Update: A reader shares, regarding the new (corrected) Iberia pricing for transatlantic business class awards,
Even though on the Iberia website shows the new/correct pricing.. when you click through you still get the old pricing.
This surely will not last. Book now.
Inside Flyer flags that Iberia has raised the price of Chicago and Los Angeles – Madrid awards.
- Chicago – Madrid should be in the 6th distance band, but was pricing in the 5th. That’s been corrected, and an off-peak business class award now runs 42,500 points (up from 34,000).
- Los Angeles – Madrid should be in the 7th distance band, but was pricing in the 6th. That’s been corrected, and an off-peak business class award now runs 51,000 points (up from 42,500).
In addition,
- Mexico City – Madrid should be in the 7th distance band, but was pricing in the 6th. That’s been corrected, and an off-peak business class award now runs 51,000 points (up from 42,500).
Santiago – Madrid should be in the 8th distance band, but was pricing in the 7th. That’s been corrected, and an off-peak business class award now runs 59,500 points (up from 51,000).
Here’s Iberia’s distance-based award chart:
| Off-Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Peak | |||||
| Distance (mi) | Coach | Business | Coach | Business | ||||
| 0-650 | 4500 | 9000 | 5000 | 10000 | ||||
| 651-1150 | 7500 | 15000 | 8250 | 16500 | ||||
| 1151-2000 | 10000 | 20000 | 11000 | 22000 | ||||
| 2001-3000 | 11000 | 21250 | 12500 | 31250 | ||||
| 3001-4000 | 17000 | 34000 | 20000 | 50000 | ||||
| 4001-5500 | 21250 | 42500 | 25000 | 62500 | ||||
| 5501-6500 | 25500 | 51000 | 30000 | 75000 | ||||
| 6501-7000 | 29750 | 59500 | 35000 | 87500 | ||||
| 7000+ | 42500 | 85000 | 50000 | 125000 | ||||
Traveling For Miles is outraged at the no-notice devaluation but I’m not sure that’s fair. Iberia should have been charging these new prices all along, based on how their program works. They’ve been undercharging and never went and asked members to cough up the extra miles for them. (That would have been outrageous.) Instead they’ve just fixed the glitch and stopped undercharging.
I don’t think some sort of collateral estoppel theory applies here, that since they’ve been charging the low price for some time they needed to continue charging the lower price and give members notice they’d stop the glitch. It was a known issue, and has been corrected, as we always should have assumed they would. The only issue here is really one that’s in our favor, which is that it took them so long.
Most importantly, Boston and New York – Madrid remain 34,000 miles each way in business class. Iberia Plus is a transfer partner of both Chase and American Express, and members with Iberia Plus accounts with activity can move their British Airways points over. This can be desirable because Iberia’s transatlantic awards on their own planes are so inexpensive and fuel surcharges aren’t significant.
Hardly “outraged”. Annoyed at the lack of notice but definitely not “outraged”.
I cannot call this a no notice change as Traveling for Miles suggested. It was a mere correction of pricing consistent with published mileage bands.
Nothin to see here.
Miami has always been in band 6, so 42,500 to 62,500 Avios for business class. However, more concerning than putting those cities in the correct bands is, Iberia seems to now also charge a close-in Avios fee on top, and worse: just for US in- or outbound flights. New York seems to be an additional 5,000 Avios in Economy and for Miami an additional 6,500 in Economy. I wasn’t able to find Business availability to see if that would be more. However, I cross-checked with South American destinations, and there the correct amount of Avios is displayed.
Wish they’d start IAD service back up again
Gary – please quit w the click bait!! This isn’t a devaluation but, instead, correction of a mistake and Chicago/LA are now in the group they should have been.
Only you and other bloggers would whine about something being corrected when you have gotten a deal you shouldn’t have before.
SMH!!!!
@AC not sure if you are just trolling… Please explain to me how that title is clickbait? He simply stated the facts that they raised the prices. If a city would’ve been accidentally put in a higher band than before, and now they corrected the prices he would’ve written: “Iberia lowered prices of xyz”. Additionally, he didn’t use the word “devaluation” once apart from quoting from another bloggers article. Instead, he used the word “corrected” a total of 5 times, which convinces me you didn’t even read what Gary posted, and instead went straight down to the comment section to blabber.
Well, given that IB cancelled my flight and I was going to rebook, had I known, I would have changed the dates rather then get the points back. So notice would have been appreciated.
Gary, please double check the MIA-MAD off peak Avios requirement, which has been 42.5K (34K Avios for this route did not exist for the last few years).
The real outrage should be that “second” meal they serve. It’s not a meal and it’s horrible. So bad in fact, I pack a meal.
Was this a devaluation (more miles for the same flight)? Yes.
Was this done without notice? Yes.
That, by definition, makes this a no-notice devaluation.
@peter- correct, Miami is 42,500 each way off peak in biz. When it switched a few years back, I started taking ORD-MAD instead. Guess that “saving” is now over. I’ll probably now start using MIA-MAD again. I would change to NY, BOS, DCA… but find the eastbound flights a little too short for a decent sleep