Freddo yesterday wrote (access here) about very lucrative Iberia Plus promo where members that book up to 10 trips by June 24, 2018, can earn 9,000 bonus Avios for each (up to 90,000 bonus miles).
What made this promotion really weird is that you can make the reservations far out, the bonus Avios will be deposited to your account within 10 days of the purchase and that you can keep them as long as you don’t cancel your flights.
You can access Iberia’s page for the promotion here.
Here’s the statement that Iberia spokesperson emailed us:
I have just sent you an e-mail with further information on our 9,000 Avios special promotion, but, please let me try to explain the doubts in your article, that I have just read
Our Iberia Plus cardholders will be able to keep the promotional Avios, if they don’t fly the purchased segments. And you can only redeem the Avios awarded through this promotion through the Iberia Plus programme. 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.
Please, let me know, if you need further details on this. We would be grateful, if you can include this information in your article.
Here’s the full press release:
So for any flight ticket, either one way or return, bought on iberia.com until the 24th of June on a flight operated by Iberia, Iberia Express or Iberia Regional Air Nostrum, our Iberia Plus cardholders will get 9,000 Avios.
Each Iberia Plus cardholder will be able to earn up to 90,000 Avios during the promotion period. The Avios will be added within 10 days of the purchase to the Iberia Plus account of all customers identified as members of the Iberia Plus programme during the purchase process. These 9,000 Avios per booking will be additional to the Avios the customer will get for flying.
If the fare booked allows it and the customer decides to refund the ticket, these Avios will be withdrawn for their account. But if the customer buys the ticket and doesn’t fly, he will be able to keep those promotional Avios. The promotional Avios not redeemed by the 1st of December 2018 will be withdrawn from the cardholder’s account. These promotional Avios can be used to pay for services such as flight tickets, hotel booking, rental car… to be used next year.
Iberia Plus cardholders will receive those 9,000 Avios even when booking a ticket with multiple flights and carriers, if just one of the flights booked are operated by Iberia, Iberia Express or Iberia Regional Air Nostrum. For instance:
Madrid-London flight operated by Iberia
London-Madrid flight operated by British Airways
The promotion is available when the tickets are bought on iberia.com in the following countries: Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Russia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and USA, regardless of the origin of the flight. So, you will get the 9,000 Avios, if you book a flight from Athens to Madrid, or from Johannesburg to Madrid, etc… operated by Iberia, on any of the iberia.com sites mentioned above.
Our Iberia Plus cardholders can book their flights until the 24th of June clicking on this link:
https://www.iberia.com/es/offer/iberia-plus/win-a-trip-with-avios/
Conclusion
This promotion really is as lucrative as Iberia Plus has intended it to be.
If you are only after the bonus Avios, you can buy the cheapest Iberia tickets (up to 10) and just don’t take the flights. You only lose the bonus Avios if you cancel your ticket(s).
You can buy 90,000 Avios for roughly $150 if you buy the absolutely lowest priced one-way tickets (ten of them) available on Iberia at the moment.
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] IBERIA Miami to Rome from $1,883](https://cdn2.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/xrome-6207755_1280-350x250.jpg.pagespeed.ic.4baXd_taNH.jpg)
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] IBERIA Madrid to New York from 1,261€](https://cdn2.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/xnew-york-4352072_1280-350x250.jpg.pagespeed.ic.FeyRSHgGTx.jpg)
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] AMERICAN AIRLINES New York to Zurich from $1,828](https://cdn4.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/xbridge-g520bbd023_1280-ZURICH-120x86.jpg.pagespeed.ic.ibz9Tbl7KK.jpg)
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] TURKISH AIRLINES Singapore to London from $1,662](https://cdn5.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/xlondon-eye-g7a9133e24_1280-120x86.jpg.pagespeed.ic.ZgPCpox0k9.jpg)
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] AEROMEXICO Madrid to Sao Paulo from 898€](https://cdn3.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/xbuilding-ga29091764_1280-sao-paulo-120x86.jpg.pagespeed.ic.VQ8lWfmLI6.jpg)
Thanks for this, I feel a little more confident now..
Any idea about the negative balance?
My plan is to use the Avis on Iberia side. I prefer not to be left with negative balances. You never know what kind of promotions they may run in the future!
What are the cheapest tickets you have found? I cant find nothing for $15 each like you wrote.
SDR-MAD is $29
John wrote about Flights starting at 10 Euro – where are these?
Us Americans bought them all. Land of the free and all that. Kiss my tight ass.
Whats wrong with you?
There were some flights at 18 euros when this promo first started.
In fact, the cheapest ones were slightly below 16 EUR 🙂
Beware, I just tried to book a flight on AY that was available on the BA website. It was not available through IB, neither online nor over the phone. They might have restricted redemptions to keep you from cashing out those Avios! What can they do if you transfer to BA though?
The restriction regarding coutry of purchase is something unacceptable! It hasn’t been part of T&C at the time of purchase. John, could you please ask Iberia’s spokesperson to explain this restriction?
Why should they? Why should they give this offer to Polish people?
