Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
British Airways, Qatar, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Finnair, and Vueling (a low cost carrier) share a common rewards currency: Avios. Strangely, despite sharing a currency, each program has its own loyalty program with differing fees, award prices, and rules. Since they are partners, it’s often possible to book the same flights with multiple programs, but your cost will sometimes vary (either in number of points required and/or taxes/fees). As a result, it’s a great idea to set up accounts in each program so that you can easily move points to the one that offers you the best award pricing for the flights you want to book.
Why you may want to transfer Avios between programs
Here are some examples of why you may want to move Avios from one program to another before booking awards:
- Aer Lingus flights often have much cheaper award fees when booked from AerLingus.com than with British Airways Avios.
- When using Avios to book short distance Iberia flights, Aer Lingus and Vueling often have lower taxes and fees than British Airways or Iberia.
- Long distance Iberia flights are sometimes the opposite, by a large margin. For example, when looking at a one-way Iberia business class award from Miami to Madrid, I saw that each program offered the same award price in Avios, but with drastically different fees. British Airways and Iberia each charged $121.40 in fees, but Aer Lingus charged $829.80!
Fortunately, it’s easy to move points from one to another so that you can book your award from the program that charges the least. Here’s how…
How to transfer Avios between programs
Create free accounts with each Avios program
Before you can move points around, you’ll need to open an account with each major program. Here are the links for signing up:
- British Airways Executive Club
- Qatar
- Iberia Plus
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Finnair Plus
- Vueling Club – this is here for completeness — you can earn & redeem Avios with Vueling Club and should be able to combine Avios with your Iberia Avios
Important! Make sure to enter all of your personal information (name, email, birth date, address, phone) exactly the same way with each program.
If you want to move points to/from Iberia, note these additional requirements:
- You cannot move points to/from Iberia within 90 days of joining the Iberia Plus program. This is a good reason to enroll in Iberia Plus now, even if you don’t have any immediate need for it.
- Your Iberia account must have had some activity within the past 36 months (points earned or redeemed). An easy option is to transfer 1,000 points from Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- If moving points from Iberia to British Airways, your British Airways account cannot be a household account (but you may be able to get around this by transferring points first to Aer Lingus and then to British Airways).
Pick your favorite website for the transfer
When moving points between programs, you can use either the website of the program you are transferring from or the program you are transferring to. If you encounter problems with one, try the other! Here are links to each program’s “Combine my Avios” page:
- British Airways Executive Club (move Avios between British Airways and Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, Qatar, or Finnair): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your BA credentials).
- Qatar Privilege Club (move Avios between Qatar and British Airways): Click this link to get to the Move Avios between your accounts page (you’ll have to log in with your Qatar credentials).
- Iberia Plus (move Avios between Iberia and British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Vueling): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your Iberia credentials).
- Avios.com no longer offers the ability to combine Avios or book awards. Instead, the site now redirects you to the individual airline sites.
Tip: If you have problems with a specific combination, you can try to chain together transfers in a roundabout way. For instance, if you’re having trouble combining Avios between British Airways and Iberia, you could try first moving points from British Airways to Aer Lingus and then moving points from Aer Lingus to Iberia.
The rest of this post goes into details about moving points using each website…
Avios.com: No longer an option
Avios.com used to offer a way to combine Avios between programs and book award tickets, but they have eliminated this functionality from their website in favor of directing customers to the individual airline websites.
British Airways: Transfer from/to Iberia, Qatar, Aer Lingus, Vueling, or Finnair
Log into BA.com, then click your name to get to your dashboard. Next, hover over “Executive Club” and select “Combine my Avios”:
Shortcut: Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in).
Once you find your way to the Combine My Avios page, click “Combine my Avios” under the Iberia Plus and Aer Club heading in order to transfer from/to Iberia or to Aer Lingus (or Vueling Avios, which requires first transferring to Iberia). Click the button under Qatar if you want to transfer from/to Qatar or the button under Finnair Plus if you want to combine with Finnair.
