I'm totally new to this, so going on what I've read here so far I thought I'd credit them to AA. I looked at IB and didn't like their programme at all. Should I reconsider?

You are right, there's a lot of info in the forum, but being a complete "novato" on these matters it takes me forever to find things, although I really put hours and hours into it; will keep trying though, that's for sure. To find price tables is easy enough, but when you get down to taxes (not a small matter these days) and other incidentals the information is less easy to find. To establish a true MAD vs CAI comparison I need to take into account taxes, mad-cai-mad fare, hotels, airport transfers, meals, bank fees for wiring funds, no c/c bonuses, etc., which shrinks the price difference down to the point where you ask yourself if it is really worth the hassle. Besides, I have a TA right here in Madrid who takes ten [local] calls from me a day without a single complaint, and that also counts.

You have done both MAD and CAI. If you were to do a xONEx one right now, where would you start it from? (based purely on total, all in, after tax prices)