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

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

• ao40 says:

  28 Jul28 July 21:29

  I am still struggling to get combine my avios to work. Cannot transfer Iberia to BA due to a HHA, and trying to go via avios.com lets me get through to the final screen then it fails with an error message like “combine my avios is not currently available”. Oddly it also does not let transfer BA to avios.com either, which I have transferred between in the past.

  Any suggestions?

  • Matt says:

    28 Jul28 July 21:58

    Is your Iberia account active i.e. older than 90 days and had points activity through it (not the promo avios)?

    • ao40 says:

      28 Jul28 July 22:31

      Yes, it has been active for years and transferred into it from BA before. Also tried checking that the address and phone number are the same in each account.

• Neil Donoghue says:

  28 Jul28 July 21:34

  Brilliant news in the grand scheme of things but I’ve had no issue redeeming my 90k with Iberia. Who knows, maybe this promotion will be an annual event! My Iberia account has never been so valuable.

  • Callum says:

    28 Jul28 July 22:30

    I don’t think they’ll be making this mistake again!

• chris says:

  28 Jul28 July 22:31

  Does anyone know if you can request to close your Iberia account?

  I’m thinking since I’ve take the Avios out I have no use for this now and surely that would remove the linked accounts?

• Prospero says:

  28 Jul28 July 22:38

  It is worth noting that when IB Plus and BA Executive Club eventually migrate to the common Avios platform, the balances belonging to an individual’s IB Plus and BAEC accounts will be merged into a single balance. Once the migration is complete, members will be able redeem from and add credit to their single Avios “bank account” from both or any one of the programmes they belong to. However, IB Plus and BAEC will continue as two very distinct programmes.

  So a negative balance may catch up with you

  • RIccatti says:

    29 Jul29 July 00:09

    The problem is on how they are going to match that diversity of accounts, match BA HHA accounts.

    It is also not that difficult to add a middle name to BAEC account…

    • Andrew says:

      29 Jul29 July 05:22

      If you’ve ever transferred between them then that would be a very easy way to match accounts. By definition they must be the same person even if the names have subsequently changed.

      Try to argue they’re not and you run the risk of both accounts being closed for breaking the rules.

  • Jeff says:

    29 Jul29 July 08:38

    I am not sure if it will actually work like that. I have an AerClub and a Vueling account each with a separate Avios style account number. Avios say they cannot be merged, so I will still have two Avios accounts as well as BAEC.
    I think that any Avios account with no link to another airline will be closed (if it hadn’t been already) and the Avios se t to BA if the customer has a BAEC account.

• Randy says:

  28 Jul28 July 23:45

  As I understand it, the best value for Avios earned under the promotion is for Iberia flights booked via Iberia Plus, because the fuel surcharges are much lower than if they are transferred to BA and redeemed from BAEC. I think booking BA flights via Iberia Plus is also cheaper. Is that right?

  I originally jumped on the promotion intending to use the Avios for flights on Qatar and AA, but that’s not feasible because Iberia Plus can only book round-trip, and because the flights can’t be changed or cancelled.

  I checked on the Iberia Plus web site, and booking BA flights LAX-LHR-MAD costs more than double the taxes and fees than just LAX-LHR alone. I don’t know why that is, but perhaps I should book LAX-LHR only, and then book LHR-BCN separately?

  To confirm: When redeeming via Iberia Plus, I pay per-flight?

  Does it matter if I book via the Iberia Plus web site or by calling Iberia Plus? My spouse and I each have 90k Avios from the promotion, and I’d like to book us together. I know I can’t combine our Avios, but I was thinking that if I call, an agent could book us initially in one PNR and then split us, making the PNRs more closely linked than if they were created separately to start with. That might make a difference if there are schedule changes or flight problems.

  • Rob MC says:

    29 Jul29 July 00:11

    Do you live in madrid or Barcelona? Flights are only cheaper if flying direct so you would do Madrid to LAX which is around 42,500 avios and £100 tax. You book the positioning flights separately

    • Randy says:

      29 Jul29 July 00:41

      I actually live in Southern California, so I’d fly BA to LHR or IB to MAD and then connect. I’d book J. I don’t know why Iberia Plus web site was showing me more than twice as much in taxes and fees to go LAX-LHR-BCN as just LAX-LHR. There shouldn’t be UK APD since the flight originated outside the UK.