To move points from/to Iberia or Aer Lingus, select “Avios Partners” in the dropdown as shown here:
Once you select “Avios Partners” you must log in with your Aer Lingus username and password. Note that while I use my email address to log in to my Aer Lingus account, I had to use my Aer Lingus membership number as the Username in order to combine Avios from British Airways to Aer Lingus (otherwise it gave an error).
Iberia: Transfer from/to British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Vueling
Log into your Iberia Plus account, then click the down arrow next to your name and click “My Iberia Plus.” Then scroll down and click “Combine Avios.”
Shortcut: After logging into Iberia Plus, click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page.
Once you find your way to the Combine My Avios page, click the “Combine my Avios” button, select the program you want to move points from or to, log into that program, then enter the number of points you want to transfer.
Note that you should click “Avios Partners” for Aer Lingus or Vueling. Note that the Login ID for Aer Lingus appears to be your Aer Lingus Aer Club membership number. It should also be possible to transfer to Vueling, though neither my email nor membership number appeared to work for the Login ID for Vueling. YMMV.
Qatar: Transfer from/to British Airways
Log into your Qatar Privilege Club account and go to “My Dashboard,” then click “View my Avios balance.” You should then be prompted to link your Qatar and British Airways accounts if you haven’t already done so. Once the accounts are linked you should see an option to “Combine Avios” on that page where you can simply choose the number of Avios and the direction of the movement (British Airways Executive Club to Qatar Airways Privilege Club or vice versa) and click “My my Avios”.
Shortcut: After logging into Qatar Privilege Club, click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page.
Finnair: Transfer to/from British Airways
I’ll note that Greg reports having had some difficulty linking his Finnair and British Airways accounts and making a transfer between them. In the end, he kept trying the same steps and eventually the transfer worked despite having not worked several times previously. On the flip side, Nick had no difficulty linking his accounts and transferring Avios (apart from the fact that the multi-step linking process was a bit convoluted).
I started out in my Finnair Plus account and under “Balance and transactions”, I found a prompt to enable two-factor authentication in order to be able to link accounts with British Airways.
While I was in my Finnair account, I took a moment to make sure that all of my account details (like name, birthday, address, and email address) would exactly match my British Airways account details. Surprisingly, I found that my home address had the wrong state listed in my Finnair account, so I fixed that just after enabling two-factor authentication.
Then I returned to the “Balance and transactions” section of my account and I was prompted to continue linking accounts with British Airways.
That “continue” link brought me to https://exchange.shopping.ba.com/partner/finnair with a button to “log in now” to convert Avios to/from Finnair.
That button made me log in to my British Airways account, which then redirected me back to log in at Finnair again to confirm that I wanted to link accounts.
The good news is that once I did that, found the easy prompt to transfer Avios between programs.
I had no trouble converting 3,000 Finnair Avios to British Airways Avios and the transfer was instant. I can now log in to my British Airways account at https://exchange.shopping.ba.com/partner/finnair/exchange and I can convert in either direction (simply click the up and down arrow between the Finnair and British Airways fields to reverse the direction of transfer).
Summary
It’s possible to move points between multiple programs that use Avios as their rewards currency. Points can be moved instantly between British Airways, Iberia, Qatar, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. The British Airways website is probably the best site to use for moving points around since it supports transfers between British Airways Avios and all other options (note that the Avios.com options, Aer Lingus and Vueling, are hidden under the option to combine points with Iberia).
For quick reference, here again are the links to the pages for initiating transfers:
- British Airways Executive Club (move Avios between BA and Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, or Qatar): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your BA credentials).
- Qatar Privilege Club (move Avios between Qatar and BA): Click this link to get to the Move Avios between your accounts page (you’ll have to log in with your Qatar credentials).
- Iberia Plus (move Avios between Iberia and BA, Aer Lingus, or Vueling): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your Iberia credentials). Note: I’ve been getting an error message whenever I’ve tried this lately, so you may be better off starting with the BA or Aer Lingus site.
