deduct the 90K from your balance of 100K on December 1st as you haven’t spent 90K through Iberia……as transferring does not count as spending.

      So basically you have to know you want to use 90K via Iberia (not BAEC).

      So, what can we do with 90K on Iberia ?!

  • marcw says:
    22 Jun22 June 15:24

    The promo is very clear, there aren´t many ifs or buts. For each booking done on iberia.com on flights operated by IBeria, Iberia Express an Air Nostrum until the 24 june, each pax that puts its IBPlus frequent traveller number during booking process will receive 9.000 Avios (max 90.000 Avios). If you reimburse your flight ticket, you will not get them, or they will deduct them from your account. If you choose not to travel, you will still get them.
    And finally, you have until the 1st of december to use an equivalent amount of Avios received from the promotion (9-18-…-90k). Combine my Avios does not count as activity, otherwise your IbPlus will go into negative.

  • Hank Wakai says:
    22 Jun22 June 15:31

    So you book a bunch of cheap flights, transfer your 90,000 avios to BA, don’t show for the flights, then abandon your Iberia Plus account once it’s negative 90,000 ? There must be a catch surely ?

    • marc says:
      22 Jun22 June 15:34

      Yes. However, remember that to open an IbPlus account you need your passport. It could be, that if you do that, you won´t be able to open a 2nd account (but I guess you can always “create” a passport number)

      • meta says:
        22 Jun22 June 17:38

        I didn’t need a passport to open mine a few years ago. Is this a new thing?

        • Matt says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:22

          If you need to reset passwords etc or get in to your account again you need to send in passport ID and personal details. I locked my account as my password had expired and I didn’t realise it – email a scan of documents was the only way to unlock. Would be a problem if you made up a passport number.

          Could work if your passport is due to expire soon..!

        • meta says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:32

          I see. I am an old account holder and still login via pin. Never had an issue with loging in nor with any of the Iberia promos, incl. Groupon offers since the beginning. Always posted for me promptly. However, we shall see…

      • james says:
        22 Jun22 June 22:53

        Good thing I have dual nationality & two passports 😉

        At last it will pay off !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Rob says:
      22 Jun22 June 15:40

      You need an Iberia account to play this game long term, that is the snag.

      • marcw says:
        22 Jun22 June 15:42

        Yes. Without IbPlus, the game is not that fun.

      • shd says:
        22 Jun22 June 16:03

        I used to do fairly regular IB promotions, but I’ve not touched my IB account for ages, so is that still true?

        Put it another way, if someone offered me 90k Avios to close my IB+ account forever, I’d jump at the chance! So would my OH (that would get us to 180k) and the kids, grandparents and aunts and uncles would too… 🙂

        • callum says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:46

          I’ve had an Iberia plus account open “just in case” for about 3 years now and have never used it (other than a rare promo).

          It’s only really useful if you want to book Iberia flights to the Americas due to the lower taxes/charges than BA.

    • James says:
      22 Jun22 June 23:02

      I suspect I’ll transfer the 90K out to BAEC (If that hasn’t been prevented by Iberia somehow by the end of the promo) and burn my Iberia account.
      I wonder how many Iberia accounts get closed (or just left at -90K) after this !!!!!!!!

      Perhaps enough that Iberia backtrack and don’t deduct the 90K if they’ve been transferred to another IAG company (I’m thinking BAEC of course).

      That has to be worrying someone at Iberia, surely !!

  • Hugh says:
    22 Jun22 June 16:11

    I don’t currently have an Iberia avios account. If I open one today do you think I will be able to take up this offer?

  • palcsaky says:
    22 Jun22 June 17:14

    Does Iberia allow cancellation with full refund within 24 of booking?

  • Anon says:
    22 Jun22 June 17:22

    I am going to ask the obvious question that nobody else has asked – If I have a minimal Avios balance in my IB account, book under the promo for refundable flights in 2019, then book flights in 2018 with the bonus Avios and then cancel the refundable flights after I have flown, what will happen ?? I cant believe that this is a loophole that IB would not have seen, so what is going on ??

    • Rob says:
      22 Jun22 June 17:24

      Rules say the 9k are taken back so you would go negative, same as if you move them to BA and do fly it.

      • Anon says:
        22 Jun22 June 17:29

        I understand that they get taken back, but – unlike the transfer to BA where they could be repatriated by the combined might of IAG’s constituent elements – what recourse is there if I end up with a negative balance ? Since opening my IB account I have a new passport, so no hassle even about opening a new account, I would imagine.

        • the real harry1 says:
          22 Jun22 June 17:34

          No different to (say) buying a fully flex flight in First for £10K on Amex, banking the points & transferring them elsewhere, then cancelling the flight.

          Not to be recommended, IMV – there are blacklists etc.

          • Rob says:
            22 Jun22 June 17:56

            ….. or on your MBNA credit card just before it stops being miles earning ….

        • meta says:
          22 Jun22 June 18:58

          Rob, now that’s a great advice!

        • the real harry1 says:
          22 Jun22 June 21:28

          🙂

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