JJeffrey

I'm guessing your current itinerary is a sAAver award and you're contemplating changing to an AAnytime for the one stop option?

I would never waste the miles for an AAnytime award when you have a perfectly good sAAver option booked, but that's just me. Save the AAnytime miles for a time when there's no other option.

amyers

Yes, that's what I'm contemplating. Thanks.

jlp187

I flew IB in J from MAD-JFK some years ago, and I thought it was way better in every aspect than my JFK-BCN on AA metal. planes were different so it hard to make an apples to apples comparison on seats, but the soft product was much better on IB.

wolfeman27

I've not done J on IB but FYI there's also AA FCO-ORD. It's an old 777 through April 3, then switches to a CIP 767 on April 4. Having done both of those, I'd prefer the 330 through CLT. Just putting out another option if less connecting flights is your goal...

JDiver

IMO, not even a question in terms of comfort: Iberia Business Plus would be the answer. Newer aircraft cabin, all aisle access seating, better beverages and food, and often better service (surprisingly enough, given the old Iberia). The Velázquez lounge in MAD is nice - "Rincón del Vino" offers wine tasting of Spanish wines. If you already have this booked with miles, keep it; Iberia awards are tricky to impossible to get right now.

OTOH, if you're more intent on minimizing connections...

3Cforme

I think I would set an ExpertFlyer alert on FCO-CLT in saver.

jcf27

Greetings,

I'll be traveling JFK-MAD-JFK with a paid bus. ticket with IB, in the near future. I've been currently demoted to PLT with AA. Also have TSA √ via GE(for the return).

from the practical perspective, does it make sense to ticket via IB to eliminate the middle man? I have no status with them and I don't care much for the AA miles/points either.

As far as I know, IB does not participate with TSA. Is there a fast track lane for bus. class at JFK?

TIA

--J

pmanchuk

In my opinion, if you don't have a pressing reason to book through AA, I'd go directly through IB... at a minimum, you wouldn't then end up going through the circular "we can't help you, we don't have their res booking number, you need to call them, blah blah blah" routine so many of us have encountered when trying to do the simplest things such as getting J seat assignments.

Alfonso XIV

You're correct, Iberia is not "TSA-approved". So it won't make any difference whether you book through AA or IB-- Iberia passengers can't get "Pre-check" on their boarding passes. Unless it's possible for randomized selection to occur which I doubt.

I don't think there is a fast-track security lane for Business class passengers at JFK.

There is no TSA in Madrid, but I believe Barajas has a fast-track lane for premium passengers. GE will serve you well on returning through JFK.

ijgordon

Nonetheless, still worth mentioning that you'll earn more elite-qualifying miles if purchased as a codeshare through AA (200%, vs. 150% through IB), and you'll also earn redeemable miles at 5x the $ spent (before elite bonuses), which on a business class ticket could easily be much more than if you purchased via IB and only got base miles plus class of service bonus.

T7 has a premium class lane near the BA F/J check-in. I don't know if it's exclusive to BA pax (but pretty sure QF can use it, and CX when they were in T7). I don't know how convenient it is to the IB check-in, and you enter the terminal far from the business class lounge, as opposed to regular security that drops you off right near the main lounges. Unless the regular line is particularly long, it's probably not worth seeking out the priority line.

alluu

We are thinking about going to Spain in the fall. I don't believe there are any direct flights out of SFO. We live in San Francisco and our flight options are the Oneworld carriers. I'm AA EP and she is AA Gold. We plan to fly business class. We are indifferent whether we fly in / our of BCN or MAD as we will be going to both cities.

I've narrowed it down to two flight options (and one distant third option).

Option 1 - American
SFO - JFK - BCN - The flight from SFO to JFK will be on a transcontinental A321 and the flight from JFK - BCN will be on a 777-200ER.

Option 2 - Iberia
SFO - LAX - MAD - The short flight from SFO to LAX will be on an Embraer 175 and the flight from LAX to MAD will be on A330-200.

Option 3 - American / Iberia
SFO - JFK - MAD - The flight from SFO to JFK will be on a transcontinental A321 and then we have the option of flying to MAD on an American 767-300 or Iberia A340-600. We aren't really considering this option as it feels like a blend of 1 and 2.

Option 2 is about $400 more person than Option 1. So my question really is is the soft and hard product on Iberia better than American that you would pay $400 more to fly Iberia. We haven't flown Iberia before and we've flown AA 777-300ER to HKG from LAX and the hard / soft products were great. I do SFO - JFK fairly regularly and when I've flown transcontinental business I've had no complaints.

Personally I would prefer what feels like a direct flight (outside of the one hour flight to LAX) being on the plane for 11 hours straight over two shorter flights that are 5 and 7 hours respectively but if it is a tie or American is better I'd go with Option 1. American has better WIFI too so that's a plus. What would you do? Would be helpful to hear from AA customers who have flown Iberia as well. Thanks in advance for your input.

OldNewYorker

In terms of hard product, IB 330 = IB 340, AA 772 > IB 330 > AA 767, AA 321T >>> E75. As you say the wifi on Iberia is virtually unusable.

The soft product can be a toss up between the two.

Total travel time is approx equal between 1&2, but as you pointed out the duration of LAX-MAD would allow for a better overnight rest. Connecting in JFK is probably less painful than LAX.

Personally I would go w/ option 1, primarily for the $800 savings and better hard product.

SiempreBCNJFK

I personally prefer the A330/A340 J over the AA 772, but not at a $400 premium.

Have you considered SFO-DFW-MAD? Not sure on the pricing, but AA operates a 789 on that route. Haven't tried that J seat yet.

critterchick

We fly out of LAX and I prefer to find a flight that will get me to my destination in the afternoon or evening - morning arrivals wipe me out for a couple of days. Do any of the routes you're thinking of do that? My guess is that only option 2 does. It would be worth $800 to us to be able to enjoy Europe immediately instead of spending two days in a fog.

Redeemed

I would think twice about booking a flight that has you flying Iberia metal. I booked (through AA) a flight that included a transatlantic business segment on Iberia. Delayed flight (mechanical) caused a misconnect in Madrid and reroute on a train- which Iberia did not ticket properly so we ended paying for it ourselves as we were already away from the airport at the regional train depot. After 6 months we finally received reimbursement for our economy train fare but it took many emails and phone calls. We still have not received the EC 261/2004 compensation due for our delayed arrival. Their customer service is abysmal- I truly think they instruct their employees to lie. The inflight service was nothing special either, rushed service.