How to transfer 54,000 Avios per year to someone

We ran a long article yesterday on the discovery that British Airways has slashed the cost of transferring Avios from one person to another to just £15.

Given that you previously had to pay a crazy £175 to transfer the annual cap of 27,000 Avios to another person – even though no new Avios were being created – this is a genuine improvement.

There was one snag though …. what happens if you want to transfer more than 27,000 Avios to the same person in this calendar year? As it is only 11th January you have a long time to wait until the annual cap resets.

Good news! As Inside Flyer pointed out yesterday, Iberia Plus has adopted the same fees for transferring Avios. For just £15 you can move up to 27,000 Avios from one Iberia Plus account to another.

Let’s assume that you have maxed out on sending 27,000 Avios in 2023 to a certain person. This is how you send another 27,000:

• open an account with Iberia Plus – ensure that ALL details match your BA account (name, address, email, date of birth) or you won’t be able to make transfers

• activate the account by earning 1 Avios in it, or wait 90 days – your choice (the easiest option is to transfer 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points into your new Iberia Plus account). The account is blocked from making transfers until there is some activity on it.

• use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move up to 27,000 Avios from your British Airways Executive Club account into your new Iberia Plus account

• use ‘Share Avios’ at Iberia Plus to send up to 27,000 Avios to whoever you want to share with, for a flat £15 fee

• the recipient – who obviously needs their own, activated, Iberia Plus account – can then use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move them from Iberia Plus to their British Airways Executive Club account

This is obviously a bit of a faff if one of the two parties doesn’t already have an activated Iberia Plus account,. For those of you who do – and I have long advocated having an activated Iberia Plus account just in case any good Avios redemption offers come along – it’s an easy process.

Plan B would be use a third party with a British Airways account. You transfer 27,000 Avios to Person A and 27,000 Avios to Person B, all from your BA account. You then give Person B £15 to cover their fee to move their 27,000 Avios to Person A, giving Person A a total of 54,000 transferred Avios for a total outlay of £45.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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 Mastercard

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

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 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.