balima

Mr. Balima, Mstr. Balima, a friend and myself will be travelling to Europe next summer. We will be doing Paris and somewhere beach related in Spain. We are very open with dates (sometime late May early June) and destinations in Spain.

So, my question is which has a better Business class product - Iberia or AA? What can I expect in each. We have travelled to Europe before in Business but via United, Austrian Air or Lufthansa. This is our first trip using AA miles. Any suggestions? Please be kind with an AA newbie. I'm just asking about the relative merits of each airline.

BTW, I'm assuming AA or Iberia are my best options. I don't want to fly BA and incurr Heathrow taxes. Other OW airlines don't really seem to be an option.

Thanks ahead of time.

elitetraveler

Fully Flat Horizontal Bed - AA - NO - IB - YES
Chance of Indifferent FAs - AA - YES - IB - YES
Food - AA - Slightly Better
Wine - IB - Slightly Better

My choice would be IB with significantly roomier seating

ilovetofly

My choice as well.

balima

Thanks to all. That makes me happy since it seems that Iberia more available seats (at least the last few months) than American. Now I just need to decide where the best beaches are in Spain. Off to another forum!

Thumper

I've flown to Madrid on Iberia a few times.

Not a bad business product, the seats and wine
do win. Oh, also the open fruit and snack bar.

antonitoNYC

I believe the food is even better in Iberia.
I would recommend Menorca beaches, Ibiza beaches, Cabo de Gata (Almeria), San Sebastian or beaches in the Rias Baixas (Galicia).

JDiver

Nobody has mentioned the lounges in MAD yet - Dalí in T4 if connecting to Schengen - domestic flights is better than any Admirals Club (free food and drinks, and has showers), and for the return to the US, T-4S Velázquez lounge with its self-serve food and drinks (restaurant limited hours) and top notch wine bar (all free) is very nice. Especially now that they do not allow smoking, given the smoking room was very poorly ventilated, not closed off from the adjacent areas and next to the children's play area. (N.B. The lounge attendants are receptionists primarily - you can't expect them to do much for irops and the like.)

The more extensive information about the Business Plus cabin and seating has beem moved to the new Iberia Plus Forum, to this post.

sohony

just flew IB from mad to ord in business (2 class plane). as noted by others food and wine choices are way more interesting than AA, the IB airline club in madrid is outstanding (tho it doesn't have wifi) and business class is 2 x 2 x 2 and definitely roomier back to front--ie the seat doesnt crush your carry on when you lie flat! however at least on my flight the business class seat was a few inches less wide than AA and not totally lie flat (more like the 160-170 degrees AA experience). and if you like bose headphones, bring your own as IB offers a flimsier cheapo kind that arent "noise cancelling".

but overall IB was much better than AA, the larger space between seats made for a much more relaxing flight, and if you have the window seat you can actually get up and stretch without tripping over your neighbor!

JDiver

It may be not every A340 has been retrofitted to the lie flat configuration.

elitetraveler

Assuming OP is flying ORD-MAD-ORD I believe he will have the same lounges either way in MAD. What terminal does IB use at ORD?

Also, I had read all the IB planes had been reconfigured except the last row has less room and is not fully flat in the second cabin, as I remember.

sohony

as i mentioned our flight from mad to ord last weekend was 170 degrees--not totally. it was an airbus 340-600. we weren't in the back row but according to seatguru it isnt any less roomy: http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Ibe...s_A340-600.php

UncleDude

T5 for Arrival

T3 for Departure

dsg10715

here's something to ponder

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...l-mad-eze.html

JDiver

I am talking about MAD, of course - no lounge use in T4-S unless the rare BCN flight departs T-4S, and then I think it would be the Goya lounge. If as usual, Schengen (including BCN) flights depart T-4, and Sala Dalí would be available.

For departure back to the USA, it's always T-4S and the Velázquez lounge.

At ORD, IB departs from the AA international area close by the Flagship Lounge, and of course it arrives at the International Terminal 5.

fly747first

IB J has flat beds now, but the service is often quite bad.