Did anybody else take advantage of the Iberia airline 90k promotion?

[NKflyer]

Between June 22-24, Iberia ran a promotion where customers received 9,000 "Avios" frequent flyer points for every ticket purchased through the Iberia website, up to 10 tickets (so 90,000 Avios total) per customer. A few savvy travelers realized that short one-way flights within Spain could be purchased as cheaply as $20-30 each to qualify for the promotion.

My girlfriend and I each bought 10 of these cheap one-way tickets. My cost for the qualifying flights was about $290 and hers was about $330. After an anxious waiting period, the 90k Avios hit our accounts last night!

We used the points for lie-flat business class tickets round-trip from Miami to Madrid next spring. The current cash price of our tickets is $3,560 each.

Did any other TRF'ers take advantage? Where are you going?

[Abdullah71601]

Why didn't you have to take the qualifying flights? Airlines usually don't award the points until you take the ride so that you can't cancel later. Interesting that they let you book and not fly.

[NKflyer]

Yeah, it did seem too good to be true but the terms & conditions were crystal clear that customers would receive their bonus 10 days after booking, not flying. And Iberia reps posted on facebook and twitter that there wouldn't be any negative repercussions if you happened to "miss" your qualifying flight. Just to be safe, we booked our 10 flights later in the year than we planned to fly the award flight.

Nobody is going to cancel their qualifying flights anyway. The cost to do so is higher than the initial price paid. People are just going to no-show so Iberia will keep the revenue and have a ton of empty seats on regional flights.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by NKflyer

Yeah, it did seem too good to be true but the terms & conditions were crystal clear that customers would receive their bonus 10 days after booking, not flying. And Iberia reps posted on facebook and twitter that there wouldn't be any negative repercussions if you happened to "miss" your qualifying flight. Just to be safe, we booked our 10 flights later in the year than we planned to fly the award flight.

Nobody is going to cancel their qualifying flights anyway. The cost to do so is higher than the initial price paid. People are just going to no-show so Iberia got the revenue and will have a ton of empty seats on regional flights.

Your timing is a wee bit off for us to get in on the sale, but it's very cool that you got a great trip for so little.

[teqp]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Your timing is a wee bit off for us to get in on the sale, but it's very cool that you got a great trip for so little.

Yup. Thanks for letting us know in time before the promo ends!

[dmash]

Originally Posted by teqp

Yup. Thanks for letting us know in time before the promo ends!

I read this post as

‘Hey Guys, did any of you spend $350 and get $3200 for free? Oh no? Too bad, I did, and it’s too late for you to try.’

[NKflyer]

Originally Posted by dmash

I read this post as

‘Hey Guys, did any of you spend $350 and get $3200 for free? Oh no? Too bad, I did, and it’s too late for you to try.’

LOL! Sorry, that wasn't my intent. I really was curious to see if any other forum members were miles & points nerds. This promo got super well publicized on the travel blogs and even a couple of mainstream news outlets picked up on it. Also it helped to get your points quicker if you already had a "Iberia Plus" frequent flyer account opened as opposed to opening a new account just for this. The best awards are going to disappear in a flash and imho, it's going to put pressure on all Oneworld Alliance award redemptions for a year or more (for example, you can use the points for flying domestic on American too).

[dmash]

Originally Posted by NKflyer

LOL! Sorry, that wasn't my intent. I really was curious to see if any other forum members were miles & points nerds. This promo got super well publicized on the travel blogs and even a couple of mainstream news outlets picked up on it. Also it helped to get your points quicker if you already had a "Iberia Plus" frequent flyer account opened as opposed to opening a new account just for this. The best awards are going to disappear in a flash and imho, it's going to put pressure on all Oneworld Alliance award redemptions for a year or more (for example, you can use the points for flying domestic on American too).

Haha, it's all good.

I was all about maximizing points with airlines/hotels/credit cards when I lived in the states. It's not the same once I got over to Germany though. You can save a TON in the US, a lot of people don't know what they're missing out on with just a little work each month.

[gttime]

All good. Congrats.

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Your timing is a wee bit off for us to get in on the sale, but it's very cool that you got a great trip for so little.

I agree. But have fun op.

[tudorbaja27]

Let us know earlier next time?

Haha, but congrats, great steal!

[The Joker]

Cheers for the heads up

[smak]

Did you hear about the promotion through the Iberia emails?

I'm a BA frequent flyer primarily and didn't get any such promo but have used avios to upgrade economy fares to business for very reasonable rates.

I think I did a flat out avios purchase on Air Berlin once because airport tax at TXL was so inviting.

It seems the benefits of these travel points are being shored up pretty quickly though as more people take advantage of them instead of just "collecting" them.

Don't let the poor sports in the thread discourage you, they would prefer another "is it safe" satire or fake discontinuation threads to bolster sales for our trusted sellers :)

[Burlington]

Sounds like a great wheeze. Well spotted and good job moving fast.