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Looking at utilising one of my companion vouchers early to mid next year on a Long haul Iberia Business Class flight.
I take it I need to get to Madrid if so would you recommend staying overnight then flying out?
Was looking at Argentina? Any other recommendations please? Pretty flexible and would like to go off peak as just 2 of us.
ThanksThere are a couple of long threads on using the 241 on IB, full of useful info.
Madrid’s a great city and it’s fairly easy to get to the city and back from the airport, it’s about half an hour or so from T4 to Nuevos Ministerios on the metro.
I think you can bag drop 24 hours before your flight, my plan for going to Mexico is easyJet from Edinburgh the day before, short hop from T1 to T4 on the metro, drop checked bags then head into city with hand luggage, enjoy a nice evening of tapas and wine somewhere and head back to the airport the following morning, straight through security and enjoy the Velázquez lounge for a couple of hours prior to take off.
There are a couple of long threads on using the 241 on IB, full of useful info.
ill have to do a search thanks
Madrid’s a great city and it’s fairly easy to get to the city and back from the airport, it’s about half an hour or so from T4 to Nuevos Ministerios on the metro.
I think you can bag drop 24 hours before your flight, my plan for going to Mexico is easyJet from Edinburgh the day before, short hop from T1 to T4 on the metro, drop checked bags then head into city with hand luggage, enjoy a nice evening of tapas and wine somewhere and head back to the airport the following morning, straight through security and enjoy the Velázquez lounge for a couple of hours prior to take off.
Thats sounds great about bag drop if thats true?
Mexico sounds great alsoI take it I need to get to Madrid if so would you recommend staying overnight then flying out?
Was looking at Argentina? Any other recommendations please?Going out the day before is sensible so that you can be relaxed. If travelling the same day I’d certainly seek to fly IB to Madrid so that in the event the first flight is heavily delayed you’ve a much better chance of being rerouted by IB if you missed the onward leg. However, some more experienced IB travellers might say that if you’re flying on a different ticket they don’t care and you didn’t present in time for the flight so you’re on your own.
IB fly to Sao Paolo and Rio both of which present interesting possibilities although I’ve never been to Brazil before. You can also fly with BA on a reward seat for modest Avios between Argentina and Rio as the London flight to Buenos Aires stops off in Rio on both legs. Because it’s a BA flight you get an RFS price like European short haul. This is a great use of Avios based on the prices I found to fly the route on a cash ticket, it seems to be otherwise only served by Aerolineas Argentinas and one-ways are expensive for the 4 hour flight. A lot of people are raving about Colombia recently, but you still need to exercise caution for your safety (as you need to do in Brazil and Argentina for that matter, in reality Colombia might be no more dangerous for the casual tourist these days than either of those).
Madrid’s a great city and it’s fairly easy to get to the city and back from the airport, it’s about half an hour or so from T4 to Nuevos Ministerios on the metro.
I arriving to of from T4 note that the Cercanias train is cheaper and quicker than the Metro depending on where you’re heading to. It might also avoid the need to change Metro lines, e.g. it takes you directly to Chamartin and Atocha stations, while Recoletos is a useful central station. Metro tickets charge a hefty premium if entering or exiting at an airport station.
short hop from T1 to T4 on the metro
Better to use the frequent and free courtesy bus connecting the terminals. T4 is so far from the others the bus briefly joins the motorway!
If you are planning to do a same day connection, in addition to the usual margin of error, if you are on two tickets and have check-in bags, allow plenty of time to get from T4S to collect your bags and re-check them at T4. It means passing through immigration twice, security and a longish trip between the two parts of the terminal; it’s quite a schlep. On the return you can keep it all on one ticket for no additional taxes and avoid this.
If you are planning to go to Buenos Aires from Madrid, and do stay overnight you have the choice of two daytime flights departing at breakfast and lunch times as well as the overnight one at midnight. The breakfast flight arriving in BsAs in time for drinks and dinner is quite civilised.
On the safety aspects, everyone has their own views /risk tolerance but if you are considering Santiago and mainland Chile, do read the FCDO advice in full. Other countries have stronger warnings.
