Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

ENDS 11pm SUNDAY: Iberia’s VERY generous 90,000 Avios promo – it really does work

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Iberia launched a new promotion on Thursday which, on the face of it, looked EXCEPTIONALLY generous.

For every Iberia flight you book between now and Sunday night, 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.

Even if you use the points for what is usually a poor value deal, such as booking a hotel, you should double your money.

You can find full details on the Iberia website here.

There were, however, a number of things that weren’t clear as you can see in the comment section under yesterday’s article.

We talked to someone at Iberia to clarify the promotion and here are the facts about how the deal works.

In summary – EARNING the Avios really is as good as it seems.   (Spending is different, see below.)  Book 10 x cheap one-way flights on iberia.com from a participating country by Sunday night and you’ll have 90,000 Avios in your Iberia Plus account within 10 days.

Santander to Madrid appears to be a route with very low fares, around €25, as is Palma to Madrid and Malaga to Madrid.  There are likely to be others.  If you want to spend some time digging I would start with the Iberia Express route map and look for the Winter months.  October to February are likely to have the best prices.

To clarify:

The 9,000 bonus Avios are awarded per booking and not flight, so for cheap Avios you need to be booking one-way flights on any of the participating airlines (Iberia, Iberia Express, Air Nostrum)

You need to book via iberia.com – any page, not necessarily the offer home page.  Do not use the Iberia Express or Air Nostrum sites.

You only need one segment in a booking to be on Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum, so a flight on British Airways which connects to Iberia Express for the last leg is OK

Bookings must be made by Sunday night – for safety I would make them by 11pm which would be midnight in Spain

Your Iberia Plus number needs to be put into the booking at the time of making it

Each booking can be for multiple people – if each person has an Iberia Plus account, each will receive 9,000 Avios

This offer is available in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Russia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and USA

There is no obligation for your flights to start or end in the UK – domestic Spanish flights are fine

Here is the key one:

Iberia WILL NOT take back the 9,000 bonus Avios if you don’t turn up for the flight but you will not receive the normal base Avios that the flight would generate

So, as far as earning the 9,000 to 90,000 Avios is concerned, it is all now very clear.  If you can find 10 x bargain one-way flights, which could be as cheap as €250 or so, you’ll get 90,000 Avios very cheaply.

Spending the Avios is more of an issue:

If you don’t spend the bonus Avios via Iberia Plus by 1st December they will be taken back.

Iberia has confirmed that the 9,000 bonus Avios have to be spent through the Iberia Plus programme before 1st December but the services booked can be for 2019 (i.e. future flight tickets, hotel bookings or rental car bookings)

Transferring the Avios to a BA account instead of using them through the Iberia Plus programme will result in a negative balance in your Iberia account on 1st December

So, as I see it, here are your options for spending the points:

You transfer the Avios to a standard BA Executive Club account

This is possible via ‘Combine My Avios’ and they can be used as you want.  However, on 1st December, your Iberia Plus account will show a negative balance because the bonus Avios will be reclaimed as you have not spent them.   Having a permanent negative balance on your Iberia Plus account will stop you booking low-tax redemptions via Iberia Plus in the future.

You CANNOT transfer Iberia Plus Avios into a BA Executive Club account which is part of a Household Account

You would need to break up your BA Household Account, remembering that changes can only be made once every six months.  Alternatively you could transfer to an Aer Club or Vueling Club account but I am not 100% sure if they can transfer into a BA Household Account.  It should be possible as the old-style avios.com accounts allowed this.  Your Iberia account would still end up with negative balance in December which may or may not concern you.

You spend the Avios via the Iberia Plus website

This is the ‘cleanest’ option because you won’t end up with a negative balance in December as the bonus Avios won’t be clawed back due to non-use.  However, remember the following quirks with Iberia Plus:

British Airways short-haul redemptions have higher taxes, because you don’t get Reward Flight Saver pricing

You cannot use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher when redeeming via the Iberia Plus website

Partner redemptions (except for BA) CANNOT be cancelled or changed once booked, if made via Iberia Plus

Partner redemptions (except for BA) must be booked as return flights if made via Iberia Plus

One good option is booking a hotel via Iberia Plus.  90,000 Avios will get – using the 0.55p per point valuation Avios uses – exactly £500 of free hotel stays.  If you can pick up the 10 flights for £250, you are doubling more money.  Remember that hotel bookings made with Avios do not earn hotel loyalty points and you will not receive status benefits.

