Making Sense Of Fees On Award Tickets To Europe Using British Airways and Iberia

Fuel Surcharges using Iberia instead of British Airways

Using British Airways Executive Club to book flights between the US and Europe are going to have high fuel surcharges no matter what airline operates the flight.  But what about using Iberia or another partner program to book flights operated by British Airways?  It doesn’t really get any better, unfortunately.

This is a one-way from Chicago to London.  Distance is ~3,964 miles.  The date I selected for this example  is not a British Airways off-peak date, so it is priced at the normal 3,001-4,000 range which is 20,000 Avios each way.

Using British Airways Avios to book a flight operated by British Airways:

Using Iberia Avios to book the same flight operated by British Airways:

• British Airways: 20,000 Avios plus ~$188 in taxes, fees, and surcharges/carrier fees
• Iberia: 20,000 Avios plus ~$170 in taxes, fees, and surcharges/carrier fees

Iberia is a little better, but only by about $20.

For award flights to Europe, try to find routes operated by Iberia or American Airlines

Iberia collects fuel surcharges on their own flights and on flights operated by partner airlines, but some are significantly more reasonable than British Airways flights or partner flights booked with British Airways Avios.

Iberia operated flights

Iberia has nonstop flights to Madrid from these US cities (some may be seasonal and/or not daily):

• Boston
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco

Iberia has a large network in Europe, so even if Madrid is not your destination, you can add a connection.  If a connecting flight isn’t available and/or makes the redemption cost too high, you can buy a cheap intra Europe flight to your destination.  Or take a train.

JFK-MAD roundtrip operated by Iberia, booked with Iberia Avios

Total: 34,000 Avios plus $185 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges.

The cash value of this flight is ~$613.

If you subtract the fees, that leaves about $428.  Are 34,000 Avios worth $428?  I would say no because this is only about 1.25 cents per point value.  This happens to be a decently priced fare, but when cash fares are higher, an award ticket to Europe using Iberia could potentially be a good value even with $185 in fees.

What about using British Airways Avios when the flight is operated by Iberia?

JFK-MAD roundtrip operated by Iberia, booked with British Airways Avios

British Airways collects more than double the amount Iberia does for the exact same Iberia-operated flight.  You would definitely want to use Iberia in this scenario (or pay cash).  Either way, don’t use British Airways.

• Using Iberia: 34,000 Avios plus ~$185
• Using British Airways: 34,000 Avios plus $413

Some partner flights are reasonable with Iberia, but not British Airways

This is a roundtrip flight operated by American Airlines from JFK to Madrid. I’ll compare prices between AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club, and Iberia Plus.  Keep in mind that when booking American Airlines flights with Iberia’s program, you can only book roundtrip.

British Airways and Iberia calculate mileage to determine redemption cost differently on AA and partner operated flights.  Click here for more info. 

American Airlines AAdvantage

I am just using this to compare so you can see how much more the fees are if booking with BA or IB.  You cannot transfer Avios to AAdvantage.  You can only use Avios to book AA operated flights by booking through British Airways or Iberia, so you’re subject to the policies and fees of BA or IB.

60,000 miles and $51.83.  Very reasonable fees, but more miles than using BA or IB.  Note that AA US to Europe roundtrip is  45,000 AAdvantage miles if you can find off peak dates.  Remember, their off peak dates will be different than BA and IB.

British Airways Executive Club

40,000 Avios plus $413.  Good Avios redemption IF there were no fees, but the extra fees mean the cash fare would need to be pretty high to make this a good value.  If you’re even considering a redemption like this, always check Iberia because fees may be better.

Iberia Plus

42,000 Avios plus $103.  Good Avios redemption (only 2,000 more than with BA), and reasonable taxes, fees, and fuel surcharge.  The cash fare would have to be ~$950 to get a 2 cpp value after factoring in the $103 in fees.  But if I was between British Airways and Iberia for this redemption, I’d rather redeem the extra 2,000 Avios and pay $300 less in fees.

Here is the breakdown of carrier fees from Iberia:

The surcharge is only about $46!  The rest of the fees are those unavoidable government taxes and fees.

Other American Airlines flights seem to increase fees if you use Iberia to book

This route is New Orleans to Rome with one connection each way, and all segments are operated by American Airlines.

• MSY-PHL-FCO
• FCO-CLT-MSY

New Orleans to Rome operated by American Airlines booked with British Airways

I would expect this from BA since we know they add outrageous surcharges to transatlantic flights operated American Airlines.

New Orleans to Rome operated by American Airlines booked with Iberia

$320 in surcharges?! Remember, there were less than $50 in surcharges using Iberia Avios to book the JFK-MAD operated by American Airlines.

