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Iberia Airlines is the Spanish national carrier and one of the primary airlines in the International Airlines Group (IAG). The airline is a Oneworld alliance member and serves over 135 destinations across 46 countries. Many of its routes are flown from its home base at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD).
Iberia Plus is the name of the airline's loyalty program. Like several other airlines, Iberia uses Avios as its points currency. The Iberia Plus Avios expiration policy is similar to the policies of other Avios-centric airlines.
Do Iberia Avios Expire?
Your Iberia Avios will expire if you do not earn or spend Avios on your account for 36 months. As spelled out in the Iberia Terms and Conditions:
“Regulation stipulates that you earn or spend Avios at least once every 36 months to make sure the entire Avios balance doesn't expire.”
Once your Avios have expired, they can not be reinstated.
Track your points and miles expiration for 630+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
How to Earn & Use Iberia Avios
Travelers have no shortage of ways to generate account activity to keep their Iberia Avios from expiring:
- Earn Avios for flights with Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Oneworld partners.
- Earn Avios for your next car rental with Avis and Budget.
- Credit your next hotel stay to earn Avios via a host of partners, including Booking.com, IHG, Marriott Bonvoy, and Best Western.
- U.S. travelers can earn Avios for everyday purchases on the Iberia Visa Signature® Card.
- Collect Avios when you dine with The Fork or Club Del Vino.
- Earn Avios when you take the Heathrow Express in the United Kingdom.
- Collect Avios with an Economist subscription or when you transfer money with Midpoint.
- Redeem your Avios for Iberia or Oneworld partner awards.
- Spend your Avios with a host of other partners, including hotels, car rental, and more.
What doesn't count as a qualifying activity for extending Iberia expiration?
One thing Iberia makes clear is that Avios transferred to your account do not count towards keeping your points alive, so this won't alter the date on which your miles expire. Per the terms and conditions:
“Issuing or receiving Avios transferred to you is not considered to be an activity.”
Boosting Your Iberia Avios Balance
When it comes to transferring flexible points to boost your Iberia Avios balance you are spoiled for choice. You can transfer flexible points from four of the major six transferrable point currencies to Iberia Plus.
Furthermore, since you can freely transfer Avios between the airline programs that use the currency, you can effectively transfer points from every major flexible points currency to your Iberia Plus account. This functionality opens the doors to several redemption options.
Use AwardWallet to Track Iberia Avios Expiration
Iberia’s Avios expiration policy is generous. In fact, it is so generous that you could easily forget about a few Avios. So, it pays to keep track of your Avios balance to ensure it does not expire while you are not paying attention. The easiest way to do this is to use AwardWallet to track your balance. That way, you will receive a timely notice if you have Avios in danger of expiring.
To use AwardWallet to track your Avios, simply link your Iberia Plus account, and you are set and ready to go.
Related: How to Track Your Rewards Using AwardWallet
Bottom Line
Even though Iberia is not one of the biggest airlines globally, it is a Oneworld member. It shares a points currency with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, and Finnair. This unique quirk makes the Iberia Plus program a great option when looking to maximize your Avios value. Couple that with multiple ways to earn or use your Iberia Avios, and there is no reason any of your Avios should ever expire.
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Yes it does. The only activity in my IB account has been e-Rewards transfers since late 2015 and no miles have ever expired. The initial transfer even counted as a qualifying first activity to earn the 200 miles bonus.
Awardwallet doesn’t calculate the expiry correctly. It said my miles will expire in December 2022 but they already expired in August – mainly because for redemptions, the Iberia shows the date of the flight, rather than the date of redemption – but then uses the date of redemption to calculate to 36 month. Very sneaky and Awardwallet needs to change the algorithm to account for this.
Thomas: Thank you for the heads up on that. We at AwardWallet take expiration seriously and are really sorry that this expiration date was miscalculated. I’ve shared this with the team to address ASAP.
Does donating Iberia Avios extend the expiration date? What is the minimum amount that can be donated? Thanks
It *seems* like that would qualify as a spending activity. But I can’t find any explicit confirmation of that on Iberia’s website. The minimum donation seems to be 900 Avios.
Does a transfer from e-Rewards move the expiration date?
I wouldn’t assume so considering that Iberia clarifies in the T&C: “Issuing or receiving Avios transferred to you is not considered to be an activity.”
However, Iberia could simply be referring to transfers between accounts. We would love to have a data point from you if you were able to extend your expiration date by transferring points.