How to transfer your Avios between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus accounts
Avios is the currency used by the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus AerClub and Qatar Airways Privilege Club loyalty programs. So, if you have a frequent flyer account with any (or all) of these airlines, you'll be earning and redeeming Avios.
You can transfer Avios between any of these programs at a rate of 1:1 in any direction, so 1 British Airways Avios is worth 1 Qatar Airways Avios and vice versa. The reason you may wish to transfer your Avios between the different programs is that Avios have slightly different values and uses in each program.
For example, Reward Flight Savers are available with Avios in British Airways Executive Club but not in Iberia Plus. Meanwhile, you can leverage Iberia Plus to get a great deal on off-peak business-class awards from the U.S. to Madrid.
Similarly, you may find lower prices, fees and taxes booking a long-haul Iberia-operated flight with Avios in your Iberia Plus account than your British Airways Executive Club account.
So, how exactly can you move your Avios around? Let's take a closer look.
Combine your Avios via Avios.com (with your AerClub login)
The easiest way to transfer Avios between your British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus accounts is via Avios.com using your Aer Lingus AerClub login details.
While this may be a two-step process depending on where your Avios are and where you want them to be (i.e., from Iberia to AerClub and then to Executive Club), doing it this way does not have some of the frustrations and bugs that trying to transfer them outside of Avios.com can have.
Note, with Qatar Airways only relatively recently adopting Avios as its loyalty currency, you cannot yet use this functionality to move Avios into Qatar Airways Privilege Club. See below for a workaround via British Airways.
To do this, you'll first need to ensure your personal details in each program match — your full name, date of birth and email address. Iberia Plus also has a requirement that the account must have been opened for at least 90 days to receive or transfer Avios, so you should open an account ASAP, even if you don't have an immediate need to transfer.
Then, open an AerClub account here — this is the loyalty program of Aer Lingus.
Once you have an account, you must log in to Avios.com using your AerClub login details. The site may prompt you to create a new password.
Then click the "Manage my account" tab within your Avios.com account and select "Combine my Avios."
Any Avios currently in your AerClub account will appear in your Avios.com account, as this is how AerClub Avios are stored. That's why you need to use your AerClub login details.
Next, you will choose the other program you want to move Avios to or from (i.e., British Airways or Iberia).
Once logged in, you can transfer Avios to or from the selected program (in this case British Airways, but the same works for Iberia Plus if you have chosen to log in to that account instead).
The site will take you to a confirmation page to review your choice.
You can move any number of Avios you choose, so long as you have that number in your "from" account. Notice that Avios.com will allow me to transfer just 1 Avios if I confirm the transfer. There are no minimum transfer amounts.
If you want to move Avios from Iberia to British Airways, you will use this Avios.com feature to transfer Avios from Iberia to Avios.com and then from Avios.com to British Airways. While it involves an extra step, it's the simplest and best method.
Transfers are free and instant.
How to transfer Avios in or out of Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Right now, Qatar's Privilege Club is not an option for the Avios.com transfer option described above — but there is a way around this.
You can link your BA and Qatar accounts and transfer Avios between the two accounts at a 1:1 rate in either direction. This means if you want to transfer your Avios from, say, Qatar to Iberia or Aer Lingus to Qatar, you can do either by transferring them via British Airways.
If you hold frequent flyer memberships with Qatar and British Airways, you can link your accounts here.
When I logged in to my Qatar Privilege Club account, I was prompted to link my British Airways Executive Club account to my Qatar account.
After selecting "Link account with British Airways Executive Club," I was asked to log in to my BA account.
With another click, I linked my British Airways and Qatar accounts and could see my balance in each.
Then, you can transfer your Avios between accounts by clicking the "Combine Avios" button. The next page will ask which account you'd like to transfer to and from, and how many Avios you'd like to transfer. You can confirm your transfer by clicking the "Move my Avios" button.
In our testing, transfers from British Airways to Qatar and vice versa were processed instantly.
Note that you can also link your British Airways and Qatar Airways accounts on the "Combine my Avios" tab on the British Airways website.
Other ways to earn Avios
If you've combined all of your Avios on Avios.com and still need more for an upcoming redemption, you have a few options.
Transfers from bank points
You can transfer your bank points to Avios-based programs and combine them using the above method. Here are your transfer options:
- American Express Membership Rewards: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.
- Bilt Rewards: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.
- Capital One: British Airways Executive Club.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.
- Marriott Bonvoy: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.
These transfers are at a 1:1 rate, except for Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott transfers are at a 3:1 rate, with a 5,000-Avios bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you send (60,000 points becomes 25,000 Avios, for example).
Credit card welcome offers
If you aren't in a rush, the best way to pad your Avios stash is through bonuses from credit cards. Each Avios program has its own credit card, all issued by Chase in the U.S.
Each card has the same welcome offer: Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. Additionally, each card has the same $95 annual fee. If you are interested in applying for any of these cards, make sure to consult our guide to credit card application rules to make sure you're eligible.
Additional reporting by Ryan Smith and Kyle Olsen.