The most efficient way for someone to earn Iberia Avios is through credit card spending with transferable points.
Iberia refers to its airline miles as Avios, so when you see Avios referenced through this post, just know that Avios is the airline currency Iberia uses.
Iberia does have an appealing credit card that offers you the ability to earn 3 Avios on purchases with Iberia, British Airways, and Aer Lingus and to earn 1 Avios on all other purchases. However, the earn rates from Amex, Chase, and Marriott will yield a better return over the long run.
Iberia Visa Signature® Credit Card
Chase is the co-branded partner with Iberia on its Iberia Visa Signature® card. This partnership really packs a punch.
The Iberia Visa Signature® card earns 3 Avios points for every $1 spent on Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL purchases. For all other purchases, the card earns 1 Avios point for every $1 spent.
In order to unlock the larger welcome bonus tiers, a sizable portion of your spend will need to diverted to this card.
Given that a sizable spending amount would be needed to maximize your benefits with the Iberia, other card options may be a better fit.
American Express Credit Cards
Iberia is an American Express transfer partner allowing you to convert you points to Iberia Avios. As an Iberia Plus member, you can reduce the cost of Iberia flights by as much as 50% when booking directly with Iberia using your Avios.
A big benefit of being an American Express cardholder is that Amex partners with many valuable airlines, many of which regularly offer bonus miles when transferring Amex points to airline partners. This allows you flexibility when trying to redeem an award flight since you have multiple airlines to choose from.
With that said, here are the personal and business credit cards that will put you on the path to your next award flight:
Recommended Amex Cards (Personal)
If you’re a business owner, see our list of the best Amex business credit cards.
Chase Credit Cards
Chase and Amex constantly compete for the top transferable point program spot. Both programs offer both a ton of different credit card products and valuable airline and hotel partners.
With respect to the Iberia Plus program, Iberia is one of Chase Ultimate Rewards’ airline partners. This means that if you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can transfer those points directly to Iberia. The point transfers are 1:1, so 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point is equal to 1 Iberia Avios (mile).
The reason that this partnership is valuable is because Chase Ultimate Rewards points are much easier to earn versus earning Avios with your Iberia Visa Signature® credit card spend.
The Ultimate Rewards program is unique, relative to Amex, in that Hyatt is a hotel partner. As many people know, this partnership leads to receiving a ton of value with Chase points.
All in all, Chase is a solid program that rewards members who know the program’s best transfer partners.
Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)
Business owner? Check out our list of recommended Chase credit cards.
Marriott Credit Cards
The Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program has seen quite a few changes recently, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest with the program.
Marriott Bonvoy has 40+ airline transfer partners in all, which is staggering compared to Chase and Amex.
However, what is important to note and what can be frustrating, not all transfer times are created equal. What this means is that when you transfer Marriott points to one its airline partners, the time it take for the points to leave your Marriott account and show up in your airline loyalty account is not the same.
In some cases, the transfer times to airlines are 1 day (Flying Blue). In other case, the transfer times to airlines take 10 days (Asiana Airlines).
One benefit of the Marriott Bonvoy program is the bonus structure.
For every 60,000 Marriott points that are transferred to an airline partner, you’ll receive a 5,000-point bonus in the form of airline miles. Since most of the Marriott to airline transfer ratios are 3:1, this means that 60,000 Marriott points become 25,000 Avios with the 5,000-point bonus (60,000 / 3 = 20,000 + 5,000 = 25,000).
Other Hotel Partner Credit Cards
If you’re not a Marriott Bonvoy member, you may be interested in transferring your points from other hotel programs like Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt.
Unfortunately, other hotel loyalty programs might not offer as good of a transfer ratio as the one listed above through Marriott. This means that when transferring hotel points into airline miles, you won’t be getting as many miles as you could with other programs or other transfer avenues.
We would recommend transferring other hotel program points to Iberia if you’re topping off your Iberia Plus account for an award flight. Otherwise, you’ll find better ways to use your Hilton Honors or World of Hyatt points in other ways.