- Avios.com (move Avios between Aer Lingus or Vueling and BA or Iberia): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (log in with your Aer Lingus or Vueling credentials)
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Two tips:
1. Qatar now has the best avios award pricing for AA flights
2. After linking Qatar to BA, you no longer have to transfer avios. Instead, at the time of booking, the Qatar site will prompt you for your BA login credentials and automatically extract the BA avios. It works remarkably well.
So, just to confirm, if I have a BA Household Account, there would only be a transfer issue when transferring directly FROM Iberia TO BAEC?
With a BA Household Account, when transferring in or out, are each household member’s points adjusted, or just my points?
Thanks…
In the summary you listed Avios.com. Is that still an option then?
Greg, any idea why flights on Envoy Air on behalf of AA aren’t showing on Qatar website when trying to book? Shows on BA Avios when trying to book but Qatar shows they aren’t available.
I think it’s worth starting the discussion: Even if you have all of your information exactly the same on each partner profile, there are known browser issues across all of the oft-used browsers that just lead to error after error after error. I spent between 5-6 hours last week trying to get any of the methods described above to work, to no avail. I managed to call each partner and confirm that profile details matched; used different browser combinations, both incognito and not; and even walked through the process with a BA rep, all without any success. So, while it’s possible to make these transfers (if the transfer gods are smiling down on you that day), I would suggest saving yourself the headache and just transferring directly to the partner you want to fly.
Hi,
Thank you for the details of transferring Avios !
Ive been trying to find a Business Class Fare like mentioned in your article for IAD or really anywhere East Coast to DUB.
Aer Lingus flights often have much cheaper award fees when booked from Avios.com (i.e. when booked with Aer Lingus or Vueling Avios) than with British Airways Avios. Here’s an example for booking Aer Lingus business class one-way from Washington DC to Dublin:
Would you please tell me how to find that fare ? The cheapest one way that I can find in Business Class for May 2023 is 100,000 Avios + taxes. Are you updating a previous article ?
Thank you !
Excellent timing to revisit this old post! With patience and persistence, one can navigate these glitchy websites and score big wins! I mean, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it! The one point you made cannot be overstated. All profile information must match exactly on each airline website. One small discrepancy will swirl you down into the black hole of death and destruction.
Don’t ask me how I know.
[…] (login using your Aer Lingus account information and then find “combine my Avios”) or see this post for more detail on that method and also the additional options of combining from the B…. Note that I used Avios.com yesterday to move a small balance of Avios from British Airways to […]
Hi Greg,
Thank you for your article, it’s my first time on your site. I have a family member with an Iberia account and she wants to transfer her points to my aer lingus account as she thinks she won’t use Iberia in the next few years. Is this possible? or i have to create an iberia account to get her points and then send it to aer lingus?
To move points from one person to another, I think that your best option is to create a British Airways household account. So the process would be:
1. Family member moves her Iberia points to her British Airways account
2. You setup a British Airways household account and connect her BA account to that.
3. You move the BA points to your Aer Lingus account.
I’m not sure that the last part is possible. But, that said, you may be better off keeping all of your points as BA points anyway.
thank you for your advise, it’s very much appreciated 🙂
[…] ALL Rewards points can be transferred to a wide variety of airline programs, usually at a 2 to 1 ratio. It’s worth noting that there are four transfer partners that transfer 1 to 1: Finnair, Iberia, Qantas, and Virgin Australia. With SPG a thing of the past, ALL is is the only hotel program I can think of that has the ability to transfer hotel points to some airline miles 1 to 1. I don’t know about Finnair, but I do know that Iberia, Qantas, and Virgin Australia each have sweetspots where their miles are more valuable than the norm. Plus, with Iberia you can freely move points 1 to 1 to British Airways or Aer Lingus for additional opportunities (see: How to transfer Avios between Aer Lingus, BA, and Iberia). […]
[…] There are ample earning opportunities – You can not only transfer to Iberia Avios from Amex MR and Chase UR. However, you can also transfer Avios between BA, Aer Lingus, and Iberia. […]
[…] American Express is offering some card members a terrific 40% or 50% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to British Airways or Iberia Avios. With this bonus, 1,000 Membership Rewards points will get you either 1,400 or 1,500 British Airways Avios. Even though this bonus appears to be only for British Airways Avios and not Iberia or Aer Lingus, it’s possible to move your points from one to another (see: How to transfer Avios between Aer Lingus, BA, and Iberia). […]
Hi Greg,
My wife and I are traveling with another couple on Iberia this Thursday 3/21/19 BOS-MAD-RAK.
