dewsburyborn

I have had my account opened 90 days and am now wanting to transfer Avios from BA to IB.

I am mindful that in order to do that I need to have had some activity in the IB account.

I am looking at the vinoseleccion purchase option and see that this month's special offer is not for a purchase but for a discounted purchase using avios.

Will any purchase from the vinoseleccion do the necessary and get a free UK delivery - or only the monthly special offers ?

Other than that, are there any current ways to activate the IB account ?

Thanks.

neuromancer

Anything that earns Avios should do.
A free (but not very fast) way is with the Hailo app, see in the IB+ forum.

Yllanes

If you have AMEX, you can transfer a few MR point.

EsherFlyer

I just went through this for my wife's IB account. The options I found workable for earning a few IB Avios in UK in were:

1. Book a HEX ticket using the link on the IB site. Not sure if you actually need to travel though , so didn't do this. Cost ~Ł20.
2. Spend a bit of money at the Chic Outlet stores near Bicester and take the receipt to the service desk to get credit. I'm not very close to Bicester so didn't do that either.
3. Sign up for Economist using link on IB site. Looks like a reasonable deal if you would subscribe anyway - ~Ł120 for digital subscription. Earns 3000 Avios - sometimes 12000 allegedly which pretty much makes for a free subscription. But still pricey so skipped that although I'll keep an eye out for future offers on this.
4. Use a hotel / car partner. No travel coming up for her and not sure if putting her number on my hotel accounts would work .
5. Transfer any orphaned hotel points that you wouldn't otherwise use. Poor value generally, but if you don't have enough for a night it at least gets you something. But only I have those, not Mrs EF and again not sure if I could wing them over without triggering audits, etc .
6. Do the Hailo thing to get 400 points. I phaffed around for far too long trying this on an Android emulator, but it didn't work . I then used a device I had access to and it took 10 minutes .
7. Keep an eye out for IB mini-deals on Head for Points, such as this one that earns 50 Avios and appeared the same day I did the Hailo dance

So hopefully Hailo or IB Summer promo points will be along soon .

I missed the Vinoseleccion UK one . The free delivery to UK mainland does make it look like a contender.

And the purchase to activate option didn't seem to be there for me, maybe because the IB account is less than 90 days old ?

Iamnotlost

There is a promotion highlighted on Head for Points yesterday which earns 50 avios for reading about it by clicking on a button. I did this and am hoping this will activate my account.

If I was more technologically adept I'd be able to post a link - but that is way beyond me.

copperfield27

Link to HfP page which includes Iberia link

Corpt

I recently transferred some Avios from BA to my 18 month old active Iberia account, to book an Iberia flight with Avios and save the BA surcharges. That worked fine, but the transfer mechanism told me I could move them to Iberia, but not back to BA.

What are the qualifying criteria for moving Avios from Iberia back to BA?

dewsburyborn

Thanks for the replies folks.

In the event, I made a purchase from vinoseleccion of a half-case of reds for Ł50 inc UK delivery - which have arrived and are very nice too. That brought 500 avios which activated the Iberiaplus - which then enable me to transfer BA Avios. (after that I was also able to get the most recent 50 avios thru HFP)

That then enabled me to book 2 x IB MAD-MIA in J single - at a total cost of 85,000 avios + Ł179.80. Positioning flights MAN-MAD net Ł84.01(after tcb) and 2 nights 4 star MAD airport (to ensure no positioning sweats due to poss flight disruptions in January) Ł61.64 (after tcb) = total 85,000 + Ł325.45.

BA wanted MAN-LHR-MIA : 125,000 miles + Ł704.00.

Return flights :

BA 125,000 + Ł604.00
IB 85,000 + Ł120.80 + MAD-MAN 15,000 + Ł29.40 100,000 + Ł150.20

Overall saving : 65,000 avios + Ł832.35

In my book, that's worth transit via MAD rather than LHR - and there's also a full day in MAD thrown in free.

As ever, thanks to FT and HFP for the continuing education.

EsherFlyer

Transferring direct to a BAEC account that is part of a Household Account won't work. But yo can go IB to Avios.com to BA.

Margouille

Thanks for sharing the link to the the Summer promotion. Just needed to activate my new account, should just do the trick! Way easier than playing with my GPS location!

EsherFlyer

The 400 Hailo points came through about two weeks later ^. Maybe it is the first Tues of every month, maybe something else .

The arrival of those points has activated the ability to buy points for the account holder or someone else, but not to transfer points (which I guess will spring to life at the 90 day mark now).

EsherFlyer

In the end the 50 Avios for that promo appeared at end of August, with 31-AUG as the transaction on the statement.

I guess the learning here is that IB may post the points at the end of the promo, and so are not necessarily a quick way to get an account activated.

Sussex Bantam

I'm trying to do my first transfer from IB to BA but I get the following message

"You can only move Avios from Avios to Iberia Plus - you cannot move your Avios back again."

And I only seem to have the option of moving from either BA to IB or Avios to IB not the other way round.

The first transaction on my account was 28/5/15 with a hotel transfer in so I think I should be over the 90 day limit.

I'm sure it is user error - can anyone point me in the right direction ?

Thanks

EsherFlyer

Do you have a BAEC household account? If so:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post22129592

Sussex Bantam

Thanks - I do - but that is why I was trying via Avios.com instead.

Any other thoughts ?