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Over the weekend, it looks as if Iberia Plus took a leaf straight out of the IHG playbook and made a number of changes to the cost of select awards without giving members any notice at all. While it’s always disappointing to see the cost of awards increasing, in this case it’s especially disappointing as the changes see Iberia eliminating a number of especially good sweet spots.
Inside Flyer has noted that following an outage over the weekend, the Iberia website came back to life with a few notable changes to the cost of a number of awards.
USA Awards
While the cost of awards from Miami, Boston, and New York to Madrid appear to be unchanged…
…Iberia has now rectified a situation that had seen Chicago and Los Angeles placed in the incorrect Award Zone (based on the distance of each destination from Madrid).
As Los Angeles is 5,845 miles away from Madrid…
…the Iberia Award chart has long suggested that the cost of award travel between LA and Madrid should be based on pricing in Award Band 7.
Historically, however, the cost of awards between LA and Madrid have been based on the pricing for Award Band 6 (as low as 42,500 Avios for a one-way Business Class award):
Not anymore.
Now, if you price up an LA – Madrid award you’ll find that the cost has changed and that the pricing is now based on Award Band 7:
That’s a price increase of 8,500 Avios (20%)/12,500 Avios (20%) each way for a Business Class award.
Similarly, awards between Chicago and Madrid are no longer pricing up as if Chicago was in Award Band 5 as it has been moved into Award Band 6:
That’s a price increase of 8,500 Avios (25%)/12,500 Avios (25%) each way for a Business Class award.
Mexico & South America Awards
The good news here is that the cost of one of the most popular Iberia Business Class awards (Madrid – Rio) hasn’t changed…
…and the costs of awards to destinations like Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires have remained steady too.
The bad news is that Lima is now in Award Band 6 (previously 5), Mexico City is now in Award Band 7 (previously 6), and Santiago is now in Award Band 8 (previously 7):
Whichever way you look at all of this, these are significant devaluations.
Quick Thoughts
We could say that these adjustments were inevitable (as the awards were priced incorrectly according to the award chart) and that we had a good run that has finally come to an end. Or we could look at this as a very annoying no-notice devaluation by Iberia Plus.
Different people will have different opinions and my feelings on this lie somewhere in between.
Because the Iberia Plus award chart clearly shows that an off-peak one-way Business Class award between LA and Madrid (for example) should cost 51,000 Avios, I’m finding it hard to get too annoyed with Iberia that that’s what the award now costs.
Having said that, had I known that the cost of these awards would be increasing I would have made at least two award bookings for 2022 for members of my family so I am more than a little annoyed with Iberia Plus for pushing through these changes without any warning.
I can accept the changes but not without any notice whatsoever.
Bottom Line
Iberia Plus has corrected a number of long-standing anomalies in its award pricing and increased the cost of awards between Madrid and a variety of cities in North and South America. While it’s disappointing to see the cost of some awards increase by between 17% and 25% and while it’s very disappointing to see Iberia Plus eliminating some of its better sweet spots, the biggest disappointment is that we are once again seeing a loyalty program pushing forward with negative changes with no advance warning for members.
When will loyalty programs learn that members can usually handle negative changes when given notice and that it’s the no-notice changes that generate the most discontent?
This isn’t a devaluation, no notice need be given and pricing is still quite good compared to many other programs. Consider yourself lucky to have gotten a better deal in the past.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree when it comes to what is and what isn’t a devaluation.
As far as I’m concerned, if one or more awards goes up in cost that means that my points/miles/Avios no longer buy me as much as they used to and that is a devaluation.
Also, as all the major loyalty/rewards programs have it written into their rules that they can change the rules/redemption rates without notice you are correct when you say that “no notice need be given”. That doesn’t, however, mean that’s how an upstanding loyalty program should behave.
I agree with MFK. It’s absurd to think of this as a devaluation. C’mon, man!
Interesting. So, for you, is there a specific number of awards that have to increase in cost before the changes represent a devaluation?
Also, as the post is called “Iberia Plus Devalues Select Award Sweet Spots” and not “Iberia devalues Iberia Plus” I’d be interested to know if you think that the awards haven’t been devalued despite increasing in cost.
[…] For Miles is outraged at the no-notice devaluation but I’m not sure that’s fair. Iberia should have been charging these new prices all […]
No devaluation whatsoever. Check again. Go and select the fare. You will be surprised to see the standard values.
You’re welcome.
I’m still seeing the award costs outlined in this post (yes, I cleared my cache). Which awards are you searching for?
The increased Avios prices show while serching, but when you actually select a fare (Azul, Turista, Business) the old values show. But you NEED to select the Fare – which you haven´t in your screenshots. Once you select the fare, it will show the “old” values.
I kinda agree with everyone its not a devaluation its just them fixing a error without notice. I do agree its very unfriendly to push these changes without notice and shows the true colors of the airline, but that sounds like Iberia and some other european airlines. Iberia website is still plagued with problems, maybe a glitch? Has award changed from Mad-PVG or Mad-Nrt?
@ziggy You have a replacement sweet spot for west coast to europe?
Hi
Re. sweet spot: Delta to Europe on Virgin Miles is a good deal and when the unicorn that is an AA Business Class Saver Award (at 57.5k one-way) appears, that’s pretty good value too.
Re. this being an error correction: My issue with describing this as Iberia fixing an error is that these awards have been bookable at the lower rates for at least 4 years so at what point do we stop calling them an error and say that it’s a choice that Iberia made (to set those specific awards at the lower prices)? Had Iberia only updated it’s award charts a few months ago and these awards slipped through the net and the airline now finally got around to rectifying the issue…fair enough. But 4 years?
@Ziggy Thanks, I havent tried delta one yet. I’ll look into it.
I hear you on the devaluation, I see your point. I guess with things always evolving in the points game I expected to see this happen sooner or later. All the good redemptions seem to go away after awhile. I miss Alaska miles on EK first.. I miss showers.
C’mon, man! Are you for serious?!
I don’t I understand your surprise. Were the questions I asked out of line?
Ziggy,
This isn’t a devaluation. I agree w you if a program increases the points/miles for a specific destination/property that is a devaluation. However, in this case they simply corrected a mistake. Sure the cost went up but it NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOWER IN THE FIRST PLACE! You benefited from their mistake. Fixing that isn’t a change in the program or a change in cost for various distances so it isn’t a program devaluation.
Please don’t be so petty. Funny that you are the only one that sees it as a devaluation. Guess your “click bait” article served its purpose huh.
1. I called this a devaluation of specific award sweet spots and not a program devaluation. If you’re going to go on the attack at least get your facts right (or is that too much to ask?)
2. This isn’t the only blog/site to use the word “devaluation” to describe these changes and a quick web search would have revealed that very quickly. Even the site I link to in the second paragraph calls it a devaluation (but hey, why bother doing a check when it’s more fun to just take to the keyboard?)
3. The “mistakes” have been around for at least 4 years (possibly a lot longer) so what makes you so sure that Iberia didn’t set these award costs at the lower historic levels deliberately? Have you got insider information or are you just speculating?
4. After how long does a “mistake” become an accepted part of a loyalty program? 5 years? 10 years? Never?
@Ziggy Thanks, I havent tried delta one yet. I’ll look into it.
I hear you on the devaluation, I see your point. I guess with things always evolving in the points game I expected to see this happen sooner or later. All the good redemptions seem to go away after awhile. I miss Alaska miles on EK first.. I miss showers.