Planning something similar for next year to use up my last ever BA Amex voucher, decided to list out all the possible routes from MAD on Iberia with business class and aircraft type. Hope it’s some use.
All routes are daily with some having multiple flights, apart from GYE which only flies 5 days per week.
El Dorado International Airport BOG Bogota, Columbia A350
Mexico City International Airport MEX Mexico City, Mexico A350
Ministro Pistarini International Airport EZE Buenos Aires, Argentina A330,350
Jorge Chávez International Airport LIM Lima, Peru A330,350
São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport GRU Sao Paulo, Brazil A330,350
Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport SCL Santiago, Chile A330,350
Simon Bolivar International CCS Caracas, Venezuela A330
Jose Marti International HAV Havana, Cuba A330
Las Americas International SDQ Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic A330
Mariscal Sucre International UIO Quito, Ecuador A350
Carrasco International MVD Montevideo, Uraguay A330
Tocumen International PTY Panama City, Panama A330
Juan Santamaria International SJO San Jose, Costa Rica A330,350
La Aurora GUA Guatemala City, Guatemala A330
Luis Munoz Marin International SJU San Juan, Puerto Rico A330
Galeao Antonio Carlos Jobim GIG Rio De Janeiro, Brazil A330
Simon Bolivar International GYE Guayaquil, Ecuador A330That’s very useful, thank you.
Also don’t forget about flights to Tokyo and Doha. Tokyo is interesting because many people travel from the UK to Japan with one change, often in Helsinki and because it’s a long route, the IB option is outstanding value. Doha could be of interest for anyone seeking to connect with a QR flight while enjoying lower taxes and charges because they’re not departing from the UK.
Last but not least, the wide variety of destinations in the US all of which are also excellent value on IB versus BA.
If you are planning to do a same day connection, in addition to the usual margin of error, if you are on two tickets and have check-in bags, allow plenty of time to get from T4S to collect your bags and re-check them at T4. It means passing through immigration twice, security and a longish trip between the two parts of the terminal; it’s quite a schlep. On the return you can keep it all on one ticket for no additional taxes and avoid this.
I can second this. Don’t underestimate the time involved, T4 is a horrendously time consuming, albeit lovely airport to pass through with the most excellent Velazquez lounge accessible for non-Schengen flights (including those to the UK). Bank on an hour for arrival and another hour for departure to get to/from the departure gate. If you want to arrive at check in 3 hours before the flight, you should land no later than 3 hours before you want to check in so as to leave padding time in case of a flight arriving flight, in other words, 6 hours before your onward flight (for a long haul connection).
Are all these connection time suggestions for flying on different tickets? Our IB flights through T4S were a breeze and transfer security took about a minute each time. It was a fair old walk to and from the gate, but it all felt very efficient.
@masaccio, that’s correct, it’s a warning for those connecting on different tickets who need to make their way through immigration to the baggage collection hall, go landside then check back in and return to T4S.
I agree that connections within T4S are very easy, security is quick and the satellite terminal itself is not huge. Clearly the original architect didn’t envisage a sub-culture of people going through the full arrival and departure process over the space of a few hours in order to save money when, in theory, one could also travel on a through-ticket! The savings are however too large to resist, although as JDB points out above, it’s not more expensive travelling to the UK on a through-ticket on the return leg, other than the fact that one then has three PNRs, UK-Madrid, Madrid-Destination, Destination-UK.
The only thing I would add when booking through tickets TO the UK is that it’s highly relevant which flight you take as connecting onto an IB MAD-UK service you won’t get an RFS price for this leg so the taxes and charges will be much higher. Cheapest is to arrive in MAD with IB and transit onto BA metal, assuming your’re booking on BA.com.
The most desirable flight however is the daily wide-body IB service and while the fees are higher than flying in Club with BA, it’s well worth paying the modest increase.
@Londonsteve – you only need two PNRs and I think it’s actually a bit cheaper using IB back to the UK as adding any RFS flight can send the taxes a bit haywire. We have got MAD-EZE-MAD-LHR booked for next year on one ticket with a companion voucher 114,750 Avios plus £510 (total, for two). All IB, all business. This compared to BA direct 230,000 Avios (peak/off peak) + £600 each (a bit more now).
