Iberia Plus is the loyalty program of Iberia Airlines, Spain’s flagship airline, and participates in the Avios points ecosystem as one of the many airlines owned by the International Airlines Group (IAG). Much like using British Airways Avios, the Iberia Plus loyalty program can be extremely frustrating but also extremely rewarding.
Iberia Avios are most famous for their off-peak sweet spot of 34,000 Avios for a one-way business class ticket from the Eastern US to Madrid or Barcelona with limited taxes and fees.
All the flavors of Avios can be transferred between one another, so even if you currently only have British Airways Avios, you can transfer those to Iberia. If you have any of the five Avios types, Avios can be transferred between partner programs instantly, acting as one reward currency for many airlines.
Acquiring Iberia Plus Avios
Flying on Iberia or Airline Partners
Iberia Plus members can earn Avios when flying on Iberia flights and partner airlines, including those within the Oneworld alliance. Earning rates vary based on the fare class and airline being flown, so refer to the tables here to understand how many Avios you can expect to earn on your next flight.
Most North Americans won’t acquire their Iberia Avios this way, but it can be a nice and easy opportunity to ‘activate’ their Iberia account. Some users have reported issues transferring Avios from British Airways to Iberia if they’ve never had activity in their Iberia Plus account.
If you fly on Iberia itself or one of its partners, such as American Airlines, you’ll earn miles based on the fare category or euros spent.
Transferring From Financial Institutions
Transferring your flexible points from banks is the most common and fastest way to earn Iberia Plus miles. No Canadian financial institutions offer Iberia Plus as a direct points transfer, but Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express (US) Membership Rewards are direct transfer partners.
Suppose you haven’t ventured into obtaining US credit cards as a Canadian yet. In that case, you can still access Iberia Avios by transferring points from RBC Avion Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards in Canada to British Airways and then sending them to Iberia.
Transferring Avios From Other Airline Loyalty Programs
As mentioned in the preamble, Avios are unique in the loyalty landscape because they can be transferred between airline partners. Usually, once you earn or transfer miles to an airline loyalty program, they cannot be directly transferred to another airline.
However, members who have British Airways Avios, Aer Lingus Avios, Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios, or Finnair Plus Avios can all transfer their Avios to Iberia Plus. There are pros and cons to using different flavors of Avios, and we have an excellent article on when you should use each type of Avios and the advantages.
One of Iberia Avios’s quirks is that you need to have your Iberia Plus account open for at least 90 days before you can transfer points from another Avios-using airline.
We also dedicated a podcast episode to Avios for those who prefer to listen rather than read.
Transfer From Hotel Loyalty Programs
Iberia is unique because it has a 1:1 transfer partner from the Accor Live Limitless (ALL) loyalty program. However, transferring from Choice Privileges or IHG One will likely not make sense unless you have expiring miles in either of those programs.
Completing a points transfer from Marriott Bonvoy could help “activate” your Iberia Plus account with a small number of miles transferred in. However, this is not guaranteed to work, and Iberia may reject the transfer.
Considering how easy it is to earn Avios, we would not recommend transferring from Marriott Bonvoy to Iberia.
| Loyalty Program | Transfer Ratio |
|---|---|
| Marriott Bonvoy | 3 Marriott Bonvoy Points = 1 Mile (5,000 Bonus Points for every 60,000 points) |
| Accor Live Limitless | 1 Accor Point = 1 Mile (Minimum of 3,000 Points Transferred) |
| Choice Privileges | 5,000 Points = 1,000 Miles |
| IHG One | 10,000 IHG Points = 2,000 Iberia Miles |
Sign Up for The Chase Iberia Visa Signature Card
While we wouldn’t recommend filling up a 5/24 slot with the Chase Iberia Visa Signature card for those who are credit card maximizers, if you fly with Iberia often and are looking for a simple solution, there are some great benefits offered by this card.
The Chase Iberia credit card earns Iberia Plus Avios on all purchases and cardholders will receive a 10% discount on all Iberia flight cash fares booked with their card.
75,000 Avios
$5,000
$1,180+
$95
No
–
Booking with your Iberia card will earn you a 10% discount on Iberia Flights. If you spend $30,000 on the card in one year (we certainly wouldn’t), you’ll receive a discount voucher for $1,000 off two Iberia tickets on the same flight. That $1,000 voucher only equals an extra 3.3% benefit per dollar spent, so it’s not a very rewarding perk.
In addition, you’ll need two tickets; otherwise, the benefit will go unused. Notably, this card has no free checked bags or status benefits, so unless you book a lot of Iberia Cash fares to take advantage of the 10% discount, there are many more rewarding cards to sign up for and hold long-term.
Iberia Shopping Portal
The Iberia Shopping portal is only valid for shipping addresses in Spain, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative about using it. Some points and miles maximizers have reported issues transferring Avios into their Iberia Plus account if they’ve never had activity. You can credit a paid flight to Iberia or use their shopping portal to get around this.
By clicking through the shopping portal and shipping something inexpensive to a hotel where you might make a reservation, you’ll have successfully earned a handful of Avios. Even if you never intend to pick up the cheap item you paid for through their shopping portal, the few Avios you earn will count as activity, and going forward you will be able to freely transfer miles from a financial institution or British Airways.
