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Avios from the Iberia ‘90,000 Avios’ points promo CAN be transferred to British Airways

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Many Head for Points readers took part in the Iberia ‘90,000 Avios for booking 10 one-way Iberia flights you didn’t have to fly’ promotion a few weeks ago.

You can read about it here, here and here.

This was a crazy offer, to put it mildly.  You could buy the cheapest 10 flights you could find, for around €250 all-in, and you’d have 90,000 Avios which – in the worse case scenario that you used them for a hotel room – would be worth £500.  Used for flights you should have been able to get £1,000 of value if used smartly.

When the Avios arrived, however, Iberia added a clause – the points could not be transferred to British Airways Executive Club.

For some people, this was OK.  For many others, who wanted to combine the 90,000 Avios with their existing BAEC balance in order to use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher, it was not good.

Iberia has now relented.  You will find that you can transfer out your 90,000  Iberia Plus bonus Avios into your British Airways Executive Club account.

This is – for clarity – exactly what Iberia promised me in writing would be possible when encouraging me to promote the offer on HFP.

However, before you do this, remember one thing.  Iberia also said that, if you do this, your Iberia account will have a negative balance of 90,000 Avios on 1st December because the promotional Avios will be treated as unspent and removed from your account.

You may not care about that.  You may care.  Either way, bear it in mind before you move your Avios into British Airways Executive Club.

The reason for this change of heart, by the way, is a full-page story on this offer which is appearing in The Mail on Sunday tomorrow.

PS.  Remember that Iberia accounts MUST be 90 days old before they can use ‘Combine My Avios’.  If you opened an account specifically for this promotion then put a note in your diary for September.  If your account IS 90 days old but ‘Combine My Avios’ is not working, try this method.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Club Iberia Plus

Comments (172)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mark says:
    29 Jul29 July 02:11

    My wife and I both took advantage of this offer. I already had an Iberia plus account but my wife didn’t.

    After an email from my wife with a copy of her passport, she received all the Avios

    I have emailed different email addresses including the CEO and haven’t even received a response beside am automatic email response acknowledging email has been received.

    Any ideas?

    • Randy says:
      29 Jul29 July 03:17

      I assume you emailed Iberia Plus (the same address your wife sent her passport to)? It may take them a week or two to respond, because they are so swamped by the offer. If it’s been less than that, I’d wait. If it’s been longer, try calling Iberia Plus,

      • Sam G says:
        29 Jul29 July 04:21

        Just try sending everything again fresh now, passport and email confirmations. That’s what I did and got them within 2 days

  • Fadi says:
    29 Jul29 July 06:55

    That willl be nice if mine ever get credited…

  • Paul says:
    29 Jul29 July 07:16

    I still have only 54,000 credited and Iberia refuse to treat anyone with a drip of decency. Many phone calls, many e-mails over the weeks, I had only one pointless generic reply, which was simply pathetic. They are an actual disgrace! But then again, I think BA are disgusting so it’s all an IAG thing. Yes the promo was generous, but it’s no good if they mis-credit and refuse to speak to me (I am buying last BA ticket with Avios soon and switching to Virgin MAN – LAS).

    Sweaty miscreants!! I now have a hole in my holiday bookings, which is getting dearer by the day, and has been for what? It feels like months!

  • JJH4YB says:
    29 Jul29 July 07:22

    Has anyone had problems getting all their points? I booked 10 flights one after the other. I have only received 81,000 points. My phone calls and emails have met with give it more time. The deadline passes and I chase again.

    Any tips on getting this resolved would be appreciated

    • Richmond says:
      29 Jul29 July 08:00

      I’m missing 9000 avios. After 2 weeks from initial email to clasica account, I got response that they are forwarding my reservation information to other team and it will be checked and avios awarded. That was more than a week ago, but I didn’t chase them. I’m not sure if chasing will help at all.

      • Mike says:
        29 Jul29 July 10:19

        I’m also missing 9000 avios, although the last booking was made at 11:59pm Sunday, Spanish time so I’m assuming they are just going to try and tell me it was made after midnight…

        • Crafty says:
          29 Jul29 July 22:32

          That’s the story I have been given. No response yet to my point that the delay in their systems was not my fault.

  • the real harry1 says:
    29 Jul29 July 07:24

    Works fine 🙂
    You transferred 90,000 Avios from Iberia Plus to British Airways.

    I think I might still transfer back to IB & spend them on European flights to the place in the sun by Dec 1st, then again I might not.

  • Tom says:
    29 Jul29 July 08:05

    The Mail on Sunday article is up on This is Money..but I can’t bring myself to link to it

    • Mike says:
      29 Jul29 July 09:36

      There was an excellent article from Rob in last weeks Mail on Sunday too

      • the real harry1 says:
        29 Jul29 July 20:13

        Probably excellent for newbies but not going to waste a nanosecond looking it up 😉

        i trust HFP to give us the good stuff here first.

        • Genghis says:
          29 Jul29 July 20:24

          The big DM article – was it last year? – was riddled with mistakes. I dont think these are written by Rob

          • Rob says:
            29 Jul29 July 21:36

            I did fact-check this weeks one! There was nothing radical for any regular HFP reader in what I did last week.

            In case you’re wondering how modern journalism works, I have now de-facto written three full Mail On Sunday pages over the last two weeks for £0 ….

  • RIccatti says:
    29 Jul29 July 08:07

    There is actually A LOT of reputation risk for Iberia in this.

    The way how their customer service operates: treating customers with contempt, complete lack of trace, ignoring the correspondence and requests, agents on the phone unwilling to communicate in English even if they can — all those facts were known to the frequent flying community and we tolerate them for an occasional convenience of direct flight to/from Madrid to Latin America say.

    However, now more people will get to experience that, particularly in the US. More negative stories in the press, more negative comments online.

    Avios scheme and British Airways also do not come in good light — as people explore their Avios options and see “taxes and fees”, lack of availability, or meet non-cancellable partner redemptions.

  • Josh says:
    29 Jul29 July 09:23

    Hi, wondering if anyone might know, I wanted to transfer my 90k points to BA however as I couldn’t I finally relented and booked a flight last night. As it has been less than 24hrs my understanding is I could cancel and get full refund of points and taxes? Can anyone confirm? Thanks!

    • Josh says:
      29 Jul29 July 10:23

      Hi, in case anyone may be interested, I called up and cancelled for full refund of points and cash minus a 25gbp cancellation fee. Hopefully the cash and points come through OK 🙂

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