No more miles remain, must pay cash for Business: AA or IB?
 

When I had AA miles, I always redeemed for a partner flight, never an AA flight due to the poor quality of service on AA. Now however, I no longer have any AA miles remaining, so I must pay cash for business class travel (between NY JFK and BCN Barcelona).

Has AA business class improved enough in the last few years to warrant giving them my money, or should I travel for cash with Iberia instead?

I'm interested in the comfort of the business class seat, the tastiness of the meal service, the luggage not getting misdirected, and the general ambiance and staff attitude.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and opinions.

IB has a pretty consistent Business Plus product (I've enjoyed the A330), IMO better f & b than AA, variable cabin service, generally poor ground support for all things.

AA has a very inconsistent product - 763, 757, A330, 777 "NGBC" with angled flat, 772 with better full flat but mostly somewhat shoddy Zodiac seats, one only with the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats, excellent 77W hard product (via LHR) and frequent aircraft substitutions; f & b not quite as good, very variable soft product from warm and friendly to dog pound attendant.

In my book, price matters.

Thank you, Moderator, for sharing! And thanks for re-directing to a more appropriate forum.

Both AA and IB have inconsistent hard product (different seats in different configurations). Both AA and IB have some aircraft with older business class seats that are angled-flat and paired, so the window seat must climb over the aisle seat. Both AA and IB have some aircraft with new business class seats that are true lie-flat and each seat has aisle access. Both AA and IB have some routes that consistently get the new seats and many routes where you never know until close to the flight which it will be.

I think AA's new seats are better than IB's new seats. AA's seats and aisles are wider, and all seats have more privacy, compared to IB's new seats. AA is must better at doing a meal service quickly if you want, or all at once. IB has better food, but the meal service is rigid and inflexible, so on most flights you must choose if you want to eat or get a good amount of sleep, you can't do both. AA is rolling out pajamas and bedding in business.

Thank you, Anabolism. Oh, such a dreary choice to make.