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Earlier in the year Iberia ran an incredible promo offering 9000 Avios per flight booked. I ended up booking 10 flights for roughly $330-$340. The major catch was flights needed to be booked by December 1st, 2018 or you’d lose the points. As luck would have it…I found availability on December 27th, for just 34k Avios and $116. What a steal! Let’s take a look how it went.
If you’re interested in more booking information: check out this dedicated post
The Deets:
- When: December 2018
- Where: ORD to MAD
- Status: None
- Currency: Iberia Avios 34k + $116
- Seat: 2A
- Flight Time: 8h 5m
- Aircraft: A330
Check-in
Iberia occupies the far counters at Terminal 3 at Chicago O’hare. The counters are actually right next to a high volume employee security screening TSA check point. I ended up using the passenger line here instead of walking all the way down to priority. TSA Pre wasn’t extended even though we were in a terminal that offered it.
Lounge
Iberia utilizes the American Flagship Lounge. I reviewed this lounge roughly a year ago, but this time around was completely different. It. Was. Dead. I’d say the entire time I was in the lounge, which was almost 2.5 hours, there weren’t more than 30 people in it total. While I was impressed with the lounge my first go around, this made it even more impressive. In fact, it made me want to score One World Sapphire with BA just to access it more often.
Boarding
Roughly 45 mins ahead of the flight we boarded. I almost made it into the cabin before anyone else, but there were some pre-boards sitting in biz that made it in as well as one other passenger. I was shocked at how empty the cabin remained. I’d estimate nearly half the seats remained empty. Why they weren’t opening up more award space is a mystery to me.
One thing that I don’t think I’ve encountered on any other premium cabin flights was the lack of any champagne/sparkling wine offering before take-off. Other carriers will keep the good stuff until they’re up in the air to avoid paying ground taxes, but I believe this was a first where none was offered at all.
Seat:
I’ve flown this seat type and configuration a couple of other times ( Hong Kong Airlines and Etihad ). Most recently was on Hong Kong Airlines aboard their A350. It’s a nice 1-2-1 all direct aisle access, and I was able to snag 2A, which I consider to be amongst the best on the plane. Perhaps the other side of the aircraft is slightly more advantageous, but any of the window seats will afford single travelers more space and privacy.
Storage in the seat is minimal: better than what BA offers in Club World, but far, far inferior to best offerings of say AA and their Cirrus or Super Diamond configured 77Ws and 772s.
As far as sleeping is concerned, the window seats afford more room to curl up on your side. My biggest complaint on HK was in the center aisle I kept on getting bumped, and my shoulders were often squeezed by the width of the seat. Neither happened this time around.
Service:
I found the service to be very prompt and friendly. Everything is catered via a cart; however, my only complaint would be that on an 8 hour flight ( which is a short redeye IMO ) there should be a quick option. I timed the entire process and it was over 2 hours before dinner was finished. That left only 5 hours until breakfast was served.
Food:
I had the Salmon which was a bit overdone, but nice nonetheless. The nicest surprise was the chicken consume which I ended up pouring onto the salmon and rice which gave it a great flavor and needed moisture. I finished with the ice cream and then conked out.
Bed:
While it does lay completely flat, it was a bit lumpy and after sleeping roughly 3.5 to 4 hours I couldn’t get comfortable. Honestly, I was happy with that amount of time slept considering it departed at roughly 5pm.
Overall:
This was my first go at Iberia and I’d fly them again in a heartbeat. Is it the best business class you can fly from the States to Europe or Asia? No. Is it a solid business class that you can lock down at an incredible rate of just 34k + $116. Absolutely.
- Review: Iberia Business Class Chicago to Madrid
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- How I utilized the transfer desk to make a tight international connection
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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