Well, it looks like I am never using my Iberia Avios account again! I earned 90,000 points from the generous Iberia promotion this past summer, although I ended up never having an opportunity to redeem my points. Ultimately, I transferred my points to British Airways and had my fingers crossed that Iberia didn’t have the technology to retract my transfer. All points had to be redeemed by today, December 1st, so I was eager to see what both accounts would look like when I woke up this morning.
Negative Balance with Iberia
My Iberia account actually does show a negative 90,000 point balance. Since I didn’t actually redeem my points with Iberia, but they were transferred out of my account, they removed the miles not redeemed. This is exactly what I expected to happen, although I wasn’t confident that Iberia actually had the technology in place to do it. But I guess they do!
This means that if I ever transfer points back into my Iberia account, they will not be usable as they will go towards the negative balance. While there are some great opportunities to use Iberia Avios points, I am okay not having those opportunities going forward. Their site is super frustrating to use when it comes redeeming points, especially partner awards.
90,000 Points in my British Airways Avios Account
I transferred all 90,000 points into my British Airways account, and the points are still there. This is exactly what I expected as well, although there was a slight concern Iberia would pull them back, but I doubted it. I personally prefer to use British Airways Avios points anyways over Iberia Avios points for partner awards. With British Airways you can book US domestic awards as one way tickets, where Iberia only allows roundtrip tickets, and from Boston most awards were more pricey.
Overall…
For just $250ish I am pretty pleased right now how this promotion worked out. Of course there is always the chance that they can wipe away the points transferred over, but I really really really don’t think that will happen.
How did you redeem your Iberia Avios points?
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I am kind of anxious that Iberia may still yank the points from BA. what are your plans right now? Are you booking something from BA or just holding on to them for now?
BA and Iberia are merging so I imagine at some point they’ll combine the avios. Didn’t want to do the same thing because I don’t want to risk being effectively banned from anything avios related.
Have BA.com fixed the glitch that wasn’t allowing users to search for US domestic award flights?
yes they have fixed the glitch – AA flights are now showing up
Close the Iberia account. Tell them you do not need it any more. If they say no then wait a month and change your name on the account to something different then on the BA account.