Iberia Visa Signature Card Review 2023

Full Review of Iberia Visa Signature Card

Pros Explained

• Huge One-Time Offer: Provided you can meet its spending requirements, this card’s twin opportunities to earn 100,000 Avios (the rewards currency used by Iberia) during the first year of card ownership add up to one of the most valuable bonus offers out there. The bonuses together are worth an estimated $2,100 when used for flights, based on our estimated average value of 2.1 cents per Avios when redeemed for travel on Iberia, Aer Lingus, or British Airways.
• $1,000 Voucher for $30,000 in Spending: If you charge $30,000 to the Iberia Signature Visa within a calendar year, you get a generous $1,000 discount when buying two tickets on the same Iberia flight. That’s over 10 times the cost of the card’s annual fee.
• 10% Discount on Flights: As a cardholder, you’ll get a 10% discount on Iberia flights for you and up to eight companions if you use your card and book through Iberia.com/Chase10. Taxes and fees are excluded from the discount.

Cons Explained

• No Iberia Flight Benefits: Unlike most other airline co-brand cards, the Iberia Signature Visa offers no in-flight benefits. Competing cards, such as the AAdvantage Citi Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard, offer such extras as additional free checked bags and discounts on in-flight purchases.

The Iberia Visa Signature credit card is best suited to those who fly at least occasionally on Iberia and plan to make a minimum of $1,000 a year in Iberia ticket purchases. With the card’s 10% discount on Iberia flights, that spending level will comfortably justify the card’s $95 fee. Even if your spending falls short of that mark, the value provided by the card’s one-time offer obviously makes the fee worth paying, potentially for years to come.

Beyond that $1,000 mark, further spending on Iberia flights continues to deliver the same discount, including that for the tickets of up to eight companions who accompany you on flights. For those who travel even intermittently in groups to visit Iberia destinations—for visits to family, perhaps—this ongoing discount could easily run to hundreds or even thousands of dollars in savings every year.

Iberia Visa Signature Card Bonus

The card offers the chance to earn up to 100,000 Avios within the first 12 months of your account opening. First, you can earn 75,000 Avios when you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months. Then, you can earn an additional 25,000 Avios when you spend $20,000 in the full 12 months. We value this initial bonus at $1,050 when redeemed for flights.

Discount Travel Voucher

Charge $30,000 every calendar year and receive a $1,000 discount on two Iberia tickets for the same flight. The primary cardholder must be one of the two travelers and you must want to go where Iberia flies. That's a list dominated by destinations in Spain and Latin America. It’s unclear (and Iberia was unable to clarify) if the $1,000 can be applied only to the two base fares or whether it can also be used to pay taxes and fees. 

Rewards Earning Details

Iberia has a partnership with British Airways and Aer Lingus, which also use Avios as their rewards currency. So you’ll earn five Avios per dollar spent with those carriers as well as with Iberia. The card also offers three Avios per dollar on hotel accommodations and one Avios per dollar on everything else.  

Rewards Redemption Details

Iberia is a member of the Oneworld Alliance. That means that you can redeem Avios not only for flights on Iberia, British Airways, and Aer Lingus but also for flights with other alliance members as well. Those partners include American Airlines, which expands the possibilities to use Avios for flights within the U.S. As with most frequent flyer programs, you’ll get the best value if you use your rewards for award flights. But you can also use them for flight upgrades, hotel stays, rental cars, and experiences with more than 90 partners. 

Transferring Points

Since British Airways and Aer Lingus use the same Avios currency as Iberia, members of Iberia Plus have the option to transfer rewards to the British Airways Executive Club or Aer Lingus AerClub. With Iberia’s routes being necessarily limited, that option provides you with a lot of flexibility in using your rewards.

While you may not be able to transfer Avios earned with Iberia to all of the airline's Oneworld Alliance partners, you can use your rewards to book flights with those airlines.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

Among the more lucrative ways to redeem your Iberia Avios is for international flights, especially with Oneworld Alliance partners. You can also get more value for business-class tickets, as a rule. That said, of course, both business-class and most international awards typically demand a large number of Avios, especially when the two are combined. 

For example, we found a business-class flight from New York City to Prague on Iberia and British Airways for 98,250 Avios plus $844.30 in taxes and fees. The same flight cost $5,581.25 in cash, giving you a value of roughly 4.8 cents per Avios, after deducting the taxes and fees. You can use the Avios calculator to get an idea of how much a flight to your top destination will cost you in rewards.

To determine how much your Avios are worth, divide the ticket’s cash price by the number of Avios you’ll need to book it. For example, divide $1,000 by 100,000 Avios to get 1 cent apiece.

If your award ticket has taxes and fees attached, include that cost in your calculation. For example, if you have to pay $844.30 plus 98,250 Avios to cover a $5,581.25 ticket, you’re effectively using your rewards to cover a $4,736.95 purchase (representing the cash price less the taxes and fees on the award flight). 

Iberia Visa Signature Card's Outstanding Benefits

• Baggage-delay insurance: If your baggage is delayed over six hours, you may qualify for up to $300 in reimbursements for essential purchases like clothing and toiletries.
• Lost-luggage reimbursement: If you or an immediate family member’s checked or carry-on luggage is damaged or lost by the carrier, you can get up to $3,000 per passenger to replace your belongings.

Standard Benefits

• Secondary rental-car insurance
• Purchase protection
• Extended warranty

Cardholder Experience

Chase, the card’s issuer, was ranked fourth among national credit card issuers in J.D. Power’s 2021 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, behind American Express, Discover, and Capital One.

The bank provides free access to the VantageScore credit score through its Credit Journey program. You don’t need to be a cardholder to register, though. Also, many card issuers provide free access to your FICO credit score, which is used more by lenders. So having VantageScore access doesn’t provide a lot of value.

Chase offers 24/7 customer service by phone, which is standard for major card issuers. You can also send a secure message through your online account. You can manage your account online or through the Chase mobile app.

Security Features

You can lock and unlock your card from the Chase mobile app, which can help prevent fraud if you misplace your card or someone steals it. Many (but not all) national card issuers offer this feature.

The card is also contactless-enabled, which allows you to tap your card to a card reader instead of swiping or inserting it. This tap-and-pay feature provides the same security as your card’s chip and streamlines purchasing efforts.

Fees to Watch Out For

For the most part, Iberia Visa Signature card’s fees are standard for the credit card industry and similar airline credit cards. However, there are some airline credit cards that will waive their annual fee for the first year, which can be helpful if you want some time to test out a card.

Final Verdict

If you fly Iberia even occasionally, especially with companions, the Iberia Visa Signature card can pay off, thanks in large part to its bonuses. These start with the card’s 100,000 Avios one-time offer for certain spending within the first 12 months. Then there are the ongoing bonuses—a 10% discount on Iberia flights and a $1,000 flight voucher every time you spend $30,000 in any calendar year.

This card also offers appealing versatility. You can earn Avios at the card’s best rate for traveling not only on Iberia but with British Airways and Aer Lingus. Also, Avios can be redeemed directly not only with those three airlines but with the many other members of the Oneworld Alliance through Iberia’s booking system.