OK, for completeness:
JFK New York A330/A350
MIA Miami A330
DOH Doha A330
DFW Dallas A330
IAD Dulles A32x
LAX Los Angeles A330/A350
ORD Chicago A330
BOS Boston A32x/A330
SFO San Francisco Tu/Thu/Sat A330
NRT Tokyo Su/Thu/Sat A350Plus CDG and LHR (and there 26 routes on Iberia Express inc MAN but nothing on IB-Ex really of interest)
@davefl. Which is considered the better of the A330/350 when flying business? I know it’s a bit late for me to ask that question as we’re flying next month LHR to MAD where we’re staying overnight! Then using 241 MAD-LIM-EZE-MAD-LHR all business. As with @JDB’s experience, it was cheaper to fly IB MAD-LHR than with BA.
@davefl. If only I’d accessed this page earlier! It’s really helpful info. My daughter and I have spent all afternoon looking at where IB flies so she can get the best value out of her first 241!
@davefl. If only I’d accessed this page earlier! It’s really helpful info. My daughter and I have spent all afternoon looking at where IB flies so she can get the best value out of her first 241!
Use https://www.flightsfrom.com/ it’s better than flightconnections.com in terms of filtering.
I’m not an aircraft expert so I’ll leave the merits of individual ones to others.
Just finished our trip to Colombia going IB from Madrid to Bogota.
As per other comments, RFS business booking for Glasgow to Madrid (VIA LHR) was good value. On outward leg stayed in Barajas town which if you’re light for time is has good restaurants and easy short airport taxi. Nicer that the airport hotels which have nothing really withing walking distance.
Echo comments re security. As we were on seperate tickets, no transfer. Passport control for non euro took about 45 so factor that in. Return leg we had >24 hour so used left luggage service. Think it was 15 euro per bag. Spent a nice day /evening in Madrid. Madrid Airport I really like as its so close to the city that we were in city center hotel within an hour of landing.
With the tax saving from Madrid departure, Madrid trip paid for itself and then some. Our IB flight to Bogota was 5 hours late on the way out – will see how good IB are at compensation over the next few weeks. Pretty average experience on way out in business. Way back much better and a top crew who came across much more customer focused.
Planning my next trip and would definately go via Madrid again. Good luck with your travel plans. Can also highly recommend both chile and Argentina but haven’t done those with IB.
Yes. You can do your check in the day before so perfect as the business counter for IB is shit sometimes during peak hours.
I take it I need to get to Madrid if so would you recommend staying overnight then flying out?
Was looking at Argentina? Any other recommendations please?Going out the day before is sensible so that you can be relaxed. If travelling the same day I’d certainly seek to fly IB to Madrid so that in the event the first flight is heavily delayed you’ve a much better chance of being rerouted by IB if you missed the onward leg. However, some more experienced IB travellers might say that if you’re flying on a different ticket they don’t care and you didn’t present in time for the flight so you’re on your own.
IB fly to Sao Paolo and Rio both of which present interesting possibilities although I’ve never been to Brazil before. You can also fly with BA on a reward seat for modest Avios between Argentina and Rio as the London flight to Buenos Aires stops off in Rio on both legs. Because it’s a BA flight you get an RFS price like European short haul. This is a great use of Avios based on the prices I found to fly the route on a cash ticket, it seems to be otherwise only served by Aerolineas Argentinas and one-ways are expensive for the 4 hour flight. A lot of people are raving about Colombia recently, but you still need to exercise caution for your safety (as you need to do in Brazil and Argentina for that matter, in reality Colombia might be no more dangerous for the casual tourist these days than either of those).
Madrid’s a great city and it’s fairly easy to get to the city and back from the airport, it’s about half an hour or so from T4 to Nuevos Ministerios on the metro.
