You Can Still Fly to Europe in Iberia Business Class for 25,000 Points; and Award Space Is Fantastic — Plus Cheap Nonstop Flights to Barcelona

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A month ago I reported that the Amex 40% transfer bonus to Iberia Avios lets you fly to Europe in Iberia Business Class for 25,000 points. This offer is still valid for another 2 weeks or so, until October 1, 2019.

The reason for this post is twofold:

  • To update the Peak and Off-Peak schedule until the end of 2020.
  • To announce generally fantastic availability between Madrid and 4 U.S. cities!!!

Here is my previous post:

Fly to Europe for 25,000 Points in Business Class, Plus Award Space Update, and More!

But first, a few reminders

You can transfer American Express Membership Points with a 40% bonus to Iberia Plus until October 1, 2019

You can also get the same 40% bonus from other Avios programs, such as BAEC and AerClub, however, if you transfer your points to Iberia, you can effectively fly to Europe (Madrid) for 25,000 Amex points in Iberia Business Class. Iberia flies between Madrid and the following U.S. cities: New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Here are the updated Peak Iberia Avios dates until the end of 2020

  • October 2019: 25, 26. 31
  • November 2019: 1-4
  • December 2019: 5, 6, 8, 14-24, 27-31
  • January 2020: 1-13
  • April 2020: 2, 3, 8-13, 30
  • May 2020: 1, 3, 14, 15, 17
  • June 2020: 10, 11, 14, 19-30
  • July 2020: All month
  • August 2020: All month
  • September 2020: 1-13
  • October 2020: 8, 9, 12, 22, 23, 30, 31
  • November 2020: 1, 2
  • December 2020: 4, 5, 8, 16-31

OFF-PEAK Prices

City Econ. Blue/40% Amex Bonus Econ. Full/40% Amex Bonus Premium Econ.*/

40% Amex Bonus

Business/40% Amex Bonus
NYC, Boston, Chicago** 17K/13K +$73 22K/16K +$73 25.5K/19K +$73 34K/25K +$86
Miami**, Los Angeles*** 21,250/16K +$84/$95 27,750/20K  +$84/$95 31,750/23K +$84/$95 42.5K/31K

+$95-$106

PEAK Prices

City Econ. Blue/

40% Amex Bonus

Econ. Full/

40% Amex Bonus

Premium Econ.

/40% Amex Bonus

Business/40% Amex Bonus
NYC, Boston, Chicago 20K/16K+$73 28K/20K +$73 35K/ 25K +$73 50K/36K +$86
Miami, LA 25K/18K

+$84/$95

35K/25K

+$84/$95

43,750/32K

+$84/$95

62.5K/45K

+$95/$106

* No PE from Los Angeles

** From Chicago and Miami, the taxes/fees are $84 for Economy and PE and $95 for Business

*** From LA: $95 for Economy and PE and $106 for Business

Please note: taxes/fees are higher FROM Madrid.

  • to New York, Boston: $108 in Economy and PE, $119 in Business
  • to Chicago: $119 in Economy and PE, $130 in Business
  • to Los Angeles: $130 in Economy and $141 in Business

Excellent Iberia Business Class availability from/to Los Angeles and the East Coast

Even for 2 people and even in the midst of summer! Look, I haven’t checked all dates from all cities (obviously), but my random searches have confirmed that Iberia offers great numbers of award seats in Business from New York, Miami, Boston and Los Angeles. Just remember that when you book an Iberia award flight, it’s hard to find anything within the next month or two, so give yourself enough time. Take a look at these pictures. When you see Business Class availability for 2 people on both daily flights (New York and Miami), that’s … I don’t know — beautiful! 🙂

This is a pic from/to Miami.

Iberia Business Class: Miami to Madrid

Typical Iberia Business Class availability for 2 people from Miami (at the time of writing)

A round trip from Los Angeles costs more, but it’s also a bit longer: 11 and 13 hour flights.

Iberia Business Class: LA to Madrid

Typical Iberia Business Class availability for 2 people from Los Angeles (at the time of writing)

So what about Chicago? Not so good. I’ve managed to find a few seats for 2 people here and there, but, for some reason, Iberia doesn’t give Chicago too much love. Finding one Business Class seat is easier, but not by a large margin. By the way, to look for an award flight on the Iberia website, do yourself a favor and bookmark this link.

PEAK or OFF-PEAK, it’s all good!

Just to put things in perspective: this 40% Amex bonus makes any Iberia Business Class award seat a good deal. Just check my tables again: you’ll only pay 90,000 Amex points and $247 for taxes and fuel surcharges for the most expensive RT PEAK award seat from Los Angeles!

Want to fly nonstop to Barcelona?

You can, but only in Premium Economy, not Business. Still, if Barcelona is your final destination, wouldn’t it make sense to fly there directly in relative comfort and for a ridiculously low amount of miles?

Level is a relatively new IAG low cost airline (IAG is the parent company of Iberia, Vueling, British Airways, and Aer Lingus), and it doesn’t have a lot of play in the “hobby” due to a simple fact: no Business Class cabin. Level flies between Barcelona and 3 U.S. cities: Boston, New York, and San Francisco. Availability is usually excellent as is the mile price with the 40% transfer bonus (the same as on Iberia; check the tables above). The cash outlay appears to be almost the same, just a few dollars’ difference.

Here are Level Premium Economy flight reviews I’ve found: 1 and 2.

Not interested in Madrid or Barcelona? No problem, fly to Madrid

Iberia Business Class - where you fly

Iberia network from Madrid to Europe, Middle East, and North Africa (long-haul flights are obscured)

Iberia has an excellent network in Europe or beyond, and flights can be ridiculously cheap on cash or with British Avios. Whatever you do, however, avoid adding segments on your transatlantic Iberia awards because you will pay more in both Avios and cash. If your final destination is Barcelona (or any other city served by Iberia for that matter), you might be better off booking your other flights for cash or British Avios. Please check my other post for some ideas: Avios: Iberia vs British Airways: Which Avios to Use to Fly Iberia in Spain?

So, have you transferred points to Iberia from Amex and what are you using them for?

Photo Credit: Miguel Ángel Sanz @maswdl95

 

 

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Christian

Great information. I don’t have an Iberia avios account. Can I just open one and transfer in the points from Amex?

John

Last year when Iberia essentially gave you 90K points for booking 10 really cheap flights, my wife and I used those points for the 34K Bus. class tickets from Chicago to Madrid, and then Rome-Madrid-JFK. These are lie flat seats. Service is good, not great, but for a bit more than coach, this is an awesome buy.

JohnnieD

Also did the 90K deal X2 with a trip to Morocco. BOS-MAD-RAK. The seats were lie flat and were just fine. The service, well they were light years better than my last AA trip across the pond, but that’s a pretty low bar…………

Carl

We’re in Portugal right now after our award flight from MEX-MAD, booked from the crazy Iberia promotion last year. As others have noted, Iberia J class is adequate but nothing more than that. However, for our needs, this AMEX bonus makes it the best option for us to get to Europe in biz class, so yeah, I just transferred 240k MRs for two trips next year.

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