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A new Avios option to Tokyo as Iberia restarts flights in 2024

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For anyone looking for a route to Tokyo on Avios, and frustrated with the lack of availability via British Airways, a new option has emerged.

Iberia will relaunch flights to Tokyo in October 2024.

Other Avios routings are available of course, via Finnair and Qatar Airways for a start, but the Iberia flights will allow you to use a British Airways American Express Premium Plus 2-4-1 companion voucher.

Iberia to restart flights to Tokyo

As an extra quirk, you will genuinely get to ‘fly around the world’ during your trip due to the route being flown.

Don’t expect great deals for cash. Iberia has a joint business agreement with Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair, known as Siberian Joint Business, to operate routes between Europe and Japan. Revenues are pooled between all carriers.

When does Iberia restart flights to Tokyo?

Flights will start on 27th October 2024.

Flights will operate three times per week. Outbound flights from Madrid will operate on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, with the return flight operating the next day.

It will be the only direct flight between Spain and Japan. Due to the closure of Russian airspace, and presumably to benefit from prevailing winds, the entire trip will be done in the same direction. The outbound flight will be relatively direct whilst the return will head across the Pacific Ocean and the Artic.

Iberia will use one of its new A350 aircraft. These have 31 business class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 293 economy seats.

A new Avios option to Tokyo as Iberia restarts flights in 2024

Avios seats will be available

Avios seats will be available. At present, only a handful of flights are available to book because the service doesn’t start until late October next year. Iberia does guarantee two Business Class seats per flight.

I couldn’t see any Business Class or Premium Economy availability when I checked but it could have been snapped up quickly, or alternatively will drop in later. It was a bit suspicious that I couldn’t find a single non-Economy seat, even on the latest available flight. Economy seats are available now on Avios.

The Avios cost will be:

  • Economy (off-peak) – 38,750 Avios one way
  • Economy (peak) – 49,000 Avios one way
  • Premium Economy (off-peak) – 44,250 Avios one way
  • Premium Economy (peak) – 61,250 Avios one way
  • Business (off-peak) – 59,500 Avios one way
  • Business (peak) – 87,500 Avios one way

Economy tickets (Madrid to Tokyo) have £146 in taxes and charges, return. You can always rely on Iberia for low taxes and charges. I can’t give any further examples as I couldn’t find any Premium Economy or Business Class seats yesterday.

Remember that, as long as you book via ba.com and not Iberia Plus, you can use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher on Iberia services. A solo traveller can use the voucher for a 50% discount on the Avios required.

A tip / word of warning: Avios seats becoming bookable on the Iberia website five days before they appear on ba.com (ie 360 days before departure vs 355 days). If you are NOT using a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher then your best chance of getting seats is to move your Avios to Iberia Plus (instructions here) and redeem from there at 360 days out.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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:

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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.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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.

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

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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

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American Express Business Gold

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

Iberia and Club Iberia Plus

Comments (83)

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

  • BJ says:
    19 Dec19 December 05:30

    Anybody know if IB+ reward seats go back into inventory on cancellation? Wondering whether to risk booking on IB and thwn cancelling 5 days later in hope if using a voucher via BA.

    • yonasl says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:33

      I have cancelled IB avios flights and seen them immediately available.

      Cannot guarantee of course but it seems to be the case.

      • BJ says:
        19 Dec19 December 09:53

        Thanks, it’s a big gamble but probably worth it provided ofcourse I can get a pair of IB seats in the first place.

    • cin4 says:
      19 Dec19 December 20:03

      It would make more sense to cancel say 15 or 100 days later as fewer people will be looking and less likely to beat you to the rebooking.

  • Mr. AC says:
    19 Dec19 December 06:32

    These are good news! Nice to have an extra Avios option to supplement direct flights from the UK and indirect options via Doha and Helsinki.

    Is there a way to set up availability monitoring for Iberia? SeatSpy doesn’t seem to support them…

    • G says:
      19 Dec19 December 07:26

      Given Tokyo’s demand – I reckon this will be the same sort of rush for premium cabins as it currently is for BA routes to Tokyo, Maldives, Sydney etc – not second tier US cities 🙂

      • BJ says:
        19 Dec19 December 09:58

        Tokyo was not hugely difficult pre-pandemlic so hopefully demand may slow a bjt eith time. Losing KIX and ICN didnit help though so this may be wishful thinking.

        • cin4 says:
          19 Dec19 December 20:04

          Unfortunately this is wishful thinking. I can’t see Tokyo returning to prepandemic rates ever.

