How to maximise your Avios when flying British Airways partners – by crediting to Iberia or Qatar

It seems strange, but British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Qatar Privilege Club do not have the same earning rates for oneworld partner flights.  This means that, in some cases, it is preferable to credit a cash flight on a some airlines to Iberia Plus or Qatar Privilege Club rather than to British Airways.

This article provides a full list of these cases, and it is worth referring back to it when you find yourself booked on a oneworld airline partner.

You need to be clear about two caveats, however:

• If you credit a flight to Iberia Plus / Qatar Privilege Club and not British Airways Executive Club, you obviously will not earn BA tier points.  If tier points are important, credit to BA irrespective of miles earned.

• If you have British Airways status, the status bonus you receive when flying American Airlines, Finnair or Japan Airlines may influence your decision.  You do not get a status bonus on the other carriers listed below.

Remember that it is easy (when it is working …..) to transfer Avios from Iberia Plus to British Airways, using the ‘Combine My Avios’ function on either website.  An Iberia account must be 90 days old before you can transfer in or out.

If ‘Combine My Avios’ is not working properly from Iberia to BA, it WILL work if you use avios.com as an intermediary.  Open yourself an Aer Lingus AerClub account here, log in at avios.com with those details and use ‘Combine My Avios’ to pull from Iberia and then push to British Airways.

You can move Avios from Qatar Airways to British Airways by following our guide here.

What does the list below show?

The % figure in the list below refers to the proportion of the miles flown which will be earned for that particular flight. For the airlines:

• QR means Qatar Privilege Club
• IB means Iberia Plus
• BA means British Airways Executive Club

You can find full details of all the British Airways partner airlines on this page of ba.com.

For oneworld partner airlines not listed, such as Cathay Pacific, all ticket types earn equally across Iberia Plus, Qatar Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club.

What ticket classes are not treated equally by Iberia Plus, Qatar Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club?

Options highlighted in bold are beneficial to you when you credit the flight AWAY from British Airways.

I strongly recommend double-checking the numbers below with the relevant airline websites before changing the airline scheme for your flight as changes can be made and mistakes can creep in.

Alaska Airlines

Business – J, C, D, I earn 125% in BA (100% in QR)

Economy – B, H earn 100% in BA (50% in QR), Q, O earn 50% in QR (25% in BA)

American Airlines

First – A earns 300% in QR (250% in BA)

Premium Economy – W earns 150% in BA (125% in QR), P earns 125% in QR (100% in BA)

Economy – K earns 100% in QR (50% in BA), M, L, V earn 75% in QR (50% in BA), N earns 75% in QR (25% in BA), B earns 25% in BA (0% in QR)

Cathay Pacific

Business – P earns 125% in QR (0% in BA) – this is the most important thing to note in this article, especially as BA doesn’t give tier points on ‘P’ either

Premium Economy – R, E earn 110% in QR (100% in BA)

Economy – H earns 100% in BA (50% in QR), K, L, M, V earn 50% in QR (25% in BA), S, N, Q earn 25% in BA (0% in QR)

Finnair

Business – J, C, D earn 250% in BA (125% in QR), R, I earn 150% in BA (75% in QR)

Premium Economy – W earns 150% in BA (100% in QR)

Economy – S, N earn 50% in BA (25% in QR)

Iberia

Business – J, C, D earn 250% in BA (125% in QR), I, R earn 150% in BA (125% in QR)

Premium Economy – W earns 150% in BA (110% in QR)

Japan Air Lines (international)

Economy – K, M earn 70% in QR (50% in BA)

Malaysia Airlines

Economy – M earns 50% in BA (25% in IB), N earns 25% in BA (0% in QR)

Qantas

Economy – K, L, M, S, V earn 50% in IB (25% in BA), B, H earn 100% in BA (25% in QR)

Qatar Airways

First – F, A earn 300% in QR (150% in BA)

Business – C, J earn 200% in QR (125% in BA), D, I earn 170% in QR (125% in BA)

Economy – T earns 50% in IB and QR (25% in BA), K, L, M, S, V earn 75% in QR (50% in BA), O, G earn 50% in QR (25% in BA)

Royal Air Maroc

Business – J, C earn 175% in QR (125% in BA), D earns 150% in QR (125% in BA)

Economy – H earns 100% in BA (75% in QR), K, M earn 75% in QR (50% in BA), Q, O, T, R earn 50% in BA (25% in QR)

Royal Jordanian

Business – J earns 150% in QR (125% in BA)

Economy – K, M, V earn 50% in IB (25% in BA), P, R earn 50% in IB (0% in BA), H earns 100% in IB (25% in BA), K, H earn 75% in QR (25% in BA), S, V, L, M earn 50% in QR (25% in BA)

SriLankan Airlines

Business – J earns 150% in IB and QR (125% BA)

Economy – Y, B, P, H earn 100% in BA (80% IB and QR), K earns 100% in BA (70% IB and QR), W, M, E earn 70% in IB and QR (50% BA), R, S earn 50% in IB and QR (25% BA)

In addition, remember that you earn Avios in British Airways Executive Club with:

• Aer Lingus
• China Southern
• Fiji Airways
• LATAM

and you can earn Avios in Iberia Plus with:

• Air Nostrum
• Avianca (restrictions apply)
• Binter (Canaries)
• Interjet (Mexico)
• LATAM
• LEVEL
• Vueling

and you can earn Avios in Aer Lingus AerClub with:

• United Airlines

and you can earn Avios in Qatar Privilege Club with:

• Bangkok Airways
• JetBlue
• LATAM (for flights which operate wholly within Peru, Chile, Ecuador or Argentina, which do not earn with British Airways Executive Club)
• Middle East Airlines
• Oman Air (Doha route only)
• RwandAir
• Virgin Australia

You can learn more about the exclusive Qatar Airways airline partnerships in this article.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2023)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.

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.

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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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.