This is a companion post to yesterday’s blog post All About My British Airways and Iberia Avios Stash. Whenever a transfer bonus comes along for the Avios airlines (British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Finnair and Qatar), I always remind readers that you can transfer Avios among these programs after the transfer bonus. But why would you want to move Avios from one airline to another?
Pool Points Together from Different Airlines
The most obvious reason for transferring Avios to another Avios program is to pool your miles together from two or more airlines to have enough in total to book an award flight. For example, if you have 15k British Airways Avios and 10k Iberia Avios, you can combine them into one account to book an award up to 25k Avios.
Transfer Bonus Opportunities
Sometimes, the banks have transfer bonuses to one of the Avios airlines. This month, Amex and Citi have a transfer bonus to Qatar. If you’re looking to collect British Airways Avios, you don’t have to wait for a specific transfer. You can use the Qatar transfer bonus and then transfer the Avios to British Airways.
Share Avios with Family Members to Book Awards
British Airways is the only Avios airline that allows you to combine family members Avios together for award bookings. For example, if you have 20k Avios and your spouse has 5k Avios, you can create a Household Account and have a combined 25k Avios to use for award flights.
Better Customer Service
If you have to make changes to an award flight that you can’t do online, you might have to call the airline. Some miles and points enthusiasts report that British Airways customer service is better than Iberia’s.
Earlier Award Availability
Iberia releases its flight schedule the earliest out of all the Avios airlines at 360 days prior. This coincides with the timing of Japan Airlines. If you want the best odds at award availability on some international partners, your best bet is to book with Iberia. See this post on AwardWallet for the timing of each airline.
Better Award Cancellation Policy
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, all of the airlines have different award change and cancellation policies. Iberia has the worst policy for partner airlines, so you may want to move Avios to British Airways to book.
Access to Unique Partner Airlines
Not all of the Avios-sharing airlines have the same airline partners. For example, if you want to book an award flight on China Southern, you must use British Airways Avios.
Different Award Pricing
The same award can price out different in Avios and taxes on different airlines. I always compare award prices across different programs. For example, this award flight on Finnair from DFW to Helsinki costs 62,500 Finnair Avios plus $137.50 in taxes/fees:
The same exact flight on Finnair booked with British Airways Avios costs the same amount of Avios but with much larger taxes/fees of over $1000!
Readers, have you transferred Avios between programs?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
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