If you can work around these three issues then you are fine.  This HfP article looks at low tax options when redeeming Avios on Iberia’s website.

Conclusion

It is now clear that Iberia is serious about this offer (heaven knows why, as they are paying real intra-group cash to Avios Group for them) and that you can earn 90,000 Avios as cheaply as you can find 10 x one-way Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum flights on iberia.com. You will NOT need to take these flights.

Spending those Avios will not be totally straightforward, however, and will leave you with some mess to tidy up, even if it is nothing more than having to abandon your Iberia Plus account due to a negative balance.

Iberia has ensured us that complaints, should your Avios not appear, will be taken seriously and you can email: clasica@iberia.es or call 020 3684 3774 if there are any issues.

If you are going to give this a go, block out an hour of your day to do it.  You need to make 10 totally separate bookings, meaning 10 credit card payments etc.

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

You can book from there or via the main Iberia booking page here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

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Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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.

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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 Club Iberia Plus

Comments (552)

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

  • Roger says:
    23 Jun23 June 19:29

    There is also a good deal on LATAM business class (MAD-FRA), if any one wants to just try that business class as an add-on (no bonus Avios though)

    • Ian says:
      23 Jun23 June 20:10

      Is Lan the same as LATAM? I’m trying to confirm how many Tier points would I get from this.

      • AndyR says:
        23 Jun23 June 20:15

        Yes. LAN and TAM merged to form LATAM.

        • Stu N says:
          23 Jun23 June 21:56

          LATAM Business is great, 40TPs and c.1500 Avios for c. £130 from my experience last year. At FRA you have access to the very nice Air Canada lounge then a Pisco Sour on boarding and decent food and wine and time for a film. Given cheapest alternatives are approx £80-100 I’d take his every day.

          You do come into T4S and have to do proper immigration at MAD, vs getting off an inter-Schengen flight in T4 and arriving as a domestic passenger but I’ll take that minor inconvenience.

        • B R says:
          23 Jun23 June 22:31

          Note that at present the cheaper business class Z fares for this flight don’t seem to accrue TPs or Avios.

    • Rob says:
      23 Jun23 June 20:21

      We’ve reviewed that if you search.

  • Si says:
    23 Jun23 June 20:15

    I’m late to this and although the prospect of reading 250+ comments for my answer is a thilling prospect, the washing machine isn’t going to load itself and I’ve got to cook!

    Is general consensus, spend about £250 on flights, transfer points out to avios when they arrive, close iberia account, transfer to BA household account?

    At worst your risking £250 – but then who dares wins??

  • Max says:
    23 Jun23 June 20:28

    I know it says book on iberia.com but would a booking on the Iberia app count? It would be strange if it didn’t.

  • Jenni says:
    23 Jun23 June 20:31

    Didn’t have time to get on this until now, site won’t accept payment. Anyone else getting this error? Says i have to go to an Iberia office to finalise booking as they say they suspect fraudulent use of the card, then when i try a second time, it says no connection to payment gateway.

    • PZE says:
      23 Jun23 June 20:44

      I booked a flight via the Spanish site about 20 minutes ago – a bit slow but went through with no problems.

  • Lady London says:
    23 Jun23 June 20:33

    I would have thought general consensus should be book flights you might actually fly if possible, play by the rules and use the avios earned on this to book flights by December 1.

    Why is no one thinking of this?
    Has greed and the habits of a certain Other Continent, taken over the world?

    • Dan says:
      23 Jun23 June 21:00

      That was basically my approach. Booked three flights, Santander to Madrid, Madrid to Palma, Palma to Madrid over the course of a week next February. Will have to look if there’s anything worth seeing in Santander now, but May actually fly it.

    • callum says:
      23 Jun23 June 21:11

      Would you? That seems incredibly naive…

      Perhaps people have a different definition of greed to you? It’s interesting how people often seem to think their actions are reasonable without question, yet if anyone goes further then it’s greedy or immoral.