When we bought our tickets last summer, using Iberia Avios, there were only 2 business seats available so we booked those for the wives. My plan was to change my friend’s and my tickets to business if anything opened up last minute.
It’s now 3 days before the flight, and there are business seats available, although they’re not showing as available on the website for Avios.
When I call Iberia, they say they can’t change the ticket since it was booked in X class.
Are there any options for us to upgrade my friend’s and my tickets to business class? Should we wait until checking in at the airport, or do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks!
I’m honestly not sure we’ll be able to answer this one for you, but here are a couple of notes:
1) Are your flights entirely on Iberia / BA? If you’re booked on a partner (like AA), you can not make any change or cancellation at all — Iberia bookings with most partners are completely nonrefundable/changeable. If it’s all on Iberia, you may be able to change / cancel. I believe the fee Iberia charges is $40.
2) If there are no business class award seats available, you’re not going to be able to upgrade an award ticket unless offered a paid (cash) upgrade during the check-in process or at the airport. Unfortunately, I have no idea whether or how often Iberia offers that.
3) Keep in mind that any changes / cancellations must be done at least 24 hours before your flight. After that time, even if an award seat were open, I don’t think you’d be able to change the economy class ticket.
Different airlines release award seats based on different metrics. Some airlines are very likely to release unsold seats close to departure, others allow cabins to depart half-empty without releasing the seats. I don’t know how likely Iberia is to release whatever seats are left for sale, but it’s probably worth it to keep checking for availability as some airlines do release award space within the last couple of days. Again, assuming your entire itinerary is on Iberia, you should likely be able to cancel / change. That said, Iberia is not known for good IT nor great customer service, so I’d advise treading lightly. For example, does Iberia immediately redeposit the Avios when you cancel your economy class ticket? I’m not sure off the top of my head, but that’s the kind of thing I’d want to know (or be prepared to handle with a backup plan if necessary) if changing so close to departure.
I am really having problems transferring miles from Avios to BA. Keeps saying the deatails do not match. They do. HELP!
Do you have family pooling with BA? Maybe that’s causing an issue?
Another thing to try: move the points to Iberia first, then to BA
Yeah mine does the same and the details do match. Also dont have a Family pooling…Tried also to reset password and get same error
I wanted to transfer my BA Exec Avios points to Aer Lingus but cannot see how to do this. BA Exec Club told me it is not possible, is that true?
Not true. Did you try to steps posted here?
I did but it doesn’t appear to work
It should work, but make sure that everything in both accounts is exactly the same: your name, your address, your phone number, etc.
Just tried this on the link you provided. Got an error message and contacted both Aer Lingus & British Airways. British Airways said the same thing to me- you can’t combine BA & Aer Lingus Avios
They gave you incorrect information. I successfully moved my points every which way in order to research this post.
I am having the same issue. 100% Positive that I am entering the exact same thing for everything,
“You can’t use Combine my Avios with this account. Please contact us.
…
To talk to someone about this problem, you can see our phone numbers here, quoting reference CMA-1105595611.” and the link to the phone numbers page is broken.
Did you make sure that these conditions are met:
1. You cannot move points to/from Iberia within 90 days of joining the Iberia Plus program.
2. Your Iberia account must have had some activity within the past 36 months (points earned or redeemed). An easy option is to transfer 1,000 points from Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Nothing to do with Iberia, like the OP, I have a BA Exec Account for which I want to use the Avios on Aer Lingus.
BTW: Able to or not, appreciative of you helping people on this. Very nice of you.
If you want to use Avios to book Aer Lingus you’re actually better off keeping the points in your BA account. Call BA to use Avios to book the Aer Lingus flight (assuming they have award availability)