How To Transfer Your Avios Between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Finnair Accounts

Avios are an incredibly valuable reward currency used by Aer Lingus, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Qatar Airways, and Vueling.

Although each airline’s loyalty program has a unique award structure, Avios can be transferred between programs. This can provide many benefits, as each program has special award pricing and different availability.

In this guide, we examine how to transfer Avios between award programs that use them as their reward currency.

Airlines That Use Avios

Several loyalty programs accrue Avios, including Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, and Vueling Club. As of May 2024, Finnair Plus has also adopted Avios as its currency.

Although each program earns Avios, they can be redeemed in many ways. This is an excellent benefit as each program has its own award chart with sweet spots.

Another great perk of the Avios program is in the form of transferrable points currencies like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards. Each Avios-participating program is a transfer partner of at least 1 major transferrable points currency, which opens up a world of transfer options between the different Avios programs.

Bottom Line:

Several loyalty programs earn Avios as their reward currency. Transferring Avios between programs is a great way to take advantage of sweet spots within each program.

Combining Avios Between Accounts

Avios can be transferred from any program to another. There are no limits on how many you can transfer, and there is no cost associated with doing so. Transfers are typically instant as well.

However, there are a few essential things to know when it comes to combining Avios between accounts.

First, Avios can only be transferred between accounts in your name. You’ll need to make sure that all your loyalty accounts have matching personal details (for example, your full name).

You cannot transfer your Qatar Airways Privilege Club to a friend’s British Airways Executive Club account. However, you can use your Avios to make bookings for family or friends or create a household account to pool Avios.

Second, some programs have additional restrictions. For example, you cannot move points to or from Iberia Plus within 90 days of joining the program.

Lastly, there is no single website that allows all transfers. Most transfers require a 2-step process.

Transferring Avios Between Programs

Unfortunately, not all transfers from one Avios program to another can be done directly. With some programs, mainly Qatar Airways Privilege Club, you must follow an extra step. Here are the steps to follow to move Avios from one program to another:

Transfer Avios Between British Airways and Aer Lingus, Iberia, or Qatar

Transferring Avios between British Airways and Aer Lingus, Iberia, or Qatar is simple. The easiest way is to use the British Airways Executive Club program as a hub for transferring Avios between different programs.

To start the process, head over to the British Airways Executive Club website and log in to your Executive Club account. Once logged in, click on your name at the top right of your screen.

From there, hover over Executive Club and click Combine my Avios.

From there, you can move your Avios to Iberia Plus or Qatar Airways Privilege Club. To transfer your Avios between programs, select Combine my Avios.

From here, British Airways will prompt you to log into your Iberia or Qatar account. After logging into your other account, you can see both your accounts and the balances in each account.

Then, you will select the Avios transfer direction and enter how many Avios you want to transfer.

Transfer Avios Between Qatar Airways and British Airways

Qatar Airways Privilege Club is one of the newest members of the Avios program. For now, you can only transfer Avios between Qatar Airways and British Airways.

To transfer Avios between Qatar Airways and British Airways, log into your Privilege Club account on Qatar Airways’ website.

If you haven’t already done so, link your Qatar Airways and British Airways accounts through the Privilege Club dashboard.

You can link your accounts at the bottom of the page. Click on Link your accounts with British Airways Executive Club.

You will then be directed to the British Airways Executive Club login page. You will need to log in to your British Airways account.

Once your accounts are linked, you can see your Avios balance in each account. From your Qatar Privilege Club dashboard, click Combine Avios.

You can send your Privilege Club Avios to Executive Club from this page (or vice versa).

As mentioned above, you can only move Qatar Privilege Club Avios to British Airways Executive Club. If you want to transfer your Qatar Avios to Iberia or Aer Lingus, you will first need to transfer your Avios to British Airways. Once your Avios are with British Airways, they can be transferred to Iberia or Aer Lingus.

Transfer Avios Between British Airways and Finnair

With Finnair adopting the Avios currency, you can now transfer Avios between Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club.

To transfer Avios between Finnair and British Airways, log into your Finnair Plus account on Finnair’s website and link your account with British Airways Executive Club.

After linking your accounts, you will be able to transfer Avios between your Finnair Plus and British Airways Executive Club accounts.

Credit Card Transfer Partners

As mentioned above, each Avios loyalty program is a transfer partner of at least 1 major transferrable points currency. Here is what points programs transfer to each of the Avios programs:

All points transfer at a 1:1 rate with Avios, except Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 rate, with a 5,000-Avios bonus for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred.

For example, say you wanted to book an award ticket using Avios. After comparing the different programs, you decide that the best way to book the award ticket is through the British Airways Executive Club program. However, you only have Citi ThankYou Points, and British Airways is not a transfer partner of Citi. What can you do?

Fortunately, Qatar Airways Privilege Club is a 1:1 transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards. You could transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club and then directly to British Airways Executive Club.

This means you can indirectly earn any variation of Avios through the different Avios programs and their partners. Additionally, being able to transfer Avios between programs is a big deal when it comes to transfer bonuses from credit card transfer partners.

Final Thoughts

Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Finnair Plus, Iberia Plus, Qatar Privilege Club, and Vueling Club all earn Avios as their reward currency. Fortunately, you can transfer Avios between the different programs.

By moving your Avios between the different programs, you can take advantage of all the other sweet spots each program offers. Best of all, each Avios program is a transfer partner of at least 1 major transferrable points currency.