Between my husband and me, we have almost 800,000 miles and points in various currencies (bank points, airline miles and hotel points). How did we get these miles, and what trips are we booking with them? Over the next few weeks, I’ll write more about the various miles and points currencies we own. Note: If you’re new to miles and points, read Beginner’s Guide: 7 Steps to Free Travel with Miles and Points.
British Airways Avios and Iberia Avios
Avios is the miles currency of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Finnair and Qatar. In total, we own ~65,000 miles in British Airways and Iberia combined.
How We Earned Those Avios
My husband currently owns the Chase Iberia Visa Signature card. A little over half of our current stash is from ongoing spending on the Chase Iberia card (my husband’s offer included 5X on gas, grocery and dining for the first 12 months).
The rest of our stash is in British Airways Avios. Last year, I transferred points from American Express (earned through the Amex Gold card and a business checking bonus) and Capital One (with miles from my Capital One Venture Rewards card and Capital One Venture X card) to book my family of 5 on a trip to Japan. After I booked, we added a 6th person, and I changed my son from a first class award ticket to two economy tickets for him and his friend. We ended up getting a refund of Avios for this switch, and those are sitting in my account.
Things to Know About Avios
- You can move your Avios miles between the Avios airlines for free (although Iberia used to require that your account is open for 90 days).
- Most flexible bank points (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Bilt) allow you to transfer points to at least one Avios airline.
- You can use Avios to book partner award flights on oneworld member airlines as well as other airline-specific partners.
- British Airways has a Household Account feature that allows you to combine Avios with up to 7 people at the same address.
- Iberia has the earliest booking window of all the Avios airlines (schedules open 360 days prior compared to 354 or fewer days for other Avios airlines). See the chart on the bottom of this post on AwardWallet. Iberia’s booking window coincides with Japan Airlines booking window. So, if you’re looking for the best availability on Japan Airlines award flights, you’ll have the best chance with Iberia Avios.
- On the flip side, Iberia has the worst award cancellation policy for partner award flights. If you use Iberia Avios to book a partner award flight, you cannot change of cancel the flight. You can only change or cancel an award flight if it’s an Iberia-operated flight (for 25 Euros). So, should you grab that award flight on JAL with Iberia Avios before it opens up to folks with other Avios currencies? Only if you’re 100% sure you don’t need to change or cancel your flight. Last year, I chose to wait to book JAL flights on British Airways, and during those few days the award availability I wanted disappeared.
- Award flights on British Airways flights typically have high taxes/fuel surcharges that may not be worth it.
How I’ve Used Avios in the Past
Before some recent devaluations, British Airways Avios used to be a great value for booking domestic American Airlines flights. My family has used Avios to fly on AA metal to many cities including Denver, New York, Orlando, Chicago and San Francisco.
In 2023, I used Iberia Avios to book award tickets from DFW to Madrid in Business class, Premium Economy and Economy. Business class seats were 42,500 Avios one-way during off-peak dates, which is a great deal.
And last year, I used Avios to book Premium Economy seats on partner Japan Airlines for our upcoming trip to Japan this summer.
How I Plan to Spend Current Avios Stash
Next year, my family is planning to travel to Europe again. Iberia has reliable award availability between DFW and Madrid, so there is a good chance we will spend our Avios for that trip. And, even though the cost of domestic award travel on partner AA has increased, using Avios is still a viable option if I’m low on AA miles.
Do you own or use Avios for your award travel?
Nancy,
Have you ever ran into any issues using Iberia for a return flight from Japan? I’ve had no issue searching and selecting seats on the outbound. But if I select a seat on the return, it errors out (this is searching one way)
@Corey We used BA Avios but I didn’t have any issues.