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Iberia launches two new routes to Brazil, bookable on Avios and with 2-4-1 vouchers

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We recently covered Iberia’s announcement of flights to Orlando this winter.

This wasn’t the only news this week. Iberia is doubling down (literally) on its services to Brazil.

Current flights from Madrid to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will be joined by Fortaleza and Recife.

Iberia launches two new routes to Brazil, bookable on Avios and with 2-4-1 vouchers

These flights will only operate for the winter season, taking advantage of the new A321XLR aircraft coming into the Iberia fleet. With low seat capacity, low costs and a long range it is the ideal aircraft for ‘thinner’ routes.

Recife will launch on 13th December 2025 with three flights per week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) increasing to five from February. Image directly below.

Fortaleza will launch on 19th January 2026 with three flights per week (Monday, Thursday, Saturday), increasing to four from February. This is the bottom image below.

Rhys reviewed the Iberia A321XLR business class seat here so you can see what you will be getting.

To quote Iberia:

Iberia launches flights to Recife

Their magnificent beaches and pleasant climate make Recife and Fortaleza two of the main tourist destinations in northeast Brazil, which can be visited at any time of year.

Bathed by the Capibaribe, Beberibe, and Jordão rivers, Recife is known as the Brazilian Venice due to the city’s numerous bridges. It boasts a rich historical and architectural heritage, and its carnival is considered one of the most fun and popular in Brazil. Recife is a paradise for diving enthusiasts, boasting more than 30 shipwrecks.

Likewise, one of Fortaleza’s main tourist attractions are the beaches of Iracema, Meireles, and Do Futuro. The city also bears the marks of its past in numerous buildings, such as the Fortress of Our Lady of the Assumption and the Palace of Light.

In total, during the 2025-2026 winter season, Iberia will fly to four destinations in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Recife, and Fortaleza, and will offer nearly 284,000 seats between Spain and this region.

Iberia flights to Fortaleza

How to book with Avios

These flights are bookable with Avios although – with services only running until late March – there won’t be many seats to go around. Remember that British Airways 2-4-1 American Express companion vouchers can be used on Iberia as long as you book via ba.com.

The Avios cost from Madrid to Recife is:

  • Economy – 22,000 or 28,000 Avios each way, off-peak or peak
  • Business – 34,000 or 50,000 Avios each way

As you can see, Business Class is EXCEPTIONALLY good value although most of the seats seem to have already gone.

Taxes and charges are also very low – around £130 in Economy and £200 in Business, return.

The Iberia peak and off-peak dates are here.

You can look up pricing and availability on iberia.com here.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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

Category

Iberia and Club Iberia Plus

Comments (42)

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

  • Sharon says:
    29 Mar29 March 08:00

    How do I see Iberia avios availability on BA to use a 241 please?

  • dnw says:
    29 Mar29 March 08:05

    Rob/Rhys, re: Blue Class vs Economy, it’s actually the other way around.

    “Blue Class” is the equivalent to BA’s economy and is what is bookable (at 17,000 / 20,000) on BA.com and carrys the standard features of an economy redemption ticket.

    “Economy Class” is only bookable on Iberia and sometimes has higher availability but comes at a slightly higher Avios price but also with the additional advantage of not carrying the £25 cancellation fee and things like seat selection for free.

    Confusing nomenclature I know, but that’s how it goes!

    • dnw says:
      29 Mar29 March 08:07

      (You can think of “Econoy Class” a bit like a “full fare economy” redemption)

    • Rob says:
      29 Mar29 March 09:10

      Here’s the thing though. I did a dummy booking yesterday and this was not the case. ba.com was coming out 10k higher (22k each way) for a flight IB was offering at 17k each way.

    • ADS says:
      29 Mar29 March 12:49

      I’ve always found Iberia redemptions mystifying – so thank you for the explanation

      Just had a look at a MAD-FOR economy one way redemption …

      The best “Economy” option is 4,400 avios + £185

      The best “Blue” option is 4,240 avios + £170

  • Andrew says:
    29 Mar29 March 08:37

    When do these flights end, end of IATA Winter season?

  • David says:
    29 Mar29 March 09:31

    Hope they use these A321XLRs on routes to previous destinations they covered like Maldives and South Africa.

  • ADS says:
    29 Mar29 March 12:52

    “Premium Economy – 25,500 or 35,000 Avios each way”

    are you sure the A321 XLR has Premium Economy ?

  • RC says:
    29 Mar29 March 18:59

    Iberia shows up BA again. Better product, newer planes (well pretty much anything is compared to BA’s worn out 777s), and puts BA and IAGL to shame on BA’s farcically high taxes and bs extras.
    Well done Iberia.

  • cin4 says:
    29 Mar29 March 19:30

    Amazing news. And assume you still get zero taxes on the return leg?

  • Throwawayname says:
    29 Mar29 March 22:11

    One of the best arbitrage opportunities in the miles and points world is combining redemptions priced in zones with mileage-based ones into larger trips. In this case, you can go to Recife in business class for a handful of avios as it’s a distance of less than 4k miles, then do another 1-2 places in the South of the country (cheap revenue fares for domestic flights) then use M&M (or maybe another *A programme) to fly from SAO/RIO to anywhere as far North as HAV (GRU-HAV is over 4k miles) for 30k in business (or a similar intra-zone price) before redeeming 48.5k VS points to return in Europe on AF. You’d do really well to get any change out of £5k buying tickets for a journey like that.

    • cc-not-bcc says:
      29 Mar29 March 23:39

      It’s an interesting setup to visit Brazil low (points) cost.
      But I’m not sure one would call it “arbitrage”.
      (in fairness the word is regularly misused in this forum)

      • Throwawayname says:
        30 Mar30 March 00:01

        The arbitrage isn’t in any of these redemptions, but in using them at the same time for one trip. Using Avios to fly LATAM to MIA (no direct flights from Brazil to HAV, you could go via LIM but then there’s no business class available), you’d need 77,250 of them. Flying Europe-FOR on AF requires 87.5-97.5k Virgin points or 85k+ FB miles. MIA-LON in business class on Avianca requires 88k United miles and a detour via Bogotá (good luck finding availability on any of the US carriers). That’s more than a quarter of a million miles in total, or double the amount that you’d need to fly the itinerary on IB/AV/AF as per my comment.

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

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