I arriving to of from T4 note that the Cercanias train is cheaper and quicker than the Metro depending on where you’re heading to. It might also avoid the need to change Metro lines, e.g. it takes you directly to Chamartin and Atocha stations, while Recoletos is a useful central station. Metro tickets charge a hefty premium if entering or exiting at an airport station.
short hop from T1 to T4 on the metro
Better to use the frequent and free courtesy bus connecting the terminals. T4 is so far from the others the bus briefly joins the motorway!
Point taken about the Cercanias – I think at that specific time when I reached Nuevos Ministerios it was quicker to get the next Metro than change line on the Cercanias.
It’s similar on the metro as on the bus – after the stop for T1, T2 and T3 the next stop is Barajas itself before you finish at T4, and it’s a good 10 mins between the two airport stops.
@davefl. Which is considered the better of the A330/350 when flying business? I know it’s a bit late for me to ask that question as we’re flying next month LHR to MAD where we’re staying overnight! Then using 241 MAD-LIM-EZE-MAD-LHR all business. As with @JDB’s experience, it was cheaper to fly IB MAD-LHR than with BA.
You want the 350 with 28 PE seats that’s the newest, you do not want the 350 with no PE seats
Just finished our trip to Colombia going IB from Madrid to Bogota.
As per other comments, RFS business booking for Glasgow to Madrid (VIA LHR) was good value. On outward leg stayed in Barajas town which if you’re light for time is has good restaurants and easy short airport taxi. Nicer that the airport hotels which have nothing really withing walking distance.
Echo comments re security. As we were on seperate tickets, no transfer. Passport control for non euro took about 45 so factor that in. Return leg we had >24 hour so used left luggage service. Think it was 15 euro per bag. Spent a nice day /evening in Madrid. Madrid Airport I really like as its so close to the city that we were in city center hotel within an hour of landing.
With the tax saving from Madrid departure, Madrid trip paid for itself and then some. Our IB flight to Bogota was 5 hours late on the way out – will see how good IB are at compensation over the next few weeks. Pretty average experience on way out in business. Way back much better and a top crew who came across much more customer focused.
Planning my next trip and would definately go via Madrid again. Good luck with your travel plans. Can also highly recommend both chile and Argentina but haven’t done those with IB.
Any reason you didn’t book straight through on the return ?
@davefl. Which is considered the better of the A330/350 when flying business? I know it’s a bit late for me to ask that question as we’re flying next month LHR to MAD where we’re staying overnight! Then using 241 MAD-LIM-EZE-MAD-LHR all business. As with @JDB’s experience, it was cheaper to fly IB MAD-LHR than with BA.
@LD27 – I think the A350 would generally be considered to be the better, more modern aircraft with more comfortable cabin pressure and with Iberia’s newest seat/suite but personally I’m not unduly bothered. Any Iberia aircraft is better than a BA one as it will be cleaner, have a more professional crew and better food and wine so the timing is the decider for us. We are returning on the late flight which is on the A330 but with a 21.30 departure gives you a full day in Buenos Aires. Also, while IB isn’t a serial aircraft changer like Qatar, the EZE aircraft do change. We are going out on the 08.45 day flight which was an A330 when booked, now A350.
@LD27 – I think the A350 would generally be considered to be the better, more modern aircraft with more comfortable cabin pressure and with Iberia’s newest seat/suite but personally I’m not unduly bothered. Any Iberia aircraft is better than a BA one as it will be cleaner, have a more professional crew and better food and wine so the timing is the decider for us. We are returning on the late flight which is on the A330 but with a 21.30 departure gives you a full day in Buenos Aires. Also, while IB isn’t a serial aircraft changer like Qatar, the EZE aircraft do change. We are going out on the 08.45 day flight which was an A330 when booked, now A350.[/quote]Unfortunately trying to get my husband to agree dates for travel took so long, by the time he confirmed his availability we didn’t have any choice of flights. Having just rechecked booking, we’re on the A350 in both directions. My daughter is joining us for part of our trip. She and my son have visited South America many times but this is our first. We’re really looking forward to it and have gained so much knowledge from your postings. I’ve been trying to encourage daughter to use her newly acquired 241 on IB. Although she is aware of BA shortcomings, she is very loyal to the hand that pays her!
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