Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Avios from the Iberia ‘90,000 Avios’ points promo CAN be transferred to British Airways

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Many Head for Points readers took part in the Iberia ‘90,000 Avios for booking 10 one-way Iberia flights you didn’t have to fly’ promotion a few weeks ago.

You can read about it here, here and here.

This was a crazy offer, to put it mildly.  You could buy the cheapest 10 flights you could find, for around €250 all-in, and you’d have 90,000 Avios which – in the worse case scenario that you used them for a hotel room – would be worth £500.  Used for flights you should have been able to get £1,000 of value if used smartly.

When the Avios arrived, however, Iberia added a clause – the points could not be transferred to British Airways Executive Club.

Iberia 90,000 Avios now transferable to British Airways

For some people, this was OK.  For many others, who wanted to combine the 90,000 Avios with their existing BAEC balance in order to use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher, it was not good.

Iberia has now relented.  You will find that you can transfer out your 90,000  Iberia Plus bonus Avios into your British Airways Executive Club account.

This is – for clarity – exactly what Iberia promised me in writing would be possible when encouraging me to promote the offer on HFP.

However, before you do this, remember one thing.  Iberia also said that, if you do this, your Iberia account will have a negative balance of 90,000 Avios on 1st December because the promotional Avios will be treated as unspent and removed from your account.

You may not care about that.  You may care.  Either way, bear it in mind before you move your Avios into British Airways Executive Club.

The reason for this change of heart, by the way, is a full-page story on this offer which is appearing in The Mail on Sunday tomorrow.

PS.  Remember that Iberia accounts MUST be 90 days old before they can use ‘Combine My Avios’.  If you opened an account specifically for this promotion then put a note in your diary for September.  If your account IS 90 days old but ‘Combine My Avios’ is not working, try this method.

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

British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (176)

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

  • Sanne says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:20

    Good news. Tried to book a one way HKG-LHR-AMS on BA metal via Iberia Plus but noticed they asked 290 euro fuel surcharge+taxes. On the BA website its only 30 USD .. #IAlwaysBelievedIberiaWasRedemptionHotspot

    • Guesswho2000 says:
      28 Jul28 July 17:22

      Interesting, they shouldn’t, since afaik YQ is banned ex-HKG by their gov’t

    • apfel912 says:
      28 Jul28 July 19:43

      Same here trying to book HKG-LHR. Ended up using Iberia to book LHR-HKG instead as the (extortionate) £365 was the same as booking through BA.

  • Guesswho2000 says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:21

    And just like that they’re now in my Avios.com account! Thanks Rob, I’d managed to redeem 68k for a BA F, but given Iberia permanently show zero availability from MEL to anywhere, I was toying with the idea of burning the remainder on hotels, this was I can use them on QF easily, or with the Lloyd’s upgrade vouchers I have to get through, this has made my weekend!

  • Nun says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:37

    I don’t understand why a newspaper article would lead IB to change the policy on this. The promotion was very generous as it stands and people shouldn’t be upset about the restrictions. Even if they had restricted it to IB non-partner awards, it would still be generous.

    • guesswho2000 says:
      28 Jul28 July 17:40

      It would have been generous still, you’re right, but would have gone against what they said, which influenced the decision of a lot of people to purchase, myself included. No IB flights where I live, and only one BA flight (from another state), so that alone severely restricted what I could do with them for one way bookings.

    • Rob says:
      28 Jul28 July 19:10

      I agree, it would. But plenty of people jumped in ONLY because they could be transferred to BA and IB was actively confirming that this would be possible – so they should honour it.

  • Iain says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:43

    Disgusted with Iberia over this.
    All me flights cancelled and refunds given without them as much as telling me they were going to do it.

    Horrible company

  • Will says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:49

    This was a crazy promotion and I’ve no idea the thinking behind it.
    Still, I got my moneys worth out of it so can’t complain.

  • Sharon says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:54

    Nope, on both BA and IB it’s still only one way for me. Only got 27k for my ten one way flights, now trying to a refund and the tickets cancelled after they proposed a set of terms and conditions which I hadn’t seen at the time of booking claiming I didn’t meet them! Awful, won’t be touching them again.

    • Adam says:
      28 Jul28 July 20:39

      I had that too Sharon, but logging in to Avios.com and transferring from IB then on to BA worked for me.

    • Crafty says:
      29 Jul29 July 08:32

      What’s your strategy? Credit card chargeback?

  • Claire says:
    28 Jul28 July 17:55

    So what does everyone reckon the upshot of the 90k negative balance in December would be? If they’re allowing a transfer out, and as long as I’ve spent them before December on BAEC then surely that complied with the terms?

    I’d actually have been happy to play along and book Iberia but haven’t had any luck at all on their site, it won’t show me any availability and keeps crashing. In BA I can book Aer Lingus which is far more convenient too.

    • Callum says:
      28 Jul28 July 22:25

      Well it won’t comply with their terms given they specifically said they had to be spent with Iberia Plus. It seems like they’re being blackmailed by the media to allow that though (incredibly dodgy, but I won’t pretend I’m going to take the high ground and not take advantage of that!).

      I get why people don’t read normal terms and conditions, but these were what – 3 sentences long!? You really have no excuse for not understanding what you signed up for!

      • JPV says:
        29 Jul29 July 06:16

        > they specifically said they had to be spent with Iberia Plus

        I don’t think this is true, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong

        • Jeff says:
          29 Jul29 July 08:34

          That wasn’t actually what it said in the original terms. The bonus Avios simply had to be “used” by 1 Dec. The question then is whether transferring/combing Avios to BA = using. The Iberia+ T&Cs that govern the specific promotion T&Cs only refer to transferring not counting as a transaction to keep an account active, and that sentence starts “for these purposes”. There is no other reference to combining/transferring. By omission or inference it would appear that moving the Avios to BA should count as “using”

  • Carol says:
    28 Jul28 July 18:03

    I can’t transfer mine out! It comes up with an error message saying I must have the account open for at least three months.
    Anyone else?
    What are they playing at!

    • Jenni says:
      28 Jul28 July 18:35

      This has always been the rule. IB+ account needs to be open for 90 days before transfers out are allowed.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!