Iberia joins the British Airways / Qatar Airways joint venture

The existing Joint Business Agreement between British Airways and Qatar Airways is the biggest of its type globally, swamping the transatlantic JVs. It effectively lets BA and Qatar Airways co-ordinate prices and schedules on flights to a whopping 60 countries.

Iberia will now join the joint venture. Whilst a major upheaval for the airline, it is unlikely to have much impact on UK members of British Airways Executive Club, except for the fact that Iberia Plus members will find it far easier to grab Qatar Airways Avios availability.

This is what will happen:

• Iberia will launch a flight to Doha from Madrid in December 2023, replacing one of the existing three daily Qatar Airways services

• This service will connect with Qatar Airways services from Doha, with no difference in pricing or frequent flyer benefits from an ‘all Qatar’ routing

• Iberia will fix prices and schedules, and presumably share revenue, for the 60 countries in the joint venture in conjunction with Qatar Airways and British Airways

• Iberia Plus accounts will (it appears, this is not spelt out clearly) be linkable to Qatar Airways Privilege Club accounts in the same way that British Airways Executive Club accounts are at present

We may see Iberia use this opportunity to walk away from Tokyo and other routes which can be served by Qatar Airways via a Doha stop, allowing it to reallocate aircraft to westbound routes from Madrid. This is effectively what British Airways has done with many of its Asia routes.

It’s not clear why Iberia is taking one of the existing Doha frequencies. I suspect that evidence shows some Spanish flyers are more likely to book if half the trip to Bangkok etc is on Iberia and not 100% Qatar. It also frees up an aircraft for Qatar Airways to use elsewhere.

The deal does not appear to need any additional regulatory approvals.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

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.