We are in the very early stages of planning our next trip abroad. We have miles in a number of programs, including AA, UAL and DL, and Amex still has Iberian. Anyone have a view on who offers the most pleasant service? Probably flying in and out of Madrid unless Barcelona offers materially better options. TIA
bump…interested too
Got bumped to Business on American a couple of years ago in/out of Barcelona, and flew Business on Iberia a couple of years before that in/out of Madrid. The American plane was newer and nicer, and the seats went almost flat for sleeping. Food and wine was much better on Iberia. The Business Class service on American was about what you would expect. Flown Iberia a few times now, and have found that unless you speak Spanish, the service can be a bit curt sometimes. Actually, on American, the service is pretty uniform and straight down the middle, but on Iberia, some of the attendants were really nice, and some acted with complete indifference.
I think Madrid has a new international terminal. If you fly in/out of it and never have to change terminals, it is really nice. If you fly into the older terminal or have to switch terminals, that can be a nightmare and time consuming. Barcelona airport was easy to navigate.
One thing about Barcelona airport, once you go through the last customs check, you can’t (easily) leave and go duty-free shopping. If that matters to you. They have a very nice shopping area in the Barcelona airport, but make sure if you plan to shop, do it before your last checkpoint.
EDIT: Just to add, we flew to Barcelona from JFK on American. We flew to Madrid from ORD on Iberia connecting into Lisbon, and returned to Madrid from Porto, then went into the city for a few days before flying back to ORD. We also connected through Madrid on Iberia a few years ago flying to Rome and returning from Venice.
We flew AA to Madrid in the fall. Your best option from DC will be to connect in Miami. The Miami-Madrid equipment should be 767 with two classes of service. I don’t know if the planes on that route have the new business class seats, but they should at some point. Madrid is easy to fly in and out of on AA, even with an Iberia connection from Barca; we’ve done that before, too. I would avoid connecting at Heathrow; Miami is a crummy airport, but the connection will be much easier.
A lot of the AA or UAL flights are equipment dependent. The new AA 777ER is really nice, don’t know if they fly to MAD. Iberia is codeshare with AA so you can use AA miles but although I have never experienced Iberia it gets bad reviews by the masses. I would look at the best route and pick a plane with fully fold flat seats unless you have enough miles to go 1st class vs business then search for a 3 class plane. With a quick Kayak search… Surprisingly it doesn’t look like you have a ton of options. Delta flies a 767-400 out of ATL or maybe USAir through Philly on a A330. Maybe UAL through BRU but that makes second leg pretty long.
George
We booked Iberia business class LAX-MAD for this May and I’m REALLY hoping the aircraft has the upgraded/updated biz class
Last time (3-4 years ago) we went we flew Lufthansa 777 (to Munich connecting to a smaller aircraft to Barca) using United miles. Again, a bit out of the way, but the overwater equipment was very comfortable
Looks as though NO ONE flies direct to either Barcelona or Madrid from DC. Seems hard to believe
Iberia flies layflat business seats to Madrid. We booked LGA/ORD on AA, connecting to ORD/MAD on Iberia. I didn’t mind flying out of the way. You need to consider that when booking.
I remember reading that it made sense to transfer avios to Iberia
Not ALL Iberia flights…yet
I love it. Student teaching the teacher. 
You’re flying 4 extra hours (2 of them in the wrong direction) and adding a connection (layover = even more time, and extra leg = another point of failure) just to get a better chair, when you could go non-stop from NY?
In my world, this isn’t an issue. I would have flown on the non-stop, but award availabilty was zero.
Whew.
It seems the last few times we’ve looked into travel, American has had options to just about anywhere, almost always able to use my miles, BUT, had to be flexible by a few days, and it is a huge game of figuring out where to connect through. Having a hard time finding direct flights internationally out of ORD where I can use my points when I want to. Just have to pick my poison.
www.seatguru.com plug in your flight number it should tell you. They keep it pretty up to date with plane upgrades.
George
Not enough business to support it. United operated an Aer Lingus flight direct to Madrid for a while but it didn’t last.
United will be instituting daily direct service to Madrid from Dulles this summer. United isn’t the best for overseas travel but having a direct flight gives it the edge in my book.
Thanks Jeff. Nice to know
If you are going business and have access to a lounge, then a layover is not a bad option. In terms of carriers for seats and service? Anything but US flag carriers.