How to Move Avios Between 7 Airlines (And Why You Should)
Most people think Avios is just British Airways, but it's actually a shared currency across 7 different airlines:
- ✈️ British Airways
- ✈️ Qatar Airways
- ✈️ Iberia
- ✈️ Aer Lingus
- ✈️ Finnair
- ✈️ Vueling
- ✈️ Loganair
They all use the same Avios points, but each has completely different redemption charts and sweet spots. And the best part? You can move your Avios between all of them - for free, instantly, at a 1:1 ratio.
How to do it
Just go to avios.com, pick your source program, choose where you want to send the points, enter the amount, and you're done. No fees, no limits, takes seconds.
One catch
Qatar and Finnair don't connect directly to the other programs - they have to go through British Airways first.
So if you want to move Avios from Qatar to Iberia, you'd do Qatar → British Airways → Iberia. Two steps, but still free and instant. Think of BA as the central hub that connects everyone.
For India
Amex transfers to BA and Qatar at a 1:0.5 ratio - not amazing, but that's what we have to work with.
Now, Amex doesn't transfer to Finnair directly. But you can route around it by going Amex → British Airways → Finnair. Same thing works in reverse if you ever need to shuffle points around between programs.
Before you link accounts
Few things to get right first:
✅ Turn on 2FA on all programs
✅ Name and email should match exactly across all accounts
✅ Date of birth should match (if you registered it)
✅ You can only transfer between your own accounts
⚠️ One big warning: Once you link accounts, you can't unlink them. So double check all your details before connecting.
Watch Expiry Dates
One thing to keep in mind when moving Avios around: different programs have different expiry rules. Most Avios programs give you 36 months of inactivity before points expire and Finnair is stricter at just 18 months. Make sure you're not parking points somewhere they'll disappear.
Why bother with all this?
Say you've got Avios sitting in BA but there's no good award availability. Just move them to Iberia or Qatar and check there. Found a sweet spot redemption on one airline? Pull your Avios from everywhere else into that program.
That's the whole point - your points, your choice where to use them.
