American Airlines or Iberia Business Class?
 

So, my girlfriend and I are flying to BCN on 10/16-10/23. I am new to OneWorld and am working my way up the ranks and have never flown business on them.

On the Ita Matrix, my outgoing flight has a few options with either a stopover in London or a stop in Madrid.

My options out are:

(8:55) Iberia (I) to MAD on a A340 & Business (I) on a A320 to BCN

(6:55) American Airlines (I) to LHR on a 777 & Business (D) on a 767 to BCN

(5:05) American Airlines (I) to MAD on a A340 & Business (J) on a A320 to BCN


We need to fly out of OMA-ORD-JFK before the flights leave out of JFK, but we are extremely flexible as we don't have classes on 10/16 (Friday) and for the return portion, every route gets us back at JFK by 1PM, so we can be back in OMA on the night of 10/23.

So given the 3 options, which would you choose? The layovers are not a big deal as most range for 1-3 hours and we like hanging out in the lounges and people watch. :)

Thanks for the input guys!

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AFAIK, AA does not fly any A340's, so I'm not sure what to make of option 3. Perhaps it's an AA codeshare, operated by IB?

You are right, it is a codeshare. It's an IB flight, just like option A, but an earlier time. :p

Which would you prefer? AA or IB?

I would probably go with option two, as AA's J seat on its 77W is better than IB's J seat on the A340.

(6:55) American Airlines (I) to LHR on a 777 & Business (D) on a 767 to BCN

77W beats any A340 configuration in J - plus you can experience a real intra-european J on the 763.

I'd take a JFK-MAD over a JFK-LHR flight. You'll spend more time in the trans-Atlantic Business, which is, regardless whether it's AA or IB, better than European Business.

The BA 763 to Europe just sucks, half of biz seats don't even have the empty middle seat that the rest of the pathetic European business class has. It is like seating in economy. Just make sure you at least book the middle row biz seats, which have some extra space/empty middle seat.

I know BA flies 767s on LHR-MAD, but I don't think they fly any 767s on LHR-BCN.

It looks like they fly this:

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Bri..._767-300_B.php

I would choose mostly based on schedule convenience. Option 2 also has the transit from T3 to T5, which is not fun.

Oh, and you may want to pick the AA coded flights to get the extra EQPs and bonus points, if these are paid flights.

All BCN flights depart from T3 now.

Take the AA flight. the IB segment on an A320 will be miserable.

Yep, put it on 24 hr hold so I can buy it tomorrow morning!

I figured the 77W > Airbus.


Bought straight through AA for the EQPs. Paying out of pocket.

Good to hear! We have around 2 hours in JFK, so it'll be plenty of time, even with a terminal change.

Thanks for your input!