Iberia Avios flight half cost of BA?

[ffwd]

I’m looking at booking a J flight to SCL.
BA from.LHR is 110k avios +£300 (on 787-9)
Iberia from MAD 51k+£98.20 (on A350-900)
Both planes seem similar.
Am I doing something wrong?

[Super Secret Stuff]

No it happens, cash difference is purely down to taxes and carrier charges

[ffwd]

Its the huge Avios difference that threw me.

[newel]

You’re not doing anything wrong – that’s just what the redemption pricing difference is between the two airlines.

I went to South America with Iberia and back with BA earlier this year. I actually prefer the Iberia seats on a day flight if you’re with a partner and can secure middle seats in a row where they’re next to each other as you can have a conversation.

Iberia also has the advantage of a lot more destinations in South/Central America with more frequent flights. There’s the hassle factor of having to get to Madrid of course but the price difference (in Avios and cash “taxes”) is so substantial that for many the extra effort is worth it.

[yonasl]

Question. Is the redemption price (avios and cash) the same for IB if you do it from Iberia.com or BA.com ?

(I know the use of voucher will not be posible if from IB’s website)

[e14]

yonasl wrote:

Question. Is the redemption price (avios and cash) the same for IB if you do it from Iberia.com or BA.com ?

(I know the use of voucher will not be posible if from IB’s website)

It should be the same on IB and BA, but if you book with IB you’ll have their world famous customer service to deal with.

Don’t forget that on the way back you’ll want to book XXX-MAD-LON to save having to reclaim your bags and go out to checkin

[yonasl]

Thanks @e14

Indeed their CS is award winning. On my last experience with them they didn’t want to book a seat for me (OneWorld Emerald – BA Gold). They seemed convinced only by going to the airport 2 days before the flight could somebody get a seat.

I had to call IB Oro line to get it sorted.

Their CS in latin america is beyond idiotic. I was once asked if I was sure I flew on an IB plane (it was a codeshare with BA and they could see the BA flight number and could not believe it was an IB operated flight).

[Amy C]

e14 wrote:

yonasl wrote:

Question. Is the redemption price (avios and cash) the same for IB if you do it from Iberia.com or BA.com ?

(I know the use of voucher will not be posible if from IB’s website)

It should be the same on IB and BA, but if you book with IB you’ll have their world famous customer service to deal with.

Don’t forget that on the way back you’ll want to book XXX-MAD-LON to save having to reclaim your bags and go out to checkin

Can you change the return to economy for the hop back to London easily enough when keeping the rest business do you know? Looking to do a flight to GIG on Iberia and it’s all new to me. Finding availability is a mission too!

[Super Secret Stuff]

Amy C wrote:

e14 wrote:

yonasl wrote:

Question. Is the redemption price (avios and cash) the same for IB if you do it from Iberia.com or BA.com ?

(I know the use of voucher will not be posible if from IB’s website)

It should be the same on IB and BA, but if you book with IB you’ll have their world famous customer service to deal with.

Don’t forget that on the way back you’ll want to book XXX-MAD-LON to save having to reclaim your bags and go out to checkin

Can you change the return to economy for the hop back to London easily enough when keeping the rest business do you know? Looking to do a flight to GIG on Iberia and it’s all new to me. Finding availability is a mission too!

I’ve no idea how you book the flight back to London, wish I’d of thought of that a week ago!

GIG does have BA too and you can now use a 2 for 1 to unlock extra availability. When are you looking for? Around carnival is impossible

[yonasl]

You can book over the phone. Basically:

– Check MAD-Somewhere is available (on BA’s website)
– Check Somewhere-MAD-LHR is available

Call BA and they will put it all on a single ticket

You can then buy a flight to MAD and book a hotel night for the positioning

I do not know if it is possible to do LH in J and SH in Y but it would indeed open more availability.

The sweet spot is of course to manage and catch the A330-350 on the way back from MAD to LHR (but of course you can also fly MAD to MAN, EDI, etc.)

