Business Phantom space on Iberia Web Page
 

Big disappointment here as Iberia showed opened business award space on 2 different flights from MAD to NYC and after transferring UR and trying to book it an error message shows up. Award space disappears then and reappears after several hours.
The first rep advised to try IE but it didn't help. Called 5-6 times after that and they just hang up on us.
I am surprised that Iberia has such a poor customer service.
Am I missing something here or those points are wasted?

Finaly got through a rep willing to help.
He found the space on the flight but could not use AVIOS transferred from Chase yesterday because it was a new account and we have to wait 3 months to use them.
Is that the right explanation?

Yes it's probably correct. To use Iberia+ you need to activate it by earning something; to transfer into Iberia you have to be both have and activated account AND it has 90 days old at least.

Activating is relatively easy, apart from flights you can credit a hotel stay or car hire, the list is on the Iberia Plus Partners page. Or you can buy some Avios.

But the 90 days is what it is, so it's best to get an Iberia account open just on the off chance that you have a future need. Now I'm guessing you have actually transferred the Chase points over, and presumably you can see them in your account, but I suspect the agent is correct that these Avios may not be available to use. You may want to ensure the account has a credit of some description other than a transfer, just to ensure that is not your next blocker (or perhaps only blocker...)

Some more experiences, albeit from BA, here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iber...-ba-avios.html

Thanks for your reply.
Yes, we can see 100000 points in his account.
He plans to book a flight from Lisbon to Madrid on Iberia and it should activate his account, shouldn't it?
Then, he needs to wait 90 days (after activation?) to use those transferred UR?
Very confusing as I thought it was only needed if you were transferring Avios between BA and Iberia Plus.

If this is a revenue flight from LIS-MAD then yes that will credit something to IB+ and thus it is activated. But if have a hotel stay or car hire recently, and can credit it to IB+, that will also work. Or go shopping in El Corte Inglés, but buying a few Avios will also work. I have a feeling that in your case, if you can see the Avios, it may be just necessary to wait 90 days, but I guess that's not what you want to hear.

Thanks,
That was my next question. If he can see transferred miles on his account balance it seems to me that the account is active (through UR transfer?).
And yes, he will have to wait 90 days to use those miles but it will be for the next trip.
He plans to fly with Norwegian from Barcelona now (revenue flight).
Also he plans to fly Lisbon - Madrid on Iberia during his vacation.

Again, would you agree that his account is now active (through UR transfer)? Just as a DP for other members.

I suppose it is, but that's a bit academic if you can't do anything until 90 days anyway. I would still urge you to credit something just in case it is not, since it would be silly to have another hold up in 88 days time, but on balance I think it's probably just the 90 day rule that is in the way here.

Yes, he will purchase a ticket with IBERIA and make sure it is all ok.
I am still upset about all those complicated rules and despite the fact that I read a lot of Boarding Pass blogs I still didn’t catch it.
There is definitely nothing like a free lunch in this game.☹️

Iberia does stand alone in this area (complexity), compared to the other schemes I know. But in terms of blogs and what-not, just ask questions in Flyertalk, you are much more likely to get to the essence of the issue here compared to anywhere else.

Credit card point conversions have historically not always worked to "activate" an IB+ account, so really do try to credit something as soon as possible.

You may not like it, but think of it this way:

1. Hacker opens a financial product in your name
2. Hacker somehow manages to gain access to your bank account
3. Hacker manages to transfer all of your money to this secondary account in your name - no red flags raised because it's all the same name
4. Since hacker manages that new financial product, they can drain your money at will.

Substitute "financial product" with IB+ account and "bank account" with "Chase UR account" and you might just see the benefit of having a 90-day freeze on new IB+ accounts. An activated account that has been used for something other than credit cards is far more likely to be legitimate than a brand new one...