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This is a multi-tiered question really but the main point is the availability of Iberia flights from MAD-MEX. We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 1 2-year-old and an infant-on-lap).
We plan on a visit to North America in November, our friends are in Mexico City so I figured I’d check if I can get there using the few Avios I have. To my surprise, using my 2-4-1 voucher we can get there very cheaply. I have currently used most of my Avios booking a flight from Bangkok to London (we live in Asia) on last year’s 2-4-1. I have enough left that I can boost right now to have enough to get us to Mexico on Iberia. I see the availability over the next few weeks was quite good (diminishing) but further than that, there is nothing. I assume this is because they only release 2 seats per flight and more closer to the time (we need 3 seats). The question is, should I risk boosting my Avios now, in preparation for business seats to become available in Nov? We are super flexible and pretty much any date in Nov/early Dec would work. I don’t foresee earning enough Avios over the coming months to be able to boost up to the required amount, so doing it now would be crucial.
In comes the next tier of the question… Our flight from BKK is currently to KEF via LHR, we’re not too fussed about Iceland now but when I booked I figured it would’ve been a good spot to check out and also get good flight deals to the US. Do I cancel that one (over the phone) and immediately re-book to MAD instead of KEF (on the Iberia A350). Or do I cancel the second leg only and tag the LHR-MAD leg onto the MAD-MEX flight when/if it becomes available?
Any Iberia specialists care to help me out?
Appreciate you all, this site has got me many more business flights than I would’ve dreamed of 10 years ago.
This is a bit confusing to try and unpick! Can you try and set it out a bit more clearly?
How are you planning to get from Asia to MAD/MEX? What is your current 241 booking and how are you proposing to to amend it, exactly?
Which cabin are you trying to get for MAD-MEX? There’s never a guarantee of more than 2 seats so you may need a Plan B. There’s also a recent issue with tagging short-haul flights onto a MAD sector, which is discussed in one of the threads from the last few days.
Re boost remember only the last 30 days worth of transactions are boostable.
This is a bit confusing to try and unpick! Can you try and set it out a bit more clearly?
How are you planning to get from Asia to MAD/MEX? What is your current 241 booking and how are you proposing to to amend it, exactly?
Which cabin are you trying to get for MAD-MEX? There’s never a guarantee of more than 2 seats so you may need a Plan B. There’s also a recent issue with tagging short-haul flights onto a MAD sector, which is discussed in one of the threads from the last few days.
Sorry it wasn’t clear. I have already used one 2-4-1 voucher for BKK-KEF – that’s how we get to Europe – planning to cancel the KEF leg, probably change to MAD, so BKK-MAD via LGW/LHR (long stopover, several weeks)
MAD-MEX we’re going for Business again (I will have a second 2-4-1 voucher available in the next 3 months or so), there seems to be several flights with 9 seats available in the coming weeks, I was just wondering if that is common? will I see the same thing in October/November or is this just a fluke and availability will likely be baron by then?
Re boost remember only the last 30 days worth of transactions are boostable.
Yes, hence the need to boost immediately (we’re at 30 days now, there will likely be a few days extra as is usually the case but cutting it fine). This is why I asked the question as boosting will cost me £600 and if I can’t use the Avios it’s be a bit of a waste.
What’s availability like for this coming Oct/Nov? IB has different peak times from BA so it’s not always easy to say.
Is your current 241 booking a return or just one way? I’m assuming you booked this online – you’re going to have to call to get it changed and hope you get an agent who’s willing and able, or cancel and start from scratch hoping your BKK seats will go back into the inventory.
What’s availability like for this coming Oct/Nov? IB has different peak times from BA so it’s not always easy to say.
Currently looks great if you only need 1 seat, plenty of options. 2 seats is a little trickier but there are a few. There are no flights available with 3 seats, probably because they only release 2 on the initial release.
Is your current 241 booking a return or just one way? I’m assuming you booked this online – you’re going to have to call to get it changed and hope you get an agent who’s willing and able, or cancel and start from scratch hoping your BKK seats will go back into the inventory.
