thebobmc

Greetings;

I am a very infrequent visitor to the IB forum, and would greatly appreciate a small bit of help.

I have read that the fees are substantially less than what BA charges when using IB Avios to book some flights.

I need to book a flight from Europe to South America next Winter (sometime in February of 2015), and it looks like there is reasonable Avios availability (using my BA EC account to check) on the IB flight from MAD to EZE.

Using the BA site the one-way ticket (in Y) costs 30,000 Avios plus $ 259 USD. Could someone with an IB Plus account kindly check and see how many miles and $$$ this flight will cost using IB Avios.

Also, does IB Avios offer any points plus cash options, similar to what is offered through BA ?

And last question, am I correct in understanding that I can earn / use IB Avios on Vueling flights ?

Thanks very much !

Travellair

Lower fees indeed through IB Plus.

MAD-EZE 30,000 Avios + $ 120.03
EZE-MAD 30,000 Avios + $ 143.89
MAD-EZE-MAD 60,000 Avios + $ 259.80

Apart from the Economy redemption in Blue Class (X), which has limited availability, when redeeming through IB Plus you have the option of the Economy redemption in Tourist Class (T), with plenty of availability and free changes and cancellation (15000 Avios extra per sector for EZE).

Avios & Money options for MAD-EZE:
27,000 Avios + $ 160.03
24,000 Avios + $ 200.03
21,000 Avios + $ 240.03
18,000 Avios + $ 275.03
15,000 Avios + $ 315.03

Yes, you can earn and redeem IB Avios on Vueling flights.

thebobmc

Thanks a great big bunch. That is exactly the information that I was looking for.

While I suppose $ 139 (the difference in taxes / fees) isn't a huge amount of money, for a low-roller like myself that likes to travel it definitely makes sense to set up an IB Plus account.

And thanks also for mentioning the Tourist class redemption option. I was not aware of that. Is there a points plus cash option available for redeeming T class awards ?

And one last question (I hope), does the X class redemption allow for any date changes or cancellations, and what would the fee(s) typically be ?

more4less

If you are holding an IB Plus card(do not know if the same charges applies with other OW FFP), you can change the date paying 25€. Cancellations also at 25€ but has to be, at least, 24 hrs before the flight.
The above does not apply to flights with code IB 5XXX(I guess code-share) where I understand there is not such flexibility.

Travellair

As mentioned above, 25€ (pp) to make changes or cancel an X class award.

IB Plus run promotions quite frequently (every 2/3 months or quarter) with a 25% reduction in Avios, 50% in some cases. So even if you have already booked, keep an eye closer to your travel date in case you are able to first rebook at the reduced rate and then cancel the original booking.

It would be very risky to do so the other way round with an X class award; however, availability in T class is plentiful in most cases. T class cancellations are free of charge.

T class award MAD-EZE 45,000 Avios + $ 120.03 (same fees as an X class award)

Avios & Money options for MAD-EZE, T class award:
40,500 Avios + $ 180.03
36,000 Avios + $ 240.03
31,500 Avios + $ 295.03
27,000 Avios + $ 355.03
22,500 Avios + $ 410.03