However, I'd jump on these sooner rather than later, as I doubt this availability will last. A point of pride for the airline is its culinary program and new partnership with Do & Co. Expect impressive Spanish fare with a well-balanced wine list to go with it. I avoid them at any cost. Thanks for sharing and I look forward reading the rest of the trip report especially the Qatar's experience on the 787-9. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/23271d62-c1c8-4817-9fa4-8afdbda97892"; Plus, your own feed of TPG content. js.className = n; I hope all airlines arent like this. Why dont they? 50,000 points transferred from Chase, sitting in Iberias program. That's all you can ask for. Eye of the Flyer may receive a commission from the links below. Likewise, awards from Los Angeles to Madrid cost 42,500 Avios in business class instead of 51,000 Avios. So all in, I think it cost me about $600 for 2 tickets after taxes for this route in biz class. Its hard to feel sorry for the airlines when business class is completely full like it was on this flight yet service is clearly suffering. OK you travel for free? Search for Madrid flights on KAYAK now to find the best deal. P.S. Despite the later than posted boarding, the main cabin door still closed at 10:45PM. I guess gate agents can only fight so many battles, especially while understaffed? Do your best to avoid these seats. A professional journalist, he joined the company in November 2018 after five years covering state and national politics for The Associated Press and working at several newspapers across the country. As it turns out, Iberia doesnt participate in TSA PreCheck. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). It was enough to refresh Instagram a few times, and that was about it. Cava for me, thanks. Getting to gate E21 requires taking the train. Required fields are marked *. Some aren't able to book this far in advance. In the end, I paid 68,000 Avios and about $210 in cash fees each for my wife and me for these round-trip tickets. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It has a floor space of 2,500 square meters. For example, American Airlines charges 57,500 miles one-way, and United Airlines charges 60,000 United Airlines miles one-way. My first time on Iberia. The Lounge is spacious and can accommodate up to 500 customers. Just because one agent tells you something doesnt mean its true. However, there is one additional step you'd need to take to book award tickets for more than one passenger, one that isn't typical of U.S. frequent flyer programs. Iberia currently operates 3 different aircraft on flights between Madrid and the United States the A330-200, A330-300, and A350-900. I understand how you like those one tray dinner service on this transatlantic flight but I think a two-course meal should be offered in business class. The lavatories were pretty standard, and werent kept particularly clean. There were plenty of new Hollywood releases on board, along with a mix of some recent hits and a few classics as well. Use those dates on Iberia should reprice to $481 (Basic Economy) and $651 (Regular Economy). As you can see, Iberia has opted to operate flights to America solely using Airbus aircraft. The food, entertainment and service were excellent, but what wowed me was the flat-reclining seat. In the center section, seats alternate between being closer to the aisle and closer to the center. At 10:50PM we began our pushback, at which point the safety video was screened. While it's a beautiful airport (specifically Terminal 4/4S), it's expansive and transiting between terminals can take quite a while. Earn $900 bonus cashback(90,000 points)after spending $6,000 in purchases within three (3) months of card membership approval. Its not bad, but theres nothing particularly good, either. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); Thus far, the airline will also offer fully reclinable seats on all Business Class flights departing from Spain en route to the United States of America. Agree. I do believe that Ben could make this concept more clear by putting a short explanatory note under each rating. Even domestic flights within Spain. Chicago to Madrid can now be booked for as . 2023 Thrifty Traveler. And for our Midwestern readers looking to book a trip for early next year, that chance may be here, as we've just seen a healthy amount of award space for up to six travelers from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Madrid (MAD) and back in early 2021. It's the same reason that a three star hotel could get a five star rating for me, and a five star hotel could get a three star rating. But dont expect to be waited on hand and foot. The cabin lights came up about 90 minutes before landing. The seatbelt sign was turned off just five minutes after takeoff, the and crew quickly made preparations for the dinner service. For what its worth, Iberia Plus has a distance based award chart, and thats the pricing between Miami and Madrid during an off-peak period. Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card Limited-time promotion:BEST EVER OFFER! With British Airways, it's a much cleaner process to find the flights you want once you've located award space through American. Opinions expressed here are the authors alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. In addition, all of the account details including your name and contact information must be identical between the two for this to work. It's a pretty standard business class seat. You can transfer points from American Express, Chase, and Marriott Bonvoy directly to an Iberia account. I always forget that Iberia's chart is peak and distance-based, so sometimes you end up paying up to 15k points less! Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team. @ Daniel from Finland -- MKLDH's explanation is correct, I will try to add something that makes it clear how I come up with a rating. While I tried to rest for a few hours, I dont think I ended up getting even a minute of sleep. Iberia business class may not win win awards for the world's best business class, but it's more than competitive with other airlines' business class seats. For the mileage that most airlines charge to fly in economy, Iberia business class is one of the cheapest ways to get to Europe using miles in style. