How to maximise your Avios when flying British Airways partners – by crediting to Iberia

It seems strange, but British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus do not have the same earning rates for oneworld partner flights.  This means that, in some cases, it is preferable to credit a cash flight on a some airlines to Iberia Plus rather than to British Airways.

We touched on this recently when I looked at the wheretocredit.com website.  The example I used in that article was for a Finnair flight, which earned more Avios in Iberia Plus than in British Airways Executive Club.

This article provides a full list of these cases, and it is worth referring back to it when you find yourself booked on a oneworld airline partner.

You need to be clear about two caveats, however:

If you credit a flight to Iberia Plus and not British Airways Executive Club, you obviously will not earn BA tier points.  If tier points are important, credit to BA irrespective of miles earned.

If you have British Airways status, the status bonus you receive when flying American Airlines or Japan Airlines closes the gap between the earning rates.  You do not get a status bonus on the other carriers listed below.

Remember that it is easy to transfer Avios from Iberia Plus to British Airways, using the ‘Combine My Avios’ function on either website.  An Iberia account must be 90 days old before you can transfer in or out.

If ‘Combine My Avios’ is not working properly from Iberia to BA, it WILL work if you use avios.com as an intermediary.  Open yourself an Aer Lingus AerClub account here, log in at avios.com with those details and use ‘Combine My Avios’ to pull from Iberia and then push to British Airways.

The % figure in the list below refers to the proportion of the miles flown which will be earned for that particular flight.

You can find full details of all the British Airways partner airlines on this page of ba.com.

For oneworld partner airlines not listed, such as Cathay Pacific, all ticket types earn equally in both Iberia Plus and British Airways Executive Club.

What ticket classes are not treated equally by Iberia Plus and British Airways Executive Club?

Finnair

Economy – S, N earn 50% in IB (25% BA), H earns 100% IB (70% BA)

Japan Airlines

Economy – K earns 70% in IB (50% BA)

Business – I earns 125% in BA (70% IB)

Malaysia Airlines

Economy – M earns 50% in BA (25% in IB)

Qantas

Economy – K, L, M, S, V earns 50% in IB (25% in BA)

Qatar Airways

Economy – T earns 50% in IB (25% in BA)

Royal Jordanian

Economy – K, M, V earn 50% in IB (25% in BA), P, R earn 50% in IB (0% in BA), H earns 100% in IB (25% in BA)

S7

Economy – M, R, T, L, V, S earn 50% in IB (25% in BA), K earns 100% in BA (50% in IB)

SriLankan

Economy – Y, B, P, H earn 100% in BA (80% IB), K earns 100% in BA (70% IB), W, M, E earn 70% in IB (50% BA), R, S earn 50% in IB (25% BA)

Business – J earns 150% in IB (125% BA)

In addition, remember that you earn Avios in British Airways Executive Club with:

Aer Lingus

Alaska Airlines

and you can earn Avios in Iberia Plus with:

Interjet (Mexico)

Binter (Canaries)

Avianca (restrictions apply)

LEVEL

Vueling

Air Nostrum

and you can earn Avios in Aer Lingus Aer Club with:

United Airlines

If you want to learn how to redeem Avios points via Iberia Plus, to save a lot of money on taxes and charges, take a look at this article in our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.

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.)