Can I earn Avios and British Airways tier points if I fly with Iberia?

In this article we’ll look at how you can earn Avios and British Airways tier points by flying with Iberia and whether it’s worth it compared to flying British Airways.

It is possible to earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points on Iberia.  Of course, Iberia has Iberia Plus, its own frequent flyer program, which also uses the Avios reward currency but there is no good reason for crediting your Iberia flight to Iberia Plus if you have an active BA account.

When you book or manage your flights with Iberia, you will be able to add your British Airways Executive Club number. Upon completion of your flights you will automatically be credited the correct Avios.

Because British Airways and Iberia both belong to the same group of companies, International Airlines Group (IAG), their earning rates are almost identical.

How many Avios do you earn when flying on Iberia?

Here is the full chart of earning rates, sourced from the partner page of the British Airways website.

We are comparing the earnings when you take a flight on Iberia compared to taking a flight on British Airways.

Economy lowest – 25% on both airlines

Economy flexible – 100% on both airlines

Premium Economy – 100% on both airlines

Premium Economy flexible – 150% on both airlines

Business lowest – 150% both airlines

Business flexible – 250% on both airlines

First – Iberia does not have a first class. 250%-300% on British Airways

As you can see, all the classes have the same earning rates. However, because Iberia does not fly first class cabins, you will not be able to earn the highest advertised earning rate of 300% which British Airways reserves for its first class flyers.

Unlike with some oneworld partners, you will still get your usual Avios tier bonus of 25%, 50% or 100% depending on if you hold a Bronze, Silver or Gold Executive Club status card. This makes Iberia more attractive than many other BA partner airlines if BA cannot get you directly to your destination.

When it comes to tier points, however, you are better off flying with Iberia than British Airways if your trip involves a connection.  This is because tier points are earned per flight, so a connecting in Madrid to your final destination will earn more tier points than taking a direct flight on British Airways from London.

You can work out how many tier points you will earn on the BA tier point calculator here.  Remember to search leg by leg if you are connecting.  You will see that, for example, London to Madrid to Mexico City is more lucrative than a direct BA flight from London to Mexico City.

(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.