There are a lot of ways to get to Europe using points. Aeroplan, Flying Blue, British Airways, Aer Lingus. All of them can offer good value in the right situation. However, Iberia does not get much attention in the Canadian points space. Most Canadians focus almost entirely on Aeroplan, or use Avios for aspirational Qatar bookings and Iberia rarely enters the conversation.
Iberia flights to Europe can be ridiculously good value. Business class flights to Madrid from many US and Canadian cities can price as low as 40,500 Avios one way during off-peak dates and 59,000 during peak dates, which is substantially lower than what many competing programs charge for similar business class flights to Europe.
Combine that with transfer bonuses like the RBC Avion to Avios transfer bonus, and the value becomes even better. Taxes and fees are also far more reasonable than British Airways, making Iberia one of the more attractive Avios sweet spots for transatlantic business class.
You can also add a connecting flight onward to your final destination within Europe for additional Avios. For example, off-peak pricing from Toronto is 50,250 Avios to Barcelona and Lisbon and 57,000 Avios to Rome.
We booked two business class seats from Toronto to Athens via Madrid with Iberia for just 62,500 Avios per person, plus $244 CAD in taxes and fees each way. For business class to Europe, especially to Greece during peak travel season, that is an excellent redemption compared to what Aeroplan would typically charge for a similar routing.
In many cases, Iberia is still one of the best ways to fly business class to Europe using Avios. Just be warned, you may need a little patience getting the booking to actually work.
Why Iberia Stands Out
What makes Iberia interesting is the combination of pricing, taxes, route network, and accessibility.
Unlike British Airways and Flying Blue, surcharges are usually reasonable. Compared to Aeroplan pricing can sometimes be dramatically lower, especially from East Coast cities like Boston, New York, and Washington DC.
In most cases, Iberia remains one of the strongest value options for business class to Europe using Avios. Other Avios partners, such as Aer Lingus, can occasionally offer similar pricing depending on route and availability, but Iberia tends to be the most consistent sweet spot. You can see how Aer Lingus compares in our guide to Aer Lingus business class with Avios
Avios are also incredibly easy to earn.
For Canadians, programs like RBC Avion and American Express Membership Rewards transfer directly into the Avios ecosystem, making Iberia one of the easier business class sweet spots to access. Once your points are transferred into British Airways Avios, you can easily move them between partner programs like Iberia through the Avios platform website.
And unlike some more “theoretical” sweet spots like Aer Lingus, where broad business class availability can be difficult to find, Iberia can actually offer decent award space if you search early enough.
Iberia’s North American Routes Keep Expanding
Iberia has continued growing its North American network over the past few years, with flights from:
- Boston
- New York
- Washington DC
- Toronto
- Chicago
- Miami
- Los Angeles
Madrid also works well as a connecting hub onward to the rest of Europe, especially Spain, Portugal, and parts of Southern Europe.
For East Coast travelers in particular, Iberia can become one of the strongest overall values to Europe using Avios.
Iberia’s A321XLR Business Class
Iberia operates the Airbus A350, A330, and newer Airbus A321XLR on North American routes. The Toronto route, along with several US cities like Boston and Newark, are currently scheduled to use the A321XLR, which is one of the airline’s newest aircraft.
The A321 is a narrowbody aircraft with a single-aisle cabin layout. On paper, flying a narrowbody aircraft across the Atlantic in business class does not sound especially appealing
But after looking more closely at the seat layout, cabin configuration, and reviews from other travelers, the product actually started looking surprisingly competitive for East Coast flights to Europe.
The aircraft offers 14 fully lie-flat seats with direct aisle access in a much smaller cabin than Iberia’s larger widebody aircraft.
For overnight flights that are only six to seven hours long, that honestly feels like a pretty reasonable tradeoff for the pricing Iberia can offer.
And compared to some older business class products still flying across the Atlantic, Iberia’s A321XLR actually looks fairly modern. We will be sure to post our experience after we complete our trip later this year.
How to Book with Iberia
Searching for award availability on the Iberia website is simple. Run a search and select the pay with Avios option.
Available results will show the fees and points required.
You will also see an option to increase the points used in exchange for lower fees. We do not recommend doing this. The standard pricing is the better value.
Why We Ended Up Booking Through British Airways
We originally tried booking directly through the Iberia Plus website. Award availability showed correctly, but every payment attempt failed during checkout. We tried different credit cards, browsers, and multiple attempts without success. Getting in contact with Iberia to resolve it was also a challenge.
This payment processing issue is fairly common with the Iberia website. If you run into the same problem, the easy fix is to transfer your Avios to British Airways and book the same Iberia flights as a partner redemption through the BA website. The Avios cost and availability are the same. The one difference to note is that Iberia prices fees in US dollars while British Airways prices them in Canadian dollars if you are searching from Canada.
A Note on Availability
One of the more practical advantages of booking with Iberia is that award availability tends to be plentiful. Iberia currently makes two business class seats available on the Toronto to Madrid route at release, with up to four business class seats on some US routes like New York to Madrid. Many of these seats remain available months after the schedule opens. There are still several dates this summer available on the Toronto to Madrid route. If you are looking for a cost-effective way to get to Europe this summer, it is worth searching Iberia before assuming the good dates are gone.
Final Thoughts
Iberia may not be the first airline Canadians think about when booking Europe on points, but this redemption changed our perspective on it. Between the Avios pricing, reasonable taxes and fees, and solid connectivity through Madrid, Iberia is one of the better value options to Europe right now.
Reviews of Iberia are mixed, so keep expectations in line. But if you are looking for an inexpensive lie-flat seat to Europe this summer, it is worth a look.
