British Airways, Qatar, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and Vueling (a low cost carrier) share a common rewards currency: Avios. Strangely, despite sharing a currency, each program has its own loyalty program with different fees, different award prices, and different rules. Since they are partners, it’s often possible to book the same flights with multiple programs, but your cost will sometimes vary (either in number of points required and/or taxes/fees). As a result, it’s a great idea to set up accounts in multiple programs so that you can easily move points to the program that offers you the best award pricing for the flights you want to book.
Here are some examples of why you may want to move Avios from one program to another before booking awards:
- Aer Lingus flights often have much cheaper award fees when booked from Avios.com (i.e. when booked with Aer Lingus or Vueling Avios) than with British Airways Avios. Here’s an example for booking Aer Lingus business class one-way from Washington DC to Dublin:
- Avios.com (Aer Lingus or Vueling Avios): 60,000 points + $128.60 in fees
- British Airways Avios: 60,000 points + $729.80 in fees
- When using Avios to book short distance Iberia flights, Aer Lingus and Vueling often have lower taxes and fees than BA or Iberia.
- Long distance Iberia flights are sometimes the opposite, by a large margin. For example, when looking at a one-way Iberia business class award from Miami to Madrid, I saw that each program offered the same award price in Avios, but with drastically different fees. BA and Iberia each charged $121.40 in fees, but Aer Lingus charged $829.80!
Fortunately, it’s easy to move points from one to another so that you can book your award from the program that charges the least. Here’s how…
Create free accounts with each Avios program
Before you can move points around, you’ll need to open an account with each major program. Here are the links for signing up:
- British Airways Executive Club
- Qatar
- Iberia Plus
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Vueling Club (this is here for completeness — Vueling Club and Aer Lingus appear to offer the exact same award pricing: in both cases, awards are booked through Avios.com)
Important! Make sure to enter all of your personal information (name, email, birth date, address, phone) exactly the same way with each program.
If you want to move points to/from Iberia, note these additional requirements:
- You cannot move points to/from Iberia within 90 days of joining the Iberia Plus program. So, this is a good reason to enroll in Iberia Plus now, even if you don’t have any immediate need for it.
- Your Iberia account must have had some activity within the past 36 months (points earned or redeemed). An easy option is to transfer 1,000 points from Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- If moving points from Iberia to British Airways, your British Airways account cannot be a household account (but you may be able to get around this by transferring points first to Aer Lingus and then to British Airways).
Pick your favorite website for the transfer
When moving points between programs, you can use either the website of the program you are transferring from, or the program you are transferring to. If you encounter problems with one, try the other! Here are links to each program’s “Combine my Avios” page:
- British Airways Executive Club (move Avios between BA and Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, or Qatar): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your BA credentials).
- Qatar Privilege Club (move Avios between Qatar and BA): Click this link to get to the Move Avios between your accounts page (you’ll have to log in with your Qatar credentials).
- Iberia Plus (move Avios between Iberia and BA, Aer Lingus, or Vueling): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your Iberia credentials). Note: I’ve been getting an error message whenever I’ve tried this lately, so you may be better off starting with the BA or Aer Lingus site.
- Avios.com (move Avios between Aer Lingus or Vueling and BA or Iberia): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (log in with your Aer Lingus or Vueling credentials)
Tip: BA.com offers the most comprehensive transfer options, but Avios.com is a good alternative if you have trouble getting BA.com to work. For example, you can use Avios.com to move points indirectly from BA to Iberia: 1. Move points from BA to Aer Lingus; and 2. Move points from Aer Lingus to Iberia. Unfortunately, this site isn’t yet tied in with Qatar Avios, so you’ll still have to go through BA or Qatar to move Avios between the two.
The rest of this post goes into details about moving points using each website…
Avios.com: Transfer points between Aer Lingus or Vueling and BA or Iberia
The capability to move Avios around isn’t found on the Aer Lingus or Vueling website. Instead, you should use your Aer Lingus AerClub or Vueling Club credentials to log into Avios.com.
Once you’ve logged into Avios.com, click the “Manage my account” dropdown, then click “Combine my Avios”
Shortcut: Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your Aer Lingus or Vueling credentials)
Once you find your way to the Combine My Avios page, simply select the program you want to move points from or to, log into that program, then enter the number of points you want to transfer. Done!
British Airways: Transfer from/to Iberia, Qatar, Aer Lingus, or Vueling
Log into BA.com, then click your name to get to your Executive Club dashboard. Next, click “Manage My account,” then “Combine my Avios”:
Shortcut: Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in).
Once you find your way to the Combine My Avios page, click “Combine my Avios” under the Iberia Plus heading in order to transfer from/to Iberia or to Aer Lingus or Vueling Avios. Click the button under Qatar if you want to transfer from/to Qatar.
To move points from/to Aer Lingus or Vueling, select “Avios Partners” in the dropdown as shown here:
Iberia: Transfer from/to British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Vueling
Log into your Iberia Plus account, then click the down arrow next to your name and click “My Avios.” Next, click “Manage my Avios.” Scroll down and click “Combine Avios.”
Shortcut: After logging into Iberia Plus, click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page.
Once you find your way to the Combine My Avios page, click the “Combine my Avios” button, select the program you want to move points from or to, log into that program, then enter the number of points you want to transfer.
Qatar: Transfer from/to British Airways
Log into your Qatar Privilege Club account and go to “My Dashboard,” then click “View my Avios balance.” You should then be prompted to link your Qatar and British Airways accounts if you haven’t already done so. Once the accounts are linked you should see an option to “Combine Avios.” Click it.
Shortcut: After logging into Qatar Privilege Club, click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page.
Summary
It’s possible to move points between multiple programs that use Avios as their rewards currency. Points can be moved instantly between British Airways, Iberia, Qatar, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. The British Airways website is probably the best site to use for moving points around since it supports transfers between British Airways Avios and all other options (note that the Avios.com options, Aer Lingus and Vueling, are hidden under the option to combine points with Iberia).
For quick reference, here again are the links to the pages for initiating transfers:
- British Airways Executive Club (move Avios between BA and Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, or Qatar): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your BA credentials).
- Qatar Privilege Club (move Avios between Qatar and BA): Click this link to get to the Move Avios between your accounts page (you’ll have to log in with your Qatar credentials).
- Iberia Plus (move Avios between Iberia and BA, Aer Lingus, or Vueling): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (you’ll have to log in with your Iberia credentials). Note: I’ve been getting an error message whenever I’ve tried this lately, so you may be better off starting with the BA or Aer Lingus site.
- Avios.com (move Avios between Aer Lingus or Vueling and BA or Iberia): Click this link to get to the Combine my Avios page (log in with your Aer Lingus or Vueling credentials)