• British Airways: 65,000 Avios and $445
• Iberia: 65,050 and $408 (sidenote: I’m confused because there is no 65,050 tier.  I think this is supposed to be 65,000 Avios)

Iberia is slightly cheaper, so given the choice I’d go with Iberia.  But $400 for taxes, fees, and surcharges is more than I care to pay for an economy award ticket.

DFW to Amsterdam on a flight operated by American Airlines booked with Iberia Avios

I wanted to see if nonstop routes other than Madrid have fees so I checked DFW to Amsterdam on a flight operated by American Airlines booked with Iberia.

Sure enough, that $320 operator charge is added.

Iberia and British Airways are great programs for other routes

There are no fuel surcharges on most other American Airlines routes when using Avios.  For instance, you can use British Airways Avios to book flights from the US to South America operated by American Airlines and there are no fuel surcharges.  Flights wholly within the US operated by AA also have no fuel surcharges.

British Airways and Iberia have a unique partnership with each other

These airlines are under the same parent company*.   There are certain conditions that apply, but you can actually transfer Avios between the 2 airline programs.

This isn’t really relevant if you’re transferring from Amex or Chase since you can transfer Membership Rewards or Ultimate Rewards to either of the programs.  It is something that I wanted to point out, though.

I want to reiterate that this is not the norm.  Usually you cannot transfer airline currencies to other airlines, including partners.  Instead, you can use one program’s currency to book an award flight operated by a partner airline.

• You cannot transfer British Airways Avios or Iberia Avios to American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
• You can use British Airways Avios or Iberia Avios to book an American Airlines flight.
• Your redemption cost is determined by  the program you use to book (British Airways Executive Club or Iberia) not American Airlines AAdvantage

Like I pointed out in another post, sometimes it makes more sense to use Iberia than British Airways.  If for some reason you transfer Amex or Chase points to British Airways then realize Iberia results in a lower redemption cost, you cannot transfer Avios from British Airways back to Amex or Chase.  You can transfer them to Iberia, though.  This shouldn’t be an issue since I never recommend transferring before confirming price and availability!

*Aer Lingus, an Irish airline, is also under the parent company.  As a result, you can transfer Avios between British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus.  Aer Lingus is NOT in the Oneworld alliance, so you cannot use Aer Lingus Avios to book AA flights.  But you can transfer Aer Lingus Avios to Iberia or British Airways, then use those programs to book American Airlines flights.  Other than flights on Aer Lingus operated flights, I haven’t found many scenarios where using Aer Lingus is better than Iberia or British Airways.

Even if Madrid isn’t your destination, you may want to consider making it your ‘gateway’ flight to and from Europe

Using the frequent flyer programs of Iberia or British Airways to book flights to Europe means you are going to have to pay fuel surcharges.   These surcharges can add hundreds to an award ticket.  British Airways is ridiculous for their own flights and partner flights, but using Iberia to book Iberia or American Airlines flights is more reasonable.

The best options I’ve seen are on flights operated by American Airlines to Madrid, booked with Iberia Avios.  The carrier/operator/fuel surcharges are less than $50.  Factoring in unavoidable government taxes and fees, the total is around $100 roundtrip for an economy seat.

I said this earlier but I’m going to say it again.  Even if Madrid is not your destination, you can add a connection.  Iberia has a large network throughout Europe and adding a connecting flight is as low as 4500 Avios each way.  If connecting flight isn’t available and/or makes the redemption cost too high, you can buy a cheap intra Europe flight to your destination.  Or take a train.  It is very easy to travel between European cities.

Remember, a city further west in the US will add more Avios required for your flight to Madrid due to Iberia’s distance-based pricing.  DFW to Madrid is 65,000 Avios roundtrip, while JFK to Madrid is only 42,000 roundtrip.

Final Thoughts

Avoid flying home from London on  award tickets.  LHR has the worst fees in the world regardless of the airline you use to book your award flight.

You can’t really get around government taxes and fees without changing your departure city, but you can avoid ridiculous fuel surcharges/carrier charges/operator charges:

• Avoid British Airways operated flights for award tickets to Europe.  This includes tickets booked with partner programs such as AAdvantage and Iberia
• You can use British Airways Avios to book partner award flights to Europe, but fees are just as bad as their own flights.  Again, just avoid British Airways.
• Use Iberia to book Iberia flights if possible
• Use Iberia to book American Airlines flights if fees are reasonable

The common denominator here is British Airways.  Avoid British Airways when booking flights to Europe if possible! 

Heres another big tip: Etihad does not collect fuel surcharges on award flights operated by American Airlines.  If you can find American Airlines flights to Europe, use Etihad to book!  You can read more about that here.  You cannot transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Etihad but you can transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Etihad!