Update: Travel Update is reporting that their miles were removed from the British Airways account after transferring. British Airways claims this because the account is inactive so the miles automatically expire (transferring doesn’t count as the account being active). It seems like purchasing something through the British Airways shopping portal first should prevent this from happening but YMMV. Considering Iberia/British Airways allowed the transfers in the first place due to the negative tabloid piece coming out I’m hopeful that if we can get enough bad press these types of transfers made in good faith will be honored.
Original post: Earlier this year Iberia ran a generous promotion offering 9,000 Iberia Avios per flight booked. The promotion was extremely weird/generous in that you didn’t need to actually fly the flight to get the miles. People were able to book extremely cheap flights to effectively purchase the miles at a low low cost. The downside is that the miles expire this December and originally were not transferable to British Airways.
It looks like Iberia is set to back track on this last restriction and allow transfers to British Airways. According to Raffles on Flyertalk this is because Iberia is trying to get ahead of a story that will be published in the Sunday edition of U.K. tabloid ‘The Mail’. The terms of the original promotion stated:
If the customers transfer these Avios to their BA Executive Club account, they will have a negative balance in the Iberia Plus programme, as those Avios wouldn’t have been spent by the date mentioned above.
Despite this the points weren’t/aren’t transferable at all. Iberia plans to allow transfers, but users doing so will still end up with a negative balance in the Iberia Plus programme as per the original stated terms. My recommendation would be to not do a points transfer unless absolutely necessary. Even if you plan to never use Iberia Plus again, it’s impossible to know if another promotion like this will come along or another opportunity. By transferring you’re going to end up with a massive negative balance of up to 90,000 points. Another worry is what happens when Iberia & British Airways combine into the same Avios program, I assume the negative balance will transfer over as well.
That being said if you won’t be able to use the Iberia Points before the December deadline then I’d absolutely transfer them if you’ll be able to use the British Airways Avios. Keep in mind you’re Iberia account needs to be at least 90 days old to use the ‘Combine My Avios’ feature.
Hat tip to Head For Points
This promo is really a waste of people’s time. If they just want to give people 90k, just sale it at a cheap price. Why book flights that you won’t take? Then all the BS account new accounts not posting.
cheeky Brits strike again! For those who tried funny business with this transfer, Heres a history lesson from the British empire days: If you get too cute with the British, they will f you royal.
So many gotchas with this one…glad I didn’t jump on it.
I created a brand new Iberia account to take advantage of this promo. Somehow during the account review process, my Iberia Plus number vanished from my reservations. Now, despite jumping through Iberia’s hoops and sending in passport scans and other docs, my account is reinstated, but no Avios awarded.
Is anyone else in this situation?
Not sure if you have already resolved your situation, but your problem was quite common (it was covered on multiple blogs). The email confirmations you received should contain the account number – this is your proof. Make sure to send it in and request that miles be credited.
I booked a trip from Chicago to Madrid in May 2018 using only Iberian metal. I do hope to use it, but if I do cancel I am hoping to get all of my Avois refunded. According to Iberia cancel rules, only flights booked on Iberia flights are refundable. Thoughts??
Pls take me to your Time Machine!
My Iberia account was frozen ever since I opted into the promo. I have tried multiple times to get it reactivated with no success or answers from their customer service. I also have the Iberia credit card that has been completely useless since this occurred. Over 100k points stuck. Anyone else have a similar a similar issue?
Make sure you are sending emails to the correct address. I used [email protected]
I think I will transfer my Iberia avio to British airways since they have routes to Canada and it’s only 40k points rt which on Iberia I could never find that 2 rt ticket which cost at least $500 for one time. Can this be doable? Am I gonna screw up anything? I don’t really care if the avios goes into negative since I won’t be flying with them ever if I do I can just make up new Iberia for my SO and use hers
how much do you want for your crystal ball? cuz it sounds like u can see ur future…
i don’t know what part you thought i was going to the future? i just don’t care for Iberia points. if they had a routes on their website for me to go to Canada then sure ill use Iberia but they don’t from dfw. but i see the British airways does so its like use it or lose it. you tell me what would you do in this situation?
