Difference between redeeming avios on IB vs BA??
 

Hi All,

I have a few Avios locked to my IB account ;) I would like to use these to redeem on a flight between LHR and SIN. It looks like that IB and BA have different avios redemption rates for the same flight.

By means of an example looking at a First redemption on the BA peak calendar - Iberia are charging 200k avios, whereas BA are charging 140k avios. It looks to me on IB's partner redemption chart for BA it has categorised these flights as Band 9, whereas BA classifies them as Band 8. Mileage is 6763 miles, therefore I think it should be Band 8.

Should BA and Iberia have the same redemption requirements, and therefore is this an error on IB's side? If so - anyone advise who I should contact to get this sorted?

Many thanks,
SD



https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cf36005359.png

IB F Redemption (BA11) on 31May19: LHR-SIN
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4216fa1e79.png

BA F Redemption (BA11) on 31May19: LHR-SIN
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6fc427d9fb.png

IB's partner redemption table for BA

https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/07/19/redeeming-avios-to-singapore-british-airways-vs-iberia-plus/

Just for the record, this has been fixed, and BA and IB charge the same for this route. IB had an IT change which led to some routes being incorrectly allocated to the wrong band, and in this case they used MAD-SIN (7077 miles) instead of LHR-SIN (6765 miles). As a result it ended up briefly in Group 9 rather than Group 8, but that has now been corrected.

BA and IB frequent flyer schemes charge the same amount of Avios for BA and IB services, but IB flights generally require fewer Avios than BA flights for the same distance (there are some exceptions) - and the peak / off peak calendar is different too. IB doesn't have a Reward Flight Saver concept, which BA uses to cap the cash component on shorthaul. For partner airlines the situation gets more complicated - and the partner list is slightly different too - but often Iberia needs more Avios but less cash, the ticket is non flexible on IB, and can only be bought as a return (except Vueling and Level).

Thanks for clarifying, as I've been a bit confused with disparities I've found between BA and IB award costs while seeking my most recent redemption. Are you able to advise on the reason for IB+ charging much higher taxes and fees on flights departing low fee ports like HKG? BA is quoting the sort of fees I'm used to paying, whereas IB+ are quoting fees approximately 4 times higher. Just wondering whether this is also an IT bug, or whether this program has a policy of charging higher fees than other OW programs for these flights?

The reason HKG has a lower set of fees than many other places is due to local legislation prohibiting carrier surcharges - similar to Brazil. BA removed this fairly soon after the legislation was enacted but IB+ so far has not. Now this may be perfectly legal - BA were selling their redemptions on their aircraft and they have significant operations in HKG going back to the start of commercial aviation. Whereas Iberia has no HKG operations and is reselling space as a third party, I have no idea if this is legal or not but it is different to BA's position.

Potentially off-topic but I think it's worth noting that award charts are also different for redemptions on BAEC vs IB+ for most partner airlines - I wasn't the most diligent in a recent search and almost ended up paying 42k Avios + €220 for a KUL-ICN Y return on MH, when it only costs 25k + £30 for the exact same itinerary. Didn't pay too much attention to this and now the 90k Avios I obtained, while technically free (since I booked a trip to Spain), is worth much less than I expected them to be.

Agree. If nothing else this IB+ campaign has made a lot of FF members much more aware of the inadequacies of the IB+ program for most things other than straight Iberia bookings. If it wasn't for the very low cost of these limited lifespan Avios, and the opportunity that gives to try out routes and airlines we probably wouldn't look at under different circumstances, I would only acquire IB Avios with the intention of immediately moving them to BA for more consistently and reasonably priced redemptions.

Additional savings..
 

However, I guess it depends on where you are starting from. In the UK we are heavily penalised with Government taxes etc., hence many start from Amsterdam, Paris or in my case...next flight from Madrid...saving around £800 ,give or take, for my wife and self.
Not forgetting savings that can also be made from Dublin, Jersey and even Inverness.

Same here. I wanted to redeem the bonus avios for KUL-AKL. I checked BA.com, seats were available (economy) for the dates I wanted, and the tax was only $60. When I called Iberia to make the reservation, I was told the taxes would be ~360 Euros.

Probably. I was aiming to make a ex-KUL flight though (which has little to no taxes), so I doubt the departure points exempt from IB's different taxes are few and far between. Taxes for the flight were £60 (BA) compared to EUR220 (IB+). Miles were also almost two times higher (25k vs 42k).

This shouldn't be a problem on all IB metal. But might be easier to just do it as two separate awards.