Iberia is Spain’s flag carrier and offers a very valuable loyalty program called Iberia Plus.
One of the program’s best sweet spots is the ability to fly between the East Coast and Israel for such low prices as:
- 28,000 Iberia Avios in Economy Class.
- 55,250 Iberia Avios in business class.
For an overview, here’s what other airlines (usually) charge to get to Israel from the US:
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- American Airlines: 40,000 miles in economy class and 70,000 miles in business class.
- Delta: Starting at 37,500 miles in economy class and 130,000 miles in business class on partner airlines.
- United Airlines: 42,500 miles in economy class and 75,000 miles in business class.
Indeed, Iberia does not offer many open award seats at these low prices compared to other airlines. But if you can plan your vacation around Iberia availability, you can easily save 30,000 miles round trip.
Take a look at this great deal.
special reason
TPG’s valuation estimates that Avios are worth 1.5 cents each on average. But you get a lot more than that when you book Iberia business class.
Let’s take a quick look at the award prices for round-trip flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) in early March. As you can see, the flight cost 110,500 Avios, plus an annoying $366 in taxes and fees.
However, the exact same flight would cost $4,528 in cash. That means you’re getting more than 3.76 cents worth per point. That’s 2.5 times his TPG valuation.
As mentioned above, the Iberia website allows you to split your payment between cash and Avios if you want to extend your offer. The more favorable a payment is to cash, the more valuable the points will be redeemed. For example, for the flight above, you can pay:
- 93,900 Avios, worth 4.09 cents per point.
- 55,300 Avios, worth 5.73 cents per point.
- 22,100 Avios, worth 11.28 cents per point.
Related: Create cheap business class fares to Europe with Iberia Avios
How to book this offer
Step 1. Find award tickets
To search for award flights on Iberia, you first need to log into your account. You can then enter your flight date and preferred airport.
There are two pieces of information you need to know before you start searching.
- These super low prices are valid only for flights from the following East Coast cities:
- Logan International Airport (BOS) in Boston.
- New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
- Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Washington DC.
- O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in Chicago.
- These rates are for off-peak days only. You can find Iberia’s off-peak dates here (they are off-peak most of the year).
Step 2. Search for flights operated by Iberia
Iberia usually offers a pretty decent inventory of reward flights thanks to partnerships with British Airways, American Airlines, Royal Jordanian and other oneworld airlines. However, the minimum fare only applies if you use Iberia for the entire trip. Always find and book a route operated by Iberia.
Step 3. Choose your cabin
Again, make the most of your Avios by booking Business Class. But an economical 28,000 Avios one way to the Middle East is also quite a bargain. If you’re traveling in Economy, make sure you select ‘Blue Class’ for all legs of your trip.
Related: Watch TPG fly all three Iberia cabins on the same flight
How to earn points for this benefit
There are several easy ways to earn Iberia Avios points.
Perhaps the most obvious way is Iberia Visa Signature® cardThe card comes with a signup bonus of up to 100,000 Avios.
- Earn 75,000 Avios when you spend $5,000 within the first 3 months of opening your account.
- Extra 25,000 Avios when you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.
You can also transfer Avios from British Airways and Aer Lingus to Iberia. Each airline has its own co-branded Chase credit card that offers similar offers to the Iberia Visa Signature Card.
Additionally, Qatar Airways Privilege Club is a Citi ThankYou points transfer partner. The program also uses Avios as a loyalty currency, so if you have ThankYou points, you can transfer them to Qatar and then to Iberia.
Qatar Airways Avios can also be transferred to Iberia by first transferring to British Airways. This will allow you to convert your Capital One Miles into Iberia Avios as British Airways is a transfer partner of Capital One. This means you can open your next card to quickly accumulate Iberia Avios.
Finally, Iberia is a transfer partner for American Express Membership Rewards (1:1) and Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1). You can earn these points by opening:
RELATED: How (and Why) You Earn Transferable Points
Conclusion
You can fly from the US to Israel for just 28,000 Iberia Avios in Economy Class and 55,250 Iberia Avios in Business Class. That’s a good distance for relatively few points.
However, on off-peak days you will have to fly from some east coast cities. To get the best price, you should also take an Iberia-operated flight connecting via Madrid. If that’s not a big deal for you, this is a great deal.
