Hello, Frequent Flyers.

I'm a fairly INfrequent flyer, trying to book a trip to South Africa using AA miles. We'll be flying from Chicago to UK or Europe, then on to South Africa. For the dates we want to go, there are business class award seats on BA going to SA, but not seats coming back. So I'm tentatively booked to come back on Iberian, going through Madrid.

We've flown BA's business class to SA once before and really appreciated the flat beds and the lounge amenities at Heathrow. Can anyone tell me what business class is like on Iberia? Also, what about lounges in the Madrid airport?

And, is there any other airline in the oneworld group that flies to/from South Africa?

Thanks so much for any help you can give me.

Celia

IB and BA are your only Europe-SA options. IB J is a notch below BA but still good enough. The lounges in MAD are very good. If you liked LHR, hassles and all, you will love MAD.

Iberia's business class product is quite comfortable IMO - not flat beds but enough recline and width to make for a good sleep. Opinions vary on the food and service - we flew them several times last month and thought the food and service were more than adequate.

In my opinion the big advantage to IB over BA is not having to go through Heathrow or risking your bags going walkabout courtesy of BA. Barajas airport (MAD) is enormous but very well organized and much easier to go through than LHR.

The Iberia lounges at Madrid are absolutely wonderful. If you fly overnight MAD-JNB you can have a hot supper in the lounge, then move directly to lights out after takeoff.

Other OW airlines serving SA are Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong and Qantas from Sydney.

Thank you, Viajero and Gardyloo.

I'm glad to hear that the IB seat is comfortable; 17 inch width and 34 in pitch didn't sound that great to me when I read it on the IB web site. Do you know where I can find out what kind of plane they use on the JNB-MAD flight, and on the MAD-ORD flight? And also see a seating chart?

The thing that makes Heathrow bearable is the availability of a massage, facial, and shower in the Terraces lounge. Are there any amenities like that provided to the business class traveler at MAD?

Thanks again.

Celia

Iberia buries its seat maps in the "About Iberia" heading on its website. Look for fleet information, "plane" tab. I think most ORD-MAD service is on 346s, then 343s to JNB.

I think there are commercial massage providers available at MAD but nothing like the Molton Brown spa thing at LHR (which I believe M-B is dropping - thought I heard that someplace.) There are certainly showers available in the lounges. Aside from that, I think the Velazquez Lounge at T4S (where you'd arrive/leave) is a cut above the Terraces lounges at LHR and on a par with many first class lounges elsewhere.

You read the wrong section. Those measurements are for short haul (intra Europe) flights. Intercontinental IB flights (your flights) feature MUCH better seats than those. Look for the Business Plus section, not Business Class.

Cute mistake. European biz class is a scam. Here's the longhaul seat. I have only flown IB in steerage and steerage up front, but I have been told that the longhaul biz is very nice.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1070677/M/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0732166/M/

Yes Iberia domestic J is 3x3 typically with the middle seat blocked out.

Don't know if its the case for all but on the plane I flew, it even had fixed armrests... what a joke.

If you're an AAdvantage member, you also have the option of flying Turkish through Istanbul. I've got a reward ticket in Business class from JNB to LHR via IST in March (the outbound LHR-JNB is on BA). Their new business class product looks quite similar to Iberia's longhaul product. The only downside for this routing, is that you have to endure approx 3 hours of the Turkish short-haul biz b/w IST and LHR (instead of flying direct on BA or having a shorter hop from MAD to LHR on IB).

IB have two interiors on the A320s used for Euro J service, an old one (blue seats) where the armrests can move but can't be raised (due to padding on the top of the armrest) and a new interior (gray leather seats) where the armrests can be raised and which offers more legroom because the seats are "slimline" design. Much preferred. I believe the "old style" bulkhead row seats have fixed armrests similar to exit rows.

Another case where an AA partner award is better than an all-OW itinerary. The 75K mile Europe-Africa J award is still the best deal in the Aadvantage scheme IMO.

Thank you all for this wealth of information.

Flyerfox, I looked at Turkish Airlines, and talked with an AA rep, and given my dates and desire to fly into JNB and out of CPT, I think I can work out using BA one way and Turkish the other.

Thanks again for sharing your expertise!

Celia