[Amy C]

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

Amy C wrote:

e14 wrote:

yonasl wrote:

Question. Is the redemption price (avios and cash) the same for IB if you do it from Iberia.com or BA.com ?

(I know the use of voucher will not be posible if from IB’s website)

No not during carnival but prob more April or May. It’s such a bargain via Iberia I kinda don’t want to waste my voucher doing it on BA.

It should be the same on IB and BA, but if you book with IB you’ll have their world famous customer service to deal with.

Don’t forget that on the way back you’ll want to book XXX-MAD-LON to save having to reclaim your bags and go out to checkin

Can you change the return to economy for the hop back to London easily enough when keeping the rest business do you know? Looking to do a flight to GIG on Iberia and it’s all new to me. Finding availability is a mission too!

I’ve no idea how you book the flight back to London, wish I’d of thought of that a week ago!

GIG does have BA too and you can now use a 2 for 1 to unlock extra availability. When are you looking for? Around carnival is impossible

[e14]

Amy C wrote:

e14 wrote:

yonasl wrote:

Question. Is the redemption price (avios and cash) the same for IB if you do it from Iberia.com or BA.com ?

(I know the use of voucher will not be posible if from IB’s website)

It should be the same on IB and BA, but if you book with IB you’ll have their world famous customer service to deal with.

Don’t forget that on the way back you’ll want to book XXX-MAD-LON to save having to reclaim your bags and go out to checkin

Can you change the return to economy for the hop back to London easily enough when keeping the rest business do you know? Looking to do a flight to GIG on Iberia and it’s all new to me. Finding availability is a mission too!

You can fly Y back to the U.K. but I’ve always had a few bags and don’t want to chance getting some outstation rep charging me, so I’ve never tried it
In theory if you are in Y with BA status on the 350 or the 330 you should be able to get into a premium economy seat.

[Ash]

If BA flies out there direct you can start in Madrid and fly back direct, you save the UK APD, and you only need to get the one way flights from to Madrid.

I’ve heard there are options to start in Barcelona instead of Madrid.

[e14]

Ash wrote:

If BA flies out there direct you can start in Madrid and fly back direct, you save the UK APD, and you only need to get the one way flights from to Madrid.

I’ve heard there are options to start in Barcelona instead of Madrid.

a) mixing an IB flight and a BA flight might cause the Avios to increase
b) BCN Long Haul are from memory ‘Level’ flights all Y

[yonasl]

Correct on a) you need to do MAD-LHR/UK with IB or price increases.

[Amy C]

Just seen something happened with my last post and it only quoted without my comment. Not looking to go carnival time but possibly April/May. Available flights are thin on the ground though. Didn’t want to use my voucher as it’s already such good value on Iberia that it would seem a waste.

So my plan is buy (with avios) a Y return to MAD from London separately from my J class MAD-GIG on IB (if I’m HBO). Otherwise, I need to ring BA to book this as it’s a mix of cabin classes right?
I’m silver with BA so if I do bring a hold case it’s no big issue.

[e14]

Amy C wrote:

Just seen something happened with my last post and it only quoted without my comment. Not looking to go carnival time but possibly April/May. Available flights are thin on the ground though. Didn’t want to use my voucher as it’s already such good value on Iberia that it would seem a waste.

So my plan is buy (with avios) a Y return to MAD from London separately from my J class MAD-GIG on IB (if I’m HBO). Otherwise, I need to ring BA to book this as it’s a mix of cabin classes right?
I’m silver with BA so if I do bring a hold case it’s no big issue.

The issue with not having an GIG-MAD-UK ticket is if the GIG-MAD is late you are at the mercy of the IB transfer desk to put you on a flight as you won’t get automatically transferred.
You are better off ringing BA …

[Gavin454]

Amy C wrote:

Just seen something happened with my last post and it only quoted without my comment. Not looking to go carnival time but possibly April/May. Available flights are thin on the ground though. Didn’t want to use my voucher as it’s already such good value on Iberia that it would seem a waste.

