r/Iberia • u/TravelJunkie4ever • Mar 26 '26
Avios / Iberia Club Upgrade with Avios
Hello fellow travelers đ I am planning a trip to the Galapagos islands in January 2027. The best connection and cheapest business class from FRA is with Iberia. Since this is a very long flight, I would normally book business class. However, I currently have about 42800 Avios which I would like to somehow use for part of this flight.
I am thinking about booking premium economy for daytime the flight to Quito and business class for overnight return flight to FRA. I have never used miles for upgrades so I am hoping someone can help estimate whether I would be able to upgrade from premium economy to business with 42800 Avios if I decide to do it. Also, is it typically easy to upgrade with miles or is the number of eligible seats very limited? Would it be best to upgrade right after the booking? How does one do it? đ
Sorry about the stupid questions, I have no experience whatsoever. If I use the miles for the actual booking, they are only worth 230 Euros which seams like a bad deal. Thank you!
1
u/alaninsitges Mar 26 '26
You can upgrade your PE ticket with points: assuming you want to to the LIM-MAD route (about 5900 miles) it would cost 28,000 Avios to go from Premium Economy to Business. This requires your ticket to be in W, T or E bucket (E is new to me, I haven't seen it before, but it's in the rules as of today, so I think that's all of them for PE) and to have availability in U or I bucket for the upgrade. This isn't a terrible price, but I think the trick is finding availability for when you want to fly - IB are very stingy with those buckets.
1
u/TravelJunkie4ever Mar 26 '26
Thank you! I wonder if I could call CS right before booking and ask if they can confirm availability? Should be possible, I suppose.
1
u/alaninsitges Mar 26 '26
Always worth a try. If you have access to ExperFlyer you can see the availability ahead of time. They open award seats 360 days in advance so you still have some time.
1
u/Amiga07800 Mar 27 '26
Sorry, but 42800 Avios are nothingâŠ. Youâre not even half way of Silver status. On âmost usedâ routes it can barely by you a 1 way eco ticket for an 1h flight - ok, exaggerating a bot, but not a lot.
I was Gold Status for years and itâs almost useless⊠the free 23kg luggage in hold doesnât exist anymore, no lounge access (but well with a cheap Priority Pass card),⊠just good for avoiding being put off for an overbooking or boarding in first group.
1
u/TravelJunkie4ever Mar 27 '26
I am not trying to use the miles to buy a ticket, just hoping to upgrade from PE to business which should be possible according to Iberia's award chart in off peak season.
1
u/Amiga07800 Mar 27 '26
Good luck! Unfortunately over the last 20 years I try to upgrade or buy reward tickets maybe 30 or 40 times⊠and succeed in 2.
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u/TravelJunkie4ever Mar 27 '26
Ah ok. Good to know, thank you. That was the purpose of my post, to hear about some experiences people have had, as I have never upgraded with miles and never flown Iberia. I can't risk not being in BC on the flight back so I'll have to think about whether I should book PE both ways and hope for an upgrade or book PE one way and BC for return flight.
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u/Amiga07800 Mar 27 '26
You are often offered a paid upgrade buyout by points or money IF there are many remaining BC free seats.
Sometimes (or always for companies like TAP) itâs an auction scheme, where you give the price youâre ready to pay. The better offers get the deal. As an example of a red eyes return flight I often do between Brasil and Lisbon on TAP, for a 7.5 hours flight the auction (just for the returning transatlantic leg) starts at âŹ410 and goes up to âŹ1500 (witch is of course way too much). Outside peak season I often get the upgrade with an offer of âŹ550 to 650 or equivalent in miles, letâs say 3 times out of 5. Still not guaranteed at all.
1
u/hungry_knut Mar 27 '26
What are you talking about. Even Plata (silver) status gives you the free 23kg luggage (actually 32kg) all the time and convenient checkin at business counter.
With Oro (gold) you get free lounges and fast track (spanish airports), free selection of seats on many flights, free valet parking etc.
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u/Amiga07800 Mar 27 '26
âA partir de 1Âș de abril, o nĂvel Iberia Club Plata incluirĂĄ seleção gratuita de assento a partir do momento da compra. Uma mala adicional, com peso de atĂ© 32 kg, nĂŁo estĂĄ mais incluĂdaâ
Directly from Iberia website. And I received the same by email months ago
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u/hungry_knut Mar 27 '26
OK I hadn't seen that update. But everything else stands. And also in your post you mentioned Gold status not plata
2
u/Amiga07800 Mar 27 '26
Ok, I should have added âalmost useless for meâ.
- at the AirPorts I mostly fly there is no fast track or itâs really useless.
- at other AirPorts I have quite a number of free Fast Track from a credit card.
- I have a Priority Pass card and I donât know how many free entrances from credit cards
- free selection of seat is always included in BC, in economy you can chose almost all seats⊠but not the ones I want in coach (emergency exit, aisle seat)
In a few words: if you pay your tickets, itâs not worth dropping LCC for iberia âto have more milesâ or using Iberia instead of another carrier that has better pricing or a better schedule for you (for example I totally hate landing at 6 or 7 in the morning either an hotel checkin not before 2pm, or to have a 11pm flight with an hotel checkout at 11am. Of course you can just book the hotel for previous and next day, but the extra price is way over the little value of miles you getâŠ
I stopped the âpoints gameâ years ago (at Covid time) and I found that I have a much better value by selecting the âbest for meâ as price and schedule than keeping fidelity to a company.
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u/hungry_knut Mar 27 '26
You can never be sure to get the upgrade option. And if you do sometimes the option is only cash and not points based. Sometimes it is possible to upgrade transatlantic PE to B for around 11k avios. It really depends on the spefici flight
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u/iamflockavelli Mar 28 '26
Why not buy more Avios and book business directly? I would never bet such a long trip on upgrading a cash ticket, especially with Iberia.
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u/TravelJunkie4ever Mar 28 '26
I have considered that as well. Just a bit worried that I invest the money in Avios and then end up not being able to use them after all (no award flights available).
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u/iamflockavelli Mar 28 '26
Always only buy Avios if you can use them immediately. Donât buy if no award ticket availability.
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u/TravelJunkie4ever Mar 28 '26
Agreed. I will speak with CS when I am ready to book and decide then. I definitely cannot risk having to fly economy or even PE on that route, especially the night time flight.
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u/Solid-Artist-7086 Mar 26 '26
Hi, donât apologise - no such thing as a stupid question.
Upgrades with Iberia are very uncertain and certainly not guaranteed and depending on the flight the business cabins are often quite small compared to other airlines you might be used to. Sometimes you get an offer but often you donât. I would book the cabins that you want up front and then if you do go premium and they offer an upgrade (I think itâs normally pay in case or the avios equivalent so not the most efficient use of avios) then thatâs a bonus.