  • RIccatti says:

    29 Jul29 July 00:11

    There is no RFS on Iberia Plus, so booking business class out of LHR, you are charged full AFP.

    • Randy says:

      29 Jul29 July 00:43

      There shouldn’t be any UK Air Passenger Duty when LHR-BCN is just a connection. Or did you mean something else? I’m not sire what AFP is.

    • RIccatti says:

      29 Jul29 July 04:12

      Meant to say APD, yes no APD on connections via UK under 24hours.

      I have just checked on Iberia website, to fly on BA metal in J for some date mid-Feb 2019.

      LAX-LHR comes as 62,500 Avios + £389.9, out of which are £382.20 are carrier charge aka money out of air for BA).

      LAX-LHR-BCN comes as 75,250 + £404.51 (same £382.20 carrier charge).

      I do not see “twice as much” taxes and fees.

      Flying on IB metal is another matter but does Iberia fly from LAX to Madrid at all? Careful with your search,

      a) it seems that transatlantic leg (TATL) of your LAX-LHR will always be on BA metal and it always brings up the high carrier charge (even if your next flight is Iberia).

      b) Iberia shows two legs with separate radio boxes, eg., your long haul might select into economy (and always BA flight) but short-haul LHR or LGW to BCN can be on Iberia metal and in business.

• S says:

  29 Jul29 July 00:11

  Can they also be transferred into a household account? I have spent all mine, but my gal has 45k remaining, and we’re both part of a BA household account.

  • Matt says:

    29 Jul29 July 14:01

    Yes via Avios.

• Randy says:

  29 Jul29 July 00:51

  Just to confirm, it’s a better deal to leave the Avios in Iberia Plus and redeem for IB or BA flights, rather than transfer to BAEC and redeem for OneWorld flights? Because fewer Avios are needed and less taxes and fees are charged for any given distance?

• Boredas says:

  29 Jul29 July 01:05

  For the love of God please let this be the last article on this bloody promo! There’s more going on in points and miles than just this Iberia offer………

  • Peter K says:

    29 Jul29 July 01:28

    I never jumped on this, glad I didn’t, but for those who did then this is potentially very important news. I think it would be wrong of Rob not to post this.

  • Deyvis says:

    29 Jul29 July 01:41

    For me this is really important. More importante than that is to know if after transfering my avios, BAEC avios will expire on Decemper 1st as well.

    • the real harry1 says:

      29 Jul29 July 07:14

      I doubt if Avios transferred to BA will expire, there would have to be a fairly sophisticated tracking prog put on them & I don’t think IB is capable of that! Much more likely is the -90K points in your IB a/c – though that might turn out to be a nonsense as well.

      • Mikeact says:

        29 Jul29 July 08:55

        That, I doubt very much. My gut feel is that they will definitely keep to that rule, why wouldn’t they ?

      • the real harry1 says:

        29 Jul29 July 14:31

        Because I think it’s more likely they would just cancel any remaining unused points in IB a/c, ie giving a zero balance. This idea of running potentially -90K is crazy from IB’s POV. They would just lose an account holder, which is against IB’s own interests.

        Though I concede that Avios a/cs can go negative occasionally, just not like this in a planned way.

  • C F Frost says:

    29 Jul29 July 08:36

    Booking flights you don’t intend to take isn’t in my book playing by the rules. There’s an environmental impact here of planes flying with empty seats and no matter how small that impact is and no matter how much people here might talk about the seats being filled with overbooking in place, it’s all just a bit irresponsible and (dare I say it?) selfish IMO. Surprised it has had the push it has on a modern blog like this.

    • Mikeact says:

      29 Jul29 July 08:57

      Whose rules are you talking about ? Irresponsible and selfish….what rubbish.

    • Rob says:

      29 Jul29 July 08:59

      Iberia can work out in 5 minutes which won’t be flown and adjust accordingly.

      • Mike says:

        29 Jul29 July 10:16

        Now, that’s just given me an interesting idea. Maybe I should buy some positioning flights on a LCC to take some of the ‘orphan legs’ I bought and see how much IDB compensation I can get…

      • the real harry1 says:

        29 Jul29 July 14:33

        yep I’m hoping some of our 20 flights get cancelled at short notice so that I can claim the compo – I’ll be watching carefully 🙂

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