The saga of the Iberia 9,000 Avios per flight booking promo rolls on

The saga of the ‘9,000 Avios for booking any Iberia flight, however cheap, and you don’t need to fly it’ promotion (see our article here) continues to rumble on.

People with long-term Iberia Plus accounts have received their Avios, in the main.  However, anyone who opened a new Iberia Plus account over the four days of the promotion is in a different situation.

Most people who opened a new account have been contacted by Iberia and asked to provide a passport scan and copies of their ticket receipts.  It was assumed that this was for fraud verification purposes, to ensure that people had not been opening accounts under fake names.

Many (all?) people who do provide this data are now getting a follow-up email from Iberia saying that ‘inconsistencies’ have been seen in their bookings.  Due to these unspecified ‘inconsistencies’ no Avios will be awarded.  The flights booked can be cancelled but only by directly contacting Iberia to request it.

It seems that people who provide a passport copy but not ticket receipts are not getting this message – but I wouldn’t hold out much hope of getting a different end result.

This move is the first sign that Iberia may have messed up here and is desperately looking for a way out.  I admit that I was surprised that the Avios for long-term members dropped in so promptly, but given that Iberia had taken to the airwaves to encourage people to book I doubt they had a choice.

A view may have been taken that the airline has little to lose by telling people who only joined up in order to take advantage of this offer to take a hike …..

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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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.