Iberia Overhauls Its Loyalty Program, Makes Elite Status Harder to Reach

Updated: February 17, 2025, 1:21pm CST

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Changes to Iberia Plus Taking Effect on April 1
Iberia’s New Elite Levels
Final Thoughts

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A major airline loyalty program is making big changes that will make it harder for most flyers to earn elite status. Spain-based Iberia is overhauling its Iberia Plus program and introducing new, and in some cases very aggressive, spending thresholds to reach elite status.

Let’s look at what’s changing and when.

Changes to Iberia Plus Taking Effect on April 1

Iberia is making huge changes to its loyalty program and status earning, which are sure to encounter backlash from frequent flyers.

Iberia planes — Image Credit: Lori Zaino

In introducing the changes, it’s following the lead of its sister airline, British Airways, which introduced major changes recently before partially backtracking. Both are owned by International Airlines Group (IAG), are members of the Oneworld alliance, and use Avios as their loyalty currency.

Starting April 1, the loyalty program will be rebranded from Iberia Plus to Club Iberia Plus, Iberia announced.

Under the new system, flyers will earn 1 Elite Point for every Euro spent with Iberia and its subsidiaries, Iberia Regional and Iberia Express, both on airfare and on extras like additional luggage and seat selection.

Elite status will be earned based on the number of segments flown or on the number of Elite Points earned, with 1 euro spent equaling 1 Elite Point, minus taxes and fees. This eliminates distance flown as a metric for elite status, as we are noticing with many loyalty programs, which now reward consumers for the amount of money spent on the airline (or, in the case of U.S. carriers, also on their co-branded credit cards).

Spending on more than 90 brands (including hotels, shopping, and fine dining) will also earn Elite Points. For every 10 Avios collected from spending with partners, members will earn 1 Elite Point. No Elite Points will be earned for transactions earning fewer than 10 Avios.

Iberia A350 business class cabin — Business class on an Iberia Airbus A350. Image Credit: Daniel Ross

Earning of Elite Points from spending with associated brands is limited to 30% of the Elite Points needed to reach or renew each elite level.

Iberia’s New Elite Levels

One of the more complicated aspects of the overhaul is that the new Club Iberia Plus will have 7 levels of membership. Besides the basic entry level, there will be 6 levels of elite status tiers, including a new one called Platino Prime.

Here are the new elite status levels and requirements for each:

Club Iberia Plus Plata (translating to Oneworld Ruby in the Oneworld alliance) requires 3,500 Elite Points or 20 segments
Club Iberia Plus Oro (Oneworld Sapphire) requires 7,500 Elite Points or 40 segments
Club Iberia Plus Platino (Oneworld Emerald) requires 20,000 Elite Points or 90 segments
Club Iberia Plus Platino Prime (Oneworld Emerald) requires 30,000 Elite Points, and lasts 2 years
Club Iberia Plus Infinita (Oneworld Emerald) requires 400,000 Elite Points and is a lifetime status
Club Iberia Plus Infinita Prime (Oneworld Emerald) requires 640,000 Elite Points and is also lifetime

At the bottom, earning the first 2 levels of elite status should be easier under the new system for people who qualify on segments rather than spending. For others, it will be much harder.

For example, becoming Club Iberia Plus Oro requires 2,250 Elite Points or 50 flights under the old system, but starting April 1, only 40 segments will be needed. However, the spending requirement is more than tripled to 7,500 Elite Points.

Qualifying to reach top-tier elite status will be harder, except for a factor newly introduced with this overhaul: extra Elite points.

For example, Platino will require 20,000 Elite Points instead of 6,250. That’s more than 3x of the previously required amount of Elite Points needed. However, flyers will now earn extra Elite Points for each Iberia flight, depending on the class of service and the length of the flight. The extra points earned vary widely, from 75 for a short-haul flight in economy class with the lowest fare to 600 for a long-haul flight in business with a flexible fare.

Factoring in elite points may actually make reaching status easier in some cases.

iberia elite points multiplier — Image Credit: Iberia

This could help make Iberia’s new elite status levels attractive for disgruntled British Airways flyers, since British does not offer those extra elite points.

Bottom Line:

Iberia’s recent overhaul has significantly increased the difficulty of qualifying for elite status in most cases. However, flyers loyal to the Oneworld alliance who might be put off by the new, harsher British Airways status requirements could turn to Iberia to obtain status easier. In some cases, this might be a winning strategy.

Final Thoughts

Earning elite status based on spending rather than distance flown is fast becoming the norm among frequent-flyer programs. Now, some programs are raising the spending levels required to hit elite status. Iberia is the latest airline to overhaul its loyalty program to make reaching elite levels more expensive.

While the changes may be valuable for some flyers previously loyal to British Airways, the Iberia overhaul is generally tough news for most.