This is why Avios collectors should have an Iberia Club account (even if they don’t usually fly with Iberia)

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Iberia Club is the new name for Iberia Plus, the loyalty program of Iberia – a sister airline to British Airways and Aer Lingus and just like the British Airways Club, Iberia Club uses Avios as its currency of choice. There are, however, a few key differences between the two that can make Iberia Club very useful to Avios collectors.

Key positive aspects of Iberia Club accounts

On several long-haul routes, reward flight bookings for travel on Iberia made with Avios from an Iberia Club account can cost fewer Avios than a similar booking made for travel on British Airways.

Iberia Club and the British Airways Club have different peak and off-peak dates, and this can sometimes make bookings during popular periods cheaper when they’re made through Iberia Club and not the British Airways Club.

Note: At one time, the surcharges added to an Iberia booking using British Airways Avios were higher than the surcharges added by to the same Iberia booking made using Avios from Iberia Club, but that anomaly ended at some point in the first half of 2022 (see here).

Save on surcharges with Iberia & Iberia Club

One of the biggest criticisms levelled at British Airways Avios redemptions is that they can attract incredibly high “carrier surcharges” which make a lot of reward flights uneconomical or annoyingly expensive.

On short-haul routes within Europe (where Reward Flight Saver flights are available) and on short-haul routes within some of the world’s regions, British Airways Avios bookings can still offer great value.

On long-haul routes, the search for value can be considerably harder and that’s where Iberia Club comes into play.

Here, for example, is the cost of a British Airways off-peak round-trip, Business Class Reward Flight between London and Miami:

Now here’s an Iberia Business Class round-trip reward flight for the exact same dates for travel between Madrid and Miami:

As you should be able to see, where British Airways is charging at least £475 (~$637) in surcharges and taxes, Iberia is charging just £226.50 (~$304) – that’s £248.50 (~$333) less … and for that difference in surcharges, British Airways will ask you to pay 79,000 more Avios.

At a (more or less) comparable level of Avios needed to book these roundtrip Business Class flights, British Airways will charge £1,325 (~$1,775) in surcharges as compared to Iberia’s £226.50 (~$304).

That’s a difference of almost £1,100 per person!

Yes, if you were originating in London you would have to buy flights to/from Madrid to save on the fees, and the cost of those flights would have to be factored into the calculations.

But with the savings on offer, choosing to fly with Iberia out of Madrid should still be a much more economical option, and this is just one reason why having an Iberia Club account (into which you can transfer Avios from a variety of sources) is such a good idea.

Note: This discrepancy also appears if you’re starting out in the United States, so it can be a lot cheaper to use Avios to fly Business Class to Madrid and to then catch a flight to London than it is to use Avios to fly Miami – London direct.

Iberia Club sweet spot redemptions

At this point, there are two things that you need to know:

Firstly, Iberia Club and the British Airways Club are both distance-based schemes so the number of Avios required to book an award is based directly on the distance of the fight(s) in question.

Secondly, even though Iberia and British Airways share a frequent flyer currency, they don’t share the same reward charts.

Just because you need a certain number of Avios for an award through the British Airways Club doesn’t mean that’s how many Avios you’ll need for a redemption through Iberia Club.

Here’s the British Airways Reward chart (for flights taken on British Airways):

And here’s the equivalent Reward Chart from Iberia Club (for flights taken on Iberia):

Note: The table above shows the number of Avios you would need if you were flying on Iberia – if you book flights on British Airways via Iberia Club you will be charged the number of Avios shown on the British Airways Chart.

Red shows where Iberia is more expensive, and Green where Iberia is cheaper than British Airways and as you should be able to see, flyers looking to save on Business Class bookings will do better with Iberia than with British Airways on most routes (especially in off-peak season).

Note: I’ve not compared Economy Class awards because, as of last week, Iberia has started to treat its cheapest Economy Class awards as hand baggage only fares while, for the time being, British Airways continues to offer a checked baggage allowance.

Because Iberia and British Airways only share a few destinations, there are limits to the savings that you can make by choosing Iberia over BA, but there are still some excellent savings to be had.

Disappointingly, the savings that were to be had on Premium Economy bookings were wiped out by the Iberia Club devaluation last week so, for the time being, in most cases, British Airways is likely to charge you fewer Avios than Iberia … although the surcharges from BA continue to be higher.

Peak & Off-Peak Dates

Iberia Club and the British Airways Club both have peak and off-peak dates for award redemptions, but they’re not necessarily the same.

Here are the British Airways Club peak and off-peak dates for 2025:

And here are the Iberia Club peak and off-peak dates for 2025 (HT: Head for Points):

As you should be able to see, while there are a number of areas in which these charts overlap, there are enough areas where they don’t to make this a useful thing to keep in mind.

On the dates when the seasons don’t overlap (in Iberia’s favor), someone choosing to originate in Madrid rather than London and using Avios from an Iberia Club account will not only save a considerable amount in surcharges but will also save quite a few Avios too.

That’s another good reason to make sure you have an active Iberia Club account.

Building up an Avios balance in Iberia Club

If you have access to US credit cards, Chase issues the Iberia Visa Signature® Card which earns Avios on everyday spending and comes with several benefits that can help a cardholder save on Iberia bookings (e.g. 10% off Economy and Business Class fares).

Also, Iberia Club is a transfer partner of Chase in the US and a transfer partner of American Express in the US as well as being a transfer partner of American Express in the UK (all transfers are in a 1:1 ratio).

What this means is that if you have an Amex Membership Rewards earning credit card like the Platinum Card® from American Express or the Blue Business® Club Credit Card from American Express or a Chase Ultimate Rewards earning card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can transfer the points those cards earn you into an Iberia Club account when you find award availability that works for you (terms apply).

If you’re fortunate and the IT systems are working, you can also transfer Avios between the British Airways Club and Iberia Club for no fee*, so if you have some British Airways Avios that would serve you better in Iberia Club, you can move them over.

Be aware, however, that there are two catches to transferring Avios between British Airways and Iberia:

• You cannot transfer Avios from the British Airways Club into an Iberia Club account that is less than 90 days old.

• You cannot transfer Avios from the British Airways Club into an Iberia Club account that hasn’t yet had a transaction pass through it.

Examples of the kind of transaction that will activate an Iberia account include a points transfer from Amex Membership Rewards; a points transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards; points earned from an Iberia credit card; points earned through an Iberia shopping portal; or points earned by crediting a OneWorld flight to Iberia Club.

*You can also transfer Avios from Finnair, Qatar Airways, and Aer Lingus into British Airways before moving them across to Iberia Club. 

Bottom line

Using Avios out of an Iberia Club account could save you money and could save you a considerable number of Avios, so if you collect Avios and don’t have an Iberia Club account, you should open one up right now (here) to get the clock ticking on the 90-day minimum age requirement discussed above, and you should also look to credit a small number of Avios to your Iberia Club account as soon as possible.