How to transfer Avios between airlines ?

The Avios is a miles curreny of British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus & Finnair. Barring Aer Lingus, all these airlines are part of the Oneworld alliance. Even though these programs have single miles currency, Avios, they have different frequent flyer program program. These frequent flyer programs have different avios earning & redemption options, except for a few cases. So it is possible to earn more avios from a transaction with a frequent flyer program. And, if you would like to redeem these Avios with different frequent flyer program you can easily transfer avios between these airlines. For such cases, here is how to transfer Avios between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus & Finnair accounts.

Ways to Earn Avios

There are multiple ways to earn Avios in India without flying any of these airlines and may offer better Avios earning option then other partner airlines.

• IndusInd Avios Credit Card
  • Fees: INR 40K+Taxes
  • Two Variants: British Airways & Qatar Airways
  • British Airways Variant offers 55K Avios on Sign-up
  • Qatar Airways Variant offers: Gold Status & 20K Avios on Sign-up
  • Check Eligibility.
• Avios Balance Booster:
  • Available only if you earn Avios in British Airways Account
  • Option to Multiply Avios up to 3x with low cost
• Buy Avios
  • All the airline partners offers opportunities to buy Avios.
  • Any of these airline can offer bonus or discount to buy avios.
• Avios Subscription is another way to buy Avios.
• Transfer Credit Card Points:
  • Amex Points:
    • Easier to Earn
    • Can be Transferred to British Airways & Qatar Airways in a 2:1 ratio
    • Qatar Airways sometimes offer bonus on transfer of points.
  • HDFC Bank Points:
    • Transfer option available for Premium Cards like Infinia, Dinners Black & Regalia Gold etc.
    • Can be transferred to British Airways, Qatar Airways & Finnair
    • Finnair have 1:1 transfer ratio whereas, others have 50:50 Ratio
    • Here is the list of HDFC Bank Transfer Partners
  • Axis Bank:
    • Can be transferred to Qatar Airways
    • Here is the list of Axis Bank Transfer Partners
  • SBI Miles Card:
    • Can be transferred to Qatar Airways
    • Check Eligibility
• Transfer Hotel Points:
  • Marriott Points in 3:1 ratio to all these airlines except Finnair
  • Accor Points different ratios for these airlines however Aer Lingus is not an airline partner.
  • IHG points in 5:1 ratio to all airlines except Aer Lingus & Qatar Airways.

Before you Transfer Avios between Accounts

• The first thing to make sure before you plan to transfer Avios between accounts is that the personal information between airlines is same. The personal information would be name & date of birth. If there is any mismatch in this information, you cannot transfer Avios.
• If you plan to transfer Avios to or from Iberia, your Iberia account should be more 90 days old. Else, you can not transfer Avios to or from Iberia.
• The minimum Avios you can transfer between accounts is 1.

Tip: British Airways is the only airline you can transfer avios to or from all airlines. So, for any transfer between these airlines you will need to route your avios via British Airways.

Transfer Rules

Here are some transfer rules you should be aware about:

• Qatar Airways Avios can only be transferred with British Airways
• Finnair Avios can only be transferred with British Airways
• Iberia Avios can be transferred with British Airways & AerLingus.
• British Airways Avios can be transferred to all the airlines.
• You don’t need to transfer Avios from your British Airways account to your Qatar Airways account, as you can use them from your Qatar Airways account. However, the reverse is not possible.

So, it is best to transfer avios between airlines via British Airways.

Transfer Avios Using British Airways

To begin transferring Avios, you will need a British Airways Account. You can initiate the transfer by visiting this link. However, this link can’t be accessed from India, so you will need a VPN.

Qatar Airways & Finnair with British Airways

As said, you would have to route Avios via British Airways, so once you have a British Airways account, go to this link or this. Once you click the link, you can easily transfer Avios to or from British Airways to Qatar Airways or Finnair.

Choose the partner with whom you want to transfer points. You will need to log in to both your British Airways and Partner Airlines frequent flyer accounts.

If your accounts match those of your partner airlines, you will get the option to transfer Avios.

Upon successful transfer, you will also receive an email confirming the transfer. A similar process is to be done for Qatar Airways.

Now, if you want to transfer with the Iberia or Aer Lingus, you can do so here and as per the steps below:

Transfer Avios using Iberia

You can transfer Avios between Iberia and Aer Lingus via this link on British Airways. However, I couldn’t do the same due to some error. So, I used the Iberia website with this link. You can choose the airline to transfer Avios here.

Once you log in, choose if you want to transfer to or from Iberia.

You can use your British Airways account to transfer Avios to or from Aer Lingus via this link and the steps below. Alternatively, you can use Iberia to transfer Avios between Iberia and Aer Lingus to British Airways.

Is it possible to transfer Avios with customer support?

It is possible via British Airways to transfer Avios over call in case you are facing any technical issues. Give them a call on +44 3444933349.

Bottomline

It is easier to transfer Avios between accounts. However, you will need a British Airways account to do this easily. The transfers are instant and free of charge.