A Potential 2025 trip

We are currently in planning mode, trying to figure out where we want to go next year for our annual big trip using miles and points. One potential destination is Spain, mainly because we need to get to there to visit one of our investment properties.

With that in mind, when Thrifty Traveler recently sent us one of their almost daily email alerts with a trip to Madrid from Chicago in business class, non stop, using only 34K points for one-way, we began looking into flying there. A Thrifty Traveler premium annual subscription is great as it details where you can fly to and from, when, and even which point program to use and how to book it.

Upon looking into this, to confirm award availability, we had to analyze which would be the best option in terms of which airline portal to book through and whom would have the least amount of fees.

Thrifty Traveler shares the many different options to book, and in this case, it was booking through Iberia or through British Airways.

We looked as well at the dates that thrifty traveler found this deal and went to Iberia's website and searched one date in particular, March 3rd, one way, from Chicago to Madrid.

Sure enough after inputting the details, their was the flight, bookable using only 34K points, just as Thrifty Traveler's email had stated.

We then went over to British Airways website and searched March 3rd, one way from Chicago to Madrid, and sure enough, their was the flight as well, bookable using only 34K points.

Note, when using points via Iberia, or British Airways, Avios points must be used. Their are many different ways to convert to Avios points, the one option we will use if we book this trip is to convert RBC Avion points 1:1, to Avios points.

Now which airline portal to book the flight with though?

As you can see, each one charges different fees. Iberia is 34K Avios points + 130.30, and British Airways is 34,000 Avios points + 176.40.

Times this by 3 people, and if we were to book using British Airways website, that's over a $100 more in fees.

I'm sure your asking though, how can I book the same flight, in which this flight is operated by Iberia Airlines, on a different airlines site?

Simple answer, they are both part of the same alliance, the oneworld Alliance. And when airlines are part of the same alliance, you can search on other airlines websites for award availability of other airlines within that alliance. One of the reasons you do this is just for this reason, to see whom charges the least amount of fees.

Now that we know Iberia is the preferred option, if we were to go ahead and book this flight, we'd first need to convert our RBC Avion points to Avios, which can be done right in your RBC online banking account. Here's the link to the website to do this at:

https://www.avionrewards.com/travel/britishairways.html

Once logged in, you simply just enter the amount of Avion points you want to convert to British Airways Avios, and that's it.

You can move forward with the last step, which is to then transfer Avios from British Airways Executive Club to Iberia Plus (and even Qatar Airways Privilege Club, if you were looking to fly on one of their flights). To initiate a transfer, head to the British Airways website, sign in to your account, select the program to which you'd like to transfer Avios, and proceed as per the instructions.

Once you've done this and transferred your points over to Iberia (you'll need to make an account first over at Iberia's website), you now can move forward with booking this flight through Iberia (or British Airways if you wanted to pay the higher fees in this scenario, as that might not always be the case).

What do you think about that!?