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Until Sunday (30th April 2017) – Iberia Plus is offering up to 35% bonus on Avios purchases.
This is a sliding “up to” bonus, with lower purchases receiving a 10% bonus and working up from there. (Iberia Plus only sells Avios in set chunks which is why the ranges below might seem a bit odd, but essentially after 30,000 it goes up in 5,000 point increments).
- 2,000 – 15,000 = 10% Bonus
- 20,000 – 24,000 = 20% Bonus
- 35,000 – 75,000 = 30% Bonus
- 80,000 – 100,000 = 35% Bonus
Up to 35% Bonus on Avios Purchases – The Money Maths
So, is this a good deal? The answer is, it depends! To save you the hard work, I’ve put together a little table giving you an idea of the costs in GBP (assuming 1EUR = 0.85GBP) and therefore the approximate pence/Avios cost.
Obviously your exchange rate may vary slightly, and you will need to consider if your card charges any additional fees for transactions in Euros. The Lloyds Avios Amex is great for avoiding these charges, and earning extra Avios on your purchase of Avios…!
As you can see, at the lower end, it’s a bit pricey per Avios for me – I try to get much nearer to 1p/Avios.
Whilst not as good as their promotion last Christmas, at the mid to high end it gets interesting. Even if you just bought 75,000 + 30% bonus (so not the best possible price), you would almost enough Avios in a single transaction to get you return between London to Madrid in Economy (13,000 Avios + £35 RFS), then onwards between Madrid and Colombia in Business Class (85,000 Avios + £164 taxes off-peak). Total cost £1,380.50 (assuming you have 500 Avios knocking around already, which if you already InsideFlyer shouldn’t be an issue!)
This example also totally ignores transferring your Avios to BA or Avios.com account to use in conjunction with any Amex 241 or Lloyds upgrade vouchers you might have which will further increase the value of your redemptions.
Iberia 35% Bonus on Avios Purchases Conclusion
Purchasing Avios directly is a quick and easy way to top up your account before a big, aspirational redemption, or where you can get good value vs a cash ticket if you’re already planning a long haul trip like the Colombia example above.
As long as your Iberia Plus account has been open more than 90 days (if you don’t already have one – open one immediately so you’re ready for any future promotions!), you can move the Avios to your BA or Avios.com, find out how to Combine Your Avios here.
Unless you’ve got money to burn, I wouldn’t purchase speculatively at these rates as you need to spend a significant amount to get a reasonable rate – but if you’ve got a specific trip in mind or want to top up to make best use of your Amex 241 this might just be an excellent opportunity.
One thing to note from my previous experiences buying Avios from Iberia Plus – they take a couple of days to appear in your account. It isn’t an instant transaction unfortunately so don’t bank on them appearing immediately.
Blimey, do people pay over 1.5k cash for 135k avios? I will sell my 280k stash for 3k cash any takers?
They certainly do – and substantially more. Don’t forget our old friend Simon Calder buys the full annual allocation of Avios every year, and he knows a lot more than the average traveller.
I should say they aren’t necessarily wrong to do so either – depending on a variety of personal factors. For example, if you’re fairly well-heeled but very busy, you might earn maybe 100k ‘free’ Avios a year from credit card signups etc, but not be able to generate much more than that. That’s a great start, but if you have a family or want to travel Biz/First a couple of times a year, it doesn’t get you that far these days. If you’d pay £2k+ for a cash biz ticket, why not spend 10 minutes buying discounted Avios and save yourself ~30% (if we use the Colombia example).
Obviously it’s not something I do myself, but I don’t spend £2k on cash tickets across the pond either.
It’s all relative remember. In terms of First Class redemptions and if you’re using an Amex 241, potentially it could be sensible to pay £1,500 plus ~£1,000 in BA taxes & fees if you’re redeeming for an aspirational flight that “retails” at over £5,000, as long as paying £2,500 for flights is something you personally feel comfortable doing and can afford to pay.
The downside is Avios is totally dependent on either booking as soon as the BA seats are released or sheer luck that seats are available, plus you need to offset the “lost” Avios you would earn on a cash ticket, hence why I wouldn’t recommend speculative buying at this price.
Nice try selling your own Avios stash, but of course that’s against their terms and conditions 😉
I’m sure if you want some creative ways to get more than £3k of “Value” out of those Avios – that would be a popular thread over on the forum! Maybe a challenge to send you round the world twice….? 😀
That would be the downside of shelling out 1.5k cash for avios, not knowing if the ticket you want will ever be available.
No reward without risk!
These promotions come along quite frequently. You also have cheaper Groupon Spain options and last year’s share Avios promotion for example.
Long story short.. it’s not hard to get your hands on cheap Avios when you actually need them. Then you can decide whether buying Avios in order to book a Business / First reward is something you are willing to do…
I would never speculatively buy Avios at this price…