BA Lowers Fees On Iberia Avios Award Redemptions

Ben - other than the lower cancel/redeposit fees with Iberia ($20 vs. $55 with BA) is there any reason now not to transfer all of one's Iberia's points back to BA for good?

Ben, can you write an article about how one can transfer BA Avios TO Iberia Plus?

Noticed this low BA surcharge the other day on Iberia and was surprised (likewise for a BA return flight from IST to DFW via LHR).
Isn’t it worth the hassle to transfer and book directly with Iberia in case something goes wrong with your flight? No experience with Iberia CS but imagine being told to go work “my” issue with BA.

Trust me, it’s the other way round. The BA hotline is much better than the Iberia hotline.

Unrelated but thought youd be interested: I just read on Bloomberg how Amex is using pieces of a retired 747 to produce their new Delta Reserve card

Slightly off-topic remark: I don't book IB business class awards anymore.

Yeah, the hard product is fine. Soft product is acceptable, as are the lounges.

But IRROPS handling is just so terrible. Their staff couldn't care less. They don't care if you fly business and are OW Emerald. And yeah, I believe it's not my tone ore anything. The staff is just terrible.

So yeah, nice that awards become even more accessible. But I rather drop my avios for other OW carriers.

Ben, this is a wonderful news and thank you for posting.
Currently, Amex MR points are NOT linking with "NEW Iberia accounts with 9 digits" and no immediate fix is on the way (2 months). Transferring MR points to British Avios for a subsequent internal transfer to Iberia Avios won't work for the new accounts due to the 90 day/activity rule. Now, anyone who has new Iberia accounts can simply use British Avios to book the same flights for the same amount of Avios/taxes.

This isn't always true. While the flights cost the same amount of Avios, the carrier fees and taxes are still wildly different. For instance, an AA flight from NYC to BCN on Iberia is charging ~$50 in taxes and fees, while BA is charging ~$220.

The third point you make really should be highlighted more in your posts about Iberia:

** Actually servicing any reservation with Iberia Plus can be a huge pain. **

I had to cancel a reservation on Cathay made using Iberia Avios, and found it almost impossible to get the Avios restored to my account. After months of failing, I finally started emailing the Iberia and IAG c-suite, and while I didn't get a reply from them, my Avios were magically restored within days.

How many business class seats does Iberia release per flight? I only see 2 per flight...do they ever release 4?

When one books award redemptions with Iberia Plus, one can select a seat. Not sure if one can do so with BA? Comes in very handy with economy redemptions. Otherwise I would much prefer to deal with BA when I have issues or need to cancel.

We did 4 in Business class last Fall ORD-MAD.

Did you book last minute of a year in advance to lock them in? Looking for next summer

Transfers are instant all 3 ways on Avios.com using your Aer Lingus Aer Club sign-in and password. I move IB to AL to BA etc etc easily instantly. Nice BA has this same surcharge once. Not usually. IB can be a PITA to deal with.

57,500 is not "roughly" the same as 34K.

Too bad the BA Visa won't reimburse for Iberia award fees! Now that would make the card a keeper.

Urgh - now demand will increase. I am sure the majority of "regular folks" never knew about the option to redeem on Iberia. Now all the millions of UK BA members will have Iberia come up as an option 🙁

Iberia customer service for refunds etc is not good; wait times are terrible and even worse if you have to speak with someone only in English

Definitely not wonderful. Demand for redemption seats will increase significantly. And, as Iberia generally only releases 2 seats for award redemptions, that's not a lot of availability for the millions of additional folks (BA UK Exec Club member) who will now see it is an option.

Sometimes they do... but it's rare. In the 6 or so times I've redeemed over ~6 years, I've only ever seen an option for 4 come up once, and that was last year which may mean it was pandemic demand related. Though I am usually booking peak or near peak periods

I’ve been trying to get a refund for 2 months on award tickets that Iberia mistakenly canceled . After a dozen calls and several “case” numbers, hours on hold, disconnects and pure incompetence, I finally got my points and most of my fees refunded. They still owe me 50 Euro! Horrible experience!

I locked them in 11 months out for late September with early October return.

ok ok ok.....give or 23,500......happy now????

This is no longer the case. I found out that BA now again charges significantly higher surcharges on identical Iberia routes. Very disappointing.