-
Hi all,
Planning a trip to Tokyo next year, and although I am flying on a cash ticket on the way there, I just booked a bargain return flight on Iberia for 59.5k Avios and £96. The only downside, of course, being that this flight is from HND to MAD.
I’m very happy to book a cheap Iberia flight from MAD to LHR to complete my journey if necessary – but just wondering if there is any way to modify this reward flight booking and have this leg added on as a connection instead?
Apologies for the basic question, but this is my first long-haul reward flight and my first with Iberia, so a little unsure whether adding connecting flights on is a possibility.
If reward availability exists then, yes, the connection can be added by paying the additional Avios and fee.
If you booked the inbound yourself online then you could have done this at the same time, therefore if you call to change it now you may be expected to pay the change fee.
An alternative would be to book the extra leg online now as a standalone flight, the cost should be the same but without the change fee. The downside of doing it as two separate bookings is not being able to check luggage right through and no protection in event of first flight being delayed.
For the peace of mind of the protected connection, you may as well just call IB and get the MAD-LHR flight added. Change fee is £35 with BA, not sure re IB.
Probably just a slip-up when posting but isn’t the IB flight from NRT and not HND?
A few people have posted about booking IB on long haul routes and adding a connection to the UK, mainly in the threads on using the 241 voucher, but the info might still be helpful.
Do not just buy the leg! Unless you are HBO, you have to change terminals twice, go through immigration, pick up luggage, checkin again, etc. This can take forever in MAD!
I assume you booked the Avios flight with Iberia? Phone CS and ask them to add the leg. You will need to pay the change fee, but that is worth it.
All of this is mute. The Tokyo IB flight gets into Madrid at 8pm, too late to connect to any LHR service on BA/IB. I had this same issue as I booked this.
The only way to connect same day is on Ryanair (10:45pm), so will require a terminal change on separate tickets.
I personally despise Ryanair, so would recommend the OP book an overnight hotel in Madrid
In this case it is indeed moot. You cannot rely on Ryanair not to change the flight time, or even cancel (they have binned several routes altogether this year), so this would be very risky.
Plenty of airport hotels at MAD, I think the Hilton doesn’t charge for its shuttle though there are cheaper options. You might be able to check the bags back in before leaving the airport (if you’re still required to collect them on a single booking).
Thanks all for the advice – and very good point re: the 8pm arrival, which I hadn’t even considered.
Airport hotel, followed by an early morning Iberia flight it is.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
