I'm going to be travelling from BCN to Paris in March with a total of 4 people as part of a weeklong vacation in France/Spain. I'm Emerald, and we have 2 Rubys, so we were thinking about taking Iberia to get full benefits. It would be $40 more expensive to take IB vs VY.

One option that came up on google flights was an 11-hr connection in MAD; we'd each have 1 checked bag. We'd take this opportunity to see Madrid as an unplanned bonus during our week. My questions are:

1) would IB send our luggage to ORY ahead of us and have it sitting in a baggage office?

2) would they auto short-check it with the long layover (unlikely but you never know)

3) Should we just go straight to ORY on VY and visit Madrid on our Friday (we're leaving out of MAD on an AA award flight on Saturday noon)?

Thoughts?

Thanks