Transferring & Redeeming Avios: An Overview of Airline Partnerships

Five frequent flyer programs use Avios as their common points currency. Four of these airlines are owned by International Airlines Group (IAG), while Qatar Airways adopted Avios as its currency in 2022.

You can transfer Avios between your own accounts in most of these programs at a 1:1 rate, with no minimum transfer required. However, one Avios in British Airways Executive Club is not necessarily worth the same as one Avios in Qatar Airways Privilege Club – and so on.

The following programs all use Avios as their reward points currency:

• British Airways Executive Club
• Iberia Plus
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Vueling Club

Finnair Plus will also join the Avios family in 2024.

Although they each use Avios, these five programs all have different airline partners and award charts. It can get a quite confusing, so we’ve created a couple of diagrams that might make things a bit easier!

Which airlines can you redeem Avios to fly with?

As British Airways, Iberia and Qatar Airways are all part of the Oneworld alliance, you can redeem Avios within any of these three programs for reward flights on Oneworld airlines. The full selection of Oneworld airlines is shown below in top-right box.

In addition to flights with Oneworld airlines, British Airways Executive Club Avios can be redeemed for Aer Lingus flights. Iberia Plus Avios can be redeemed for Avianca and Vueling flights. And Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios can be put towards flights on seven non-Oneworld airlines as shown below, including JetBlue.

If you want to book a reward flight on British Airways, also note that British Airways Executive Club may make more seats available on BA-operated flights to members of its own frequent flyer program.

Aer Lingus and Vueling are not part of the Oneworld alliance and have their own partners. As shown in the bottom-right box, Aer Lingus AerClub and Vueling Club Avios can only be used for reward flights on Aer Lingus, Vueling, Iberia or British Airways. Bookings using both AerClub and Vueling Club Avios can be made on Avios.com, rather than the airlines’ websites.

The airline partnerships of each of these five airlines are shown visually in this diagram:

Transferring Avios between programs

In theory, you can transfer Avios at a 1:1 rate between any of the five programs that use this as their currency. However, there are some restrictions. For example:

• To transfer Avios to or from Iberia Plus, you must have joined at least 90 days ago and had activity in your Iberia Plus account within the last 3 years
• You cannot transfer Iberia Plus Avios to British Airways Executive Club if you’re using a British Airways household account

You can only transfer Avios between accounts in your own name. Make sure that your personal details (including date of birth and any middle names) are identical when transferring Avios between your accounts.

You cannot transfer directly between all five programs. For example, you can only transfer Qatar Airways Avios to/from British Airways Executive Club. But you can get around this by completing multiple transfers. This diagram summarises your 1:1 Avios transfer options:

There isn’t one centralised website where you can transfer Avios between any of these programs. The website to visit will depend on which programs you want to transfer between. This One Mile At A Time article has a good summary.

If in doubt, convert your Avios to British Airways Executive Club Avios and go from there! There’s no limit to the amount of 1:1 Avios transfers you can do between your own frequent flyer accounts.

Earning Avios in Australia

If you live in Australia and you’d like to accumulate Avios, one option is to buy British Airways Avios. You can even purchase a British Airways Avios subscription to get a monthly deposit of Avios in your account for up to 35% off the usual price.

If you have American Express Membership Rewards points, you can also transfer these into your British Airways Executive Club account indirectly by first transferring your Amex points into Marriott Bonvoy. You can then transfer your Marriott Bonvoy points into British Airways Executive Club.

During special promotions, you may even be able to get a 50% bonus on transfers from American Express Membership Rewards to Marriott Bonvoy.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.