Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get 100 free Avios points in Iberia Plus for 30 seconds work

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

Iberia Plus has launched a competition to promote, of all things, its Infinita ‘lifetime status’ scheme.  Since this requires 125,000 Iberia status points to achieve, something which will take many years, it seems an odd thing to plug via a competition which starts “All you need to do is tell us your superstar fantasy and you will be entered into a draw with the chance to win one of three celebrity trips.”

Luckily, you can forget about all that.

The only thing you need to know is that everyone who enters the competition will receive 100 Avios in their Iberia Plus account.

To enter, you need to visit this special Iberia website.

Click on ‘Participate’ at the bottom.  Fill in your name, email address and Iberia Plus number.

In theory you are also meant to fill in your idea of something you would like to enjoy on your flight so that you are ‘living the celebrity lifestyle’ (500 characters maximum).   I doubt this is compulsory but feel free to fill in a few words.

The rules say that your 100 Avios will appear in your Iberia Plus account in ‘late December’.

If your 500 character story is good enough, you could even win 300,000 Avios to book your ideal trip!

The closing date is 4th December.  The page to enter is here.

If you want to learn how to redeem Avios points via Iberia Plus, to save a fortune on taxes and charges, take a look at this article in our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.


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.

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.

Comments (92)

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

  • Charlie says:

    I closed my Iberia avios account after letting it go into a negative balance (-90,000), following the promotion in 2018 to book up to 10 flights for 9000 avios each. I do wonder if I’ll ever reopen one, but the 100 on offer on this promotion is not enough to entice me!

    • Shoestring says:

      new passport number/ email address

      • Dan says:

        I assumed this would be obvious on the Iberia website, but how did you close your old account Harry? Did you have to email them?

        • Shoestring says:

          didn’t need to close mine as I used all the IB180K Avios, whew that was a scream and explains why my son & I had 2 T3 extended lounge crawls (BA/ Qantas/ Cathay/ American) on Business tickets out to our place in the sun this year (use them or lose them was the thinking/ only cost £70 for a Business ticket out)

          people used GDPR rights to force IB to cancel their membership and data
          https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iberia-airlines-iberia-plus/1916122-iberia-s-90-000-point-catch-negative-balance-transfers-7.html

          • Doug M says:

            Is your son there just to push the trolley you’re travelling in or does he get to ‘enjoy’ the lounges too?

          • Shoestring says:

            @Doug M – he’s not allowed alcohol, I told him the legal drinking age is 21 🙂

            which helps (autism) – he stole a couple of beers in the garden a couple of summers ago but other than that so far so good

        • Tom1 says:

          It was surprisingly easy due to the gdpr regs. I think there is an option on the website (under account, help/faqs etc) to request account to be closed. Have a feeling it was done in a matter of days once I had sent a copy of my passport or similar.

    • Alex Sm says:

      Actually, does anyone know if Iberia is going to eventually ‘write off’ those bad Avios debts at all? I don’t want to close my account

      • guesswho2000 says:

        I wonder that, as I’m in the same boat. I’ve opened a new account anyway, using a new passport, this 100 free Avios should ‘activate’ it. It’s useful to have one for future promos, I guess.

      • Charlieface says:

        Same here. I’m guessing they will zero it after 3 years of no activity, because the IT is unlikely to differentiate between a positive and negative balance.

  • The Original David says:

    I’d question the judgement of anyone whose “superstar fantasy” involves anything to do with Iberia. If IB is trying to crowdsource some ideas to improve their service, they could start with “a smile”, and “cava that is actually liquid rather than frozen into the bottle”…

    • Shoestring says:

      resets the 3 years’ expiry

      • The Original David says:

        Well, yes – I mean I’ve entered anyway to pick up 100 avios for free, but I’m questioning the substantive content of the promotion as IB has intended it…

        • Andrew says:

          You can spend Iberia Avios on another One World airline which might make you feel more like a celebrity.

          • Mikeact says:

            Use Iberia…save Avios and ‘charges’.

          • Cat says:

            I wrote about Champagne, caviar and having someone massage my back in flight, well aware that I would probably put these Avios towards another Cathay flight in F (if I can find availability again), where Champagne, caviar and a massage chair are all provided Andrew. Highly recommended for the celebrity treatment!
            Also, minimal taxes and charges Mikeact. At least for now there are.