  • Olly says:
    19 Dec19 December 06:32

    Looks the flight is 35 mins longer than from LHR on the outbound but 1hr longer on the return. Can you mix and match BA and Iberia for different legs of the same 241 booking?

    • meta says:
      19 Dec19 December 06:43

      You can, over the phone if using 241 voucher. Otherwise as two-one ways.

    • Mark says:
      19 Dec19 December 13:28

      Unless it has changed recently a mixed booking doesn’t qualify for RFS on the BA sector, so you’ll find that pushes up the cash requirement significantly. You may be able to get around it by booking two one-ways and calling/chatting for a 50% avios refund on the return if using a 241.

  • DaveP says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:13

    If you book using 2-4-1 through BA will the taxes be levied at UK rates for business seats or classed as ex-EU?
    I flew on Iberia A350 to Ecuador earlier this year, it was a comfortable experience.

    • JDB says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:59

      If your 241 journey doesn’t start in the UK or there is more than 24hrs between your flights in Madrid, you won’t be charged the UK long haul APD.

  • Roker says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:15

    This is good news. Will these flights be night flights from Madrid? One of the biggest issues for me is that the BA flights from Heathrow are day flights, making it hard to sleep and you arrive in Tokyo in the morning (so you can’t check in to your hotel). Also absolutely no sign of Club Suites on this BA route yet..

  • Sharon says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:50

    Silly question re 241 vouchers. If seats go on sale 355/360 days in advance, how do you get the return flight booked at the same time as the outbound as presumably the return won’t be visible for another couple of weeks. By which time the outbound will have gone. Also, does Iberia make additional Amex 241 seats available similar to BA?

    • Scotsman says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:07

      Book the outbound using 241 as a single leg. When inbound available, book online and call BA to refund half avios, but you will have two PNRs and two cancellation costs. Even better, call them to just add the inbound to the outbound booking so it’s on one PNR. The forum has a whole thread on this

    • Jill Kinkell says:
      19 Dec19 December 14:39

      No problem for me as a night bird. Book on line at midnight or phone up for out bound, and as I am up and awake anyway , book return when seats released by phoning at midnight . Works every time ( touching wood!) . All on one pnr.
      I then have the faff of phoning to add the domestic out and in, but it’s never been a problem. Eventually all flights on one pnr

  • Lemeng says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:53

    Although the article says it’s quirky that the flights fly east in both directions so that the return is over the Pacific and Arctic, it’s not unusual. All the Tokyo-London flights go that way too.

  • BJ says:
    19 Dec19 December 08:11

    Finnair to Japan on new reward chart from UK looks like it’s 83.5k avios in business and not the 63.6k we hoped for. This is due to new per-sector pricing. Posted more in todays forum chat. Still around 10k less than booking AY now via BA IIRC.

    • G says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:16

      Booking a finnair redemption from BA shouldn’t be changed. Yes, Finnair’s devaluation is planned for 9 March 24; but BA uses a fixed avios redemption chart when booking on AY – so I see the benefit although I’m unsure how much inventory of AY’s reward classes are released to which OW partners? I suspect BA is their prime oneworld loyalty programme though for redemptions beyond its own members.

      • meta says:
        19 Dec19 December 08:32

        I booked for 63.5k. Finnair guarantees 2 J tickets per flight and this is available to all OW partners.

      • BJ says:
        19 Dec19 December 08:39

        AY+ stated reward charts would be reduced 3:2 to reflect avios conversion ratio. Thus, we hoped for 63.6k avios ow J from UK to far east. That isn’t happening because we will now have to pay for connecting flight.

        • meta says:
          19 Dec19 December 08:43

          That will only be for Finnair Avios members, BA has different award chart which won’t change (for now). And you also don’t want to book a through-ticket as you’ll have to pay higher surcharges from UK.

          • meta says:
            19 Dec19 December 08:48

            @BJ Sorry my bad, I was thinking Helsinki-Tokyo. Haven’t slept much last night.

            But still I’d rather separate the bookings and pay less surcharges and more Avios.

          • BJ says:
            19 Dec19 December 10:07

            Yes, but the new AY chart will still be cheaper than booking via BA but not by as much as hoped. I do hear you but try persuading my partner to have a lovely day in Helsinki.

          • BJ says:
            19 Dec19 December 10:10

            @meta, no problem, I thought as much but I was womdering if I was missing a trick 🙂 Hope you catch up on your sleep tonight.

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

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