So my plan is buy (with avios) a Y return to MAD from London separately from my J class MAD-GIG on IB (if I’m HBO). Otherwise, I need to ring BA to book this as it’s a mix of cabin classes right?
I’m silver with BA so if I do bring a hold case it’s no big issue.

You shouldn’t need to ring to book mixed classes.

A few years ago I booked via Iberia with Avios, two tickets:

MAD-LIM
LIM-MAD-LHR

Both long haul sectors were in business, and the final MAD-LHR sector was in economy. It didn’t add much to the cost of the booking and was convenient and easy connecting in MAD without having to pick up our luggage.

[Amy C]

Oh well that would be good. I don’t think I could find a way of doing that yesterday during a dummy booking with flights I didn’t want.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Amy C wrote:

So my plan is buy (with avios) a Y return to MAD from London separately from my J class MAD-GIG on IB (if I’m HBO). Otherwise, I need to ring BA to book this as it’s a mix of cabin classes right?
I’m silver with BA so if I do bring a hold case it’s no big issue.

Personally I would hesitate to do that.

I’d get a cash fare (economy plus or CE) as it would allow you to do a same day change if the IB flight time changed / delays.

[Amy C]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

Amy C wrote:

So my plan is buy (with avios) a Y return to MAD from London separately from my J class MAD-GIG on IB (if I’m HBO). Otherwise, I need to ring BA to book this as it’s a mix of cabin classes right?
I’m silver with BA so if I do bring a hold case it’s no big issue.

Personally I would hesitate to do that.

I’d get a cash fare (economy plus or CE) as it would allow you to do a same day change if the IB flight time changed / delays.

Good point. That little feature isn’t ingrained in my brain yet as I didn’t realise it even existed until I realised about it on here relatively recently.

[JDB]

@Amy C – just to add to the confusion, if you book GIG-MAD-UK you will have UK261 rights which you could enforce via MCOL if necessary (Iberia doesn’t offer arbitration) whereas if you have a separate onward ticket from Spain you will only have EC261 rights attached to the long haul that you could only enforce in a Spanish court.

[Amy C]

JDB wrote:

@Amy C – just to add to the confusion, if you book GIG-MAD-UK you will have UK261 rights which you could enforce via MCOL if necessary (Iberia doesn’t offer arbitration) whereas if you have a separate onward ticket from Spain you will only have EC261 rights attached to the long haul that you could only enforce in a Spanish court.

Lordy, thank you JDB, I hadn’t even thought of that. As I want to visit both Brazil and Australia next year I’ve just pushed the boundaries of my brain cells and been playing around with another possibility…..using my 2-4-1 voucher to go GIG-stopover in London for months– SYD- LON. Would that be allowed?

[Super Secret Stuff]

Amy C wrote:

JDB wrote:

@Amy C – just to add to the confusion, if you book GIG-MAD-UK you will have UK261 rights which you could enforce via MCOL if necessary (Iberia doesn’t offer arbitration) whereas if you have a separate onward ticket from Spain you will only have EC261 rights attached to the long haul that you could only enforce in a Spanish court.

Lordy, thank you JDB, I hadn’t even thought of that. As I want to visit both Brazil and Australia next year I’ve just pushed the boundaries of my brain cells and been playing around with another possibility…..using my 2-4-1 voucher to go GIG-stopover in London for months– SYD- LON. Would that be allowed?

You’d struggle to find Syd availability on BA but if you didn’t need to use your 2 for 1 you could use Qatar or Malaysia and therefore trigger the use of the multi partner reception chart which could make it cheap, not 100% guaranteed do the maths

[Amy C]

When I look up flights from GIG to SYD I can’t see quite a few dates with J availability. Not masses but several. I’d want to use the voucher in that scenario to get the 50% discount on avios.