I don’t understand your question. It’s not about only Polish but also about any other nations not mentioned in the statement. If their intention was to limit offer only to certain countries, they should have indicate such restriction clearly in T&C. Since they didn’t do that, introduction of such condition now is change of rules during game, which is not allowed, don’t you think? Unless, as other suggest, this statement refers only to version of website which should be used for purchase of flight. But even in case of such understanding, it’s still not clear, what is the real intention of IB and why such condition was not included in T&C.
Anyone can buy for sure as long as they use the above mentioned country sited. I would assume that it is not promoted on other ones.
Thanks, I hope it works this way 🙂
“when the tickets are bought on iberia.com in the following countries: Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Russia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and USA”?
How to determine from which country? by checking my ip? by selecting “country/language” in iberia.com at the very beginning? or by credit card issuance country? This term sounds sooooo creepy and was not included in the original t&c obviously.
Just make sure that you are in IBs US site when you make the purchase.
Hi,
They did not included that list of Countries at first when publish this deal. Im not in the list of those coutries. Can you ask them what should I do?
I think what they mean is the offer is valid for purchases made through those coutry-specific iberia.com sites
From their statement: “…So, you will get the 9,000 Avios, if you book a flight from Athens to Madrid, or from Johannesburg to Madrid, etc… operated by Iberia, on any of the iberia .com sites mentioned above…”
So it s mean anyone can applied? Since if u go to ibearia.com it has to redirect u to one of those site anyway?
It s very vague 🙂 , u think u and ur team can ask them? I try to contact them. No one answer back.
To get 90k do you have to buy 10 tickets on 10 different flights? Or can you buy 10 tickets with one Avios #?
*10 tickets on the same flight
Airlines tend to have systems in place to cancel duplicate flights if you have multiple reservations for the same flight. I would not do it.
I joined Iberia Plus yesterday and immediately booked 2 flights whilst logged in using the “I am flying” box. System automatically entered all my details taken from Iberia Plus into the booking. However, after paying it informed me that the name on my account is different to that on the booking. 45 minutes and 4 different people later I am told my new account Will not be validated until after 1600 hours today so I will have the same problem if I try and book more flights before then. As this promotion closes Sunday get you account sorted today if you are a new member to Iberia Plus as it may not recognise you until 1600 hours tomorrow. You will then still have a chance to book flights and attach them to you account before the deadline.
Thanks for the info.
Hi. Does this work if I buy tickets on Iberia.com for February next year and I redeem the bonus avios before December for flights in April next year?
There is no requirement to take the flights that you book. You just lose the Avios if you cancel/refund the flights. You should be fine per the information that Iberia has released.
Has Iberia confirmed the non-existance of no-show tax?
I’ve tried to buy and the message was clear: EUR 65 for no-show.
It only means if you try to change the ticket.
Tks!
Should I do two different booking to get the most of the points? To book for example GVA-MAD and after MAD-SVQ instead of a unique booking?
Been getting this error for past few hours… Affecting everyone else too? Of is this promo now dead?
“At this moment, our online services are not available as result of the high number of accesses. Please try again in a few minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience, thank you very much.”
They had some issues yesterday afternoon European time.
Does the promo works as I buy a ticket now? Im in Singapore right now. Or is it only valid when I buy a ticket in Europe?
You need to make sure that you buy from the above listed Iberia countru sites. It ahoyshoul matter that you are in Singapore.
Just booked 10 one way flights, the only thing that worries me is something about no show charge of 65€. For me the weird iberia website always jumped back to spanish so i am not sure what that means exactly. It says: “Cambios. Permitidos en cualquier momento con una penalización de 65€, excepto en caso de no presentarse al vuelo (No-Show), que no permite cambio
Reembolso (por sentido). No permitido.” according to google translate that means a no-show fee of 65€. can anyone confirm that this is not the case? i don’t intend to fly from mallorca to madrid 10 times within two weeks.
It just means that if you try to use the ticket after no showing there is 65 euro penalty.
Until what time exactly is this offer valid and can I book also for flights in 2019?
I would book before midnight CET. You can book the flights for 2019. Doesn’t matter.
To be nice, I’d like to cancel the reservations (but not try to refund the tickets, which are non-refundable anyway). I’d like to be nice to Iberia and let them know I won’t actually be flying so they can resell the space. I also hate the idea of the airport paging me for a flight on ten different days. Is there any way to cancel the space?
They won’t page you unless you have checked in.
Oh yeah, right, thanks. Still, I’d like to be nice and let them resell the inventory.
Here in Brazil they are NOT honoring the promotion, all new accouts seems to have been “blocked” and even with the confirmation email received 23/06 when I bought the tickets showing my Iberia Plus code along with the ticket code…
I’ve called the customer service and was told that they will not honor the promotion for accounts opened up to tree days before the buying date…
It’s a shame!!
Now I can’t even log into my IBPlus account…………
I live in the U.S., and am also suddenly unable to log in to my Iberia Plus account (opened the day before purchasing the tickets specifically for the promo). However, if I use Manage My Booking and put in one of the booking references, it shows my Iberia Plus number. If they do not intend to honor the promo and have “blocked” my Iberia Plus account, why does it still show in the booking? If they do not intend to honor the promo, they should have replied to my email six days ago and let me know, and I can request a charge back from my credit card company for the ten tickets.
Boy, I would love to see a copy of that email now.
😉