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Get our daily email for the latest in travel, flight deals, and how About 20 minutes later, flight attendants came out with the starter. He assured me that specifically out of Chicago the plane is an A340-300, and that all "Business cabin" flights out of Chicago are now the Business Plus Seats (in one cabin,not a split cabin) and that all seats recline flat. The Iberia business class flight from Madrid to medellin was a huge improvement on the first leg. While not industry leading, Iberia offers a solid business class experience, with comfortable seats, excellent and reasonably priced Wi-Fi, and good enough food and service. Find business class flights to Madrid on Icelandair, Azores Airlines, LOT and more. Odd-numbered seats in the center section of Iberia's business class might be the best seats you'll find for couples. These planes are fairly old and showing their age, with lots of scuffs and dings throughout the cabin and seats. Heck, there are airlines that participate in TSA PreCheck that Ive never heard of (whats Key Lime Air? Plan: Surf 3 hours (100 mb) Price 15 euro. Cold food and one glass of wine only. Interestingly BA's hand carry limit is 23kg, and Easyjet used not to have a limit (it's now 15kg). IB crew can be a bit disinterested, though they are generally much nicer to my Spanish-speaking husband than me even when I make an effort to speak a little Spanish. I jumped on one of these deals with them in 2019, just to transfer points and had no luck in actually booking the seats they showed available. Hi Robert, it looks like Iberia hasnt yet loaded its schedule beyond March 27 for any flights, period, be they cash or award tickets. And that's due in part to a fairly impressive spread of food, including hot entrees like chicken and peppers and ginger roasted lamb chops. As an international business class passenger on a Oneworld airline, you get access to American Airline's Flagship Lounge at Chicago-O'Hare (ORD). Calle de Manzanares, n 4, Planta 1, Oficina 108, 28005, Madrid, Spain, with VAT . Thanks to Iberia and British Airways' distance-based award pricing, you'll find the cheapest rates flying to or from Boston, Chicago, New York, or Washington, D.C. Read our full guide on how to book business class to Spain from just 34,000 points each way! Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. You and I must never travel to the same airports (although I admittedly fly domestic 90% of the time). Controls were simple and easy to access even when laying down. But kudos to American for serving real champagne, unlike Delta. The flight will be operated between June 1 and October 29, 2022, with the following schedule: IB6146 Madrid to Dallas departing 3:55PM arriving 7:50PM I was hungry so it worked (yes I know not very high praise but there you are). Here at The Points Guy, we love jumping on award sweet spots to make the most of our hard-earned points and miles. I think the point here was about weighing carry-on, rather than checked bags. Overall it was a completely adequate flight. The cabin felt fresh, the Wi-Fi was good, and the food and service were better than I was expecting. Ben, if you're a seasoned traveller as you claim you are, how can you not know that CLEAR does not give you expedited security??? Seems to be working normally now in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I selected seat 6L, a true window seat toward the back of the cabin (Ford was seated immediately behind me). All rights reserved. You could book the departing flight now for May, but youd have to wait to book the return flight Iberia flights are only available 361 days in advance, so it will be a few months before a return flight in July is available. I especially enjoyed the pretzel bread. It also has codeshare agreements with more than 20 other carriers. Every single request and interaction I had was met with a quick smile and a nod somewhat curt, but polite. And because Iberia uses a peak pricing calendar, that July flight will likely be more expensive than 34k (which is the off-peak price). Iberia brands its long-haul Business Class product as Business Plus. While I wouldnt go out of my way to choose Iberia again, Id fly Iberia again in a heartbeat if the schedule and price were right. With Clear and TSA Pre I'd guess it hasn't taken me more than 10 minutes to get through security in the last 5 or 6 years. Fly round-trip from Newark from $2,371, from New York from $2,386, from Boston from $2,586, from Washington, D.C. from $2,766, from Chicago from $2,797. On the other hand, breakfast looked good and I appreciate a full hot breakfast service being offered. Iberias A330-300 business class cabin consists of 29 seats, in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration. Earns 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. The strange gate area layout did not make this easy. @ Gene Chan -- It's supposed to give you expedited security to the actual security line, by allowing you to bypass the standard ID check. The last one. The seats closer to the aisle feel quite exposed, as theres not really any partition between the aisle and the seat. Kyle Potter is the executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, covering everything from aviation news to travel deals to in-depth guides on using airline miles. Iberia business class offers the cheapest way to get to Europe in style using miles. Then you're ready to send your credit card points over to Iberia to lock in these award tickets. Why is that? The carrier uses a distance-based award chart to calculate the number of Avios you need for your flight, and you can get the lowest price booking on off-peak dates. After takeoff I took a look at the inflight entertainment selection. In particular, when sleeping many people in these seats have their legs just kind of spill over into the aisle, given the lack of a partition, which can be tricky. But there was one big issue. It's honestly one of the best features of these seats. You can get them easily: British Airways is a Chase transfer partner as well as an Amex transfer partner and Capital One transfer partner while Iberia partners with both Chase and American Express. Why is Miami airport so bad? Iberia's award search tool has a nasty habit of logging you out. 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