*A to Spain from US
 

Can anyone offer suggestions for *A to Spain?... or better yet, any rumors of better infiltration into the Spanish market? ;)

Having a really hard time finding good connections to MAD, especially after the end of the UA/EI service... and forget about trying to connect to somewhere like SVQ or XRY.

I know the SpanAir foldup lost a lot of domestic connections in Spain, but you'd think there would be some desire to step up and fill the holes.

*A to Spain from US
 

US flies a nice A330 daily from PHL to MAD. And BCN seasonally.

*A to Spain from US
 

I fly to Madrid about once a year and it is usually easiest to go into FRA and then to MAD on LH.

+1
Unless you can bag LH First or LX First, the US A330 option is the most convenient and best domestic option (in J I'd take it over LH).
We haven't flown TATL J or a domestic carrier TATL in more than 10 years, but I did book DEN-PHL-CDG and the A330 for next month. Only 12 hours vs. 17 hours on LH. Of course, if LH First clears, I'll take the 17 hours. ;)

We are doing Spain for New Years and I was able to book LX First thru ZRH before M&M closed the LifeMiles back door.

Out of EWR you have UA nonstop flights to MAD and BCN. Another alternative is to LIS, on UA preferably over TAP, to get short hop to some more local Spain cities on TAP. Beyond that LX an LH are your best bets.

I think OP is looking for pleasant options. Neither EWR nor UA fall into that category.

That's a matter of opinion. I'll take EWR over JFK, ORD, IAH, IAD and LAX any day of the week. UA J on those flights are all 752 flatbeds which are quite nice. Y...not the most amazing but a solid product with good AVOD, ok food and ok seat pitch. If it were a PMCO 767 I wouldn't chose them until the conversion is complete. Now compare LX F or J and I probably will say go LX. LH F take LH. LH J I'd take UA J because of the hard product & the nonstop. Avoiding TAP is logical.

Sorry but a single aisle narrow body on any airline, let alone UA, is not my idea of a pleasant TATL experience, even with the no charge westbound sightseeing/refueling stop in Gander or Goose Bay.

I can put up with a 757 from EWR on UA, but once I land in MAD, there are hardly any ongoing connections to where I need to be on *A (Southern Spain). I just wish I could book one ticket from the US and make a reasonable connection. LH service is spotty, and I found that I can connect in LIS to SVQ on TP, but that has it's own crazy issues.

So who wants to take bets on which Spanish airline gets eaten by LH in the next year or two to counteract the BA/IB merger?

Or is the Spanish economy is the dumps so bad right now that there is no market for that?

Try BCN and then buy a cheap ticket on LCC Vueling, which flies to lots of cities in the south. BCN has become one of the low fare European hubs.