Nowadays, a lot of airlines are going for revenued based mileage earnings and as of November 2022, Iberia became the next airline to follow them.
Iberia announced that the ways of traveling have changed and the Iberia Loyalty Program wants to adapt accordingly by changing existing, and including new features such as the way of earning Avios, the program currency.
Iberia Plus Avios Going Revenue-Based
Instead of Avios being earned from distance flown, which is the current earning method, Iberia Plus members will start collecting Avios for every euro they spend. While the exact date of when this new earning system will start, Iberia has announced that the change will kick in “Very Shortly.”
The amount of Avios earned will be different based on the member’s tiers per euro spent:
- CLÁSICA members will earn 5 Avios per euro spent
- PLATA members will earn 6 Avios per euro spent
- ORO members will earn 7 Avios per euro spent
- PLATINO, INFINITA, and INFINITA PRIME members will earn 8 Avios per euro spent
Not only do members earn miles from the amount they spend, but this revenue-based change also enables them to earn Avios when they spend on extra services, such as extra baggage and seat selection, that currently do not earn Avios.
Iberia Plus Tier System Remains Unchanged
The Avios earning system has changed but the tier points required to be elite members remained the same.
Why Is Iberia Changing the Avios Earning System
We do know that many other airlines are adopting this new earning system like Air France. And this is what Silvia Morán, the Client Loyalty Director said:
“We think this is a more fair and transparent way to reward our more loyal members, with a model that they have been requesting for some time and which is also more in line with other industry loyalty programmes”
Yes, ” A model loyal members have been requesting for some time.” I don’t think that Iberia Plus members love revenue-based earning, to be honest. I guess the airline did not want to get blamed for the change.
British Airways Is Also Going Revenue Based
Not only Iberia is going revenue based on Avios accrual but starting next year, its sister company British Airways is following the trend too.
Ian Romanis, Head of Retail and Customer Relationship Management at British Airways, said:
“We congratulate our colleagues at Iberia for introducing this change and we look forward to joining them in 2023. More announcements will follow about what this change will mean for our Executive Club programme, which will unlock even more opportunities for our Members to earn Avios when they fly.”
Summary
The conventional distance-based miles earning is becoming less adopted nowadays. And as of this month, Iberia is following the industry trend to go for revenue-based mileage earning. Not only Iberia, British Airways will adopt the same modeling next year but the details are still not known.
The revenue-based mileage earning will surely be disappointing for both Iberia Plus and British Airways Executive Club members as they would need to spend more in order to rack up Avios.