      Iberia are running a promotion where you can book 10 flights for a bonus. If you book 10 flights then you are just taking part, not “being greedy” – not least because Avios are not a finite resource. Perhaps you’re being greedy if you convert Tesco points to Avios instead of using them at face-value in store too?

      • Margaret says:
        23 Jun23 June 21:32

        I was referring to people in the us who have opened several personal accounts for themself a couple of days ago and bought 10 flights for each acount – 40+ total for one person.

      • Lady London says:
        23 Jun23 June 21:33

        Yes it is a bit naive I suppose these days, not to want to abuse a promotion.
        btw i don’t view booking 10 flights for a bonus, as greed. IB has pretty much said they’re up for it by putting the ceiling on the total, that they did.

        It’s the mass hysteria of hearing about people trying to exceed this when it’s already a promotion that is beyond decent, and then people speculating about moving the points out and leaving an account in deficit behind… that’s just greed. The promotion is good enough, folks. Why abuse it? Play fair.

        • callum says:
          23 Jun23 June 21:55

          Ah sorry, I think I confused your comment with someone else’s saying you should only book a couple!

          It’s only in deficit on a technicality though – they’re effectively just using something beyond its expiry date, have you never done that?

    • Rob says:
      23 Jun23 June 22:19

      Iberia did tell you to feel free to book flights you don’t want.

  • Steve says:
    23 Jun23 June 21:12

    I can’t even login to my account or reset pin. It must be a sign.

    • Ian says:
      23 Jun23 June 21:47

      Same for me.

      • Tom says:
        23 Jun23 June 22:14

        I had the same. I phoned and they managed to reset my account centrally..and I’m back in. Took a bit of faffing tho..

      • Steve says:
        23 Jun23 June 22:20

        Turns out you don’t need to be logged in. You can still make the bookings and add your IB number to the booking

  • RIccatti says:
    23 Jun23 June 21:19

    People will be in for a surprise:

    One can’t transfer out Avios from IB.com and this is not related to BA Household account issues.

    There is a way (if certain link was set up prior) but we don’t know how long it exists, probably several weeks. After that — no Avios transfers out of IB.com.

    • Tom says:
      23 Jun23 June 21:29

      Care to elaborate? I’ve transferred Avios from here many times before..has something changed?

      • RIccatti says:
        23 Jun23 June 22:06

        I can transfer out via an existing link too.

        But not when when logged in on ib.com, the other way around.

        From the messages I see in CMA on ib.com (either for ba.com or for avios.com),

        ““You can only move Avios from Avios to Iberia Plus — you cannot move your Avios back again”

        I suspect that other way around not supposed to work either.

    • Matt says:
      23 Jun23 June 21:30

      Huh? I transferred out this morning. It would be very big news if what you say is true?!!!

      • Rob says:
        23 Jun23 June 22:16

        It is confirmed elsewhere in these comments that IB goes to Vueling Club (and so also Aer Club) and then to BA.

    • QFX says:
      23 Jun23 June 22:15

      You write like he speaks, including the post i am replying to. Where is the moral superiority or denigration you talk of? Not in my post, but in yours. Try stick to the facts with your posts.

    • Rob says:
      23 Jun23 June 22:18

      But you can via Vueling or Aer Club so not an issue.

  • B R says:
    23 Jun23 June 21:39

    They can disable Avios transfers out completely with one line of code. The promotion only makes sense if the Avios stay inside Iberia, as availability will throttle costs and cause many of them to lapse. Meanwhile the Iberia first half results are getting a great boost.

    I’ve seen these feeding frenzies many times in different contexts, and they rarely end well. Given the positive messages in the communications in the articles, it seems more likely there is an end game strategy than not, so don’t bet more than you can afford to lose.

    • RIccatti says:
      23 Jun23 June 21:56

      Which is what is going on.

      One CAN’T transfer out when being logged in via IB.com. This has been for some time now and not related to BA Household.

      We don’t know how long Avios.com will exist — for some accounts, it is not possible to log in to Avios.com already. Probably some time in July avios.com stop working, and this coincides (locks in IB.com accounts).

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

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