Transfer Points Between British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus
British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus operate separate frequent flyer programs, with different sweet spots for redeeming awards. But because they are all operated by the same company, you can freely transfer points (Avios) between the programs.
It can be valuable to transfer your points between British Airways and Iberia (and Aer Lingus), but you will need to prepare ahead of time, before you can transfer your points.
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Why transfer your points between Avios accounts?
With the addition of Aer Lingus and Iberia to the Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards programs, there is now much less need to transfer points between the various Avios programs. You can directly transfer your Membership Rewards or Ultimate Rewards points to the program that you want to use. However, if you have a bunch of British Airways, Iberia, or Aer Lingus points from their credit cards or you want to use Marriott points, you may still need to transfer points between these three airline programs.
It is very rare to be able to transfer points between different frequent flyer programs.
- You can take advantage of whichever program requires the fewest miles and lowest fees for your award tickets. British Airways and Iberia have different ways that they calculate the number of miles required for flights. For some trips, British Airways requires fewer miles. For other trips, Iberia requires fewer miles. By transferring your points between these programs, you can use whichever one offers the better deal for your upcoming trip. Fly Short Distances Using Fewer Miles by Taking Advantage of Distance-Based Frequent Flyer Programs.
- You can take advantage of each airline’s unique partners. Both Iberia and British Airways share many partners through the Oneworld Alliance, but each of them has its own unique set of additional partners. You can redeem for frequent flyer tickets on any of these airlines, by simply transferring your points to the corresponding program.
- You can transfer your Marriott points to Aer Lingus, via British Airways or Iberia. British Airways and Iberia are part of the Marriott program and Aer Lingus is not. So if you have Marriott points and you want Aer Lingus points, you can transfer to British Airways or Iberia first.
- Iberia doesn’t add fuel surcharges when you are flying American Airlines to Europe. British Airways will. Aer Lingus is not part of Oneworld and doesn’t partner with American. Avoid Fuel Surcharges on Award Travel.
- Sometimes there are transfer bonuses to one program and not to the other. If so, you can transfer your points to whichever program is offering a bonus and then transfer them to whichever program you want to use to redeem your points. Take Advantage of Transfer Bonuses to Get More Value from Your Reward Points.
Each of these frequent flyer programs offers cheaper rewards and/or lower surcharges on their own flights. So if you want to fly on Aer Lingus, you can move your miles from your British Airways account to your Aer Lingus account and pay a smaller amount of fees.
| British Airways | Iberia |
|---|---|
| LATAM (South America) | Avianca (Columbia)
Binter (Canary Islands) Interjet (Mexico) Level (Transatlantic) Vueling (Spain) |
This works differently from the Flying Blue and Miles & More programs
Both Flying Blue and Miles & More are frequent flyer programs that work across multiple airlines. But, they each are a SINGLE program that is shared across the different airlines, with one award chart, one set of partners, and one set of rules. In the case of Avios, there are MULTIPLE programs, each with their own award chart, partners, and rules—but you can freely move points between the programs.
How to set up your accounts to allow transfers
If you want to transfer points between British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus, you can’t simply set up your accounts, and immediately start transferring miles.
- Your accounts need to be open for at least 90 days, before you can transfer points. You can’t wait to setup an account at the last minute.
- You can’t transfer points until the accounts have been “activated” by earning at least one point. The easiest way to do this is to transfer 1,000 points to the account from the Membership Rewards or Ultimate Rewards programs. If you don’t want to or can't transfer that many points, there are other options. You can purchase points, although the minimum purchase is 2,000 points. Or you could credit a Oneworld flight or car rental to Iberia.
- Everyone should set up a British Airways and Iberia account now, so they are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that arises. It only takes a minute to set up accounts with both airlines and will start the clock for the 90-day requirement.
- Make sure all your information matches. If you use multiple email addresses or phone numbers, make sure both programs are set up with the same ones (as well as same birthday and mailing address).
- You might need to do this at Avios.com, rather than on one of the airline’s websites.
Your account only stays active for six months, so you should typically wait to generate the activity until close to the time you need to do the transfer.
If you have enough time, you can buy something from Iberia's online shopping portal (at any of hundreds of stores) and then wait a couple of months for your points to post.
Here is a webpage that describes a way to purchase a cheap throwaway ferry ticket in Greece to earn some Iberia reward points. We haven't checked that it still works.