          • Shoestring says:

            yep I also adopted the ‘steal Virgin Upper Class perks’ strategy in my submissions

          • BJ says:

            I would like to join the celebrities and VIPs on on their inaugural international flight IB001 from MAD to BCN and I am particularly looking forward to the traditional water cannon welcome on arrival.

          • Harry T says:

            @Cat doesn’t it require less miles than avios to use Asia Miles for Cathay Pacific? Was reading about that yesterday.

          • BJ says:

            @Harry, for HK/UK you want to use Alaska MP miles if you can get them and save avios and 241 for something else. You can get them by flying partners, buying in a sale and transferring Bonvoy points. However, being in Newcastle you might want to consider using Alaska miles on AY from Edinburgh or Manchester than on CX from LON although the value is not as good as on CX. Point is, you have options to ponder.

          • Harry T says:

            @BJ thanks, that’s really helpful. I don’t want to “waste” my 241 when other options could get my partner to Hong Kong with less points or charges.

            I was thinking of transferring our Membership Rewards points out to Bonvoy to take advantage of the current transfer bonus. We have about 100k MR that we could move across.

            Any thoughts on a better value use of Avios and 241? We were thinking North America or South Africa if we didn’t do Hong Kong but we love travelling and are open to pretty much anything.

          • Lyn says:

            Harry T – BJ is right about looking at earning Alaska miles (or perhaps converting SPG/Marriott points to them) to use for certain routes. They can be useful because they have some relative bargains points wise and don’t always add all the fees that BA do, except for flights on BA metal.

            But do check first to get a feeling for availability via Alaska for the specific routes and classes you are interested in. It is sometimes much harder to find availability using Alaska miles than using avios from BA. Their “all search options” and “award calendar” make it just a little easier to check.

          • BJ says:

            @HarryT. A few things there, Firstly, Alaska miles to HKG will not be cheaper than avios with a 241 but not much more. IIRC 170k versus 150k for two but you are keeping your 241. You can take this rate on CX from any of their European cities and come back to LHR, LGW or MAN depending on availability. They also flew to Dublin but I am not sure if that is currently just suspended or ditched. I have only been to South Africa once so will defer to Genghis Roger oo others on that. Fior USA you do not want to use the 241 via the t-355 route of adding singles, you need to do that as a return to avoid high taxes I believe. Personally I think north America is a bit of a waste of a 241 as it is easy to get there cheaply for cash. Direct from NCL, MAN or EDI the east coast in economy is bearable. Best keep 241 for other more challenging places like South Africa, South America or Caribbean.

          • Harry T says:

            @Lyn – thanks, that’s very helpful! I haven’t ever redeemed Alaska Miles so I will have to get a feel for the system. Keeping points in Bonvoy will keep my options open if Alaska or Asia miles seem like a profitable avenue to explore.

            @BJ – thanks again for all the advice! I’m such a beginner to this game.

            I can see your point about North America – as there’s a lot of competition on those routes, it seems like good cash fares in all classes are easy enough to find. I’ve flown to and from Australia in economy a few times, so I’m sure East Coast would be okay if I found good value cash coach fares.

            I’ve recently noted that Lufthansa have started flying directly from NCL to MUC, which I think opens up quite a few Star Alliance options? I did once use some Aussie Amex MR to fly business class with SQ from LHR to DRW, and that was amazing. I’ve already booked some Lufthansa cash fares to Munich for a quick and easy Easter weekend break with my partner, so will see what I think.

            I’m continuously grateful to the HFP community for educating and advising me – thanks all.

          • BJ says:

            Good tip from Lyn, their ability to search award availability from main page is a joy most other airlines need to copy. The sweet spot from UK is CX to HKG but although AY is less generous they are still better value than equivalent AY flights via BAEC, especially fir connections from EDI, MAN or DUB. As Lyn indicates there is lots of other value in Alaska miles too so worth exploring.

          • BJ says:

            @Harry, yes I noted that flight to Munich too. I need to look at thd schedule to see if it helps me too. There are flights to Munich from EDI and GLA too, LH twice daily to FRA from EDI and also Brussels Airlines to BRU from EDI which may help you with *A given your partners in Edinburgh anyway.

