Iberia launches ‘Part Pay with Avios’ – and it’s rubbish

From July 2nd, Iberia is letting you use Avios to pay for part of the cost of a cash ticket.  “All your Avios count and they also discount” is the catchy slogan they are using.

British Airways launched a similar ‘part pay with Avios’ scheme last year.  I wasn’t very excited about that – although it is better than it was at launch after tweaking – and I am even less excited about this.

I was a little excited when I got the email.  I was promised the ability to save 25% of my flight cost using my Avios points, which could have been substantial for a long-haul flight.

In truth, you can’t.

I did a test booking from Madrid to Buenos Aires for late September.  The economy ticket came out at €1,137.  The maximum discount offered to me was €113 – for a cost of 25,950 Avios.

This is a terrible deal.  €113 is £89.  That works out at 0.35p per Avios.

This is shocking.  Remember that it is almost impossible to get less than 0.5p per Avios point even if you use all of your points for hotel bookings, car hire, champagne, sports tickets, Eurostar tickets or one of the hundreds of other random things that avios.com can sell you.

I then tried a short-haul flight from Madrid to London.  On a €217 flight the maximum discount was €30.  That would cost me 5,575 Avios.  This is a slightly better result as you get 0.43p per Avios.  I still wouldn’t go near it though.

For some reason this deal is also only available on flights that start in Spain.  If you try to book London to Madrid then you are not offered the discount.  It is also not available on BA flights, only Iberia, Iberia Express and Vueling.

If you want to know, full details can be found on the Iberia website here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)