Redeeming Iberia Plus Avios
One Way Business Class To Madrid or Barcelona for 34,000 Avios
As a Spanish airline, there may be good redemption opportunities for domestic flights in Spain. However, the most famous and arguably only “great” use of the Iberia Plus loyalty program for those of us in North America is to redeem for international flights, particularly on off-peak dates from the United States to Madrid or Barcelona in business class for only 34,000 Iberia Avios.
In most years, there are many off-peak dates, even into June, so it’s pretty easy to find this deal. The most up-to-date calendars can be found here by clicking on “in our calendars” under the “Plan Your Booking in Advance” heading.
The easiest way to find these seats is to use American Airlines’ calendar view and filter by Business/First class. This is the quickest way to search through availability a month at a time.
American Airlines does have issues accurately showing how many seats are available, as their website claims that only 1 seat is left on January 15th while Iberia’s website indicates two. Your best bet is to search for a flight award redemption on American Airlines and then cross reference those results on Iberia’s site.
Once you find availability, you should be able to search on Iberia Plus and see the much lower redemption price. From here, all you need to do is finish booking your award ticket.
Searching with Iberia is possible, but it’s more cumbersome and their search engine is known to glitch quite often.
While this redemption option is already a fantastic deal, you can make it even sweeter. For example, if you were able to take advantage of a 30% transfer bonus that often happens from RBC Avion Rewards to British Airways Avios, you would only need to transfer 27,000 Avion Rewards points to redeem for this flight.
This availability is most common on routes departing New York (JFK), Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), Washington (IAD), and Chicago (ORD) to Madrid (MAD) or Barcelona (BCN). Usually, only two business class seats are released per flight, but you may get lucky and find more seats available closer to departure.
Precautions To Take With Iberia Plus Flight Redemptions
Unlike most other points programs, which are quite flexible about canceling award tickets, Iberia is somewhat restrictive. Unless booking a flight operated by Iberia, Iberia Express, or British Airways, award tickets are entirely non-refundable.
This includes partners like American Airlines, so only book an AA flight itinerary if you are 100% certain you will fly that ticket.
Iberia Plus Status
Iberia has three levels of yearly status and two tiers of lifetime elite status. Status begins at 25 flight segments with Iberia, so it’s unlikely many North Americans will consider achieving the status.
Members who fly with the Iberia Plus loyalty program will earn Elite points based on zone, distance flown, and fare class. For example, a discount economy flight between Spain and North America is worth 175 Elite points. So you would need to fly on ~ 3 round trips in economy on a cash ticket to qualify for the lowest status level.
The three levels of annual status are Iberia Plus Plata (Silver), Iberia Plus Oro (Gold), and Iberia Plus Platino (Platinum).
Iberia Plus Silver status requires members to earn 1,100 Elite points or fly 25 flight segments. Benefits include earning 25% more Avios on each flown mile, priority check-in, one additional 32kg checked bag over your ticketed allowance, priority boarding, 1 extra Avios per Euro spent, access to a priority phone line, and Oneworld Ruby status.
Iberia Plus Gold status requires members to earn 2,250 Elite points or fly 50 flight segments. Benefits include everything from the Silver tier, earning 50% more Avios on each flown mile, lounge access, zone 1 boarding, free seat selection, 2 Extra Avios per Euro spent, and Oneworld Sapphire status.
Iberia Plus Platinum status requires members to earn 6,250 Elite points in 12 months or 12,500 Elite points in 24 months. Benefits include everything offered in the previous status tiers, earning 100% more Avios on each flown mile, at-home luggage pickup when originating in Madrid, four free one class upgrades, extra Avios redemption space at the cost of double the normal redemption rate, 3 Avios per Euro spent, and Oneworld Emerald status.
The two levels of lifetime status are Iberia Plus Infinata (Infinite) and Iberia Plus Infinata Prime (Infinite Prime).
Iberia Plus Infinite status requires members to earn 125,000 lifetime Elite points. This lifetime status essentially functions as lifetime Platinum status with a few extra perks. Infinite status members will also receive two free class upgrades per year and the ability to gift Gold status to another member upon earning 10,000 Elite points within a calendar year.
Iberia Plus Infinite Prime status requires members to earn 200,000 lifetime Elite points. This status level is similar to lifetime Infinite status, except it also includes a total of four class upgrades per year and the ability to gift Gold status to two members.
Frequently Asked Questions
Iberia Avios are worth about 2 cents CAD each, but they can be worth much more if used for Business Class Flights.
Yes, you need to have activity in your account every 36 months. However, earning more Avios by transferring from a bank counts as an eligible activity to extend them.
Depending on the carrier you book. If you book Iberia or British Airways, the fee should be $40. If you book any other partner, your booking is completely non-refundable.
Iberia Avios can be redeemed for flights and cabin class upgrades. Iberia also advertises the option to book hotels with Cash + Avios.
Yes, you can book a ticket for anyone using your Iberia Avios.
Flight redemptions begin at 5,000 Avios and go up from there. The best use of Iberia Avios is to book business class from the Eastern Seaboard to Madrid or Barcelona for 34,000 points on off-peak days.