Originally Posted by
LupineChemist
I would do all I can to avoid mixing a partner booking in there. Can you use cash to get to GUA/SAL, PTY, MEX, HAV or even MIA (but US flights are terrible with availability)
+1. Don't mix partners in. Among other things, it makes the whole itinerary 100% non-refundable. It's not worth the aggravation for a short/cheap flight from Honduras to an Iberia destination. I'm not even 100% sure that the local Avianca subsidiaries in Central America can be booked with Avios.
If I recall correctly LifeMiles have really quite cheap rewards for intra-Central America and you can usually buy Lifemiles for 1.5 cents apiece during promos. IIRC from the last time I looked, it wasn't outrageously expensive to take a private transfer from Copan to SAL, so just driving down to SAL or GUA might not be a horrible idea either.
I would personally just book one-ways. SAL-MAD-FCO and a MAD-SAL. For the CDG-MAD, make sure to double-check with paid fares, since Avios + taxes might be a much worse deal than just buying a ticket.
Also, don't wait until April for your IB+ account to be activated. Go to the Spain settings on iberia.com and go to IberiaPluStore and buy a song from Itunes or something. Who knows if IB+ will put one of those Central American destinations on their 25% discount list in March / April and you will miss out by not having activated your IB+ account.