I have never liked this promo. Imagine you’re a random person in Spain, who needs or wants to travel between Madrid and Mallorca. This fare is usually 18 EUR, but you find out a bunch of Americans who never intended to fly those tickets have purchased all the cheap fares, and now it’s 150 EUR. Something like this happened. That cost is even greater considering the lower salaries in Spain. I’d be livid.
Now you might say it’s Iberia’s fault for designing a stupid promo, but a lot of regular people in Spain have been seriously inconvenienced by it. That’s not the case for most deals.
Oh God, cry me a river
I don’t live in Spain. I’m not crying. I’m thinking of other people in other countries. Something that seems absolutely beyond the typical American.
yea. thats the story of this entire game. legit people are ALWAYS collateral damage. i hate it too.
simple example with WM or USPS MO. now its banned. hits everyone not just this group.
To be fair, I don’t think churners are who killed/is killing MOs. Most MS avenues are also used for illegal purposes (money laundering). I really don’t think WM, USPS, Moneygram, etc. gives a damn about people using their money to pay the fees to buy their products…that is why they sell them. I think they care about people using them for illegal activities.
Addding value to the economy is difficult. Very difficult. That’s why entrepreneurial success is so admired.
MS is complicated, takes skill and nerve/balls to execute. But it ultimately adds no value to the economy, it only adds value to the ms’r.
That’s why all of these ‘clever tricks’ get shut down in time. Take em for what it’s worth while it lasts, but no tears shed once it ends. Move on and adapt. WM, usps mo’s, bluebird, serve, staples gc shopping portal, eBay Bucks gc target merry go round, blah blah blah. What value is added for your fellow man? None.
BTW I’ve participated in some of this,not all, not trying to be self righteous, I’m a loophole finder just like the rest, I know this is an arbitrage blog, just trying to be ‘real’.
Godspeed.
See this actually isn’t true. Here’s what usually happens.
Step 1: the banks make these products, the credit cards and bank accounts, to target and screw over consumers. One of the many things they do is offer bonuses to hook people in.
Step 2: savvy people, ie we churners, sign up for the bonuses, and beat the banks at their own game.
We don’t hurt the average guy. The big banks do that. We then strike back (in a very small way) at the banks’ profits. We don’t anything wrong.
Then there’s MS: we’re taking advantage of shitty companies like Incomm and Metabank which prey on the unbanked through their awful VGCs. We never hurt the average guy.
As for MOs, your example is just incorrect. MOs are a service offered by the post office mainly for the unbanked. If you don’t have a bank account, but need to pay someone by check, you send them a MO. As such, there are many people of lower income who go to the post office and buy MOs with cash. This is still possible. I’m sure some people go to the PO and buy MOs with debit (ie a real debit card). This is still possible.
Never said it was wrong. Just said it only adds value to ms’r, may not hurt the average guy but by no means helps him. and ultimately it will get shut down by big guys.
As the little guy, if you’re not adding value to the economy (ie offering a product/service to the public, creating jobs,etc) and you’re taking advantage of banking loopholes (ie beating banks at their own game), you or your ms method will get shut down in time. Period. All the methods that were shut down listed above serve as examples. Let’s add AMEX offers and ‘potential’ new WM restrictions to the list.
Avios points expire after 3 years of non-use right? Do negative Avios points also expire? 😉
yea, after 3 years ur negative balance doubles.
I nominate this for best post of the month.
DOC, i’m torn. What is the legal ramification of having a negative balance. Hypothetically could they send you a dollar amount owed once the balance is negative for lets say 2 years. Since they do have our personal and sensitive identifying information on file already, can they collect those points to a $ value or sell the debt to a collection agency. Nervous on what to do. We have 180K miles and no plans to travel immediately!
