BREAKING: Iberia Overhauls Loyalty Programme to Become Club Iberia Plus – An Easier Route to Oneworld Status?

Just as the news of BA moving to a spend-based tier point system settles, Iberia has just announced an overhaul of the Iberia Plus loyalty programme. From 1 April 2025, Iberia Plus will become Club Iberia Plus. The new system offers an alternative pathway to Oneworld status.

We had suspected British Airways changes were driven by IAG and this somewhat confirms that. 

It will now be easier to earn status with Club Iberia Plus than the new British Airways Club.

The Changes in a Snapshot

Beatriz Guillén, Director of Global Sales and Loyalty, describes the updated program as “a fairer and more transparent way of rewarding our most loyal customers”.

Here is a summary of the main changes:

• Elite status will be calculated by each euro spent.
• There will be bonuses based on cabin class.
• There are new tier point thresholds and a new status level, ‘Platino Plus’.
• A qualifying segment has to be an Iberia or Iberia Express-coded flight.
• You can earn up to 30% of your elite points with non-flying partners.
• There are bonuses when flying with American Airlines and British Airways by crediting your flight to Club Iberia Plus.
• When flying with Oneworld partners, you will earn a flat rate of elite points.

New Tier Point Thresholds

Club Iberia Plus offers a reduction in the number of flights needed to reach elite status—and convert Oneworld elite status. 

The way Elite Points are earned will change. Iberia will move to a revenue-based system, and elite points will now be calculated by each euro spent rather than by distance travelled. You will earn 1 elite point per €1 of net spend however when you factor in bonus points, to achieve certain status levels, it won’t be €1 per point which is great news. 

The main difference to the new BA Club is that status is not linked solely to spend. There are additional bonuses based on your travel class and opportunities to earn points through partner activities, mitigating the sting of increased spending thresholds. You will also be able to earn elite points by purchasing additional products and services.

You will earn elite status by earning a minimum number of elite points or flying a set number of segments. It’s worth noting that a qualifying segment has to be an Iberia or Iberia Express-coded flight. Collecting enough elite points will allow you to keep or upgrade your tier.

The period of calculating tiers is the same. This will run from 1st April of the current year to 31st March of the following year

Here is the structure for earning status under the new system:

Iberia Plus Clásica

When you sign up, you get instant Clásica status.

British Airways Equivalent:  Blue

Iberia Plus Plata

Oneworld Equivalent: Ruby

British Airways Equivalent:  Bronze

Qualification: 3,500 Elite Points or 20 segments

Iberia Plus Oro

Oneworld Equivalent: Sapphire

British Airways Equivalent: Silver

Qualification 7,500 Elite Points or 40 segments

Iberia has drawn attention to the fact that earning status for the two entry-level tiers is now easier. You now need to fly fewer segments to earn status.

You need to fly 20 segments for Plata (previously 25) and 40 for Oro (previously 50). Let’s be real; most people will not fly 40 segments. Iberia also seems to be pushing people towards the euro-spend method instead, which makes sense from a financial standpoint but doesn’t exactly reward brand loyalty the way it used to…

It’s clear that Iberia are positioning as a more attainable alternative. The spend is also lower with Iberia compared to BA. It’s €3,500 as opposed to £3,500 (€4194) with British Airways. You can also make up 30% of that spend with Iberia through partner activities. 

Iberia Plus Platino

Oneworld Equivalent: Emerald

British Airways Equivalent: Gold

Qualification 20,000 Elite Points or 90 segments

Another bonus of the new programme is upgrade vouchers for Platino and Platino prime members.

The idea is that a €20,000 spend would not quite end up being needed for 20,000 elite points when you factor in the 1,000 bonus points you earn when you hit 18,000 elite points, brings it down to 19,000 and when you factor in any bonus points, that brings it even lower dependant on fares paid however our early calculations show that to achieve Oneworld Emerald you could potentially only have to spend half the minimum spend of achieving the same status via British Airways. Plus you get the bonus of an upgrade voucher that you don’t get with BA.

This is very different from British Airways, where the minimum monetary spend for Gold is £20,000. Adding in taxes etc, you’re looking at more like £25,000!

Let’s not get too carried away. Both schemes still require a considerable uplift in spend to achieve the same status you could get for much less in the past. 

90 segments using just one loyalty programme is also massive. That’s nearly a flight every 4 days! This tier does not seem to be aimed at the average frequent flyer!

Iberia Plus Platino Prime

Oneworld Equivalent: Emerald

British Airways Equivalent: Gold

Qualification: 30,000 Elite Points

Platino Prime is a completely new elite level. According to Iberia, they have made Platino more accessible and created Platino Prime with additional benefits and advantages, including two years of Oneworld Emerald status.