          • Cat says:

            BJ and Harry T, I’ve never really collected Asia Miles or Alaska, I just assumed it would be too difficult to get miles while based in the UK.
            Thanks for the tip, I’ll look into it!

        • Harry T says:

          @BJ
          I think the timing on the Newcastle-Munich flights is not too great – around midday, I seem to recall.

          Thanks for adding some other options – we need to be more tactical travelling from the regions as we don’t have the same easy BA options and numerous cheap LCC flights that folk around London have.

          • BJ says:

            If you have the time on your hands consider RTW to maximise both travel and miles. Middke if day doubds goid fir LH to me as any place we might want to go via MUC is east or south and those mostly leave in gbe early to late evening, and arrive back in morning which presumably is good for that flight inbound to NCL. Aldo a goid time to get from to EDI. IIRC the EDI and GLA scgedules were about 4ish making them less ideal. Will check into them as KH has had some great cash bargains this past two years.

          • Harry T says:

            RTW?

            Let me know if you find any good LH fares from Newcastle or Edinburgh. You’re right that those times do seem convenient for you in terms of travelling from Edinburgh to Newcastle. Do stop by for a coffee if you’re ever in these parts!

            Looks like one way Cathay Pacific Business Class, Manchester to Hong Kong, would be 65,000 Asia Miles OR 42500 Alaska Miles. The catch seems to be that you have to ring Alaska Miles to book flights on Cathay. But the opportunity to fly to and from Hong Kong from Manchester in Cathay Business for a total of 170,000 miles is amazing.

          • Shoestring says:

            I did 2 RTWs to get to Australia/ diving, first time round I had business in USA so had to spend a few days there but my boss agreed to convert business return TATL into RTW Economy (& saved money for the co).

            Second time round I also went via States and didn’t want to stop there, just transferred to my Sydney flight then straight to Cairns & the GBR, back much more leisurely thru SEA, diving as I went

          • BJ says:

            RTW = Round The World as I’m sure you already figured from Shoestring’s reply 🙂
            Not sure about CX availability from Manchester but fro London it was easier from LGW. Given current situation I would imagine it might be quite easy from anywhere.

    • Rooster says:

      Agree no idea what the whole thing is about, I don’t want a fantasy about being a superstar!

  • Shoestring says:

    Also get 300/ 600 free Avios by signing up for Club Opinions at Accorhotels then sending the points to Iberia

  • The Original Nick says:

    That’s another 3 years live.

  • The Original Nick says:

    O:T, 1000 Virgin miles have hit for the Tesco conversion. Brought to my attention one again by AW.

    • lgflyer says:

      Not received here… When did you turn on/off autoconvert?

      • Shoestring says:

        pretty sure they identified previous recipients of 1000 miles auto tip conversion bonus and disallowed them last quarter

        on again this quarter – worth a try – but says first timers only

        • MattB says:

          The wife and I both got the 1k for autoconvert…not the first time but we don’t always remember to do it so it’s been a while.

    • BJ says:

      Me too, just checked. Switched off at Tesco for a few days. Need to add again by 13/12.

  • The Original Nick says:

    I’ve redeemed 85000 Avios via my IB account to fly MAD-HAV in February. Would this have reset the 3 year clock too? Just wondering if IB redeeming/ crediting Avios works th same as BAEC?

  • Stu N says:

    OT: FreeNow app has a place to enter your Miles and More number, noticed it when setting it up. Haven’t seen this mentioned here, earn rate is 1 mile per Euro but better than nothing. They post very quickly too.

    • Dan says:

      Whereabouts in the app are you seeing that, Stu N?

      • Stu N says:

        Profile (face icon)/ Wallet and there’s an option to add a M&M account. I’m in Germany at the moment, not sure that makes any difference? I did two rides on Friday night and the miles had posted when I looked this morning.

        • Rob says:

          Yes, it’s a German deal.

          • Dan says:

            Ah, that explains why I couldn’t see it. Thanks!

          • Stu N says:

            I’ll report back on whether now my M&M is on there, I earn anything in the UK. Seems unlikely but…

            They are doing a 50% discount on “ride” trips (minicab rather than taxis) as well, Berlin city centre to TXL for €12.

  • SG says:

    Harry,where can you sign up for the Accor opinion panel for the points/Iberia avios?I have checked the up but no mention of it!
    Thanks

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

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.