Everything I’m discussing here is 1 way (online), apologies I never mentioned that. This trip is part of a round-the-world trip where we’ve made our itinerary based on what’s available on the points we have with various airlines (next step after Mexico will be USA-Korea using my Asiana Star Alliance miles)
Yes, I’m worried about losing that BKK-LGW flight if I try and change online, I’ll be calling BA until I get someone willing to help.
That sounds very interesting!
Don’t forget you can use avios on AA so you could connect from the US as a Plan B.
So possibly IB do a dump of award seats nearer the time 🤷♀️. I guess it depends on whether you want to risk that.
Have you read Flyertalk at all? It’s a very detailed forum and they would have a whole section on Iberia. Some of their readers are Spanish FF’s so may well have answers for you.
That sounds very interesting!
What else is one to do with a year’s maternity leave and hundreds of thousands of points 😂
Don’t forget you can use avios on AA so you could connect from the US as a Plan B.
Yes I’ve looked into this but nothing seems to be within budget, cheers for the heads-up though. The IB plan has really come about just becuase I found out how cheap they can be to fly business to the Americas. Our Plan B is probably save the points for next time and buy an economy ticket to North America. I live in Korea and have family back in the UK so I travel back at least once/twice a year.
Have you read Flyertalk at all? It’s a very detailed forum and they would have a whole section on Iberia. Some of their readers are Spanish FF’s so may well have answers for you.
I do end up there from time to time but never really delved in. I will now though, thanks for the advice
@BA-Baracus – you should be able to use the 241 for the whole journey BKK-LHR-MEX ?
@BA-Baracus – you should be able to use the 241 for the whole journey BKK-LHR-MEX ?
It’d be great if this were the case. I have a feeling though that it isn’t possible. Especially as I need the MEX leg to be on Iberia as it is pretty much half the Avios and I won’t have enough for the BA LHR-MEX route
Could you go BKK-DOH-MAD-MEX?
Could you go BKK-DOH-MAD-MEX?
Unfortunately one can’t use the voucher BKK-DOH. Theoretically, you could fly LON-MEX via MAD using a the 241 (not sure how much it saves) if it fits within the maximum mileage, and BA doesn’t impose the sort of ‘most direct’ route that applies on circle fares, RTW, multi carrier etc.
The OP mentioned having loads of Avios, so BKK-DOH on Qatar using Avios, then DOH-MAD on either Iberia or Qatar, then MAD-MEX on IB. 2-4-1 could cover the latter, not sure if you could do DOH-MAD-MEX on IB using a voucher?
You should be able to, but it might take a call to BA. I think if you just searched for the route online the system would default to routing you via LHR. It might make using the return part of the voucher slightly complicated as it would have to comply with the open jaw rules.
The OP mentioned having loads of Avios, so BKK-DOH on Qatar using Avios, then DOH-MAD on either Iberia or Qatar, then MAD-MEX on IB. 2-4-1 could cover the latter, not sure if you could do DOH-MAD-MEX on IB using a voucher?
The OP actually said they didn’t have enough Avios to the MEX leg with BA, hence the interest in Iberia via Madrid which is cheaper than BA direct, although surprisingly (to me at least) London is a slightly shorter distance to Mexico City than Madrid is.
Hi I researched this journey and flew MAD-MEX 3 weeks back. You’ll be happy to know this leaves 3x daily MAD-MEX and it’s not a super busy route. My flight had 11x free spaces in J. Unfortunately it’ll be only 2x flights released per flight. I’ve booked 2x out on one and 2x on next flight four hours later. It’s a bargain at 42.5k offpeak.
They seem to trialling on 360 release 1x flight which then during day turns to 2x. Check April 16th it’s 1x but 15th has 2x. You will confidently get 2x but nothing more than that unless it’s nearly 2 weeks out. my outbound was on a sat, the day before had 9x seats on a Fri in J. I was told by a IB rep that there’s a quota of pts per flight. When it’s full nothing can be done to get another with Avios.