This new level offers a greater accumulation of Avios, more options to obtain free cabin upgrades and exclusive redemption campaigns.

The Platinum Prime level will only be achieved through euros spent.

In theory, this should be an exciting new level, but the fact that you can only qualify through spending means it’s purely for those who have bigger budgets.

Iberia Plus Infantia Tiers

The Infinita tiers will also still be part of the new Club Iberia Plus. With this card, you can enjoy the benefits of Iberia Plus Platino forever. However, the spending required is largely unachievable for the majority of us!

Iberia Plus Infinita: 400,000 Elite Points

Iberia Plus Infinita Prime – 640,000 Elite Points

Example

Iberia gave the example of ‘Luis’. He is an Iberia Plus Plata member and travels to New York for work in Business Optima. He also travels to Bilbao to see his family in Economy Comfort. He rents a car at the airport with Avis. Under the old system, he would collect 1,050 elite points (45% of the requirement for Oro status). Under the new system, he will collect 5,770 points (77% of the requirement for Oro).

Cabin Bonuses

You will also get extra elite points for Iberia flights based on the class you travel in. Cabin bonuses will pay a considerable part of the new Club Iberia, unlike the new BA scheme, which is offering short-term tier bonuses.

Here’s a rundown of the bonuses:

Partner Activities = 30% Less Points Needed for Status

You can also now earn up to 30% of your status requirement, earning elite points with non-flying partners. Avios can be earned through shopping, booking hotels, rental cars, and restaurants. This is a feature notably absent in BA’s revised scheme.

When you earn Avios with partner activities, you will earn elite points AND Avios. Every 10 Avios you earn from partners will translate to 1 elite point. You will earn Avios and elite points on partner activities.

In my opinion, this is a huge advantage over BA’s new scheme. If I were looking for a way to earn or maintain Oneworld status without flying as much as is required with BA, this is a very tempting option! 

Unfortunately, American Express Membership Rewards points DO NOT convert into status points. I find this very frustrating!

There are also several other excluded ways of earning elite points, including Avios transfers and fights, welcome bonus rewards, promotional Avios collected with Iberia Plus bonus rewards, Avios winnings, Avios compensation, and Avios collected on flights.

Bonuses When Flying with American Airlines and British Airways

You will earn elite bonus points when you credit your points from British Airways or American Airlines to Club Iberia Plus. Personally, I’d be wary—Iberia is infamous for IT issues as is the whole of IAG for that matter, and dealing with their customer service can be awful.

On a short-haul flight, you will earn:

• 75 points in Economy
• 175 points in Business

On a long-haul flight over 3,000 miles, you will earn:

• 150 points in Economy
• 275 points in Premium Economy
• 350 points in Business
• 450 points in First Class

A Flat Rate When Flying with Oneworld Partners

You will earn a flat rate of elite points when flying with other Oneworld partners. 

Here are the elite points you could earn:

This distance-based award chart is much more generous than British Airways, which now awards tier points as a percentage of distance flown. This is a much better system, but again, Iberia’s website and customer service make me hesitant. If I were regularly flying long-haul with Qatar Airways or Cathay Pacific, I’d seriously consider crediting to Iberia. 

Conclusion

IAG seems to be going through major changes. First, the BA loyalty programme changed, and now, Iberia. I would imagine that those at the top of Iberia felt pressure to change the loyalty programme because of the BA changes. There were just too many sweet spots crediting flights to Iberia from BA under the new system.

These changes make elite status more accessible for those of us who spend more on full-fare tickets in premium cabins and extra services rather than flying large distances. Due to the euro and pound conversions, fewer segments are needed.

With the added benefit of earning elite points by shopping, Club Iberia Plus is now an easier route to Oneworld status. If you’re looking for another airline to credit your BA flights to Iberia could be your answer!  Once you have Sapphire Oneworld status (Oro), you’ll have benefits across all Oneworld airlines, including BA, with a MUCH lower spending requirement. 

If I were looking for a BA alternative, Iberia would definitely be on my radar—especially with the ability to earn elite points from hotel stays and shopping. But would I switch entirely? Probably not.

However, the spending thresholds are still extremely high, pointing to both British Airways and Iberia being out of touch with the general population. I would personally struggle to justify putting all of my loyalty into Iberia unless I was flying regularly with them for work. Iberia are also incentivising travel on Iberia-coded flights, most likely to avoid people planning to earn status solely through travel on partner airlines.

If you switch to Club Iberia Plus, you also need to factor in making bookings directly with Iberia and dealing with Iberia’s customer service.

You can view all the changes and read the latest updates on the new Club Iberia Plus page here.

Will you consider switching your loyalty to Club Iberia Plus? Let us know in the comments below: