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Iberia Plus has emailed its members announcing a massive overhaul of its loyalty program. The wide-sweeping changes include a program name change, revenue-based elite status earnings, a new elite level, and more. According to the email, the changes take effect on April 1, 2025.
An Imaginative Name Change
The Iberia Plus name change is the first thing you must wrap your head around. After much thought and deliberation, Iberia is rebranding its loyalty program from Iberia Plus to …. Club Iberia Plus! The newly and imaginatively named Club Iberia Plus will replace the old Iberia Plus on April 1, 2025.
This added name term contrasts fellow IAG airline British Airways, which recently announced a program name change from “British Airways Executive Club” to simply “British Airways Club.”
Iberia Elite Status Is Now Revenue Based
From April 1, 2025, earning elite status with Club Iberia Plus will be based on how much money you spend on airfare. You will earn one tier point per Euro, excluding taxes and fees. While that is disappointing, Iberia is clearly following British Airways — who recently adopted an identical tier earning structure.
When announcing its changes, British Airways faced severe backlash from a host of loyal customers who take lots of short, low-cost segments. Learning from The British Airways fiasco, Iberia opted to still let travelers qualify for Club Iberia Plus elite status based on the number of segments flown.
Class of Service Tier Point Multipliers
In addition to the one tier point per Euro spent you earn, you will also earn bonus tier points when flying on Iberia flights. The number of bonus Elite Points you earn depends on the distance flown and the fare bucket.
Earning Elite Tier Points From Partners
One interesting aspect Iberia added is the ability to earn elite tier points for activities with partners other than airlines. You will now earn 1 Elite Point for every 10 Avios you collect with Iberia partners.
This borrows a page from U.S. airlines like American Airlines — and, more recently, Alaska Airlines — who offer elite status credits for non-flying activities.
New Iberia Elite Status Levels and Qualification Requirements
From April 1, 2025, Club Iberia Plus will introduce a new elite status level, Iberia Plus Platino Prime, and new revenue-based tier qualification criteria. The new criteria are as follows:
- Plata: 3,500 Elite Points or 20 flights
- Oro: 7,500 Elite Points or 40 flights
- Platino: 20,000 Elite Points or 90 flights
- Platino Prime: 30,000 Elite Points
- Infinita: 400,000 Elite Points
- Infinita Prime: 640,000 Elite Points
Even the most cursory of looks at the earning criteria tells you that this is a significant downgrade to the current system and makes earning status even harder. To earn Oneworld Emerald, you must earn Iberia Platino. This tier now requires earning 20,000 Elite Points — which works out to €20,000 (~$20,840) of spending.
A silver lining?
Iberia has actually made earning status easier by flying. With these changes, you only need:
- 20 segments to earn Plata instead of the previous 25
- 40 segments to reach Oro instead of the previous 50
Iberia also opened up the ability to earn Platino status from flying, although it will require taking 90 flights with the airline.
The number of travelers who can achieve this many segments is likely very limited. Someone who lives in a hub like Madrid would need to take weekly roundtrips on Iberia to earn Plus Platino through segments. That may be possible for commuters but will be out of reach for most travelers.
Our Take
It does not take much imagination to figure out that this latest move comes down from above. Clearly, the International Airline Group (IAG), — the parent company of British Airways and Iberia — is trying to align Iberia's elite status program to keep it in line with the recent changes made at British Airways.
After BA switched its tier qualification process to revenue-based, many BA elites were eyeing Iberia as a way to still earn elite status bypass the negative changes to the British Airways Executive Club. IAG has now shut the door on such opportunities by moving the Iberia Plus Elite status qualification requirements to revenue-based.
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