MilesBuzz! - Biz Class Barcelona - Best Approach?

Going to Barcelona from New York with 82 year old mom. Using miles to either buy/upgrade or miles only in Business Class. Any thoughts. I have plenty of AA, Delta, NWA and United miles. Is it best to buy and upgrade or simply use miles. AA biz is 90,000 United is 80,000. Travel 9/17 NYC-BCN, 9/26 BCN-NYC

Update: Got 2 biz class JFK-MAD-BCN on Iberia for travel on 9/16, arrival 9/17. Will spend night in BCN. Return on BCN-GENEVA on Iberia on 9/25 than 9/26 GENEVA-BOS, Mom is heading to Chicago and I to NY, 90,000 each. Does this sound decent. Wish I could get BA NY_LONDON_BCN in Biz Class.

Any good hotels in BCN City or Geneva Airport?
Feedback welcome.

where do you want to fly from?

If you want to be sure of a Business Class seat I'd recommend using miles for award seats. Upgrades are always subject to availability. If others with a higher status than you are also on the list, then you and your mom could be sitting in coach.

If you can grab a miles award, do it. With four airlines and their partners from which to choose you might be lucky. :)

Good luck!

If you want to have true J seating all the way to BCN, you'll need to take either the IB or DL flights from the US; otherwise you'll spend at least a couple hours in "intra-Europe" business class, which is French for "coach and a newspaper".

If you want to have true J seating all the way to BCN, you'll need to take either the IB or DL flights from the US; otherwise you'll spend at least a couple hours in "intra-Europe" business class, which is French for "coach and a newspaper".

But from what I gather even this could be better than the domestic US "F" :confused: class!
Santa Barbara Airlines (S3) do the cheapest transatlantic J seats to Spain (CCS-MAD for $1000 return!). They do fly from the US (MIA) but I couldn't find any US-ES fares. But if I were flying with an 82 y.o. person I'd want the most direct routing, no matter what the cost.

Going to Barcelona from New York with 82 year old mom. Using miles to either buy/upgrade or miles only in Business Class. Any thoughts. I have plenty of AA, Delta, NWA and United miles. Is it best to buy and upgrade or simply use miles. AA biz is 90,000 United is 80,000. Travel 9/17 NYC-BCN, 9/26 BCN-NYC

Thanks


No Z inventory (mileage upgrade) for 9-17 or 9-22. However there are 3 seats out on the 18th and 1 seat returning on the 23rd. B-fare is $1300. So for $1300 and 50K miles you can upgrade for one BE seat. You could upgrade on the outbound only on the second ticket and hope something clears for the return closer to departure. Or you can look and see if the have a straight award BE ticket.

IB J seats are poor, similar to 757 F seats and not really acceptable for an overnight flight. AA J is far more comfortable, as is DL. But if you have the miles you could also redeem IB F, which is good and well worth the difference in cost.

But from what I gather even this could be better than the domestic US "F"

In terms of seat width, seat comfort and legroom the worst US "F" class is still far superior to any intra-European "business" class that I have ever seen. The previous poster's description of intra-European "business" class as "coach with a newspaper" is right on target.

Recently flew delta biz elite JFK>BCN>JFK. Nice service but the seat width is the same as coach.

IB biz class is a joke and a complete waste of money, you mum will not thank you for this