The farce that is booking UK-Spain reward seats with Avios

I have finally got around to booking the free night at a luxury Melia hotel that is available to all American Express Platinum cardholders.

(This offer is also available to anyone who takes out a Platinum card and can travel before 30th November – see my full Amex Platinum review here.)

As I highlighted in my original post, the best package is at the Grand Melia Fenix in Madrid.

This is because the hotel throws in the benefits Amex offers via the Fine Hotels & Resorts programme, so I actually get:

• Double room for free (currently selling for €220) plus upgrade on arrival if available
• Free breakfast
• Free lunch or dinner
• Guaranteed 4pm check-out

Nice!

So, with the hotel booked, all I needed was a return flight on Avios (business class) between London and Madrid.

If only it was that easy ….

You now need to remember six silly rules when booking Avios flights between the UK and Spain:

BA flights qualify for Reward Flight Saver (so flat £50 tax return in Club Europe)

Iberia flights do not qualify for Reward Flight Saver

Mixed airline bookings mean that the whole trip does not qualify for Reward Flight Saver

Iberia charges lower taxes on reward flights at iberia.com vs ba.com

BA reward flights booked at iberia.com are not refundable or cancellable

All reward flights booked at ba.com are refundable

What does this mean in practice?!

For the flight times I wanted, I would be travelling out on BA and back on Iberia.

These were the permutations I had to go through:

Book the flight on ba.com as a return flight – total taxes were a whopping £116, because the inclusion of an Iberia leg means I have to pay the full taxes on both legs, even the BA flight

Book the flight on ba.com as two single flights – total taxes reduce to £78, because – whilst I would still be paying full taxes on the Iberia leg of £53, booking the BA flight separately would mean it qualified for Reward Flight Saver so the tax outbound was only £25

Book the flight on iberia.com as a return flight – can’t be done, as Iberia Plus does not seem to be capable of mixing Iberia and BA reward flights on the same booking

Book the flight on iberia.com as two single flights – can’t be done, as Iberia Plus does not allow oneworld flights to be one-way bookings (at least, not if booked online)

Book the Iberia flight on iberia.com – this reduces the taxes on the Iberia leg to £17 instead of £53 on ba.com

So, this is what I did in the end:

Booked the outbound flight (on BA) on ba.com, to get the £25 Reward Flight Saver tax amount

Booked the return flight (on Iberia) on iberia.com, to get the ‘no fuel surcharge’ £17.60 tax amount

Total taxes – £42.60. Ironically, the tax on the Iberia leg is lower than it would have been in the old Reward Flight Saver days! I saved £74 over booking the same Avios reward flights as a return trip on ba.com.

This is, of course, totally crazy. How many people actually know that this is how to do it? Someone at IAG really needs to bang some heads together, because there must be a better way.

PS. After I’d booked, I realised something else. I had accidentally booked myself on one of the handful of short-haul Iberia flights operated by an A330, so I get the ‘proper’ long-haul business class seat. Which is nice.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.