How to Transfer Avios Between British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Finnair and Qatar

Five airline loyalty programs use the “Avios” name for their mileage currencies: Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Finnair Plus, Iberia Plus and Qatar Privilege Club. You can transfer between them at a 1:1 ratio, and each has a different chart for determining the number of Avios for an award flight. So, it can be useful to transfer Avios between programs to book flights where you’ll get the most value, pool all your points in one program or top off one account.

Here’s how to transfer Avios between Aer Lingus, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Qatar — and why.

Why you should care about Avios programs

Avios programs offer some of the best airline mileage sweet spots around.

For example, you can book award flights on American Airlines for as few as 12,000 Avios one-way through British Airways or Iberia.

Choose the right Avios program, and you can take off on an award flight to Hawaii for 20,000 Avios each way. Or fly from the U.S. to Ireland for 13,000 Avios each way, then continue on to other parts of Europe for as little as 4,000 Avios each way. And perhaps no sweet spot is sweeter than flying to Spain in business class for just 40,500 Avios each way.

You can also book Qatar's Qsuite business class to Doha for 94,500 Avios each way (or 70,000 if you can find it), India for 80,000 Avios each way or the Maldives for 85,000 Avios each way.

Those sweet spots are scattered throughout the Aer Lingus, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Qatar Airways award charts. As each airline has its own award pricing system, award rates vary. Because you can transfer Avios between programs, you can choose the program that will get you the best deal on the flight you want.

How to earn Avios

Credit cards

It’s easy to get Avios even if you don’t fly any of these airlines regularly. Each program offers a points-earning credit card for U.S.-based travelers.

Here are a few options:

Avios transfer partners

You can get Avios by transferring points at a 1:1 ratio from Chase Ultimate Rewards®, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou points and Capital One miles. Or you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to any of the Avios programs at a 3:1 ratio. Plus, you’ll get 5,000 bonus Avios for every 60,000 Bonvoy points you transfer. Terms apply.

No matter which Avios program you transfer points to, you can then transfer Avios between programs to get the best deal on an award flight. This is especially handy when there’s a credit card transfer bonus with one of the Avios programs.

How to transfer Avios between programs

The process to transfer Avios between Aer Lingus, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Qatar is simple and user-friendly.

Before you start, make sure that all your Avios accounts have the most up-to-date information. Transfers may fail if your name, date of birth, email address or mailing address don’t match exactly.

For completeness, we should mention that technically seven airlines participate in the Avios program: the five listed above as well as Loganair and Vueling. However, the latter two aren’t as popular or lucrative, so we’ll focus on the “core” five programs with more award opportunities.

Transferring Avios

The easiest way to transfer Avios is to use Avios.com. From here, you can freely and instantly move any amount of Avios between the participating airlines at a 1:1 ratio.

To get started, use your British Airways, Aer Lingus or Iberia login information to log in to Avios.com. Go to the Move Avios page, then select the program where you want to move your Avios from.

Then select which partner program you want to transfer Avios into. If you haven’t already, you’ll be prompted to enable two-factor authentication. Enter the number of Avios you want to transfer, then click “Next.”

Note that once you link your Avios accounts, there’s no undoing it, so check your information carefully.

If you want to transfer Avios to or from Finnair or Qatar, you’ll see those options a bit farther down the page. The process is the same, but there are dedicated buttons for them (for now).

On the next page, you’ll get a chance to review the transfer details. Click “Transfer” or “Transfer Avios” to transfer Avios from one account to another. Note that transfers are completely reversible — you can just transfer Avios back again — so there’s little risk in moving Avios between the various partners.

After a few moments, your Avios will be transferred. Avios.com will provide a reference number and send a confirmation to the email address listed in both accounts (which should be the same).

The account balance at the top right corner of the page may not immediately reflect the transfer. But you should see this number updated once you browse to another page. And with that, you’re done.

» Learn more: How to maximize the Iberia Visa Signature Card

The bottom line

Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Finnair Plus, Iberia Plus and Qatar Privilege Club each offer excellent sweet spots where your Avios points get you extra value on award flights.

It’s easy to earn Avios through credit cards and transferable-point programs. You can transfer Avios between airline programs, letting you take advantage of the unique sweet spots in each one’s award chart. So now that you know how to transfer Avios, do some comparison shopping for award flights to see where your Avios can take you.