@zapato1060 – you will consistently find additional long haul J seats (beyond the first two) starting from (and returning to) many domestic and some nearby international airports – i.e. married segments.
The OP mentioned having loads of Avios, so BKK-DOH on Qatar using Avios, then DOH-MAD on either Iberia or Qatar, then MAD-MEX on IB. 2-4-1 could cover the latter, not sure if you could do DOH-MAD-MEX on IB using a voucher?
The OP actually said they didn’t have enough Avios to the MEX leg with BA, hence the interest in Iberia via Madrid which is cheaper than BA direct, although surprisingly (to me at least) London is a slightly shorter distance to Mexico City than Madrid is.
My assumption with the Doha suggestion is that it will be cheaper Avios wise to go Bangkok to Doha on Qatar, as well as Doha to Madrid whether or not you use a voucher, then go Madrid to Mexico using the 2-4-1, than it would be to route via London on BA.
Hi I researched this journey and flew MAD-MEX 3 weeks back. You’ll be happy to know this leaves 3x daily MAD-MEX and it’s not a super busy route. My flight had 11x free spaces in J. Unfortunately it’ll be only 2x flights released per flight. I’ve booked 2x out on one and 2x on next flight four hours later. It’s a bargain at 42.5k offpeak.
They seem to trialling on 360 release 1x flight which then during day turns to 2x. Check April 16th it’s 1x but 15th has 2x. You will confidently get 2x but nothing more than that unless it’s nearly 2 weeks out. my outbound was on a sat, the day before had 9x seats on a Fri in J. I was told by a IB rep that there’s a quota of pts per flight. When it’s full nothing can be done to get another with Avios.
This is some great information, luckily for me I really don’t care which date in November we fly as long ast it’s towards the latter half of the month. Those extra seats (usually 9x per flight) do keep appearing as I’m looking at it daily atm.
I’m not too concerned, I have the Avios now but still need to earn my 241 and I’m at least 2 months away from that, I’ll wait until mid-October before I start getting concerned and consider a cash flight or reward in economy.
My assumption with the Doha suggestion is that it will be cheaper Avios wise to go Bangkok to Doha on Qatar, as well as Doha to Madrid whether or not you use a voucher, then go Madrid to Mexico using the 2-4-1, than it would be to route via London on BA.
The issue with the Doha routing is finding reward availability on both Qatar and IB that can connect in DOH. For reference, I am also using last years 2-4-1 on the currently booked BKK-LGW which I wouldn’t be able to use on Qatar
@zapato1060 – you will consistently find additional long haul J seats (beyond the first two) starting from (and returning to) many domestic and some nearby international airports – i.e. married segments.
I will definitely try this then, hopefully I find a good way to search by month on Iberia because I’ve been using avios.com up until now
There’s a new website in development called TimeFlightCalender (IIRC) which shows Iberia availability. There’s a thread running on here about if if you have a scroll through the last few pages.
There’s a new website in development called TimeFlightCalender (IIRC) which shows Iberia availability. There’s a thread running on here about if if you have a scroll through the last few pages.
Will check it out, would be amazing if it could find the afforementioned extra married segment seats.
Thanks 🙂
@BA-Baracus fortunately or unfortunately this system won’t find them. We book relatively early although not at T-360 so it’s not a problem getting seats but other family members are tardier about booking, leaving it until after the long haul seats have gone but have found availability starting from OVD, SCQ, VLC, PMI/MAH as well as TLS and NCE.
Yes – I don’t think the website can see connecting routes, however it is very good for being able to see months’ worth (and numbers of) award seats on individual sectors instead of having to trawl through IB/BA’s booking system for individual dates.
You have to create an account but there’s no charge for this at the moment.
Shamelessly picking your brains here, @JDB, but have you or your family ever managed to book connecting flights online on consecutive days on IB, e.g. VLC-MAD one day and MAD-MEX the next? IB doesn’t seem to have a “stopover” facility akin to BA’s, and some of their connection times are too tight for my nerves!
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