How does Combine My Avios work moving Avios points from Iberia to British Airways?

How can you move Avios points from Iberia to British Airways, or from British Airways to Iberia?

The answer is the ‘Combine My Avios’ function.

However, there is a problem.  ‘Combine My Avios’ is very buggy.  You are likely to get an error message when you try to use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move your points from Iberia to British Airways.  You may be told that only one-way transfers are possible.  This is rubbish.

How to use ‘Combine My Avios’ with Iberia Plus

Before I show you how to fix the ‘Combine My Avios’ problem, we need to clarify one thing.  You can cannot move Avios into or out of an Iberia Plus account unless:

the Iberia Plus account is 90 days old and

the Iberia Plus has ‘earned’ at least 1 Avios

The easiest way to have the account ‘earn’ an Avios is to transfer 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points.  You could also credit a BA or oneworld flight to the account or transfer some hotel points.

If this applies to you, you need to wait until your Iberia Plus account meets both of the criteria above before carrying on with this article.

“Combine My Avios” gives me an error message ….

Historically, ‘Combine My Avios’ has not worked well due to IT issues.

However, after a new IT system was introduced in November 2021, it DOES now work most of the time.  This article explains the change.

If you are still having problems, there is another solution.

You need to use the avios.com website as an intermediary.  As BA closed the Avios Travel Rewards Programme in 2018, you need to use a different approach.

In order to open an Avios account which can still be operated at avios.com, you need to visit the Aer Lingus website and sign up for AerClub.  Membership is free and you will be given an 18-digit account number.

Once you have signed up for AerClub, this is what you do:

Log in at avios.com using your new AerClub account details

Find ‘Combine My Avios’ in the menus

Use ‘Combine My Avios’ to PULL your Avios from iberia.com to avios.com

Repeat the process to PUSH your Avios from avios.com to ba.com

This process should work – most people are surprised how effective it is.

Moving points between accounts is instant and extremely easy – you can choose how many you would like to shift and complete the transaction. However, ‘Combine My Avios’ does not let you transfer Avios to another person – you must hold both accounts and they must have the same registered address.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.