With good advice from this forum, I spent hours researching the perfect itinerary on IB and opened a new IB+ account and had planned to transfer my Amex points into it today. I called IB just to ensure availability and received some strange information from customer service.

I was told that in order to use Avios, you must already have some in your account. Basically, she told me I needed to fly first or receive avios through a hotel/credit card or car partner before I could use those avios I would be transferring from Amex. She also told me that once any points were transferred from Amex, any new Ib+ members still have to wait 3 months before redeeming avios.


I am perplexed, this makes no sense. I called Amex and they had never heard of such as policy. The number I called was from the IB website. I was told to call back before 5pm (Madrid time) tomorrow and speak with a supervisor at IB, but the agent sounded very confident in her info.


Has anyone experienced this?

Nevermind, google search confirmed that this is true!
Oh well, off to start completely from scratch now on a new itinerary/airline.

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Are you sure?

I know that to transfer Avios from a BAEC account to an Iberia Plus account, the Iberia Plus account has to have been open with some activity for at least three months. But I have not heard of any such restriction on conversions from Amex MR points, or on use of those Avios once converted from MR points. (I'm not saying that there is no such restriction, just that I have not heard of one. I would definitely follow up with an Iberia Plus supervisor before going back to the drawing board.)

Will check with supervisor tomorrow, but google search of several points/miles blogs seem to agree that IB+ needs to be "active" for 90 days first before any redemption.
Since you've been so helpful thus far, sorry to bug you, but if this is in fact true, any other ideas? At this point, I don't really care which city the stopover is in. Just want to get from MCO or JFK to CMN in mid Aug, return early Sep.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Let's wait till you speak with a supervisor tomorrow. In the meantime, can you post a link to one or two of those blogs that say that one cannot redeem from an IB Plus account until it has been open for at least 90 days?

This explains the reasons behind the NO

http://www.headforpoints.com/2013/06...-via-facebook/

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If I am reading that post correctly, it suggests that one's IB Plus account has to have earned at least one Avios before transfers from MR are allowed. As far as I can tell from the post, the 90-day restriction only prevents you from transferring BAEC Avios into Iberia Plus.

If my reading is correct, then it should be pretty easy for the OP to earn a few IB Plus Avios quickly. Car rental? Hotel stay? Online shopping mall?

Thereafter, there should be no problem converting MR points, or immediately redeeming the resulting IB Plus Avios, correct?

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salyma, do you have to fly in and out of CMN? If RAK is an acceptable alternative, there are some interesting options using BAEC Avios that would have reasonable surcharges, and would enable you to visit Dublin and/or Belfast, and London, as well. And Amex occasionally runs transfer bonuses to BAEC.

No, a transfer from Amex MR counts as earning 1 Avios

From the OP, it sounds as if the agent was confusing an Amex transfer with a BAEC / avios.com transfer.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Yes. Upon re-reading the linked blog-post, it indicates that a conversion of Amex MR points to Iberia Plus Avios serves to "activate" the IB Plus account, not that one has to first activate the IB Plus account in order to be able to convert MR points to Avios.

Let's hope that the IB Plus supervisor so advised the OP today.

Rather than doing the BA>IB dance, I transferred MR directly to an empty IB account last week. Once the points posted, I had no trouble booking 2 award tickets.

PHLisa- how long was your IB+ account open for? The problem is two-tiered. I was given two hurdles, #1 has to be 3 months old and #2 has to already be an active account.
I called customer service this weekend and they said I could "try" to transfer my points, but if I have to wait 3 months to use them, it will be a loss for me- for this year at least

Just wanted to follow up in case this will help others in the future. I took a risk, transferred my Amex points into a brand new IB+ plus account and was able to book the award tickets online with no issues whatsoever. I guess I worried for nothing, but it is an SOP for me to call ahead before transferring valuable points. Just wish that the IB+ agents had more accurate knowledge about this. I asked 3 different people, apparently they were all wrong.

OP, I think one needs a little gap after opening a new FFP and transferring Amex in. See my experience:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...link-amex.html


I was able to do the transfer a few hours (less than 24) later.