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Earlier this year Iberia ran an insane promotion whereby many of us were able to effectively purchase 90k Iberia Avios for roughly $350-400 through cheap one way flights, each qualifying for a promotional 9k bonus. After much nail biting the promotion was honored.
The major catch…you had to use those 90k by December 1st or you lose them. Much information has come out since then ( including the ability to transfer to BA to extend the life of your points, but risk running a negative 90k Iberia Avios balance as a result – very problematic if/when IAG merges all avios accounts in the future…)
December 1st seemed like a far away date when I bought my tickets, but now that date is less than a week away. So far, I’ve used 68k Avios and roughly $220 to lock down a roundtrip business class flight from Chicago to Madrid, and I’m considering booking another one way biz flight from Europe by transferring over some points from Chase to shore my account up. I had 22k left, and the total cost was in the 50s…roughly 30k needed to book a one way biz flight – no brainer.
While I’d prefer that flight to originate in the UK, I’ll route from Dublin via London to Chicago in order to avoid the heavy surcharges levied by BA and the UK. Originating there will drop the fees from $550 to $150 – incredible.
Here’s the award chart for Iberia:
As I mentioned I’m flying from Chicago to Madrid on Iberia. Chicago and New York price the same and feature the below product:
A few tips for booking:
- Different Airlines have different charts so do your research
- BA and Iberia can be booked one way, but ( I believe ) all other One World partners must be booked roundtrip
- Routing through London will hit you with heavy fees; however, if you start your trip in another country you can often reduce those fees condsiderably
- Dublin is great
- Amsterdam isn’t bad
- Germany isn’t bad
- Use their chart to your advantage and book short haul in economy, long haul in business
- This will not only reduce the total points needed, but also cut the fees you’ll be charged as well.
Were you able to score some great bookings?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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