If only there were day term or “conditions” on how the program operates that would dictate what they could do… going forward they should makes us read the rules before we can use the program or at least agree that we did
Why not book a holiday for next year, if you don’t have one planned for this year? Remember if you do not book something before December 1, 2018 then you will lose 180k points! Earn & burn!
haha. all i wanna do is bust ur balls and make fun of u for doing this limited time promo without having any travel plans. SMH. what exactly were u planning to do with expiring pts?
anyway, to shed some light on your worries, why dont you think about an actual bank in the US like AMEX where people have negative MR? have you ever heard of a company sending a bill? no. ur just banned. dont even know where ur worries are coming from. i would be more worried if my Amex MR was negative.
in terms of “legal” ramifications, every company that has a pts/miles currency clearly states in their T&C that their shit is worthless and has no value. so how can a company send you a bill for $0?
and anyone who says they dont care about an iberia ban or negative account is very short sighted. last thing u wanna do is limit future promo opps. i guess u could create new accounts under different name variants.
You are correct NinjaX, i didn’t have any fixed plans. But at the time of the promo hitting the blog circuit, i felt dropping $194.28 ($388 ish for 2 of us) for 180K in avios was gonna be a good deal. I figured, if i get burned i will atleast have some flights in Spain for me and Mrs next Spring, if we choose to take. I even thought about a possible chargeoff, but being this deal as 10 seperate tickets, that would be 10 chargeoffs and i was never gonna do that on my Amex plat.
Now for the last 2 weeks – i am sitting on 180K expiring avios, was gonna make some roundtrips on AA in J. I was gonna make about 3 of them for me and my SO. But now this news today throws a curveball. Like i said in my original post, I can’t decide what to do. Transfer or 3 Domestic J Trips.
yea. 180k avios for $388 is of course a “good deal”. if you can use it. which is the reason why I didnt. i was too busy micro managing my SPG to Marriott transition strategy and totally didnt want another major time vortex w/ miles not posting or banned/frozen accounts. sounds like nothing happened to you and got the 180k avios with little effort. good for you. u were lucky.
since you have to use the Avios by Dec 1st you have plenty of time to strategize for a very nice trip to honor the Mrs in ur life. spain is a fantastic choice. u should go. the culture and the food is top notch. since ur married, i wont talk about the bodacious babes, but maybe ur into 3some Ashley Madison so i will just leave it there.
anyway, u have 4 months to book a trip and 12 months to actually plan something around your booking because Iberia lets you book about 330 days in advance. but everyone is taking up availability so you have to act quickly. but i dont understand why a BA transfer or 3 domestic J trips are ur only options.
i cant speak to your preferences and your travel plans but the first thing i would do is look up Iberia operated flights to Madrid on J or W. thats a no brainier for me. if i did this deal, it would be for spain. and why iberia direct? it gives me the MOST flexibility. itineraries on AA metal must be round-trip. you cant book one-way on AA with Iberia Avios. also partner awards are completely nonrefundable. so if you try to cancel an award flight on American, you won’t get any Avios back. fuck that.
a HUGE benefit of the miles game for me (depending on status/airline) is being able to book/cancel/rebook/change etc. that flexibility is so key for me. and you already know Iberia doesn’t allow changes or cancellations on partner award flights so that is a No-Go for me.
so i would stick with iberia direct and go to spain. surprise the wife and earn some miles or points with her heart. unless she hates spain. then i guess 3 domestic J trips to Cabo or Puerto Vallarta. how about that?
Like NinjaX I chose to not pursue this deal. (I didn’t have any SPG pts to speak of, but just wasn’t up for the complications at the time). Take your wife to Spain for a surprise trip within 330 days. Otherwise you’re out 388ish. I’ve lost more than that on a single M&P deal.
Life is good. You’re given a choice to lose your miles or use them on a less than perfect deal. Sometimes those “less than perfect” deals are the most memorable. Three domestic J trips to Cabo or Puerto Vallarta? – I’ve never been to either, but that really doesn’t sound so bad.
We’re looking to scale back travel for the next year. I had to explain to my wife that we can still fly around the world on miles, we just can’t spend $300/night on hotels. Enjoy whatever you do!
I’m not 100% sure and I don’t feel making any legal statements
Thanks DOC. I will wait another week and see how this plays out. In worst case have 3 J roundtrips on AA.