This is why an Iberia Plus account can be useful

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Iberia Plus is, unsurprisingly, the loyalty program of Iberia – a sister airline to British Airways. Just like the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus uses Avios as its currency of choice but there are a few significant differences between the two that should make Iberia Plus very useful to Avios collectors.

Key positive aspects of Iberia Plus accounts

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

Iberia Plus and the British Airways Executive Club have different peak and off-peak dates, and this can sometimes make bookings during popular periods cheaper when they’re made through Iberia Plus and not the British Airways Executive 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 Plus, but that anomaly ended at some point in the first half of 2022 (see here).

Save on surcharges with Iberia & Iberia Plus

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 offer fantastic value.

On long-haul routes, the search for value can be considerably harder and that’s where Iberia Plus 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:

Let’s temporarily ignore the number of Avios needed for this booking and just focus on the surcharges.

Where British Airways is charging £875 (~$1,120) in surcharges and taxes, Iberia is charging just £228.70 (~$293) – that’s £646 (~$827) less!

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 a saving of £646 (~$827) per person on offer, choosing to fly with Iberia out of Madrid will still be a much more economical option and this is one reason why having an Iberia Plus account (into which you can transfer Avios from BA, American Express, and Chase) 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 Plus sweet spot redemptions

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

Firstly, Iberia Plus and the British Airways Executive 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 Executive Club doesn’t mean that’s how many Avios you’ll need for a redemption through Iberia Plus.

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

And here’s the equivalent Reward Chart from Iberia Plus (for flights taken on Iberia) showing where Iberia is more expensive (red) and where Iberia is cheaper (green) – link to Iberia Plus Tables

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 Plus you will be charged the number of Avios shown on the British Airways Chart.

Because Iberia and British Airways only share a few destinations, this limits the savings you can make by choosing Iberia over BA, but there are still some excellent savings to be had as the examples below will show:

Europe – Miami Business Class (Avios Band 6)

Off-Peak Season:

• British Airways will charge 62,500 Avios in either direction (125,000 Avios total) as shown in the example I gave earlier.
• Iberia will charge 42,500 Avios in either direction (85,000 Avios total) as shown in the example I gave earlier.

That’s a saving of 40,000 Avios on a round-trip booking.

Peak Season:

• British Airways will charge 75,000 Avios in either direction (150,000 Avios total)
• Iberia will charge 62,500 Avios in either direction (125,000 Avios total)

That’s a saving of 25,000 Avios on a round-trip booking.

New York – Europe Business Class (Avios Band 5)

Off-Peak Season:

• British Airways will charge 50,000 Avios in either direction (100,000 Avios total)
• Iberia will charge 34,000 Avios in either direction (68,000 Avios total)

That’s a saving of 32,000 Avios on a round-trip booking.

Peak Season:

• British Airways will charge 60,000 Avios in either direction (120,000 Avios total)
• Iberia will charge 50,000 Avios in either direction (100,000 Avios total)

That’s a saving of 20,000 Avios on a round-trip booking.

Los Angeles – Europe Business Class (Avios Band 7)

Off-Peak Season:

• British Airways will charge 75,000 Avios in either direction (150,000 Avios total)
• Iberia will charge 51,000 Avios in either direction (102,000 Avios total)

That’s a saving of 48,000 Avios on a round-trip booking.

Peak Season:

• British Airways will charge 90,000 Avios in either direction (180,000 Avios total)
• Iberia will charge 75,000 Avios in either direction (150,000 Avios total)

That’s a saving of 30,000 Avios on a round-trip booking.

You’ll find fantastic Avios savings on Premium Economy redemptions too, and if you compare the cost of a premium cabin award between London and South America with the cost of the same cabin on Iberia (from Madrid to South America) you’ll find even more amazing savings.

Peak & Off-Peak Dates

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

Here are the British Airways peak and off-peak dates for 2024:

We don’t have a comparable calendar for Iberia Plus, but a few searches can quickly show that there are clear differences between what these airlines consider to be a peak and off-peak date.

For example, British Airways considers 14 – 25 December to be peak dates for award travel whereas here we can see Iberia using off-peak award pricing for 14 – 18 December and only introducing peak pricing from 19 December.

Using this set of dates as an example (and assuming awards are available), someone with an Iberia Plus account could book Madrid – Miami in Economy Class for 21,250 Avios + surcharges and Madrid – Miami in Business Class for 42,500 Avios + surcharges.

Someone limited to using Avios out of a British Airways account would, on the same dates (14 – 18 December) be asked to pay 25,000 Avios + surcharges for London – Madrid in Economy Class and 75,000 Avios + surcharges for London – Madrid in Business Class.

On these dates, someone choosing to originate in Madrid rather than London and using Avios from and Iberia Plus account will not only save a considerable amount in surcharges but will also save quite a few Avios too.

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

Building up an Avios balance in Iberia Plus

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 Plus 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® Plus 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 Plus 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 Executive Club and Iberia Plus for no fee, so if you have some British Airways Avios that would serve you better in Iberia Plus, 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 Executive Club into an Iberia Plus account that is less than 90 days old.

• You cannot transfer Avios from the British Airways Executive Club into an Iberia Plus 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 Plus.

Bottom line

Using Avios out of an Iberia Plus 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 Plus 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 Plus account as soon as possible.