The Offer
- Receive a 25% transfer bonus when you transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Iberia Avios. The standard rate is 250 MR : 200 Avios, this would bring it to 250:250. For some reason it appears that this 25% bonus is actually being applied twice, so a transfer of 1,000 MR is netting people 1,250 Iberia Avios. Although I wouldn’t rely on this continuing.
The Fine Print
- It’s possible to transfer Iberia Avios to British Airways and vice versa, there are three rules to keep in mind:
- Your Iberia account must have been opened for at least 90 days to transfer points out of it
- Your British Airways account must have earned at least one Avios
- All of your information should be the same across both accounts (e.g Name, E-mail Address & Phone Number)
- Valid until December 31st, 2015
Our Verdict
What really makes this deal great is that the bonus is being applied twice, meaning you’re transferring at 1:1.25 (and the standard transfer rate is now 1:0.8 after American Express reduced it). Keep in mind that British Airways are ending their 4,500 Avios short haul flights on February 2nd, 2016.
I personally don’t have a great need for Avios at the moment, especially with the devaluation but if you do then now is the time to do it if you’ve got excessive Membership Rewards points. A full list of American Express transfer bonuses can be viewed by clicking here.
They have only ever offered one Iberia bonus before:
- September 19th – November 16th, 2011: 20% bonus
And these are the previous bonuses for British Airways:
- December 15th, 2014 – January 31st, 2015: 40%
- October 15th – December 31st, 2013: 20%
- April 22nd, 2013 – June 7th, 2013: 35%
- December 3, 2012 – January 14, 2013: 30%
- August 28th, 2012 – September 27th, 2012: 40%
- March 15, 2012 – May 31, 2012: 50%
- March 1, 2012 – March 31, 2012: 50%
- November 28, 2011 – January 31, 2012: 30%
- June 1, 2011 – July 31, 2011: 50%
- February 2, 2011 – March 31, 2011: 40%
- November 2, 2010 – December 31, 2010: 30%
- April 1 – June 30, 2010: 20% (only for Platinum & Centurion cardholders)
Keep in mind in both cases the standard rate was 1:1.
Hat tip to 92994 on /r/churning
Do you know if there is a 90 day waiting period for new accounts to transfer AMEX>Iberia as there is from Iberia>BA?
Dietmar– when did you try it? I did it last night around 6 pm PT, and I got 1.25x Iberia Avios from that transfer. If you just did it today, you wouldn’t have the Avios until tomorrow.
Just tried this – the 25% bonus is only being applied once now. Resulting in a 1 to 1 transfer of membership reward points to Iberia Avios.