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British Airways seems to be offering a 50% Avios bonus every month or two, but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen an Avios sale from Iberia. Well, Iberia is back on merry-go-round this week with an Avios sale that has a 50% bonus on purchased points.
Iberia doesn’t tier the amount of miles that you need to buy in order to get the maximum bonus. In other words, you’ll get a 50% bonus on any purchase of 2,000 miles or more. Like British Airways, Iberia Avios gets cheaper the more you buy, with the best rate being when you buy 200,000 miles.
Past Iberia Avios Bonuses
- 50% bonus. Valid through November 3-12, 2021.
- 50% bonus. Valid through July 7-13, 2021.
The Deal
- Buy Iberia Avios with a 50% Bonus
- Direct link to offer
Key Terms
- The offer is available from 00:01 (CET) Wednesday 15 June 2022 to 23:59 (CET) Friday 24 June 2022 only (the ‘Offer Period’).
- Avios can only be purchased or gifted at buyavios.iberia.com; compraravios.iberia.com or via Iberia Plus user journey.
- You must buy at least 2,000 miles to get the bonus.
- The Bonus Avios will not count towards your annual limit of 200,000 Avios.
Quick Thoughts
It used to be possible to set the Iberia site to Spain and then process the transaction in euros, which is far cheaper than buying in dollars (Iberia sets the dollar rate at about 1.5:1). This workaround appears to have died since the last points sale, making Iberia sales much less tempting for anything except for topping off to reach an award.
Keep in the mind, there is a 40% transfer bonus from Citi to Qatar Avios right now. So, ideally you’d only use this sale if you don’t have Citi points or just need to top off a few thousand points to hit an award.
Best Uses British Airways Avios
- Business class to Europe from 34K one-way via Iberia. This is probably my favorite Avios redemption and have one booked this year already. Iberia charges as few as 34K miles off-peak for one-way in business class on its own flights from New York, Boston, Chicago, or DC to Madrid during off-peak season. The fuel surcharges are quite reasonable and they also run seasonal promotions (usually during the Winter) where the prices drop down even further.
- Business class South America from 22K one-way via British Airways. I've used this once and availability can be tricky to find. But when you can find it, BA has excellent pricing for shorter distance non-stop American Airlines award flights.
- Long Haul Business Class on Qatar Airways. After Qatar's addition to Avios, BA lowered many of their award prices on Qatar. It's now possible to travel between the United States and Doha in business for only 70,000 Avios with minimal surcharges.
Things to Know British Airways Avios
- Avios Purchases are processed by Points.com and DO NOT count as airfare.
- Avios can be easily transferred between Aer Lingus, Iberia and British Airways
- Avios expire after 36 months of no activity
- British Airways has near-extortionate fuel surcharges when flying on BA metal. It's best to keep Avios for use with partners or the Iberia Plus
(h/t:OMAAT)
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From what I see the most you can buy is 150k (225k with bonus).
For anyone wondering about price per point, if paying in US dollars, you hit 2cpp at $300 spend (15k points), gradually going down to 1.844cpp when you max out at $4149 spend (225k points). Not a good price per point at any level.
The same amount of points (225k) in euros costs $2843 at today’s rates, so 1.264cpp. Clearly an unfair difference if buying in USD.
I didn’t try changing my address to an EU one because it’s still not worth it to me buying at the euro price, but that seems like the only way this offer would have any appeal.
Can’t buy in Euros by picking the Spanish site. It may have worked in the past but now you have to change your account address to Spain. Were you able to get around this?
Sure looks dead to me. That stinks…it was a good way to top off points in the past.
As the points are an “all other charges” transaction, it will be tempting to use the Citi Double Cash Card and the like. Don’t. You’re going to be buying points in Euros and it would be subject to a foreign transaction fee. Use your best “all other charges” card that has no foreign transaction fees. (What might be “old hat” for some might not be so obvious to newbies.)