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Iberia is once again offering 25% off the required Avios for flights to and from Madrid, meaning you can fly one-way from New York, Boston, or Chicago to Madrid for just 25,500 Avios one-way on off-peak dates (or economy class from 12,750 Avios). You must book by March 27th and travel from September 1 – December 14, 2019.
The Deal
- Get a 25% discount on Iberia award flights to and from Madrid for travel between September 1 and December 14, 2019
- Direct link to this promotion
Key Details
- Exclusive offer for Iberia Plus members resident in the United States of a 25% discount when purchasing redemption tickets (spending Avios) in all classes available for Iberia routes between the United States and Madrid.
- Offer valid for redemption tickets in all classes available for routes connecting New York, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago to Madrid, in either direction.
- The offer applies to tickets purchased (one way or return) between 18 and 27 March 2019 to travel between 1 September and 14 December 2019, inclusive.
- The offer does not apply to IB5XXX, IB7XXX, and IB8XXX flights, LEVEL flights or the Iberia Air Shuttle. The offer does not cover the applicable charges.
- This promotion is personal and offered exclusively to Iberia Plus members resident in the United States. Valid except for typographical error or omission.
- It cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions to spend Avios which are valid during the same period.
Quick Thoughts
As a reminder, Iberia has a distance-based award chart similar to British Airways Avios. In fact, if you jump through some hoops, you can transfer Avios between the two programs. However, most readers probably won’t have to jump through those hoops as Iberia is a direct transfer partner of both Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards.
The Iberia site is notoriously a bit of a nightmare. Let me save you some time: bookmark this page for the Advanced Avios search tool (thanks to One Mile at a Time for that link).
I immediately priced out New York to Madrid in business class, which rings it at 25,500 Avios and $85.26.
For a flat bed flight across the pond, that’s not bad at all. The price should be the same from Boston or Chicago.
Keep in mind that pricing is off-peak. Here’s a post from Head for Points with the full peak/off-peak calendar. In a nutshell, most of October and November are off-peak, with most of the latter half of September
Economy class is also discounted by 25%, though with the fees I find this less of a deal with regular fare sales out of New York — though perhaps those in Boston or Chicago or those traveling at popular periods would find this more useful.
As you can see above, you can choose to adjust the cash co-pay on these if you don’t have enough Avios. While I wouldn’t find that compelling in economy class, it might be interesting if you’re trying to buy multiple business class tickets and find yourself coming up short.
By contrast, British Airways would charge you fees and surcharges around $500 or $600….and still charge you more Avios. Paying what is essentially the economy class price (12,750 Avios) plus about $160 in additional fees over economy class might not feel like a bad deal. If you’ve got champagne taste and economy-class miles, this looks like a decent deal indeed.
Keep in mind that this sale is valid for flights between the US and Madrid (not on Iberia’s other routes). That will include New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, and Los Angeles (though due to the distance-based chart, Miami and Los Angeles ring in at a few more Avios in Band 6).
Here are the Iberia Avios award charts for off-peak and peak season and then information on which cities are found in each band:
Note that Iberia’s math is flexible. It’s a distance-based chart, but you’ll notice that Chicago is located in band 5 despite actually being a longer distance from Madrid – which is what makes it available at just 25.5K during off-peak dates with this sale.
Iberia has run this deal before. I believe the last time was for bookings December 2017 through January 2018. While this obviously isn’t peak time for travel to Europe, this is a great deal if you’re interested in fall travel to Madrid.
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Don’t bother looking for biz class seats in November from Chicago. I didn’t find any day with 2 seats!…Lucky had mentioned how sold out biz seats were in his post; I’d say only bother with this if willing to gut it out in coach.
Yeah, Iberia isn’t known for amazing availability. That said, I wouldn’t say not to bother looking. For 25.5K, I’d probably search twice a day for the next week. Others would rather save the time and pay the 55-70K that most programs charge. To each his own.
Any idea how to see reward pricing without having any Avios? It won’t let me proceed to even view.
You should just be able to pick the flight you want and hit “view” and it should show you the price. I don’t have any Avios in my account, but I took the screen shots in this post.
[…] (HT: Frequent Miler) […]
Only good if you could sign up for Iberia Plus. Web site has been down for a few days now. Even called into their IT department. Gave him the same information over the phone. He got the same message “oppp….” His solution “try again in a day or two” Don’t know how revenue booking works between alliance airline. Booked on AA flying on IB. When there is a sale, have to jump on it fast. Not having access is not helping. Thanks for reading.
I couldn’t find anything to/from LAX for all of October or November. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something.
[…] [HT: Frequent Miler] […]
[…] (Tip of the hat to Frequent Miler) […]
Would DFW-MAD work as well? I believe that flight is on AA metal but is marketed through Iberia and would assume you can use Avios.
Only flights on Iberia metal.
[…] As was highlighted by The Frequent Miler, the 25% discount drops the price of Iberia awards from New York, Boston or Chicago to Madrid on off-peak dates to 25,500 Avios in business class and 12,750 Avios in economy. This discount is available for booking until March 27 for those in the United States. We have seen this deal before around this time last year, but it is just as exciting now as it was a year ago. […]
If only I didn’t have -54,000 Avios from the promo last year when I used my points apparently a few hours after the deadline.
Youch.
Maybe one of your AUs can open an Iberia account?
[…] Hat tip to Frequent Miler […]