(EXPIRED) Business class to Spain under $2K RT nonstop on oneworld / SkyTeam

Premium Flights and View from the Wing are reporting some very good business class fares between New York and Spain. While basic economy can be less than $300 round trip if you catch a sale fare, this is a good price if you’re looking for paid business class. It’s also a potentially decent use of points. For example, rather than transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards to a partner to book business class to Europe (most charge 60-70K each way), those with the Chase Sapphire Reserve could potentially use a similar number of points round trip and earn miles and/or elite credit.

The Deal

• Business class fares between New York and Madrid on American and Iberia are available from the mid $1800’s during peak summer travel
• Direct link to search Google Flights

Key Terms

• Saturday stay required
• Low pricing starts in late July and you’ll find return dates vary through early 2020
• Check Google Flights for low prices. Use Skyscanner for a better deal on Air Europa

Quick Thoughts

See the posts from View from the Wing and Premium Flights for more details, but the bottom line is that you can fly American or Iberia (or a combination of the two) from $1953 if you’re looking to credit to oneworld airlines or Air Europa from $1835 if you’re looking to credit to SkyTeam.

Here’s an example round trip with the outbound on American and return on Iberia (see View from the Wing for an example with Air Europa).

I took that exact flight on Iberia yesterday and I would definitely fly Iberia in business class again. Catering was good, service was decent (not amazing, but definitely not bad), the red wines were excellent and I really liked the layout of the seats. In my opinion, a particularly smart innovation was the way the tray table folds down because you can move it far enough forward to get up while your meal is on the tray.

Also keep in mind that TAP Air Portugal has been running good deals to and from Europe for a long time, so that’s another option in a similar price range to some European destinations.

Finally, if you’re flying American Airlines, I believe you should be able to credit to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan for 150% of mileage flown, though that won’t be a ton more miles than you’d earn with AA in this case. Those with Hyatt status who are working on AA status challenges may prefer to credit to American. In my case, I think one round trip on this would be enough to get me American Airlines Gold status through January 2021. I just got back from Europe last night and won’t be making a return during these sale dates, but if I thought the status challenge were worth it this would be a potentially decent way to play it.

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