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This morning, Head for Points wrote about British Airways reducing the cost of sharing Avios between members. Reading this article made a wry smile cross my face; in December I moved some soon-to-expire Avios from an in-laws account to my own. But I thought at the time it was a special promotion being offered by Iberia Plus.

Now I realise that Iberia Plus is offering the exact same deal on a permanent basis…

As with British Airways Executive Club, you must:

• transfer in multiples of 1,000 Avios
• no account can receive more than 27,000 Avios per calendar year
• no account can send more than 162,000 Avios per calendar year

How to Take Advantage

As most of you are surely aware, you can move Avios freely between British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus. (click here for details of ‘Combine Your Avios’)

There is no longer any restriction on Household Account members moving Avios back and forth!

So, if you wish to send 54,000 Avios to a single person, the recipient simply needs to have both an Executive Club account and an Iberia Plus account. They can then combine their Avios into their preferred account later.

Potential Uses

I suspect that many readers have already included their close family and friends in a Household Account – something that works fine for most.

But you might also know some people who have accumulated some Avios without any interest in learning how to redeem them – they’d rather just give them to you.  In many such circumstances, it’s far too much hassle to temporarily include them in your Household Account or have them make award bookings on your behalf.

In those cases, it can make sense to spend £15 / $20 / €20 (depending on the location of your account) to move Avios cleanly across.

The Iberia Plus option is especially valuable for Spanish residents. If you signed up for Iberia Plus using the standard Spanish two-surnames practice… you will find it impossible to combine your Avios to a British Airways Executive Club account. But if you have a close family member who can move Avios freely, then paying €20 can be worthwhile.  (maybe this is just the case for one person – ME – but nonetheless…)

Bottom Line

Now that British Airways’ ‘share Avios’ price reduction is going to be more widely known, don’t forget about the Iberia Plus alternative…