Chase Iberia Airline Credit Card “90,000 Welcome Bonus”

Chase Iberia Card Iberia Airline Co-branded Credit Card

Highlights

• Generous welcome bonus: The miles from the sign-up bonus can still book several domestic U.S. flights, and transferring them to BA miles to ticket flights is also a good option. It’s just not very cost-effective in premium cabins on international flights.
• $1,000 big-spend bonus: Spend $30,000 in a calendar year and you’ll get an extra $1,000 voucher. The voucher can only be used on flights operated by Iberia, and it can only be used when the primary cardholder and one companion are traveling on the same flight in the same cabin. If you happen to have that need, it’s effectively an extra 3% cash back on all spending!
• 10% off Iberia fares: Book through the dedicated Iberia and Chase link (iberia.com/chase10) to get a 10% discount.

Cons

• The bonus categories aren’t used very often, so everyday earning is limited.

Iberia/British Airways Miles Overview

• For direct redemptions, you must book round-trip tickets, and the required miles are calculated based on the total round-trip distance. You can use https://www.iberia.com/us/iberiaplus/use-avios/?language=en&market=us to check the miles required.
• You can exchange Avios and BA miles 1:1 on the Avios website.
• Redemptions are easy to use. Award tickets on oneworld partners can all be searched on the website (for BA website award searches, see the second half of this article). Award tickets on non-oneworld partners can also be booked by phone.
• There are plenty of AA/US flights within the United States, and friends living in the Northwest can also redeem Alaska Airlines flights. Within the U.S., BA award coverage is extremely broad.
• For East Coast U.S. to Europe, round-trip award tickets can be as low as 12,500 Avios one-way (BOS-DUB), and a one-way from New York to Berlin only costs 20,000 Avios.
• A short-haul powerhouse: New York to Toronto, San Francisco to Los Angeles, and Shanghai to Tokyo are only 7,500 Avios one-way, while Hong Kong to Taipei is only 4,500 Avios one-way. You can read more about BA miles redemptions in this article.
• Redeeming AA flights gets you Group 1 boarding.

My Take

Long-term keep: If you don’t fly a lot of BA/Iberia every year, or if you can make use of that $1,000 voucher, this is a classic one-year card. Once you’ve met the sign-up spending requirement, you can basically cancel it when the annual fee posts in the second year. Of course, if you can use it, this is a killer card. After all, a $1,000 voucher is very generous. Compared with something like the British Airways companion ticket, which waives one person’s fare but still requires you to pay hefty taxes and fees, this straight $1,000 discount is much easier to use.

How to Apply

• Because this card is co-branded with Iberia, if you already have an IB frequent-flyer number, you can enter it during the application; if not, one will be assigned automatically.

Chase Credit Card Application Guide

• Chase application status check link (login required). Or call: 888-338-2586
• The 5/24 rule: if you have opened more than 5 new cards in the past 2 years (including cards from other banks), you will not be approved for a new Chase card
• You can be approved for at most two Chase credit cards within every 30 days
• If you have received the welcome bonus on this card within the past 24 months (48 months for the Sapphire family), your application will be automatically denied
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-453-9719) to expedite card approval or request a review of a denied application.
• Having a Chase Checking account can help with getting approved for a credit card
• More on applying for Chase credit cards

Application Link

• Chase Iberia Credit Card