Unique Balance on IAG

[dgarcia]

I have seen a new option on Iberia Plus allowing to link accounts between Vueling and Iberia, and now I could use all my points including Vueling on Iberia. Would we have this on BA?

[LittleNick]

Do you mean avios? You could transfer your BA avios to Iberia and then to Vueling from there, however note that redemptions on Vueling are not necessarily the best value of avios. There are HfP articles on using avios on Vueling. And points can go in the opposite direction if that’s what you mean

[ChrisBCN]

Not sure what this is about – you have been able to freely transfer avios in any direction between BA/IB/VY for many years.

Best not to redeem avios on Vueling though.

[tootsci]

I just logged in to my Vueling account and it seems to be a new thing called “Avios Wallet” where you can link your Vueling and Iberia accounts. It looks sort of like it might be similar to a Household Account on BAEC, i.e. the accounts are separate but linked. Not sure what the advantage is compared to just doing an Avios transfer between the two though?

EDIT: From the Vueling website:

SAY HELLO TO THE AVIOS WALLET!
Combine your Vueling Club and Iberia Plus Avios in this virtual wallet. By doing so, you can apply them to flights booked with whichever airline!
Simply link your accounts: log in to your Avios Wallet using your Vueling Club details and add your Iberia Plus information. It’s super easy!

Then there’s a heading saying ‘IAG accounts’ and the Iberia logo under it. Which may suggest further rollout after Iberia 🤔

[tootsci]

From the Vueling website

SAY HELLO TO THE AVIOS WALLET!
Combine your Vueling Club and Iberia Plus Avios in this virtual wallet. By doing so, you can apply them to flights booked with whichever airline!
Simply link your accounts: log in to your Avios Wallet using your Vueling Club details and add your Iberia Plus information. It’s super easy!

IAG accounts
Iberia logo

[ChrisBCN]

Mmm, careful, Vueling defaults to using your avios when you book a flight, at a poor rate. If it sucks up from your Iberia balance as well, you can spend all your avios without meaning to.

I note on the Vueling Page it only shows IB, but on the Iberia wallet page it shows VY/BA/EI.

I think I’ll hold before linking anything…

[tootsci]

Definitely! I’m not sure what the point of it is either?

[ChrisBCN]

One balance across all accounts, it’s a good move.

[tootsci]

@ChrisBCN I think it’s convenient, but personally I’d rather keep separate and transfer VY->IB when needed in case my VY account / this new wallet thingy was compromised and I lost my IB Avios (though most of my Avios sit in my BAEC, just a small chunk in my IB).

[ChrisBCN]

You raise a good point about what happens when one of your avios accounts is compromised… But, this is coming for everybody, and I think it will be more useful than it is bad.